InSlaveryToChrist
Puritan Board Junior
I had to repump this topic, because my previous thread ("Are 'right' and 'wrong' equal with 'good' and 'evil'?") had been closed. My concern has still to do with whether Adam had discernment of good and evil before the Fall. But before I go on to ponder upon it, I want to show from Scripture that "the knowledge of good and evil" descriped in the Bible has nothing to do with personal experience of good and evil, but simply discernment of good and evil.
"The knowledge of good and evil," has a distinct meaning in the Old Testament. It refers to the ability to determine for one's self what is good and evil, what is helpful and harmful. In Genesis 3:5, 22 God has this ability and right. In 1 Kings 3:9 Solomon prays for it so he can rule well. In Deuteronomy 1:39 little children don't have it yet. In 2 Samuel 19:35 senile people have lost it (Note: it is translated "discern between good and evil," but when we look at the Hebrew word behind "discern", it is the very same word as used in Gen 3:5 to mean "knowing" [good and evil]. So, there is no difference between the two.)
Two vitally important points to make here:
1) If God had "the knowledge of good and evil," we cannot take "the knowledge of good and evil" to mean personal experience of good and evil, since God has none! God has never sinned!
2) If senile people can lose "the knowledge of good and evil", then they can lose their privilege of knowing God for who He is; losing the knowledge of God's love for them through losing their knowledge of their own sinfulness.
I have already pondered whether Adam and Eve were so child-minded they actually couldn't understand what God commanded them not to do (just as human parents tell their little children not to do something, yet their children, being still unable to discern between good and evil, won't do what they are told), but I think neither this view is consistent with the words of Adam and Eve, by which it is clearly demonstrated they knew what God had forbid.
So, the problem remains whether Adam did have knowledge/discernment of good and evil or not before the Fall. I'm also quite unsure what the Reformed position of this is; Was Adam able to discern between good and evil before the Fall? Had Adam "the knowledge of good and evil" before the Fall?
I'd like to hear your opinions on all of what's been said. Thanks in advance!
"The knowledge of good and evil," has a distinct meaning in the Old Testament. It refers to the ability to determine for one's self what is good and evil, what is helpful and harmful. In Genesis 3:5, 22 God has this ability and right. In 1 Kings 3:9 Solomon prays for it so he can rule well. In Deuteronomy 1:39 little children don't have it yet. In 2 Samuel 19:35 senile people have lost it (Note: it is translated "discern between good and evil," but when we look at the Hebrew word behind "discern", it is the very same word as used in Gen 3:5 to mean "knowing" [good and evil]. So, there is no difference between the two.)
Two vitally important points to make here:
1) If God had "the knowledge of good and evil," we cannot take "the knowledge of good and evil" to mean personal experience of good and evil, since God has none! God has never sinned!
2) If senile people can lose "the knowledge of good and evil", then they can lose their privilege of knowing God for who He is; losing the knowledge of God's love for them through losing their knowledge of their own sinfulness.
I have already pondered whether Adam and Eve were so child-minded they actually couldn't understand what God commanded them not to do (just as human parents tell their little children not to do something, yet their children, being still unable to discern between good and evil, won't do what they are told), but I think neither this view is consistent with the words of Adam and Eve, by which it is clearly demonstrated they knew what God had forbid.
So, the problem remains whether Adam did have knowledge/discernment of good and evil or not before the Fall. I'm also quite unsure what the Reformed position of this is; Was Adam able to discern between good and evil before the Fall? Had Adam "the knowledge of good and evil" before the Fall?
I'd like to hear your opinions on all of what's been said. Thanks in advance!