Adam could eat from any tree he pleased, except one. God warned him to stay away from one tree in order to avoid death and the condemnation that would come with it. It wasn’t just a tree of good and evil, but it was called The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It represented the law that would later come through Moses—because the knowledge of sin would come through the law (Romans 3:20). It’s a place where humankind attempts to establish their own righteousness, based upon their own efforts—instead of resting and believing in who God already created them to be.
Many well-meaning believers in Christ are eating from the same tree today, perhaps having the same good intentions as Adam. Today, religion declares: “We should try to become more like Jesus!” This is the result when one fails to comprehend their identity acquired/inherited from the life of God. We’re celebrating over 800 podcasts, looking back at some of our key discussions from over the years.
We begin a series on why Jesus ministered both the Old Covenant and the New. Before we get to some of the teachings of Jesus, we'll lay a foundation that provides reasons why Jesus did this. We'll start at the beginning with Adam in the garden being faced with an element of law already at work when he was commanded not to eat from The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It's the tree of law, and Adam's motivation on why he chose to eat from it may sound familiar in the lives of many Christians today.
It's one of the biggest deceptions known to mankind - the attempt to achieve a higher level of personal improvement through our works and efforts. Adam and Eve were distracted by the glossy appearance of its fruit and the rest of the world followed suit. Israel demonstrated the futility of trying to establish their own righteousness through the works of the law by pursuing a level of improvement that would make them acceptable to God. It falls short every time and fortunately, it is something Jesus redeemed us from.
As we proclaim a message of God's unconditional love and free grace apart from the works of the law and commandments, those bound by legalistic teaching will ask us whether behavior matters. It's hard for them to grasp wanting to do what is right and good apart from rules and regulations. In the same way that God has shown forgiveness and love to us in this New Covenant, as new creations in Christ, we are now empowered to do the same. It's because we're branches, engrafted into the tree of life, bearing his fruit apart from law.
One of the greatest battles for us in this life is the battle of identity. That is, understanding who we are as children of God. The first Adam lost that battle in the garden and the human race became identified as sinners. The last Adam (Jesus) came to offer the free gift of becoming God's righteousness and receiving life. This was made possible because Jesus won the battle of His identity. As a boy growing into a man, He believed and understood who He was as the Son of God and conquered on the basis of that identity. Jesus did not have to do anything to prove who He was. We can experience the same victory as new creatures in Christ.
Trying to avoid bad and striving to do good. This is what man has been chasing since the first two people were placed on the planet. So what's wrong with this approach? Choosing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil brought death and positioned man in a state of hopelessness. The Mosaic law also brought the knowledge of sin and left the Jewish people in a place of unsuccessfully attempting do right and avoid wrong. The gospel provided us with something entirely different. It removed us from the pursuit of the knowledge of good and evil and placed us into a fruitful tree of life in Christ, where we now abide.
Generally, religion has portrayed the foundation of the Christian message to be about making bad people into good people. But there are thousands of non-Christian religions with a similar message, so what is it that should separate the message of the gospel? The tree that Adam and Eve at from was the morality tree that represented the Mosaic law and man's efforts to pursue God through the command of right living. Both the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the Mosaic law brought death. It was all meant to show us that man could not find life by trying to do good things and avoid the bad. We needed life to be restored in us
Adam was told he may eat from any tree in the garden except the one known as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We take a closer look and this tree and consider the likely motive of Adam and Eve as they ate from it. What did they think they would gain from this action? What did the tree represent? Let's compare all of this to another tree located in that garden, the tree of life and in what way it all relates to the gospel.
The basis of the Christian life is not to attempt to live by Christian morals but rather we live by the very life of Christ. When Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, man entered the era of works. He would now determine good and evil on the basis of performance. God's life and grace in us can produce good works. But trying to focus on avoiding evil and doing good because we think we have an obligation to do so will only result in frustration, guilt and condemnation. There are two trees to choose from. Abide in the Tree of Life (Jesus).
