Some years ago, a 21-year-old client came to the Care Pregnancy Center in a state of deep distress. She was not married, already had two children, and now suspected she was pregnant again. Through tears, she also told me her doctor recently confirmed she had contracted the HPV virus, which causes genital warts and predisposes her to cervical cancer.
The last time she came in, she had signed our center’s abstinence agreement, promising to remain sexually pure until marriage. So, I asked her what happened. She responded, “I got lonely, and I drank too much. Now I am living with the consequences of my bad decisions, and I am completely heartbroken.”
The forbidding of this tree brings man to the knowledge of good and evil. Obedience to the command of God not to partake of this tree is presented as a moral good. Disobedience to God by partaking of it is presented as a moral evil. The command concerning this tree, then, forms the first lesson in morality by presenting the concept of good and evil. Thus, the tree is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Man’s moral obligation was written into his being from the beginning, along with the image of God stamped upon him. This command was necessary to awaken man’s consciousness to understand his moral nature.
A command implies there is both a superior being and an inferior being. Here, the Creator has the right to command, and the created has the duty to obey. The sense of obligation to obey the Author of his being springs from the relationship between the creature and his Creator.
To try man’s obedience, God gives him only one command. For his observance, the Sovereign Lord would grant him life and immortality. The result of a breach would mean certain death.
This death would have a threefold consequence. Man would become vulnerable to all the miseries which precede and accompany the natural death of his body. He would become dead to the spiritual life of his soul, and he would forfeit his right to eternal life. Man would lose all his current and future happiness.
The occupant of the garden is offered both freedom and limits. Death, mentioned for the first time here, is related to obedience. During our time on earth, our obedience will be tested. Let us take care to avoid setting our own will against the holy will of our Creator. May we consider the serious consequences of the choices we make in freedom.
Can you identify a time when you knew you were breaking God’s command, but you chose to do it anyway? Only to feel miserable afterwards? God gave man the freedom to choose, and he gave him guideposts to follow. Obedience to these commands of God bring blessing. Disobedience fractures our relationship with God and brings loss, regret, and immense sorrow.
Let us thank God for sending the Savior who, by his sacrifice, made restoration to our Creator possible. When we appeal to Christ Jesus, our lackluster choices need not mean everlasting separation from God and eternal death. For this, we can be most grateful.
Becoming Biblical 