I'm with you on a lot of this. However when God declared all his works *good*, that included the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
I don't know that there are any other areas in Creation that we can point to that include a created thing that is always and forever off limits. The implication we draw from scripture is that Adam and Eve would have been given permission to eat of the tree in the right time. In God's timing. The prohibition was one that required humility and trust, and the permission would have come with maturity. This theme is carried all throughout the scripture, such as when the Israelites wanted a king. Their error was not in wanting an earthly king, the implication is that God would have given them one eventually. Their error was in wanting a king on their terms (like the nations) and in their timing (now!).
Adam and Eve were not chastised for wanting to be like God (we see all throughout the rest of scripture that we are supposed to seek that), or seeking to know and determine good and evil (Solomon is rewarded for asking for this). Rather, they are chastised for *grasping* for this on their terms and in their timing. This is contrasted with Christ in Phil. 2:5-7 when Paul writes that Christ did not "count equality with God a thing to be grasped".
This wouldn't negate your point either, by the way, because whether God permits the eating of the tree or gives wisdom by other means, like in the giving of the Spirit, it is still from God and received in faith through submitting to his good will and purposes.
Valid points and I also agree. I guess I should clarify that I wasn’t stating that the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil itself wasn’t *evil*, merely the way in which Adam & Eve used it outside of the alignment of God’s intention. So I feel like we’re in agreement here.
Whether due to timing or term issues, they stem from the same issue - doing things our way instead of God’s.
I would say there is a big difference between wanting to be “like God” as in assume His level of hierarchy/power vs. wanting to be like God in the right way (His character) in which we are repeatedly encouraged. We are called to seek to determine to know good and evil by submitting to God’s authority and what He calls good and evil. Just aligning ourself with the Spirit and the wisdom that brings vs doing it in our own right without God’s help.
Either way, I don’t think they were necessarily trying to be like God, but it was the sin of the heart that did them in. Anything out of the alignment of a Holy (perfect/set-apart) God breaks communion and fellowship with Him. This requires perfection, which is of course unobtainable on our own. This is the whole point. He is setting up that point to demonstrate that we can’t do it on our own and that we have to rely on Him.
In any case, I think we’re mostly debating semantics here and that we would agree on pretty much all these points if together in person discussing🤙🏼
I think the issue is whether we/they are trying to be like the character of God (in God's image) or to be gods ourselves and replace God. Lucifer was the most beautiful angel and didn't like being 2nd to God and therefore rebelled. He wanted to be the god himself. He then tempted Eve to follow his same sin.
I used to really look down on Adam and Eve for disobeying God. It seemed ridiculous that they couldn't obey the single law (don't eat from the one tree). I then realized that it doesn't sound like it took long to disobey God. I had to remember, that although Adam and Eve were created as adults and were very intelligent. they only had the experience of a baby. They had very little experience and had neve heard a lie before. We are used to hearing and recognizing lies. They were not. If all a person had ever heard was true, it would be easy (although still wrong) to believe a lie. I decided I needed to be a bit more humble about how I thought I never would have made the same mistake.
Precisely👌🏽
We’re all just as fragile and would’ve done the same, unfortunately
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Yes, and these points touch on another macro theme I've been thinking a lot about, which is fatherhood. We are either children of our Father in heaven or of the devil. It is in the likeness of one father or the other that we will grow. Adam and Eve were of their Father in Heaven, infant-like in disposition, and were deceived by the false father Satan.
The kingdom of God is a household of adopted sons and daughters, maturing into his likeness *the right *, as SARGE mentioned.
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Yes, agreed. Didn't mean to sound nit-picky. Found it helpful to point out the themes of maturity, timing, grasping, etc. I'm a big typology nerd and think about this stuff often.
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