Knowledge of Good and Evil

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”- Genesis 2:16-17

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. -Genesis 3:4-7

Adam and Eve were cursed with death, not only because they disobeyed God but ultimately because their eyes were opened and they KNEW good and evil.

Your friend walks in eating a chocolate chip cookie. All of a sudden you’re hungry for one too. If you had never seen or smelled that cookie, you probably would not have desired it, but now your KNOWLEDGE of KNOWING there were cookies that could be eaten, and KNOWING how tasteful they are, made you want one.

In the same way, have you ever sinned because someone told you about something? Before you were ignorant and had no KNOWLEDGE, but then you were made aware of it and now it is part of your life.

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" the evil Queen asked her magical mirror, to which it responded, "Queen, you are full fair, 'tis true, but Snow White is fairer than you." The queen became enraged with jealousy, and told the huntsman, "Take Snow White into the woods and kill her!" Disturbing? Yes!, however, this evil queen is more similar, than one might think, to countless girls today.

Hannah is struggling with finding her identity in Christ. She looks at herself in her bathroom mirror, if only I looked like...her mind wandered to those beautiful girls she saw on TV. She slowly became trapped with envying and idolizing beauty. Without even knowing it, pride crept in as she developed a low self-esteem. Pride consumed her with self, everyone thinks I'm fat and ugly, she constantly thought. Pride feasted on her. It was invisible...she never guessed pride had to do with low self-esteem...after all, she wasn't proud of her looks. Yet, PRIDE consumes one with self. It digs deep roots that open new doors to sin like bitterness, gossip, and sexual immorality.

Taking a moment to reflect, this slippery slope ultimately began when Hannah first became aware of her appearance as she glanced at herself in her mirror. She, then, started comparing herself to the beautiful girls around her, especially on TV. Her comparison lead to discontentment which lead to idolizing beauty and opened the door to pride. If Hannah had no KNOWLEDGE of her appearance from mirrors and of those beautiful girls on TV, she would not be struggling in this way.

Similarly, James is a teenage boy hanging out with his friend who shows him pornography.This KNOWLEDGE lead him to desire to see more. Now he is addicted. In the same way, Anna learns about bulimia from her friend. She tries to lose a few pounds by doing it, now she is controlled by it. Most likely, neither James nor Anna would have been tempted to do what they did had they no KNOWLEDGE of it. So, we see, KNOWLEDGE of evil gives a person desire and temptation to sin.

We are living in an age of KNOWLEDGE as we are constantly fed information from the internet and media. KNOWLEDGE is intimate. It transforms a person's thoughts and gives them new desires.

Paul says, "In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults." (1 Cor. 14:20) again he says, "I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil." (Romans 16:19)

The Greek word for innocent is ἀκέραιος akeraios which translates: unmixed, pure as in wines or metals, without a mixture of evil, free from guile, innocent, simple

Infants or children are innocent, pure and without a mixture of evil because they often lack KNOWLEDGE of evil. Jesus said, “Unless you become like a little child, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” (Matt.18:2) Entering the Kingdom of God is more than just being "saved". One aspect is having an innocent or pure heart. In order to do this one must become like a little child. A believer must, in a sense, be reborn. To be reborn into a little child, first, one needs to turn their backs to whatever sin they have fallen into. To turn means to no longer engage in their previous action. Then they must ask God to open their eyes to see how this KNOWLEDGE of evil has lead them to make choices that lead to their enslavement. They need to replace the evil KNOWLEDGE with truthful KNOWLEDGE. Jesus says, "then you will know the TRUTH and the TRUTH will set you FREE!" (John 8:32).

For Hannah, struggling with finding her identity in Christ, she needs to repent of her deep rooted sin of pride and her superficial idolatry of beauty. She needs to take this KNOWLEDGE of evil captive by being careful what TV shows she watches and how often she looks at herself in the mirror. She needs the Spirit of TRUTH to transform her by helping her follow TRUTHFUL KNOWLEDGE so she KNOWS, understands, and perceives beauty like a little child.

Lord, please take away my KNOWLEDGE of evil. I repent of all the times I've given into sin because of my knowledge of it, and thus have been enslaved by it. I pray that I would be born again like an innocent little child. Today, I choose TRUTH. Today, I choose LIFE.