Knowledge of good and evil (2)

The human quest for knowledge of good and evil

Genesis 3:22 NASB95

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—

See also Ge 2:9; Ge 3:5–6; 2 Sa 14:17; 2 Sa 19:35; Eze 28:2–7

The consequences of the attempt to attain this knowledge

Genesis 2:17 NASB95

but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

See also Ge 3:7–19; Eze 28:13–19; Ro 1:28–32

God as the source of full knowledge of good and evil

Psalm 119:66 NASB95

Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments.

See also Job 28:28; Ps 34:11–14; Ps 111:10; Ro 7:7

The natural knowledge of good and evil

Given in the human conscience

Romans 2:14–15 NASB95

For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,

See also Job 27:6; Eze 36:31; Jn 3:20; Ac 24:16; Ro 9:1; 2 Co 1:12; 1 Ti 1:5; 1 Ti 1:18–19; 1 Pe 3:15–16

Conscience and moral decisions

1 Sa 25:30–34; 1 Ch 21:6–7; Ps 37:27; Am 5:14–15; Eph 4:25–32

A natural knowledge of good and evil will not necessarily empower anyone to do good

Romans 7:15–25 NASB95

For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.