The Beauty of the Word, The Glory of the Scriptures

…for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them

Rom 2:13-15  NKJV

In my last blog, we examined the concept of the Law.  We saw that it encompasses much more than the “Ten Commandments” written on the tablets of stone by God.  We found that the Law also refers to 613 commands that the Lord gave to Moses to be passed down to His people – commands that reached into all aspects of life.  And we also found, from a broad sense, that the Law can be summarized in two simple, yet profound commands:

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matt 22:37-40 NKJV

So in keeping these two, one keeps them all.

What we did not explore in my last blog was the origin of the Law.  Now, while Moses was called the Law Giver, and although the Lord codified it through him, the law actually existed long before Moses.  In fact, it existed long before Abraham.  Let’s take a look:

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

Gen 6:5-7 NKJV

The reader is likely familiar with the great flood during the time of Noah.  This passage refers to the flood, and predates Abraham by many generations.  But you may be asking, “What does this passage have to do with the Law?”  And this is a valid question.  It does not refer to law of any sort.  However; the subject is plain: Man had become wicked; his heart was intent upon evil, and God chose to destroy the inhabitants of the earth on account of man’s wickedness.  The subject of this passage is Man’s wickedness, and God’s response to that wickedness.  The question, then, is what is wickedness?  What is evil?  These descriptors are meaningless without a standard.  “Evil” cannot exist in the absence of a comparison to “good”.  And “good” cannot exist without a definition.  And that definition then must be directly related to Law.  So where did the definition of “good” originate?  Well, for this, one must look back to the very dawn of our world.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good;

Gen 1:1-4 NKJV

This is the first mention of the word good in the Holy Scriptures.  The Hebrew word is “tob”, and this word is used seven times in the first chapter of Genesis – the story of creation.  (As an aside, the reader may want to remember the number seven.  It is the number of perfection – of completion.  There is a deep significance to the use of numbers in Scripture, and seven is arguably the most special.)  To summarize, God found the following good:

1. Light
2. The Earth and Seas
3. Vegetation, seed bearing plants and fruit
4. The Sun, stars and moon
5. Fish and birds
6. Animals
7. Man and creation as a whole (It was “very good” – note that God used a term to amplify the concept of good in this last verse: mª’od, which means “wholly” or “exceedingly”.)

So in essence, good can be defined as God’s creation – as set forth in its original state and as systemically existing as He originally intended. This is exceedingly GOOD.

So how did Man, being created in a state that was exceedingly good become evil? And how would he know what evil was, if the system within which he was created and placed was wholly good?   It started with a single rule…

Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 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.”

Gen 2:15-17 NKJV

The first law.  This original rule, or law, was the key to unraveling the rest of the Law.  Let’s imagine a state where Adam (the first man) completely obeyed this rule.  He never would have known the difference between good and evil, and so by implication, to him and to his descendants, all would be good.  Without knowledge of evil, man is not held accountable for sin.  Paul amplifies on this concept in his letter to the early Roman Christians:

… I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”   But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.  Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Rom 7:7(b)-12 NKJV

In essence, the first Law (“of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat”) gave rise to an unholy desire in Adam and Eve’s flesh that was then catalyzed by Satan’s deception and brought to full fruition in their sin.  Now let’s dig a little…  Why did Eve eat of the tree?  Was it because the fruit looked delicious?  Well, partly:

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes,…

Gen 3:6(a)  NKJV

But in truth, this was secondary.  Let’s go a little deeper…

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Gen 3:1-5  NKJV

Notice the questioning techniques that Satan used.  Rather than ask Eve what she was allowed to eat (fruit from ALL but the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil), he asked her about the ONE thing she was not allowed to eat.  Satan knew that, God having given them SO much goodness, he would have to find a way to focus them on the one thing that they might consider flawed – a rule against something that appeared good.

At first glance, Eve’s answer seems to be on the right track, “…the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”.  But notice that Eve added to the law.  God had told them not to eat of the fruit; but He never told them not to touch it.  Here, we have a hint of the flesh beginning to take hold in Eve’s heart.  Now, let’s examine the fateful end of that exchange:

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Satan recognized that Eve was susceptible to sin, and at this point, he went in for the kill: “…For God knows…, and you will be like God…”  And the result?

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.

Gen 3:6  NKJV

What caused Eve to sin?  Simply this – a loss of belief in God’s goodness.  “If God does not want us to eat the fruit,” Eve must have reasoned, “it must be because He doesn’t want us to have what’s best.”  The fact that the fruit looked good was only secondary.  So at its root, the physical law that was broken here was only a consequence of the primary law that Eve had already broken within her heart.  Do you see it?

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment.”

Matt 22:37, 38  NKJV

Even before eating the fruit, Eve had already broken this first great commandment.  Knowing all that God had done for them and given them, she allowed herself to believe that God did not care about their best interests.  She stopped loving God with all her heart and mind, and then chose to disobey the one rule that he had given.  And Adam followed in her footsteps.  Here, then, lies the origin of Law and the root of Human sin.   And in this act was born our need for grace and redemption.

I am thankful that the story does not end here.  Because God is truly good.  And He does indeed have our best interests in mind.  In my next blog, we will examine God’s response to Adam and Eve’s sin.  It’s in this immediate response that God shows His plan of redemption and plants seeds of grace.

By the way, do you know the primary Hebrew word for “Law”?  It is Torah.  Does this sound familiar?  If so, it could be because Jews refer to the first five books of the Bible as the “Torah” – the Law.  So in essence, all of the sacred writings from Genesis to Deuteronomy comprise the Law.  It’s a concept worthy of thought…  Selah.

God bless you in your study!

YouJi