Before the Tree

Before Eve and Adam ate from the tree of death, Yahweh didn’t give them any instruction about right and wrong but one: don’t eat from the tree of death. Beyond that, there was no right or wrong. Life was simple before they got the knowledge that there is good and evil. Once they got that knowledge, they still didn’t know one from the other. They just knew suddenly that the two exist.

Apart from the Holy Spirit giving us revelation, we are no better equipped than they were to tell the difference. Even with the “ten commandments” that Yahweh gave to the Israelis. No two people agree on every aspect of what is right and what is wrong unless one of them is too lazy to decide on their own.

Now we know that whatever the law says speaks to those who are subject to the law, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God’s judgment. For no flesh will be justified in His sight by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

But now, apart from the law, God’s righteousness has been revealed—attested by the Law and the Prophets—that is, God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe, since there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:19-23 Holman Christian Standard Bible ®©)