Volume 1: The Contrast between good and evil
The Choice
Deuteronomy 30:15,19
See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Good = life and blessing
Evil = death and curses
Romans 8:1-2
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Also refer to:
John 6:63 – It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
1 John 5:17 – All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.
There are two laws, the law of life in Christ Jesus and the law of sin and death. These are always in operation at all times for everyone, just like the law of gravity.
Often times, people will choose death instead of life. There were two trees in the midst of the garden, the choice of each tree came with different rewards and consequences.
Genesis 2:7-9,16
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
God allowed Adam and Eve to eat from eat freely from every tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There were two trees in the center of the garden, one tree gave life, the other one brought on death! Most of the time, we chose death instead of choosing life. They never ate from the tree of life before they ate from the tree of death!
Genesis 3:24
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
In this passage, God drove them out of the garden after they knew evil. This next passage explains why.
Genesis 3:22
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
God protected man from eating from the tree of life after we knew evil because we would’ve become eternally stuck in an evil condition, separated from God. Instead, He gave us salvation.
Evil is as simple as breaking God’s commandment. The only difference in these two trees were the commandment that God placed on them. Once the commandment was broken, the consequence came forth.
One may ask, why is there a devil or evil? The question really is, why is there a choice?
He gave us a choice, but when we reject Him and we and the enemy don’t think He wants us, He still does! Creation of the enemy was a setup that would allow God to choose us in the midst of our sin and imperfection! God knew what we were going to do before we did it.
It’s not about man’s love for God, it’s about God’s love for man. He chose Himself as the solution. He wrapped Himself in flesh and came to die for our evil.
Though we chose Him last, after sin, after ourselves, He still loves us. There are examples in the Bible which allow man to somewhat understand how this makes God feel. Hosea’s marriage to Gomer was a story of constant redemption of him buying her back from prostitution. Another example was when Abraham was asked to offer Isaac similar to when God would offer His innocent Son to cover our sin.
Romans 5:8
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
1 John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us.