Good From Evil

2003-3-26 06:13:00

John C writes:
One reason why they didn't teach that doctrine in Sunday School is because your characters are misquoting the Bible. Gen. 3:22 in the KJV reads: "3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil:"

It's good AND evil, not good FROM evil and the chapter twice misquoted and has often been misquoted on this List. There is a difference. "Good from evil" implies a duality, "Good and evil" implies a unity.

I cross checked with several translations of the Bible including New American Standard, Joseph Smith Translation, Swedish Bible, and the Martin Luther translation of the German Bible.

JJ:
I copied the verse from an older writing which was also misquoted. Even though the Hebrew VARA implies a conjunction such as "and" rather than a preposition such as "from," the verse as a whole implies "from" as much as "and."

The New Jerusalem Bible which translates very closely to the Hebrew acknowledges this.

Here is the rendering of this version.

"Then Yahweh God said, Now that the man has become like one of us in knowing good FROM evil, he must not be allowed to reach out his hand and pick from the tree of life too, and eat and live for ever!

One reason this and several other versions use "from" instead of "and" is largely because of the meaning implied by YADA, the Hebrew word from which "to know" is translated.

YADA implies a knowledge gained through discerning or coming to a recognition or understanding.

Therefore, "to know good and evil" implies much more than just leaving paradise and being subject to pleasant and unpleasant sensations. The animals do this much. YADA implies that he who becomes as the Gods will rise above the animals and acquire the ability to discern the good and the evil. Such discernment would result in knowing good FROM evil as well as good and evil.

Think on this. We are told that he who acquires the knowledge (YADA) of good and evil will be as the Elohiym, or Gods.

The enlightening question is this. How many in the human kingdom are as the gods now?

Probably no one you have met lately.

What does this tell us?

It tells us that the true knowledge of good and evil is much more than the generic realization that there is good and bad out there in the world.

The key lies in the scriptures quoted in the Chapter 26. "There is none that know to do good," and the quote from Isaiah that many call good, evil and evil, good.

Now, if a person is subject to good and evil, but calls the evil, good and good, evil, does this not tell us that he is not as the gods? Does it not indicate that he has no power to discern and judge good and evil?

To discern and then judge correctly what is the true good and the true evil, awakens the power of godliness more than even the highest of humanity realize.

I will be writing more about judgment in the next chapter so no sense in covering it in detail here.

John C writes:
"Good from evil" implies a duality, "Good and evil" implies a unity.

JJ:
Actually, they both imply a duality. The fact that "good" and "evil" are both named with differing meanings implies a duality, even if nothing else was said. "And" is a conjunction which links two items, again implying a duality. The fact that YADA implies the discernment of the good from the evil also implies duality.

Here is another scripture that affirms this general principle: "For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses (faculties) exercised to discern both good and evil." Heb 5:13-14

"Discern" here comes from the Greek DIAKRISIS, which Strong's says literally means a "judicial estimation." Its root word implies a judgment which separates. In other words this scripture tells us to use our faculties to judge good, as separated from evil.

Note: Thanks to Assaf for advising me on Hebrew grammar on this subject.