Found Good or Evil

Articles

Ross Triplett
09/01/24 - 2024 Articles

When Adam was created, “Jehovah God commanded the man saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die’” (Genesis 2:16-17).

This command placed in Adam’s realm of free-will the ability to obey or disobey. God’s commands consist of a standard of good: Moses told the children of Israel, “Jehovah commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, for our good always” (Deuteronomy 6:24). As we go through life, we, like Adam, are faced with the choice of good or evil, and like Adam, will either be found good or evil.

When Jesus spoke to the Jews that had believed him, he told them, “If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples” (John 8:31), but to this same group he said, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father it is your will to do” (Vs. 44). The distinction between those who are children of God, and those who are children of the devil resides in this fact: “He that is of God heareth the words of God: for this cause ye hear them not, because ye are not of God” (Vs. 47). Thus, as the scriptures affirm, “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother” (1 John 3:10).

In some cases, individuals will say, “If there is a God, why did He create evil”? The fact is, evil is not a created entity, it is an action, and we as a people, like Israel, “hate good, and love the evil” (Micah 3:2). Isaiah did also affirm, when he said, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20).

Sin is very deceitful, (Hebrews 3:12-13). Because of this, it behooves us to be attuned to what is good, and what is evil. To this end, the Hebrew writer said, “But solid food is for full-grown men, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil” (5:14).

Remember: “For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10).