Climbing Down the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil

The Book of Romans has 16 Chapters and Chapter 16 is greetings from Paul. If we take the 15 Chapters and divide them by 2, half of this book has 7.5 chapters each. The first 7.5 Chapters has a revelation of Apostle Paul’s journey in climbing down the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the next 7.5 Chapters of the Book of Romans is Apostle Paul’s journey in climbing up the Tree of Life.

Law is good and Evil is sin.

Law is Good
Romans 7:7 ~ What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not!...
Romans 7:12 ~ For the law is holy, and the commandments is holy, righteous and good.

Evil is sin
Romans 7:8 ~ But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead.

Therefore, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil means the Tree of the Knowledge of Law and Sin.

What kind of preaching will cause us to hang around the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?

- The preaching that is not Christ centered but self centered.

- The preaching that is not righteousness consciousness but sin consciousness.

- The preaching that is not emphasizing on resting in the Lord because of His Finished Work on the Cross, but emphasizing on working for the Lord as if Jesus had not died on the Cross.

- The preaching that is not pointing the believers to Jesus, who is all able, all powerful, and full of grace and mercy, but pointing the believers to themselves who are unable, powerless, and full of hatred and unforgiveness.

- The preaching that is not hot but lukewarm. The preaching is not of the Tree of Life but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

On the other hand, when grace revolutionizes our hearts, grace shall awake and edify our spirit. The preaching of His grace glorified Jesus and exalted Christ’s Finished Work on the Cross. It is food to our spirit and gives life to our being. This is the Good News that Apostle Paul was not ashamed of, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

Romans 1:17 ~ for in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith.

The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came from Jesus Christ. When we know the truth and the truth will set us free. Paul, the Apostle of Grace to the gentiles, received God's abundant provision of grace and the gift of His righteousness reign in life through Jesus Christ.

Apostle Paul realized the Tree of Life after his struggles in Romans 7 when he cried out “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” This reminded me of what our Lord says in respect of the tree and its fruits in Matthew 7:15~20, and in Proverbs 18:21. The word we say is the fruit of our belief. The fruit of Righteousness finally came out of Paul’s mouth with his utterance of “WHO” instead of “HOW”, “WHAT” or “WHERE” and worse of all “WHY”.

He had finally come to the end of his law keeping, self consciousness, self righteousness and self effort by not seeking HOW he is going to do with his struggles; and WHAT he is going to do with his struggles; or WHERE he is going to find help for his struggles or even WHY he needs to deal with his struggles. He cried out “WHO can rescue him?” The revelation of Righteousness, Peace, Joy, Wisdom, Prosperity, Healing, Abundant, Freedom… by His grace becomes alive as the Person of Jesus to Apostle Paul.

The revelatory knowledge of "WHO" is our answer will end all our religiosity. Therefore, renew our mind! In due time, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is no more our dwelling place and His grace will carry us down the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil unconsciously and effortlessly...