{"id":37714,"date":"2013-03-09T21:39:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-10T03:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=37714"},"modified":"2021-09-07T21:41:55","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T02:41:55","slug":"how-can-god-have-the-knowledge-of-good-and-evil-and-not-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-god-have-the-knowledge-of-good-and-evil-and-not-sin\/","title":{"rendered":"How can God have the knowledge of good and evil and not sin?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>I really liked the answer given regarding God keeping man from living forever since they now would choose to sin of which I found on your website. But I have two more questions:<\/p>\n<p>If the tree of life stops us from living forever in the flesh, what of our souls? I would think that the eternity of our souls would also have been addressed in Genesis. It seems only in regards to hell do we hear of how the souls live on forever.<\/p>\n<p>But, my own attempt at trying to answer this question, perhaps that is why Jesus had to come. Because it was not a matter of dying a mortal death that mattered, but it was from the breath of life and being in God&#8217;s image that we are eternal, at least our soul is.<\/p>\n<p>And how can our Holy Eternal Godhead know good and evil and the knowledge not harm Him as it does us? My own attempt to answer is because God cannot sin; therefore, He can know evil but not do evil?<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for your help!<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>Eternal life is mentioned in connection with both heaven and hell. &#8220;<em>And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life<\/em>&#8221; (Matthew 25:46). The offer of eternal life by Christ is mention numerous times throughout the New Testament.<\/p>\n<p>Every book in the Bible does not address every topic. Neither heaven, as the place for the righteous, nor hell, as the place for the wicked, are discussed in Genesis, but that doesn&#8217;t lessen the importance of the topic.<\/p>\n<p>In regards to your last question:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>Let no one say when he is tempted, &#8220;I am tempted by God&#8221;; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone<\/em>&#8221; (James 1:13).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<em>This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all<\/em>&#8221; (I John 1:5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Knowledge of a topic does not require a person to engage in that topic. I can be knowledgeable about marriage before I find some to wed. I can be knowledgeable about the effects of alcohol without having to drink it. God knows about evil but does not engage in it.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: I really liked the answer given regarding God keeping man from living forever since they now would choose to sin of which I found on your website. But I have two more questions: If the tree of life stops us from living forever in the flesh, what of our souls? I would think that&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[90,491,179],"class_list":["post-37714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-god","tag-omniscient","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7861,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-tree-of-life-different-from-the-tree-of-the-knowledge-of-good-and-evil\/","url_meta":{"origin":37714,"position":0},"title":"Was the tree of life different from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please bear with me. I am just recently in the last year come back to studying the Bible, and there is so much I don't understand. I am what many refer to as 'backslider', but am attempting to rectify that. However, there is no one around me to talk\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66963,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-cross-was-an-ugly-torture-device\/","url_meta":{"origin":37714,"position":1},"title":"The Cross Was an Ugly Torture Device","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton That is true, but men meant evil, while God used it for our good. How can a torture device be made for our good and bless us with forgiveness of sins? It is not the device itself, as if the physical item holds some mystical magic.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13764,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-god-put-the-tree-in-the-garden-if-he-knew-man-would-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":37714,"position":2},"title":"Why did God put the tree in the garden if He knew man would sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: \"Why Does God Allow Evil?\" was a great explanation about why sin exists in the world, I enjoyed reading it and it has been a helpful tool when people ask me about sin and why God allows it to happen. I would like to ask you a question about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26706,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-man-is-created-in-gods-image-how-can-he-have-a-sinful-nature\/","url_meta":{"origin":37714,"position":3},"title":"Since man is created in God&#8217;s image, how can he have a sinful nature?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Since we were created by God and in His image, how is it possible that we have a sinful nature? Answer: The Bible doesn't use the phrase \"sinful nature.\" It is the New International Version that substitutes \"sinful nature\" for the word \"flesh\" in many places. In doing so,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87114,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/living-bread\/","url_meta":{"origin":37714,"position":4},"title":"Living Bread","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton What did Jesus want us to get from His claim to be \"the living bread\" (John 6:51)? Bread feeds energy into the body and keeps us going a little further in our bodily journey. Yet this body will still die, and bread will not stop our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37267,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-are-peoples-spirits-created\/","url_meta":{"origin":37714,"position":5},"title":"When are people&#8217;s spirits created?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Some people believe, which was also me until now, that God made man's spirit and not his physical body. Only in Genesis 2:7 had God put man's spirit in a body. Is this wrong? Also, when God created man on the sixth day, did God just create Adam and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}