2026/07/06

255. The Gospel of John and the Priesthood of the New Covenant: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

"Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears the words of God; the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God" (Jn 8:46–47). These words of Jesus strongly urge us, as believers today, to re-examine history with complete trust in the Father. So, I realised that I must revisit the conclusions I drew two years ago regarding the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil" from a new perspective.

Based on the words of the woman to the serpent in Genesis 3—"We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" (Gen 3:2–3)—I concluded that the first two humans had not eaten from "the tree which is in the midst of the garden," that is, the "Tree of Life" and the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil."　However, when I properly grasped that the entire book of Genesis is narrated—much like Jesus often did—as a parable, so to speak, concerning God’s plan, I realised that this was not the case. At that time, they simply did not possess the awareness that they were made to be connected to the "Tree of Life" or the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil."

Human beings were created in such a way that, as a normal state of affairs, the spontaneity of the human body—which manifests "our image"—is connected, through "human knowledge" and via "the Word (the Tree of Life)," to "God's spontaneity (the breath of life)"—which manifests "our likeness." In this state, human beings are able to work in partnership with the Holy Spirit and manifest the resemblance of God. This is a state in which one's "human knowledge" is already connected to "the Word (the Tree of Life)," and Genesis expressed this state by the word "eat." Thus, the "God" in Chapter 1 became "the Lord God" in Chapter 2, arranging for the Holy Spirit to work within human beings. This was so that the "man," together with the Holy Spirit, might till and keep the Garden of Eden, fully manifesting the resemblance of God. Whilst working in this way, the Holy Spirit trained the "man" and brought him to the point where, "whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name" (Gen 2:19).

Here, the "man" came into contact with all the cattle, the birds of the air and every beast of the field, yet he was not misled by the information manifested in them. This was because he was working in collaboration with the Holy Spirit. Not being misled by information until reaching that point—that is precisely why the Lord God caused the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil" to grow alongside the "Tree of Life." The information emitted by all of creation, even the same information, can be perceived as either good or evil depending on the state or circumstances of the person receiving it; it then becomes "human information" and spreads further among people. If we can view this information as the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil," we will learn to distinguish information that approaches as another. In the realm of the human spirit, the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil" functions as a warning tower, erected so that our "human knowledge" can distinguish information from created things from itself and avoid absorbing it.

On one occasion, when a man asked, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (Lk 18:18), Jesus replied, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone" (18:19). Goodness is always "God alone." "Human information," which can be perceived as either good or evil depending on the recipient, is "the knowledge of good and evi." However, we tend to try to distinguish between good and evil. And we rarely realise that this is itself the result of having absorbed "human information" without distinguishing it from our own "human knowledge." Information is not of God. Whilst it is not a creation of God, it manifests itself through all created things that bear the characteristic of being a reflection of God's hand. This influence becomes a problem only for human beings, who were solely made in resemblance of God.

If one incorporates "human information"—which arises and spreads accidentally amidst interactions between people—into one's own knowledge, that person's "human knowledge" becomes fixated on that information and the various relationships linked to it, and is, so to speak, hijacked. Consequently, his "human knowledge" can no longer connect with "God's spontaneity (the breath of life)" through "the Word (the Tree of Life)." This means losing the resemblance of God that manifests in collaboration with the Holy Spirit. The statement, "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die" (Gen 2:17), expresses precisely this. The "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil," which serves as a warning tower, does nothing in itself. The problem lies in "human knowledge" connecting with spontaneity and leading to action. This is something we humans must recognise and address on our own initiative. That is why Jesus speaks so clearly:

"Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears the words of God; the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God" (Jn 8:46–47).

Maria K. M

(Notice)

A new article has been posted on the blog, The Wind of Patmos. It is a translation of an article I submitted to and was published in the Japanese internet magazine, Catholic Ai.