Chapter 9 –Why So Many Conclusions Exist

Before examining the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it is important to understand why the world holds so many different conclusions about it.

Across Christianity, we find a wide range of beliefs:

• Some groups are very far from the truth, assigning the tree to Satan with no scriptural structure.
• Some are closer, recognizing that the tree has something to do with law, judgment, or discernment.
• A few small groups have even stated correctly that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil represents the law.

Yet even among those who are close—or even correct in conclusion—there is a shared problem:

They cannot prove what they believe.

Their conclusion may be right, but the structure that produces the conclusion is missing. Without structure, truth cannot stand.

The Problem Is Not Sincerity — It Is Structure

The Bible does not suffer from a lack of sincere readers.
It suffers from a lack of method.

Today, Scripture is approached as though it can support multiple, equally valid meanings, depending on perspective, tradition, or denomination. This is unique to the Bible.

No one builds anything this way in the physical world.

The Blueprint Example

If you hand a group of builders a blueprint for a house, every builder—no matter where they live—will produce the same structure.

There may be small differences in workmanship, but the house itself will be the same, because the blueprint governs the outcome.

But if you tell those same builders simply:

“Build a house.”

Each builder will construct something different.
None of the houses will match.
And no one could say which one is correct.

This is exactly what has happened with the Bible.

The Bible Has One Meaning — Not Many

The Bible is not a collection of ideas waiting to be interpreted.
It is a designed system.

It has:

• internal rules
• internal definitions
• internal consistency

The reason so many contradictory doctrines exist is not because the Bible is unclear, but because the blueprint has been ignored.

People build conclusions without structure.

Isaiah 28 — The Blueprint for Understanding

God did not leave His Word without instruction on how it is to be learned.

Isaiah 28 provides the blueprint:

“For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept;
line upon line, line upon line;
here a little, and there a little.” (Isaiah 28:10)

This is not poetic language.
It is a method.

Truth in Scripture is established by:

• collecting all precepts on a subject
• allowing Scripture to define its own terms
• letting multiple witnesses form one conclusion

When this method is followed, the Bible produces one meaning, not many.

When it is ignored, the Bible becomes whatever the reader wants it to be.

Why This Matters for the Two Trees

The confusion surrounding the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is not the result of hidden mystery.
It is the result of building without a blueprint.

Some people are close.
Some are far away.
But only a structured method can determine what is correct.

This chapter will not begin with conclusions.
It will begin with structure.

And once the structure is in place, the meaning of the tree will no longer be debated — it will be demonstrated.

Key Principle (to carry forward)

The Bible has one meaning because it has one blueprint.
Isaiah 28 is that blueprint.

There are some who believe that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was Satan’s tree, and the Tree of Life was God’s tree. From this assumption, an entire storyline has been built that does not come from the biblical text.

In this view, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is said to teach a mixture of good and evil, while the Tree of Life is treated as God’s teaching tree. According to this interpretation, Adam’s sin was not simply disobedience, but the act of choosing Satan’s tree instead of God’s tree—learning from one teacher rather than the other.

This narrative requires several assumptions that are not stated anywhere in Scripture. It adds dialogue, intent, and function to the trees that the Bible itself does not define. As a result, the Garden account is no longer being read from the text outward, but from an externally constructed story inward.

This chapter will begin by examining the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, removing the false storyline that has been placed on it from outside the Bible. Once that external framework is removed, the text will be allowed to define its own terms.

At the same time, this examination will not discard what others have seen correctly. Some groups have recognized important elements—such as authority, law, judgment, and moral discernment—but without a complete structure, those insights remain incomplete. By restoring the biblical structure, the gaps in these interpretations can be filled without inventing new stories or meanings.

The goal is not to replace one tradition with another, but to let Scripture explain itself, precept upon precept, until the function of the tree becomes clear from the Bible alone.

Genesis 2:9 — What the Text Actually Says

“And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” (Genesis 2:9)

The first thing the text establishes is ownership.

This is God’s garden.

The garden is planted by the LORD God.
The trees are caused to grow by the LORD God.
Both named trees are placed by the LORD God.

The text does not say:

• God created a Satanic tree
• God planted an evil tree
• God allowed Satan to establish a competing system
• There was anything corrupt, mixed, or evil in the garden

Those ideas must be imported from outside the text. They are not read from it.

No “Satan’s Tree” Exists in the Text

Genesis does not describe two teachers.
It does not describe two competing ways of life.
It does not describe Satan operating inside the garden.

There is no verse that says:

• Satan owned a tree
• Satan taught from a tree
• The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil belonged to Satan
• The Tree of Life was God’s teaching tree

The storyline that presents the garden as a battle between God’s tree and Satan’s tree does not come from Scripture. It is a later construction.

By the Bible’s own testimony, both trees belong to God.

This alone collapses the false narrative.

Stop Here — and Think Carefully

If this is God’s garden, then everything in it belongs to God’s way of life.

Within God’s way of life, Scripture consistently shows three core elements:

• The Holy Spirit — God’s presence and guidance
• The Law — God’s definition of good and evil
• Eternal Life — God’s gift, given on His terms

Nothing in the garden contradicts this pattern.

So the question is no longer:

“Which tree belonged to God?”

The question becomes:

“How was God’s way meant to function?”

Adam’s Sin — Defined by the Text

Genesis defines Adam’s sin with complete clarity.

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:17)

Adam was given a command.
That command is law.

Adam’s sin was not:

• choosing Satan’s tree
• learning from the wrong teacher
• failing to eat from the Tree of Life

The text never says any of those things.

Adam’s sin was disobedience to a command.

The penalty for that sin is stated plainly:

death

This is the same penalty attached to sin everywhere else in Scripture.

What Adam Did Not Do

Notice what Genesis does not say:

• It does not say Adam ate from Satan’s tree
• It does not say Adam rejected God’s tree
• It does not say Adam chose evil instruction
• It does not say Adam failed to eat from the Tree of Life

Those ideas are absent because they are not the point.

The Bible defines Adam’s sin as breaking the law he was given.

The Physical and the Spiritual — Defined by the Text

Genesis 2:9 also establishes an important distinction.

It says:

“Out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food…”

This defines physical trees.

A physical tree:

• grows from the ground
• produces physical food

Yet notice how the text handles the Tree of Life.

The Tree of Life is named, but it is not defined by food, nor by growth from the ground in the same functional sense. Scripture later confirms that eternal life is not physical food, and cannot come from physical ground.

This tells us something important:

• Physical trees are grown from the ground for food
• Eternal life is not produced by physical soil

Which means the Tree of Life represents a spiritual reality, not a physical source of nourishment.

That distinction matters.

The Conclusion the Text Forces

When the Bible is allowed to define its own terms, the conclusion is unavoidable:

• The garden is God’s
• Both trees are God’s
• Nothing evil existed in the garden
• Adam was under law
• Adam broke that law
• The penalty for sin is death
• Eternal life is spiritual, not physical

Therefore:

Adam did not sin by eating from “the wrong tree.”
Adam sinned by breaking the law God gave him.

That is not interpretation.
That is the text.

The First Witness — Law, Not a Competing Tree

Up to this point, the text itself has given us one clear witness.

Adam’s fall was not caused by choosing the “wrong teacher,” nor by eating from a Satanic tree. The Bible defines Adam’s sin as breaking a command.

A command is law.

The penalty for breaking that law was clearly stated:

“In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

This establishes the first witness:

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is tied directly to law — obedience and disobedience — not to Satan.

Adam fell because he transgressed the law he was given.

That conclusion comes from the text alone.

A Necessary Question

At this point, a serious question must be asked:

If a single word were missing from the Bible, could it change how a passage is understood?

The answer is obvious.

In any legal document, contract, or instruction manual, the loss of even one key word can alter meaning, intent, and function. Scripture is no different.

If the Bible is truly consistent — and it is — then missing information would not destroy truth, but it would obscure structure.

That is why multiple witnesses matter.

How the Modern Bible Came to Us

Most readers are unaware that the modern Bible did not come to us as a single, uninterrupted manuscript.

The Hebrew texts were:

• scattered
• copied by hand
• preserved in fragments
• later collected and standardized

This does not mean the Bible is unreliable — it means context and structure can be lost, especially when readers rely on one language tradition alone.

Words can be translated faithfully and still lose function.

That is why God provided more than one witness.

 

The Septuagint — A Witness That Was Never Lost

Unlike the Hebrew manuscripts, the Septuagint was never lost.

It was:

• translated centuries before Christ
• widely used in the time of the apostles
• quoted directly in the New Testament
• preserved as a complete Greek witness

The Septuagint does not replace the Hebrew text.
It stands alongside it.

Where one text is brief, the other is often precise.
Where one is implied, the other is explicit.

This is how Scripture confirms Scripture.

Why the Septuagint Matters Here

When we return to Genesis through the Septuagint, something important becomes clearer.

The concept behind “knowledge” is not presented as:

• curiosity
• experimentation
• discovery
• mixed instruction

Instead, it carries the sense of:

learning by instruction

That distinction matters.

It means the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was not about inventing morality, but about receiving definition — definition that belongs to God.

This aligns perfectly with everything Scripture says elsewhere about:

• law
• discernment
• judgment
• obedience

The Hebrew text gives us the command.
The Septuagint helps us see the function.

Together, they form two witnesses.

Why This Is Not Adding to Scripture

This is not introducing a new idea.
It is recovering structure that Scripture already assumes.

When one witness establishes the role of law, and another clarifies how that law was meant to be learned, the meaning does not multiply — it converges.

The Bible does not produce many meanings when read correctly.
It produces one.

Where This Leads Next

With:

• the Hebrew text showing Adam fell by breaking law
• the Septuagint clarifying the role of learning and instruction

we now have two witnesses pointing to the same conclusion.

The next step is to examine the Septuagint wording itself and let it confirm — or deny — what we have already seen.

If it confirms it, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil can no longer be assigned to Satan, nor treated as a forbidden teaching system.

It must be understood within God’s law-based structure.

he Septuagint — Standing on Its Own

At this point, the question is no longer whether Adam sinned by breaking a command.
The text has already established that.

The question now is what role the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was meant to play before Adam sinned.

To answer that, we turn to the Septuagint — not as a correction of Scripture, but as a preserved witness that clarifies function.

The Septuagint was never lost, never reconstructed, and was the version of Scripture commonly used in the time of Christ and the apostles. When the New Testament quotes the Old, it frequently follows the Septuagint wording.

This makes it a valid and powerful witness.

What the Septuagint Reveals

In the Septuagint, the concept behind “knowledge” in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil carries the sense of learning by instruction, not independent discovery.

This is critical.

The tree is not presented as:

• experimentation
• curiosity
• mixture
• autonomous reasoning

It is presented as knowledge that is to be learned.

That single distinction changes everything.

Adam Was Set to Learn — Not to Seize

If the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil represents learning, then Adam was not forbidden from ever knowing good and evil.

He was forbidden from taking that knowledge to himself.

This aligns perfectly with everything else Scripture teaches:

• Children are described as not yet knowing good and evil
• Kings are praised for learning to discern good and evil
• Mature believers are expected to discern good and evil through practice

Knowledge of good and evil is not evil.
How it is obtained is the issue.

The Septuagint shows that Adam was meant to learn good and evil — under God’s authority.

The Sin — Taking Authority to Himself

Adam’s sin was not learning.

Adam’s sin was deciding.

When Adam ate, he did not gain knowledge that belonged to Satan.
He took God’s role of defining good and evil.

In other words:

• Adam did not become evil
• Adam became his own judge
• Adam assumed authority that belonged to God alone

This is exactly what Scripture later condemns:

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil.”

Calling something good or evil requires authority.
That authority belongs to God.

Adam seized it.

Why This Can Only Be God’s Tree

If the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil were Satan’s tree:

• God could not require people to discern good and evil later
• God could not give law
• God could not judge
• God could not condemn redefining good and evil

Yet Scripture does all of these things.

Therefore, the knowledge itself belongs to God.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil represents God’s right to define good and evil — which is exactly what the law does.

The Tree and the Law — One Function

The Septuagint confirms what the text already implied:

• The tree was not evil
• The knowledge was not forbidden
• The authority was restricted

Adam was to live under God’s law and learn what God defines as good and evil.

Instead, Adam chose to define it himself.

That is why the penalty was death.

The Conclusion the Septuagint Forces

Standing alone, the Septuagint establishes this:

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was God’s tree, intended for learning under God’s authority.

Adam’s fall occurred when:

• he took that authority prematurely
• he became his own standard
• he decided for himself what was good and evil

That is not Satan’s system.

That is lawlessness.

Why This Matters Going Forward

Once this is understood:

• the Two Trees doctrine collapses
• the false garden storyline disappears
• the law takes its rightful place
• and the Bible becomes internally consistent

What remains is not mystery, but structure.

Key Statement (to carry forward)

Adam did not sin by learning good and evil.
Adam sinned by claiming the authority to define it.

That conclusion does not come from theology.
It comes from the text.

Isaiah 28 — Applying the Method

Isaiah 28 does not tell us to rely on a single verse or a single passage.
It commands us to gather all the precepts on a subject and let them build understanding together.

“For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.” (Isaiah 28:10)

If the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is to be understood correctly, then every place in Scripture where “good” and “evil” are defined must be considered.

When we do that, a consistent pattern emerges.

The First Precept — Genesis

God defines the terms from the beginning.

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:17)

Here the connection is explicit:

• Disobedience → death
• Obedience → life

The issue is not curiosity or learning.
The issue is law and its penalty.

Deuteronomy — God Defines Good and Evil

Later, God defines good and evil plainly.

“See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.” (Deuteronomy 30:15)

This verse is decisive.

God does not define:

• good as a feeling
• evil as ignorance
• knowledge as neutral experimentation

Instead, God equates:

• good with life
• evil with death

This is the same structure seen in Genesis.

Choice Under Law

The passage continues:

“In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments… that thou mayest live.” (Deuteronomy 30:16)

And then:

“But if thine heart turn away… ye shall surely perish.” (Deuteronomy 30:17–18)

Once again:

• Obedience to law → life
• Rejection of law → death

This is not symbolic.
It is functional.

The Wisdom Literature — Same Definition

The same structure appears elsewhere:

“The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.” (Proverbs 15:24)

“He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.” (Proverbs 8:36)

Here again:

• Loving God’s instruction → life
• Rejecting it → death

Good and evil are not abstract concepts.
They are outcomes tied to obedience.

The Prophets — No Change in Meaning

The prophets do not redefine the terms.

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil.” (Isaiah 5:20)

Calling something good or evil is an act of authority.

To redefine good and evil is to challenge God’s law — the same act Adam committed.

The New Testament — Same Foundation

The New Testament does not change this definition.

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life.” (Romans 6:23)

Sin is still law-breaking.
The result is still death.
Life still comes from God.

Bringing the Precepts Together

When all the precepts are added together, a single definition emerges:

• Good = obedience to God → life
• Evil = rejection of God’s law → death

This definition is consistent:

• in Genesis
• in the Law
• in the Prophets
• in the Writings
• in the New Testament

There is no competing definition anywhere in Scripture.

What This Means for the Tree

With all precepts considered, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil cannot mean:

• Satanic teaching
• moral experimentation
• mixed instruction
• independent discovery

It means God’s authority to define good and evil, which is exercised through law.

Adam was warned:

Disobedience would bring death.

Adam chose to take that authority to himself.

That choice brought exactly what God said it would bring.

The Conclusion Required by Isaiah 28

When Scripture is allowed to interpret Scripture:

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil represents God’s law — His definition of good and evil — with life attached to obedience and death attached to transgression.

Adam did not eat the “wrong tree.”

Adam broke the law.

And the penalty for sin has never changed.                      

Good and Evil Set Before Israel — Defined as Law

When God spoke to Israel about good and evil, He was not speaking in vague or spiritualized terms. He was defining obedience and disobedience to law.

This must be shown clearly, without mixing it yet with other parts of the garden.

 

God’s Own Definition

“See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.”
(Deuteronomy 30:15)

At first glance, this sounds broad. But Scripture does not leave it undefined.

God immediately explains what He means.

What “Good” Means in God’s Words

“In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live.”
(Deuteronomy 30:16)

Here, good is not grace.
It is not mercy.
It is not faith apart from action.

Good is defined as keeping the commandments, statutes, and judgments.

That is law.

What “Evil” Means in God’s Words

God then defines the opposite:

“But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear… I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish.”
(Deuteronomy 30:17–18)

Here, evil is not emotional wickedness.
It is not ignorance.
It is not lack of grace.

Evil is refusing to hear and obey the law.

The result is death.

No Grace Language Appears Here

Notice what is absent from this passage:

• No mention of grace
• No substitutionary sacrifice
• No imputed righteousness
• No faith apart from obedience

This is not because grace is false — but because this passage is not about grace.

It is about law.

Grace does not remove the definition of good and evil.
Grace addresses the problem created when the law is broken.

The Pattern Does Not Change

God repeats this definition elsewhere:

“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life.”
(Deuteronomy 30:19)

Blessing and cursing are covenant terms tied to obedience and disobedience.

They are legal outcomes.

Why This Matters

When God set good and evil before Israel, He was doing the same thing He did with Adam:

• defining right and wrong
• attaching life to obedience
• attaching death to transgression

This is not symbolic.
This is covenant law.

The Point That Must Be Fixed Here

Before moving forward, this must be settled:

In Scripture, “good and evil” are defined by God’s law, not by grace.

Grace comes later to deal with failure under the law.

But good and evil themselves are defined only by God’s commands.

Why This Belongs Here — and Nowhere Else (Yet)

This section is not about:

• the Tree of Life
• redemption
• Christ
• sacrifice

Those will come later.

For now, only one thing must be established:

God’s definition of good and evil has always been His law.

That definition has never changed.

The Definition Is Set by Scripture

At this point, the Bible itself has defined the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

When all the precepts are gathered—precept upon precept, line upon line—Scripture consistently shows that good and evil are defined by God’s law, with life attached to obedience and death attached to transgression.

There is no verse anywhere in the Bible that contradicts this finding.

This conclusion does not come from personal interpretation, tradition, or theology.
It comes from allowing the Bible to interpret the Bible, exactly as Isaiah 28 instructs.

This is not an opinion.
It is structure.

Isaiah 28 is the blueprint, and when that blueprint is followed, the result is consistent, repeatable, and unified.

One Part of the Garden Is Now Defined

With the blueprint applied, one part of the garden is now established beyond dispute:

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil represents God’s law—His authority to define good and evil.

Adam’s sin was not choosing the wrong tree.
Adam’s sin was breaking the law he was given.

That single act brought the penalty God had already declared:

death

The Consequence of Sin — Physical First

When Adam sinned, God immediately pronounced physical judgment.

Adam was told:

“Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

From that point forward, all mankind was subject to death.

In that sense, all mankind became dead—not spiritually annihilated, but placed under the sentence of death.

God’s law had been broken, and the penalty was applied.

The Spiritual Consequence — Separation from the Father

After the physical judgment was pronounced, Scripture records a second action:

“So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
(Genesis 3:24)

This was not a physical punishment.
It was a spiritual consequence.

God does not allow sin in His presence.

The Father did not change.
The law did not change.
Man’s status changed.

The Closing of Access

Genesis 3:24 shows access being closed, not life being destroyed.

This closure corresponds precisely with what later Scripture reveals:

• The veil separating the Holy of Holies
• The cherubim woven into that veil
• The holy flame representing God’s presence

Together, they show separation between sinful man and the Father.

This is not symbolism added later—it is structure revealed progressively.

The garden represents access to the Father, and that access could not remain open while sin stood unresolved.

What Has Been Established So Far

At the close of this chapter, only what the text has proven has been stated:

• God’s law defines good and evil
• Adam broke that law
• The penalty for sin is death
• God does not dwell with sin
• Physical death was pronounced
• Spiritual access to the Father was closed

Nothing more has been added.
Nothing has been assumed.