1. The Origin of Conscience
Genesis 2:15–17 (NKJV)
15Then theLord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
16And theLord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17but 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 surely die.”
God gives here a command to Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day that he would eat from it, he would surely die. Then Satan comes and tempts Eve with deception by bringing doubt about the Word of God that was spoken to them. As we all know, Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree and something interesting happened to them when they did, beside the fact that their spirits died instantly and were separated from God. Let’s read it in Genesis 3:6–7:
Genesis 3:6–7 (NKJV)
6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
7Thenthe eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
This passage tells us that the moment they ate from the fruit, their eyes were opened. What eyes? Didn’t they see before? Of course, they had seen perfectly before, but they had been walking and seeing by faith. That doesn’t mean they were not aware of their natural surroundings and were not seeing and enjoying the garden, the animals, and the whole of creation before the fall. However, because death had not entered onto the scene yet, the natural world was in tune with the spiritual world in such a way that there was no conflict between the two worlds. In this perfect harmony, they were more God-conscious than self-conscious. They were dominated more by the spiritual world in their inner vision and perception. The spiritual things were more real to them than the physical things. However, when they ate of that fruit, their perception of spiritual things diminished, and their perception of the physical things became dominant. We consider it normal today the way you and I see, feel, and think in the present, but it’s actually abnormal compared to the way God initially created us. Through our new birth, we receive a new spirit inside of us that is capable again of walking by faith and not by sight. The apostle Paul says the following in 2 Corinthians 5:7 and 5:17:
2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV)
7For we walkby faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;behold, all things have become new.
We are called to walk by faith in what the Word says about our new identity and not walk by what we see with our physical eyes. Through the eyes of the new spirit, we can behold and perceive that all things have become new for us. We, as New Testament believers, should go back to the way Adam and Eve were intended to be. Together, the spiritual realm, with what the new spirit holds inside of us, should be more real to us than anything el