September 26–October 2

 

Introduction and Lesson 1: “Eden”

Education—a worthy endeavor and goal and hopefully something we never completely finish. We start learning the moment we are born (and probably start even before birth), and we never really stop learning. Whether we have a formal education or learn outside of school, there is so much in our universe—from the microscopic to the far-flung solar systems—that we can never learn it all. 

What is the goal of true education? For those with a secular worldview, it can be to learn every possible fact about the physical world or the inner psychological workings of the human brain or the molecular make-up of distant galaxies. 

For those with a Biblical world view, however, education includes so much more than just dry facts. It is also our search to know more about God and the world He created. We search to learn of His creation, His grace, how to walk with Him, and how to know His plans for our eternity. We study to learn more of our place in His plans and His desires for our lives.

True Biblical education should never really end. As we learn more and dive deeper into God’s word, we are changed from the inside and learn a deeper walk with God.  

How many times have you read a familiar text or passage and suddenly see some deeper truth you never noticed before? Whether it’s because we never noticed it before or it’s because God is impressing us with something we are now ready to hear, the Bible is clearly the living Word of God. It does not change, but our understanding and perceptions keep growing.

This deepening understanding of God’s will and Word is the type of education that is addressed in this quarter’s lessons. It doesn’t so much focus on Christian schools but on the wider implications of learning about God in our lives and in our walk with Him.

What are wisdom and knowledge?

What does God’s Word say about knowledge and wisdom? Are they the same thing? Should we search for them? Are they important to us?

Let’s look at a few references. Let’s look first at Psalms 9:9, 10:

Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Here, the wise man tells us that true wisdom begins with the fear, the awe and reverence, we have for God. And just what is wisdom that makes it different from knowledge?

Merriam-Webster defines wisdom in several ways. Two of the most relevant to our study are:

1. The ability to discern inner qualities and relationships: also called insight
2. Good sense: having good judgment

Wisdom is more than just facts and figures; it is having insight, the ability to discern more than we see on the surface, and it includes the ability to use good sense and to use our knowledge wisely. 

Paul dealt with knowledge from two different perspectives. First, in 1 Timothy 2:4 he says: “God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

But then, in 2 Tim 3:7 he contrasts that idea with this statement about some people: “Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”

Clearly, it is possible to be a perpetual student without ever coming to know the truth about God and salvation. It is possible to pile up ideas and facts, true or not, but never really learn the saving truths of God. And even with all the knowledge possible, what use is our knowledge if it is not Truth? Is it possible to learn much but still be poor in real knowledge?

In the High Priestly Prayer found in John 17, Jesus spoke some profound words in verse 17:

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

God’s “word” which we find in the Bible IS truth and it is completely reliable specifically because it is true. It brings to mind the oath that a person has to take before giving witness in a court of law: a vow to tell the truth (not lie), the whole truth (don’t leave out vital parts the truth) and nothing but the truth (don’t add untruths to the truth).

This principle is laid out in Proverbs 30:5, 6:

Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.

We also see this idea of God’s word being truth in Deuteronomy 4, verses 1 and 2, where God is instructing Israel before they will be allowed into the Promised Land:

“Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”

This is followed by a similar command in the last verse of chapter 12:

“Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.

Although those commands were specifically for Israel, they are also a principle which applies to the entire Bible as the whole of it is God’s Word. It is ours for the taking, but we are warned to take it at its word and not change it to fit our theology. Mixing error, even a little, with truth will result in something that is not truth at all. 

• TRUTH + TRUTH = TRUTH
• TRUTH + ERROR = ERROR
• TRUTH + JUST A LITTLE ERROR = A LOT OF ERROR

God, Who cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Numbers 23:19) has told us the truth in His Word. We can never learn it all, but that doesn’t stop us from searching and studying, and as we persist, we keep learning more. And not only do we learn the facts, God gives the wisdom to understand it and to apply it as promised in James 1:5:

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

How wonderful that He not only gives wisdom, but He gives “generously” and “without reproach” as a loving Father Who truly cares about His children.

With God as our teacher, through the working of the Holy Spirit, we are able to learn His truths and we can grow in our walk with Him. Of course we fail at times, but He is ever ready to forgive and to restore the relationship as promised in 1 John 1:9. This verse is not talking about becoming saved, as it is addressed to those who are already in the Body of Christ. Rather, it talks about restoring a relationship between us and God that is hindered by sins we commit. 

With that general background, there are some good statements in the lesson. For example, in the Introduction we read:

“Hence, all true knowledge and wisdom and understanding ultimately have their source in the Lord Himself.”

“But the Written Word, the Scriptures, is the perfect standard of truth, the greatest revelation we have of who God is and what He has done and is doing for humanity.”

These statements highlight the fact that a secular world view misses the deeper meaning of what God offers while a Biblical world view gives us access to the deeper truths that have eternal value.

It is unfortunate that after such a (mostly) good beginning, in week 1 we see a return to superficial, trite descriptions of how God set up an assumed “classroom” setting in the Garden of Eden to become a professor to His first students, Adam and Eve:

“God also knew that man needed to be in close relationship with Him; so, He created an intimate space in Eden within the confines of the garden.”

Here Eden is treated as nothing more than a schoolroom where the students can learn in an intimate setting. But Adam and Eve were more than just students in a class; they were in close, intimate relationship with their Creator. As they were without sin, their spirits were alive and connected to God’s Spirit where they worshipped Him with their whole beings.

On a side note, there is one bit of absolute truth inserted, perhaps without the author realizing the truth of what he said, in this statement:

“We know from God’s command in Genesis 2:16, 17 that He has established one key rule that they must obey, and that was not to eat from the forbidden tree.”

While that statement is absolutely true—that is the only command recorded in the Bible’s creation story—it still contradicts the Adventist claims that the 10 Commandments, or at least the 4th, were given to humanity at that time. But I digress.

This is a good point at which to remember that if you add anything to what is specifically revealed by God you are disobeying His explicit commands, and by adding anything to truth, you no longer have truth.

Then in the lesson there is an example of adding to God’s Word in direct violation of His commands, and it is followed by carefully removing a few words—an edit which is also in direct violation.

From the lesson:

“…the Lord told Adam that if he ate from the tree he would “surely die” (emphasis supplied). When Eve, in Genesis 3:3, repeated the command, she did not express it as strongly, leaving out the word “surely.” In Genesis 3:4, the serpent puts the word back in but in an utter contradiction of what God had said. It seems that though Eve was taught of God in the garden, she didn’t take what she learned as seriously as she should have, as we can see by the very language she used.”

Notice how the author labors over the fact that Eve left out the word “surely”, all the while omitting the fact that he himself left out several key words in God’s command to Adam. Let’s read that command from God found in Genesis 2, verses 16 and 17:

The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

“In the day that you eat” is a very pivotal point of this command, and it carries more weight than the assurance that you will “surely” die. That word “surely” was not particularly necessary as any word coming from God is certain. The word “surely” only increased the impact of His word’s certainty. But to leave out the phrase omitted by the author is to completely change the Bible to fit someone’s theology.

We know from Genesis 5:5 that Adam lived 930 years, and yet God told him that he would die on the very day that he ate from the tree. That leaves us with only two possible choices:

1. God lied, or 
2. Adam died that day.

Since we know how many years he lived (physically) and we know that God cannot lie, what is the only possible conclusion?

The only possible third option is that Adam’s (and Eve’s) spirits died that day. Sin separated them from a Holy God, and they clearly knew they died, as evidenced by the fact that they actually tried to hide from God. They were transferred from the domain of life with God into the domain of darkness and death away from the only source of life. This transfer is the descent into death that was reversed at the cross as described in Colossians 1:13:

“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son”.

In a plan that was devised before creation, Jesus’ death on the cross, His burial, and His resurrection (1 Cor. 15:3, 4), He reversed the death and the curse of sin that had resulted from Adam’s sin and restored us to our place in Him.

The lesson continues with the idea of restoration by saying:

“Read 2 Peter 1:3–11. What does Peter write that we must do in order to seek restoration of God’s image in our lives?

“True education will lead to true knowledge, the knowledge of Christ, and thus not only will we become more like Him, but we also may stand to share our knowledge of Him with others.”

But is “knowledge” about Jesus all it takes to “restore the image of God” in us? That explanation sounds rather superficial and is a lot like the desires of Lucifer in wanting to be like God. He thought he could achieve God-likeness by strength of will just as the lesson seems to suggest we can do by obtaining enough “true knowledge”.

But “true knowledge” is so much more than just knowledge—thanks to our legacy from Adam, we are born dead in sin and have to be born again (Romans 5:12-21). It is not something we can accomplish with any amount of effort or knowledge. All we can do is accept it by faith as something done by God through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. He died to pay for our sin, and in exchange, He gives us His life. It is not from anything we do, but it is purely a gift of love, accepted by faith.

In the questions at the end of the week, we see this:

“How can we, who are removed from such close physical proximity to God, still find power from Him to help us to overcome temptation?”

Once again, the focus is on us and what we can do, with a little help of course, to overcome. But there are two problems with that idea. First, the battle is not ours. As John 16:33 says,

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

And then there is this in 1 John 5:4, 5:

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Jesus already overcame—conquered—the world and sin, and we accept His free gift by faith.

Second, the issue of “close physical proximity to God” is misleading. God is Spirit, not a physical body (John 4:24), so physical proximity is not even an issue. The closeness enjoyed by Adam and Eve was not just because of “close physical proximity” to God; they had a spiritual connection to Him as their spirits were alive, not dead in sin. 

The Holy Spirit indwells and seals us the moment we believe, and in that way we have close, intimate, permanent closeness to God. It isn’t physical but is, in fact, much closer as it is His Spirit in ours. As John 4:24 says, we worship Him spirit to Spirit—a connection which is so much closer than any physical closeness could ever achieve.

This quarter, as we look at education from a Christian point of view, we must remember the commands in Deuteronomy 4 and 12, Proverbs 30, and in Revelation 22 about the severity of what falls on one who adds to or takes away from the Word of God. No matter how many good, true words we find, when they are added to God’s words, or when words are removed, or even when the meaning is changed, we are “proved to be a liar” (Proverbs 30:6). And Revelation 21:8 tells us that the Lake of Fire is the eternal destination of liars. †