Genesis 2:16-17

⮝ Genesis 2

⮜ Law Analysis overview

16 YHWH God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17WEB

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TheCommandname/

This passage contains a negative command, preceded by a restatement of man's freedom (Genesis 1:29), "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it". The command is immediately followed by a description of the penalty, "for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die".

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This command belongs to the Moral Law. It has a penalty associated with it; the penalty is issued by God and not by a human government.

This law is understood to establish a distinction between man's ability to determine what is good and evil, and God's authority to determine what is good and evil; it is a command against moral Autonomy. The penalty is described as death; we understand it to mean spiritual death (Ephesians 2:1-10), but it is nonetheless arguably related to an understanding of Capital Punishment.

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This command, when understood in terms of its reference to the distinction between Theonomy and Autonomy, has abiding relevance for humanity as a whole, because Adam sinned in this way and caused death to reign on earth (Romans 5:12-14). It finds its fulfillment in the lives of believers in Jesus Christ, who by living a life of perfect submission to God's Law (Romans 5:15-21, 1 Cor 15:21-22), and then offering himself as a sacrifice to receive the death penalty and then defeat death, made it possible for us to have our spirits brought back to life (Eph 2:1-10) and become slaves of righteousness rather than slaves of sin; Theonomists rather than Autonomists (Romans 6:16-23).

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This command has direct relevance to an understanding of the following topics:

• Autonomy
• Capital Punishment