July 18, 2024
In the Garden -- Part 4
Genesis 2:15-17
07/18/2024
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the
garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ``You
may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
17 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 surely die.'' (ESV)
God created the heavens and the earth by the creative power
of His Word alone. He created mankind from the dust of the
earth, carefully crafting the man, Adam, and breathing into him
the breath of life.
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of
Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God
commanded the man, saying, ``You may surely eat of
every tree of the garden, 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 surely die.''
Martin Luther wrote about this tree of the knowledge of good
and evil:
But it is useful to note also that God gave Adam Word,
worship, and religion in its barest, purest, and
simplest form, in which there was nothing laborious,
nothing elaborate. For He does not prescribe the
slaughter of oxen, the burning of incense, vows,
fastings, and other tortures of the body. Only this He
wants: that he praise God, that he thank Him, that he
rejoice in the Lord, and that he obey Him by not eating
from the forbidden tree.[1]
May our Lord grant us opportunities to hear His Word, and to
respond in faith to His rich grace and mercy. Amen.
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1. Luther, M., J. Pelikan, ed. (1958). Luther's works: Lectures
on Genesis, chapters 1-5. (AE vol. 1). St. Louis: CPH, p.
106.