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Translated by W. Moore and H. A. Wilson
St Gregory of Nyssa Resources Online and in Print
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70 Pages
Page 40
XX. What was the life in Paradise, and what was the forbidden tree [1677] ?
1. What then is that which includes the knowledge of good and evil blended together, and is decked with the pleasures of sense? I think I am not aiming wide of the mark in employing, as a starting-point for my speculation, the sense of "knowable [1678] ." It is not, I think, "science" which the Scripture here means by "knowledge"; but I find a certain distinction, according to Scriptural use, between "knowledge" and "discernment": for to "discern" skilfully the good from the evil, the Apostle says is a mark of a more perfect condition and of "exercised senses [1679] ," for which reason also he bids us "prove all things [1680] ," and says that "discernment" belongs to the spiritual man [1681] : but "knowledge" is not always to be understood of skill and acquaintance with anything, but of the disposition towards what is agreeable,--as "the Lord knoweth them that are His [1682] "; and He says to Moses, "I knew thee above all [1683] "; while of those condemned in their wickedness He Who knows all things says, "I never knew you [1684] ."
[1677] Otherwise Chap. xxi. The Bodleian ms. of the Latin version gives as the title:--"Why Scripture calls the tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.'"
[1678] The reference is to Gen. ii. 9 (in LXX.), where the tree is called, to xulon tou eidenai gnoston kalou kai ponerou. S. Gregory proceeds to ascertain the exact meaning of the word gnoston in the text; the eating is the "knowing," but what is "knowing"? He answers, "desiring."
[1679] Cf. Heb. v. 14
[1680] 1 Thess v. 21.
[1681] Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 15.
[1682] 2 Tim. ii. 19.
[1683] Ex. xxxiii. 12 (LXX.).
[1684] S. Matt. vii. 23.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/nyssa/making-man.asp?pg=40
