Kuyper's Common Grace #CG1.1 Chapter 23

23 The Basis for Further Development

Humanity was in Paradise In good relationship with God, with a “perfect flawlessness”. What hen about development? With development comes a choice: development in accordance with God;s will or against it: “a choice that would correspond to the requirement implicit in the position of image-bearer or that would go against being that image.” (212)

“Adam had to move forward. The state of simply being a product of creation could not continue. He had to move from that state to go on to that second state, which would be the product of creation together with a choice of will. Man himself working in God’s work and as his work. Or, if he chose against God, working against God’s work and therefore immediately locked in punishment and curse by the reaction of God’s sovereignty.” (213)

Original righteousness was the starting point, but only a starting point. There had to be development.

Kuyper then turns again to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He prefers to call this tree “the tree of conscience” (215).  The tree of life, the other named tree, is found in other places in the scriptures but the tree of conscience is not.

The two trees, Kuyper maintains, show a duality in humanity. The tree of conscience relates to our body and the tree of life to our soul. He rejects a trichotomous view as being “twaddle” and “simply absurd” (216); “the duality of our existence is understood as a necessary [doctrine]” (219)