Gen.1:[26] And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
[27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Gen.6:3] And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

When God created man, God designed that the man would be instructed by Him, and that the man himself would desire to be educated by God, and that man’s wisdom, and understanding would be according to godliness (God-like-ness). This education was not abstract unto Adam and Eve, they were only a few days old when they sinned, and since they were created, God had given them all that they knew, He gave them wisdom and understanding in His will, His Life, and His Word. Adam and Eve were given knowledge, and educated as ‘sons and daughters’ unto Him, and not as the angels, or any other creature.

Gen.3:11] And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
[12] And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
[13] And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Therefore, it was of no surprise that God would respond unto Adam and Eve they way He did when He said “who told thee,” because Adam and Eve was solely being educated by God alone, He did not give them tutors and governors to educate, and instruct them, and they too should have known that their continued education would come solely from the Creator, Who created them, and educated them in godliness.

Gal 3:1  O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 

Gal 3:2  This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 

Gal 3:3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 

Furthermore, even though we have begun being educated by this world since birth, we become a “new creature” the moment we become justified unto eternal life by hearing the gospel to save us from the debt and penalty of sin against us. And because we are given this “gift,” and because we are also given this new identity in Christ, we are also given the doctrine by our Savior whereby we are to live unto Him. We “begun in the Spirit” the moment that we trusted in the gospel, and “by the hearing of faith,” so as Paul makes the exhortation unto the Galatians; their unto “perfection” ought to be by the continued ‘way’ that they became saved; and that is by “hearing” the Living Word of the Living God to sanctify them, and whereby they will grow unto being made “perfect.”

Col 2:8  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 

Col 2:9  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 

Col 2:10  And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: 

Col 2:11  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 

Col 2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 

Col 2:13  And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 

Finally, the Saints are “complete in Him” the moment that we believe the gospel, and as Colossians 2:8-13 explains, we have “begun” in Him, we have this “gift” given to us by Him, and whereby we are “complete in Him,” but we are not complete in knowledge! We too must understand that our Father desires that we “continue” to be educated by Him unto the ‘perfect son’ in Christ. And as the verse below teaches the saints, Paul’s prayer for the Saints was that they would “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” And since Adam, God has designed that godliness would be taught by His “Spirit;” which is His Living Word, and that the man would become “perfect,” and “complete” in the knowledge and understanding of His Word, and seeing as we have “begun in the Spirit” when we became justified by Him, we also ought to “continue” to be educated by Him, and not this world, and our own flesh.

Col 4:12  Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. 

Rod Jones