The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum The Holiness of God

God placed the “Tree of knowledge of good and evil” in the “middle of the garden” along with the “Tree of Life” (Gen 2:9). At that time, Adam and Eve only knew right and wrong by way of “commandment“ (2:16), but did not yet learn what “good and evil” was, which was evidenced by “they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed (2:25). It was when they partook of the “Tree” (3:7, 10, 11) that they inherited the knowledge of good and evil.

God being omniscient knew they would partake of the Tree, even when He was commanding not to partake. But could this be the way He wanted to teach them His holiness, via now knowing good and evil? It’s obvious they would not have known what His holiness was without knowing good and evil.

I believe God had to show them this way to get them to understand everything! Before Eve partook of the Tree she “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise” (3:6). It’s not said why Adam partook, but for whatever reason he had decided to also partake. In my opinion it could be so he could die with her. But the crux of the matter is that they were manifesting possessing the sin nature before partaking of the Tree!

“These terms refer to desires that lead people away from spiritual values: the lust of the flesh represents cravings for physical pleasures, the lust of the eyes signifies a desire for what one sees, and the pride of life indicates an arrogance about one's achievements and possessions. Together, they illustrate the temptations of worldly living that are not aligned with spiritual teachings.” -Bible Hub

We could say that it was all good because “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Ro 8:28).

-NC

NetChaplin

You said:


I think I can agree with everything, except that sentence; that is if I understand your point.

I don’t remember any Reformed theologians saying that before.

From my understanding of them, they said Adam and Eve processed ability to sin and not to sin. It was not until they actually partook of the tree, that they got a sin nature.

Tom

The "sin/depravity of nature" was part of the punishment God put upon Adam and Eve and all their progeny due to his disobedience; aka: Original Sin. The other was the Guilt imputed to all mankind due to Adam being the federal head of the human race. This is crucial to understand and the basis upon the salvation of man, i.e., the imputation of Christ's righteousness to all believers of whom Christ is their Head.

Just an important addendum to what you wrote, Tom... Yes it is absolutely true that Adam was given the ability to sin and the ability to not sin BUT he was not given the ability to NEVER sin. Augustine put it this way, "posse pecarre, posse non pecarre, and non posse non pecarre".

Agreed