Hello Everyone!
Here is a great question concerning Adam & Eve eating the forbidden fruit. Here is the question below:
I was skimming over Genesis a little while ago. I was reading the passage about Eve eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and how God banished man from Eden because of it.
What I wanted to know was why God would do that. Why would He not want man to know the difference between good and evil? You were saying earlier that animal sacrifices were accepted by God before the time of Jesus because animals were pure, due to the fact that they didn’t know the difference between right and wrong or good and evil.
But, wouldn’t that mean that man was essentially an animal before he ate from the tree? That doesn’t make much sense if we were created in God’s image.
Can you please help clear this up for me?
Was Man Like an Animal Before Eating the Fruit?
First, let me answer your question about man being like an animal before eating the fruit. The bible always indicates that man was originally created separately from animals. In the Genesis creation story, man and animals were created at different times. God created the animals, and then commands this:
Genesis 1:26: Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So it is clear that from the beginning, man was different from beast, and placed with great authority and control over them. God created us in his image. What that means is that we all have some traits of God in us. Man was God’s main creation, as the plants, animals, and earth are all needed to sustain man. Man cannot survive without those things, but those things could survive without man.
Even though Adam and Eve did not yet sin (or know right from wrong), they are distinguished from the animals. They can think, reason, create, and more. They had different abilities from animals, and this is because God designed us this way from the beginning.
It is true that at this point, man did not yet know sin or disobedience. They had not yet done wrong. This is also true with animals, but for a different reason. Animals simply don’t have the intellect to distinguish right from wrong. No only that, but animals have never been given a command from God like us humans. God gave us humans commands, not animals.
God gives animals instincts. A turtle can go lay eggs on the beach under the sand, and then immediately leave. When the eggs hatch, the baby turtles immediately go to the water to swim and live their lives. Why? It is hard-wired in their brains exactly what to do. It is instinct they are born with. They don’t have to think or reason about it. They just do it.
Humans on the other hand are really different. We think about everything in life, don’t we? What career do we want, what do we want to do today?
Not only that, but I always found it interesting that even though humans are the smartest creatures on the Earth, we are totally helpless and couldn’t survive on our own until at least our teen years. If our parents didn’t care for us, we would die. Yet an animal can hatch or be born, and they immediately can survive either that same day, or in just a few short weeks/months on their own.
So in summary, man and beast have always been a separate creation. God places much more emphasis on humans, and gives us authority over all animals. Even though man didn’t yet know sin, they were different from animals because they had the intellect, it just hasn’t been revealed to them yet.
Why Did God Not Want Adam & Eve To Know the Difference Between Good and Evil?
First, God tells Adam and Eve about this tree in Genesis 2: 16-18:
“And God commanded the man saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.”
That is the only reference The Bible makes to the tree before they eat of it. So let’s stop for a second and discuss this.
Adam and Eve at this point do not know evil. Why? They have never witnessed it. They have never disobeyed God. God has not placed any kinds of laws on Adam and Eve. If there is no law, you cannot know disobedience. So since there has never been evil witnessed by them, they did not know about evil. God gives them only 1 law: Don’t eat from that tree. Why? To reveal their true obedience and hearts.
Have you ever noticed how a beam of light will reveal all of the dust in the air of a house or building? I looks like 1,000′s of tiny particles floating everywhere. However, if the light never revealed it, you would never know it was there. The light didn’t create the dust, the light merely revealed the dust.
In this same way, by eating the forbidden fruit, it was revealed to Adam & Eve that they had done wrong. They then knew good and evil, since they had experienced it and seen it for themselves (through their disobedience). The fruit merely revealed their disobedience, and immediately they realized they had done wrong.
God did not want Adam and Eve to ever know the difference between right and wrong. Not because they would be “LIKE” God, but because they would have disobeyed, and thus they would have realized “sin” and “evil.” The serpent (Satan) realized this, but tried to trick Adam & Eve anyways. He lied and said they wouldn’t die, and would only gain knowledge & become like God.
In reality, they did die (spiritually that day, and then physically years later), and also they gained “sin” by disobeying God.
So in summary, God did not want man to know good and evil, because knowing the difference between good and evil means that they would have disobeyed his command (the disobedience by eating the fruit is what revealed it to them). They “KNEW” evil by “DOING” evil in other words. So God didn’t want them to DO evil.
Remember, Jesus knew about sin. He had seen it, witnessed others doing it, etc. Not only did he know sin, but he also felt temptation by it. But even though he felt tempted, he never sinned. He resisted all temptation.
An interesting verse is then mentioned when God is telling them about their sin. First, he lets Adam & Eve know of the consequence of their actions. Then, God says this in Genesis 3:22:
Then the LORD God said, “The man has become like one of us, since he knows good and evil. He must not reach out and take the fruit from the tree of life and eat. Then he would live forever.”
Who is the “US” God is Talking to, and What is He Talking About?
God is most likely speaking to the other spiritual beings in his realm (Heaven). These were probably angels, although the bible never specifically states this is true. Some suggest that God could have also been speaking with Christ, since the bible teaches that Christ is the “Firstborn of all creation”- which simply means he was the first of all existence (in spiritual form). It could have been both Jesus and the angels, or just one of them, we do not know, and the bible does not reveal the answer.
So what does God mean when he says, “Man has become like us knowing good and evil?” This most likely is referring to an event that took place in heaven among the angels. As you may have heard, Satan was originally an angel named “Lucifer.” Satan became prideful and wanted to be “GOD.”
God did not approve of Satan’s rebellion, and God gave Satan and the angels a choice. According to the bible, Satan was cast out of heaven, and took some angels (a small minority) with him.
Just as Satan disobeyed and revealed evil, Adam and Eve did the same thing. So God could have been referring to this event when he says, “Man has become like us knowing good and evil.” He could have been referring to the evil that Satan did in heaven.
It is also possible that God was simply referring to the fact that man can now disobey God, and should not be allowed to live forever in this disobedience and do wrong continually.
Thanks again for the great question!