Why Did Adam and Eve Choose To Sin? [for debate]

[jasonlevene]

Hello brothers and sisters. After several years of studying the Garden of Eden account of Adam and Eve's sin, I've concluded that:


*Eve was fully knowledgeable of God's command which was why she never ate of the tree of knowledge fruit prior to Satan approaching her. [Genesis 3:3]. Now it is true that she distorted God's command by claiming it prohibited the touching of the tree of knowledge fruit but it can not be denied that she still considered the tree of knowledge fruit to have been deadly.


*It was only when Satan claimed that the eating of the tree of knowledge fruit would make Eve as knowledgeable of good and evil as God that she desired the tree of knowledge fruit [Genesis 3:6]. In the parallel Scripture in the New Testament, 1 John 2:16 explains why Satan's lie provoked Eve to desire the fruit of that tree:

1 John 2:16-For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of this world.

Genesis 3:6-And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that is was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat...

Eve thus desired the fruit of that tree because she was driven by her worldly 'sinful nature' lusts to be her own god and make her own rules.


*Once Adam and Eve sinned, their access to the Garden of Eden's tree of life immortality had been cut off [Genesis 3:22]. This represents the curse of death inflicted upon sinful man. Jesus reversed this curse by rejecting his own sinful nature and dying on the cross and as a result he raised himself from the grave in immortality. This explains why physical death is so consistently portrayed as the opposite of the reward of the immortal resurrection for the righteous.

1 Corinthians 15:16-For if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.



What do you all think of this assessment?

[Kahtar]

*Eve was fully knowledgeable of God's command which was why she never ate of the tree of knowledge fruit prior to Satan approaching her. [Genesis 3:3]. Now it is true that she distorted God's command by claiming it prohibited the touching of the tree of knowledge fruit but it can not be denied that she still considered the tree of knowledge fruit to have been deadly.

I agree. She understood what God had commanded. And Adam was standing right there with her when she did it.

*It was only when Satan claimed that the eating of the tree of knowledge fruit would make Eve as knowledgeable of good and evil as God that she desired the tree of knowledge fruit [Genesis 3:6]. In the parallel Scripture in the New Testament, 1 John 2:16 explains why Satan's lie provoked Eve to desire the fruit of that tree:

I also agree with this

1 John 2:16-For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of this world.

Genesis 3:6-And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that is was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat...

Eve thus desired the fruit of that tree because she was driven by her worldly 'sinful nature' lusts to be her own god and make her own rules.

At this point, I have a slightly different view. Eve, or Adam, did not have a sinful nature to begin with. But the moment the serpent caused her to consider the fruit, that is the point that sin entered. When she made the decision.

*Once Adam and Eve sinned, their access to the Garden of Eden's tree of life immortality had been cut off [Genesis 3:22]. This represents the curse of death inflicted upon sinful man. Jesus reversed this curse by rejecting his own sinful nature and dying on the cross and as a result he raised himself from the grave in immortality. This explains why physical death is so consistently portrayed as the opposite of the reward of the immortal resurrection for the righteous.

Did Jesus have a sinful nature? Not sure, but nevertheless, He successfully overcame temptation.

[Toolman]

*Eve was fully knowledgeable of God's command which was why she never ate of the tree of knowledge fruit prior to Satan approaching her. [Genesis 3:3]. Now it is true that she distorted God's command by claiming it prohibited the touching of the tree of knowledge fruit but it can not be denied that she still considered the tree of knowledge fruit to have been deadly.

I agree. It also appears that Eve has the same problem many believers have of adding to God's word and making it "stricter" than what God gave.

*It was only when Satan claimed that the eating of the tree of knowledge fruit would make Eve as knowledgeable of good and evil as God that she desired the tree of knowledge fruit [Genesis 3:6]. In the parallel Scripture in the New Testament, 1 John 2:16 explains why Satan's lie provoked Eve to desire the fruit of that tree:

1 John 2:16-For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of this world.

Genesis 3:6-And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that is was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat...

Here is the other parallel in scripture:

Matthew 4:3 - Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." (lust of the flesh)

6 - and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:
"He shall give His angels charge over you,'
and, "In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone."' (pride of life)

8-9 - Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."
Eve thus desired the fruit of that tree because she was driven by her worldly 'sinful nature' lusts to be her own god and make her own rules. (lust of the eyes)

Eve thus desired the fruit of that tree because she was driven by her worldly 'sinful nature' lusts to be her own god and make her own rules.

Not sure about this part. It is debatable as to whether Eve had a sin nature prior to ingesting the fruit.
Paul explains that sin entered through Adam into the world:
Romans 5:12-Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned--

Something to contemplate.

*Once Adam and Eve sinned, their access to the Garden of Eden's tree of life immortality had been cut off [Genesis 3:22]. This represents the curse of death inflicted upon sinful man. Jesus reversed this curse by rejecting his own sinful nature and dying on the cross and as a result he raised himself from the grave in immortality. This explains why physical death is so consistently portrayed as the opposite of the reward of the immortal resurrection for the righteous.

Scripture doesn't teach that Jesus had a sin nature, so I'm leary of describing Him as such.

I agree with physical death being the antithesis to the immortal resurrection.

[theabaud]

I agree. It also appears that Eve has the same problem many believers have of adding to God's word and making it "stricter" than what God gave.

excellant point. I am an IFB. so often our standards are taken as the Word when the Word said no such thing. I think it is good to have standards stretching beyond God's Word (to insure we don't stumble, not for "bonus righteousness"), but don't call them the Word because the Word is pure. Any thing we add is defiling.

Adam and eve were both given a will, or self volition or whatever you choose to cll it. She willfully disobeyed, and in kind he did as well. God did not choose for them to do this,although he did know it would ultimately happen.

[Doma]

http://www.kingdom-gospel.com/redeem.html



When God created Adam, He created Adam to serve God and have communion or relationship with him (Gen 3:8-9). Not as a slave. But as a husband-wife relationship (Eph5:31-32) or like a son and Father (Rom8:15-16), or even as friend to friend (John15:13-14). But the relationship of God to Adam was not forced upon him without choice. Yes God is God, yes God is Lord, but God is good, merciful and loving. God even commanded Adam. Does a father command his child to stay off the street for his own safety? So God commanded Adam to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge. But God left the choice to Adam whether to obey or not. God did not want a robot to serve and love Him. What value is love if there is no choice. But the value of love becomes precious when what can leave, does not, because it chooses to stay. So God commanded Adam to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge but was allowed to eat all else. There was put before Adam a choice:


Deut 30: MKJV
19 I call Heaven and earth to record today against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, so that both you and your seed may live,
20 so that you may love the LORD your God, and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, so that you may dwell in the land ...

Joshua 24: MKJV
15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve...

Some would have us think that Adam's fall was God's will, or some even think that God has or had some sadistic pleasure of forcing servitude with the choice of punishment. But I ask you, does the father who commands his child to stay off the busy street, wish and desire the traffic to be there, to run over stray children? No! His obedience is commanded because of certain laws put into effect. For order to exist there must be laws.

An example, without the law of gravity we would not be here. Is God therefore limited by gravity? No, he created it to bring order. Order without law would be an empty creation. And that was what was before God created. Therefore He made laws so His creation would exist in harmony. Well, some say would ask, couldn't God create a Universe where we can choose to walk without consequence? Then each man would be a god, and he would have his own standards, and each god or man would need create his own universe, because my laws would counter act against yours. And each god would then need to be completely alone, because we are selfish. And so God in His universe was alone and created man to be with Him. This is Love. And to exist in harmony and love, man must accept the laws of physics and laws of the spirit to abide there.

Another question by many is this? Is God evil that he put the Tree of Knowledge in the garden with Adam? This I know: God is good. In Him there is no evil. I know this; satan was on the earth and in the garden. I know this: God gave authority and power to Adam over all of creation. I therefore believe this: satan possessed a serpent in the garden which Adam could have rebuked and sent away. I believe this: satan cannot create but can corrupt.

Here is a revelation that I put from theory into doctrine. That satan some how, corrupted a tree or possessed it and it became the Tree of Knowledge. Read this:

Ezek 31: MKJV
8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him; the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches. Nor was any tree in the garden of God like him in his beauty.
9 I have made him beautiful by his many branches, so that all the trees of Eden in the garden of God envied him.
18 To whom are you like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet you shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth...


So this Tree and the choice it gave came from satan, not from God. The fallen angels, came from heaven and have seen marvelous things man has not seen. It is completely possible, satan used his knowledge to corrupt a tree to produce the fruit of knowledge and death.

Rev 2:24 ...who did not know the deep things of Satan...

I believe this was permitted by God for 2 major reasons:

1. Because of the laws of order.
2. This furthered His desire for Adam to have a choice in choosing to obey, therefore allowing love thru choice to exist.
3. Adam had the authority to stop satan and bring all the earth including the serpent and the Tree of Knowledge back into their place under God away from corruption.

Lets remember:

1. God allowed it.
2. God did give power to break it.

Does a father allow the traffic to exist in front of his house despite the child's safety concerns? Yes. Because even the traffic and road serves the father. Though indirectly.

In Adam's original state before he sinned, what nature did he have? Did God's Holiness abide in Adam's being? This is another tough question. This is what I have found in God's Word:

Rom 14: NKJV
14 I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

1 Tim 4: ESV
4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

What I see here then, is that nothing is evil and nothing is Holy, unless we do something about it. Therefore, Adam was neither unclean nor sanctified. He was in a neutral state given opportunity by God to choose. Adam had not eaten of the Tree of Life, in fact God chased him out of Eden before Adam could eat it.

What is important is what became of Adam's being after the sin. God had declared "for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die". Did Adam die physically that day? No. Did he die emotionally? No he increased emotion. Did he die intellectually? No, he increased intellectually. Did he die in his will? That is, did he lose total power of choice thru self determination? No, that increased as well. Only one thing remains; spirit. Adam died spiritually. That part of man where God can reside, now was dead. Did Adam have a spirit? Yes, spirit is immortal, but it's light was put out. From henceforward all people are born spiritually dead, eternally separated from God.

Rom 5: LITV
12 Because of this, even as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death passed to all men, inasmuch as all sinned.

1 Cor 15: YLTV
15:22 for even as in Adam all die, so also in the Christ all shall be made alive,

So despite how a person conducts his life, whether he is cruel and evil or nice and caring, this has no effect upon that eternal spirit of a person that is forever dead and separated from God. Just as if a baby gets killed in the street, no matter what you do, you can't make the baby alive. No matter how much love, no matter how much caring. That baby will be separated from it's father by death and no action can restore it. But thank God for God, He made a way, where man can not.

That way is JESUS

[Duane Morse]

Adam sinned because it was impossible for him not to sin, at least once.
That is why God only had to give Adam one choice, to eat or not to eat from that tree.

It's impossible for us not to sin, also. Just try it sometime. Don't sin, in deed or thought, for an entire day. It is harder than it sounds.

[EarlyCall]

A couple things. First, to say that it was impossible for Adam to have not sinned is simply not true. That is nowhere to be found in the Word of God. It simply is a matter of opinion, and one I heartily disagree with.

Secondly, notice what happened. s*t*n tempted Eve, she sinned and then what happened next? Who tempted Adam to sin? Was it s*t*n? No, it was Eve! Consider what that means for a moment. Once Eve had sinned, had fallen, it wasn't enough for her to be the only one, she went to Adam to try and bring him into it as well. Of course there was no one else other than Adam around then, but sin does this. So often we are not satisfied to sin alone but involve others in our sin.

Sinning is like throwing a pebble into the water: it ripples outward. So then, others that have not sinned and are not guilty of our sin, are affected by our sin nonetheless. Sin is very ugly and devious.

[Braver]

They sinned because they have free will. This is also the reason why God put the forbidden Tree in Eden. Without the forbidden Tree, Eden is not a mansion, but a prison, and therefore God is not a Father, but a jailor and slaver. The Forbidden tree is the door, the tool with which man may exercise his free will.

God created man to glorify Him. Without free will, man can not glorify God (since glorifiying means to choose and exalt above others, this is glorification), therefore Free Will is Necessity.

[Duane Morse]

They sinned because they have free will. This is also the reason why God put the forbidden Tree in Eden. Without the forbidden Tree, Eden is not a mansion, but a prison, and therefore God is not a Father, but a jailor and slaver. The Forbidden tree is the door, the tool with which man may exercise his free will.

God created man to glorify Him. Without free will, man can not glorify God (since glorifiying means to choose and exalt above others, this is glorification), therefore Free Will is Necessity.

You make an excellent point.

That forbidden tree is not only the door to free will, it is also the door that leads to Life, and the door that leads to salvation.

If Adam had not exercised his free will Life would have stopped in its tracks. It would have been a static existence, as opposed to a dynamic Life.

If Adam had not exercised his free will there would have been no need for Jesus or His sacrifice. As that was the Plan from the beginning, Adam would have screwed up in a much bigger way than he did by sinning.

[Doma]

It was not God's will for Adam to sin. Any who believe such are calling scripture or God a liar or a tempter.

Gen 2:
17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

God does not lie. If He wanted Adam to eat it He would have told him so. Adam had freedom to eat from the Tree of Life and chose not to.

[dancedwithdolphin]

From what I have read in Genesis I dont think that Adam and Eve knew the consequences of eating from that tree. Yes, they knew God told them the day they eat of that tree they would surely die. But just like you and me, our parents tell us dont touch fire it will burn you. Burn really is a foreign word until you have experienced it. Then you realize or have that knowledge placed into you: fire hurts the body, it leaves its mark on you. And then we no longer wish to place our hand in fire any more, because now we have learned the meaning. But once you have burned yourself, its too late to go back.

I see that God tells them death, but he doesnt go into details like you will lose my protection I have placed over you. You will experience pain, you will be afraid, you will get sick, all because of lying, murdering, bearing false witness, commiting adultery, and so on.

Our knowledge of sin comes from experiencing it. Our children are proof of that. You can tell them, but they dont really understand it until they have lived through it themselves. It is a cycle that doesnt end, because we tell our children, they tell their children, and so on. Its all the same warnings, but generally speaking they go ahead and partake of that fruit anyways. We are fortunate in the fact God forgives us, and once we have been burned we learn and dont desire to go back down that path again. We become more willing to listen to the warnings.

Perhaps we had to learn these things so that we could be perfected.

I know if I were back in that garden now, and that ole serpent tried to trick me, I would chuckle and say: Ya, right. Get thee behind me satan, as I run as far away from him as I can get. (Know what I mean).

[Duane Morse]

It was not God's will for Adam to sin. Any who believe such are calling scripture or God a liar or a tempter.

Gen 2:
17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

God does not lie. If He wanted Adam to eat it He would have told him so. Adam had freedom to eat from the Tree of Life and chose not to.

It may not be a case of 'want' or 'will', but a case of inevitability.

God knew that Adam would sin, period. He knew it, before Adam ever conceived the notion.
As far as God is concerned, it was already an accomplished fact.

As far as God is concerned, everything is already an accomplished fact.
We are the ones lagging behind.

[Royalty]

GENESIS 2

15And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.





Adam knew very clearly whe God said that he had to "keep it" God meant to "keep it safe" or Gaurd it. Adam knew by God's words that there was a enemy that could threaten the Garden. So Adam had no excuses when the Serpent snuck in from the field and deceived Eve. Adam knew there was an outside threat.



Genesis 3
1Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.


So There was a field and a garden. The serpent was from the field and snuck into the garden. Adams job was to 'keep' (gaurd) the garden safe.



Adam knew all along.

[Duane Morse]

GENESIS 2

15And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.





Adam knew very clearly whe God said that he had to "keep it" God meant to "keep it safe" or Gaurd it. Adam knew by God's words that there was a enemy that could threaten the Garden. So Adam had no excuses when the Serpent snuck in from the field and deceived Eve. Adam knew there was an outside threat.



Genesis 3
1Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.


So There was a field and a garden. The serpent was from the field and snuck into the garden. Adams job was to 'keep' (gaurd) the garden safe.



Adam knew all along.

Genesis 3
1Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.

Personally, I think you put the emphasis on the wrong word, and so come to an entirely different understanding.

The 'any' puts the serpent outside the realm of the beasts of the field, otherwise it would say 'any other'.

You seem to assume that Adam understood about the serpent better than he understood about death or sin. But, it may not have been so.

[Royalty]

Genesis 3
1Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.

Personally, I think you put the emphasis on the wrong word, and so come to an entirely different understanding.

The 'any' puts the serpent outside the realm of the beasts of the field, otherwise it would say 'any other'.

You seem to assume that Adam understood about the serpent better than he understood about death or sin. But, it may not have been so.

Well the field was seperate from the garden. And something from the field got into the garden when he wasnt supposed to. Adam was supposed to Keep the garden safe. God warned Him.