Why did Adam and Eve sin if there was no sin?

[DM25]

I have a theory on the age-old question. If Adam and Eve were supposed to live in paradise for eternity, and there was no sin, why did they sin? Most people reply bluntly with "free will". But if that were the case, wouldn't the same argument be made when we get to heaven we will have free will to sin? Of course not... So this is what I think.

There were two trees. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life represents Christ. Anyone who eats from the tree of life (or abides in Christ) will have eternal life and there will be no sin, no desire to sin (no free will to do it) and eternal paradise. So why did Adam and Eve disobey God? Simple, because they didn't eat from the tree of life. Scripture never says they ever took a bite from the tree of life.

If they have eaten from the tree of life, they wouldn't even have the desire or free will to sin or disobey God. It would be like us having eternal life in heaven with no thought or desire of sin because we are in Christ (Christ representing the tree of life). But because they did not eat from the tree of life, but ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the earth became cursed.

What I think this foreshadows? Well before they even made a decision, it was up to them what their fate wanted to be as God told them. I think this was representing the works of the law before Christ. By eating from the tree of life, they would be in Christ and no responsibility would be on them. But before they ate from the tree of life representing Christ, they had a responsibility to choose and obey God. Like the works of the law, if it isn't for Christ, and before we come to Christ, our works and righteousness fall on us and we have that responsibility. But when we abide in Christ and eat from the tree of life, we no longer look to ourselves to do something and can rest in him.

So God gave Adam and Eve free will to choose to have eternal life from the tree of life (Christ) or die by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, where their eyes would be opened to the law of what is good and evil, and they would die because no man can uphold the law perfectly. Which is why the old covenant law came in place, and why the law is described as a curse in the bible and brings death, just like the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But Christ brings eternal life, just like the tree of life. Jesus died on a tree (on a cross made from wood of a tree) which is also a foreshadowing. When we abide in Christ we may have eternal life and live as if Adam and Eve ate from the the tree of life with no sin. Our spirit selves are already sinless, we are just waiting for our glorified bodies now.

Anyways, of course we can just answer this question with "because God wanted it that way". But thinking of it in this way can help make sense of new covenant scripture as well. God is amazing the way he uses scripture and gives us these kinds of understandings.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I have a theory on the age-old question. If Adam and Eve were supposed to live in paradise for eternity, and there was no sin, why did they sin? Most people reply bluntly with "free will". But if that were the case, wouldn't the same argument be made when we get to heaven we will have free will to sin? Of course not... So this is what I think.

There were two trees. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life represents Christ. Anyone who eats from the tree of life (or abides in Christ) will have eternal life and there will be no sin, no desire to sin (no free will to do it) and eternal paradise. So why did Adam and Eve disobey God? Simple, because they didn't eat from the tree of life. Scripture never says they ever took a bite from the tree of life.

If they have eaten from the tree of life, they wouldn't even have the desire or free will to sin or disobey God. It would be like us having eternal life in heaven with no thought or desire of sin because we are in Christ (Christ representing the tree of life). But because they did not eat from the tree of life, but ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the earth became cursed.

What I think this foreshadows? Well before they even made a decision, it was up to them what their faith wanted to be as God told them. I think this was representing the works of the law before Christ. By eating from the tree of life, they would be in Christ and no responsibility would be on them. But before they ate from the tree of life representing Christ, they had a responsibility to choose and obey God. Like the works of the law, if it isn't for Christ, and before we come to Christ, our works and righteousness fall on us and we have that responsibility. But when we abide in Christ and eat from the tree of life, we no longer look to ourselves to do something and can rest in him.

So God gave Adam and Eve free will to choose to have eternal life from the tree of life (Christ) or die by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, where their eyes would be opened to the law of what is good and right, and they would die because no man can uphold the law perfectly. Which is why the old covenant law came in place, and why the law is described as a curse in the bible and brings death, just like the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But Christ brings eternal life, just like the tree of life. Jesus died on a tree (on a cross made from wood of a tree) which is also a foreshadowing. When we abide in Christ we may have eternal life and live as if Adam and Eve ate from the the tree of life with no sin. Our spirit selves are already sinless, we are just waiting for our glorified bodies now.

Anyways, of course we can just answer this question with "because God wanted it that way". But thinking of it in this way can help make sense of new covenant scripture as well. God is amazing the way he uses scripture and gives us these kinds of understandings.

I don't see any mention in Scripture of the choice they had between eating of the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. All I see is God's command not to eat of the latter tree. The main reason they were banished from the garden wasn't one of punishment. It was to bar them from eating of the tree of life and living forever in a state of sin. If that had happened, there would have been a disaster, because we would have had immortal sinful beings, erasing any hope of redemption. Because if a person is going to live forever, why would they see a need for a Saviour? Therefore God would have to condemn the whole human race to hell, because that would be the only way of dealing with immortal sinful beings. So, God quite wisely got Adam and Eve out of the garden before they had a chance to eat of the tree of life.

 

[Carl Emerson]

Adam and Eve were deceived.
I'm not sure that it was a case of wilful rebellion.
I'm not sure they knew what they were doing or the consequences of it.

For Satan to exist there must have been a fall in the heavens first.
Man was made vulnerable to deception and innocent.
Sadly we are still vulnerable to deception but can be innocent in Jesus.

 

[Danielwright2311]

The devil tempted them into sin.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

It was God's way of kick-starting his plan of "the restitution of all things".

 

[com7fy8]

If Adam and Eve were supposed to live in paradise for eternity, and there was no sin, why did they sin?

Yes, they were without sin, made "very good".

But there is "the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience," our Apostle Paul says. So, from this I see that somehow this evil spirit got the better of Adam and Eve and degraded them to sin.

And the evil spirit of disobedience had them misunderstanding what they knew. Because Satan's evil spirit messed up their perception and processing of information. They could call what is good evil, and what is evil good.

Look, for one example, now, of how people can feel that rain is bad and complain against what is God's blessing!!

So, I would say the problem was not the tree.

 

[bling]

I have a theory on the age-old question. If Adam and Eve were supposed to live in paradise for eternity, and there was no sin, why did they sin? Most people reply bluntly with "free will". But if that were the case, wouldn't the same argument be made when we get to heaven we will have free will to sin? Of course not... So this is what I think.

There were two trees. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life represents Christ. Anyone who eats from the tree of life (or abides in Christ) will have eternal life and there will be no sin, no desire to sin (no free will to do it) and eternal paradise. So why did Adam and Eve disobey God? Simple, because they didn't eat from the tree of life. Scripture never says they ever took a bite from the tree of life.

If they have eaten from the tree of life, they wouldn't even have the desire or free will to sin or disobey God. It would be like us having eternal life in heaven with no thought or desire of sin because we are in Christ (Christ representing the tree of life). But because they did not eat from the tree of life, but ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the earth became cursed.

What I think this foreshadows? Well before they even made a decision, it was up to them what their fate wanted to be as God told them. I think this was representing the works of the law before Christ. By eating from the tree of life, they would be in Christ and no responsibility would be on them. But before they ate from the tree of life representing Christ, they had a responsibility to choose and obey God. Like the works of the law, if it isn't for Christ, and before we come to Christ, our works and righteousness fall on us and we have that responsibility. But when we abide in Christ and eat from the tree of life, we no longer look to ourselves to do something and can rest in him.

So God gave Adam and Eve free will to choose to have eternal life from the tree of life (Christ) or die by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, where their eyes would be opened to the law of what is good and evil, and they would die because no man can uphold the law perfectly. Which is why the old covenant law came in place, and why the law is described as a curse in the bible and brings death, just like the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But Christ brings eternal life, just like the tree of life. Jesus died on a tree (on a cross made from wood of a tree) which is also a foreshadowing. When we abide in Christ we may have eternal life and live as if Adam and Eve ate from the the tree of life with no sin. Our spirit selves are already sinless, we are just waiting for our glorified bodies now.

Anyways, of course we can just answer this question with "because God wanted it that way". But thinking of it in this way can help make sense of new covenant scripture as well. God is amazing the way he uses scripture and gives us these kinds of understandings.

It is a good question to ask, but you might want to think about it some more.

You are not addressing:

Why is there even a tree of knowledge in the Garden?

Why did God allow satan to be in the Garden?

Why does man have free will to begin with and not need it in heaven?

Why did the angel have free will in heaven and humans will not?

Why was the tree of knowledge so easily accessible?

Why did God not just start over after they ate?



Answer me this:

Would you prefer to be in the situation where your eternal close relationship with God is dependent on your personal ability to obey Him (the Garden before sinning) or in a place where your eternal close relationship with God is dependent on your just humbly accepting His charity/forgiveness, where you are today?

We and Adam and Eve learn a ton of stuff by the Garden situation, but one important thing is:
The seemingly ideal situation (the Garden) where there is no limited resources, needy people, hurting people, death and sin is a lousy (impossible) place for mature humans to fulfill their earthly objective, which we all can see and reason through.

 

[fhansen]

I have a theory on the age-old question. If Adam and Eve were supposed to live in paradise for eternity, and there was no sin, why did they sin? Most people reply bluntly with "free will". But if that were the case, wouldn't the same argument be made when we get to heaven we will have free will to sin? Of course not... So this is what I think.

There were two trees. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life represents Christ. Anyone who eats from the tree of life (or abides in Christ) will have eternal life and there will be no sin, no desire to sin (no free will to do it) and eternal paradise. So why did Adam and Eve disobey God? Simple, because they didn't eat from the tree of life. Scripture never says they ever took a bite from the tree of life.

If they have eaten from the tree of life, they wouldn't even have the desire or free will to sin or disobey God. It would be like us having eternal life in heaven with no thought or desire of sin because we are in Christ (Christ representing the tree of life). But because they did not eat from the tree of life, but ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the earth became cursed.

What I think this foreshadows? Well before they even made a decision, it was up to them what their fate wanted to be as God told them. I think this was representing the works of the law before Christ. By eating from the tree of life, they would be in Christ and no responsibility would be on them. But before they ate from the tree of life representing Christ, they had a responsibility to choose and obey God. Like the works of the law, if it isn't for Christ, and before we come to Christ, our works and righteousness fall on us and we have that responsibility. But when we abide in Christ and eat from the tree of life, we no longer look to ourselves to do something and can rest in him.

So God gave Adam and Eve free will to choose to have eternal life from the tree of life (Christ) or die by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, where their eyes would be opened to the law of what is good and evil, and they would die because no man can uphold the law perfectly. Which is why the old covenant law came in place, and why the law is described as a curse in the bible and brings death, just like the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But Christ brings eternal life, just like the tree of life. Jesus died on a tree (on a cross made from wood of a tree) which is also a foreshadowing. When we abide in Christ we may have eternal life and live as if Adam and Eve ate from the the tree of life with no sin. Our spirit selves are already sinless, we are just waiting for our glorified bodies now.

Anyways, of course we can just answer this question with "because God wanted it that way". But thinking of it in this way can help make sense of new covenant scripture as well. God is amazing the way he uses scripture and gives us these kinds of understandings.

I agree with much of this. Morally Adam & Eve were in a more or less neutral position. They had the means to discern right from wrong, and had been given at least one most basic command, but they hadn't yet made a real moral choice until faced with it, with whether or not to obey God. Eating of the Tree of Life would've meant a step nearer to God, the Source of life, eating of the other tree was a step away, towards death. Ultimately Adam's justice would've been defined same as ours- to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then obedience would've flowed naturally, of its own accord. He wasn't ready yet; he didn't even know of his need for God, let alone of God's trustworthiness, goodness, infinite superiority and wisdom et al. Partaking of the Body and Blood is likewise our source of life now. The cross, itself, had been identified in some parts of the ancient Church with the Tree of Life.

 

[St_Worm2]

Why does man have free will to begin with and not need it in heaven? Why did the angel have free will in heaven and humans will not?

Hi Bling, both God and the angels (elect and fallen) have free will, yes? Why do you believe that we will not?

Perhaps the better question that needs to be asked first is, what is your definition of "free will"?

Thanks!

--David

 

[DM25]

Hi Bling, both God and the angels (elect and fallen) have free will, yes? Why do you believe that we will not?

Perhaps the better question that needs to be asked first is, what is your definition of "free will"?

Thanks!

--David

In heaven we won't because there is no sin. I mean we will have free will, but not in the same way the angels had and we have on earth. We can do what we want but we can't have free will to do sin or think about sin, because there will be no more sin. And we won't think about past sins either.

 

[St_Worm2]

In heaven we won't because there is no sin. I mean we will have free will... We can do what we want. But we can't have free will to do sin or think about sin, because there will be no more sin. And we won't think about past sins either.

You said, "we will have free will ... we can do what we want". Then you said, "we can't have free will to do sin" (so, we can't do what we want )

Which is it?

If the latter is true, if we "can't" do what we want to do, how can that be considered, "free will"?

Perhaps the question I asked Bling, how do you define, "free will", is the question that needs to be answered before any of the others?

Thanks!

--David

 

[fhansen]

In heaven we won't because there is no sin. I mean we will have free will, but not in the same way the angels had and we have on earth. We can do what we want but we can't have free will to do sin or think about sin, because there will be no more sin. And we won't think about past sins either.

The historical understanding is that the will is still free in heaven but man has finally found the absolute goal of all his desires there-and can therefore desire nothing more- because there's nothing more to desire! We'll want only God once we're fully known by Him and we fully know Him (1 Cor 13:12) because He's that good-He's all Goodness -personified, on a level we cannot imagine. When the Greatest Commandment speaks of loving God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength it isn't speaking of anything that can be faked; that kind of love is only directed towards something that is simply that attractive to us. And that kind of love will be fully realized only in heaven where the heart will be enthralled, captivated by the object of that love.

 

[DM25]

The historical understanding is that the will is still free in heaven but man has finally found the absolute goal of all his desires there-and can therefore desire nothing more- because there's nothing more to desire! We'll want only God once we're fully known by Him and we fully know Him (1 Cor 13:12) because He's that good-He's all Goodness -personified, on a level we cannot imagine. When the Greatest Commandment speaks of loving God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength it isn't speaking of anything that can be faked; that kind of love is only directed towards something that is simply that attractive to us. And that kind of love will be fully realized only in heaven where the heart will be enthralled, captivated by the object of that love.

But there will be no sin so we won't even be able to want sin. We wouldn't have that ability. So it's free will but without the bad stuff.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

But there will be no sin so we won't even be able to want sin. We wouldn't have that ability. So it's free will but without the bad stuff.

In actual fact, there was no knowledge of sin until the Law of Moses.

 

[fhansen]

In actual fact, there was no knowledge of sin until the Law of Moses.

And yet sin existed. In Adam's sin and the sin that flourished afterwards as a result

 

[fhansen]

But there will be no sin so we won't even be able to want sin. We wouldn't have that ability. So it's free will but without the bad stuff.

Yes, but there's a reason that we won't want to sin. It's because by then we know that anything less than God won't satisfy us anyway. We will want to obey the first commandment along with the greatest commandment

 

[St_Worm2]

In actual fact, there was no knowledge of sin until the Law of Moses.

Hi Oscarr, do you say that because there were no commandments defining what sin is for us until the 10 Commandments and the rest of God's laws were given to Moses?

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Hi Oscarr, do you say that because there were no commandments defining what sin is for us until the 10 Commandments and the rest of God's laws were given to Moses?

I don't see any reference to a set of commandments or a set of laws until Moses. The Scripture says that death reigned between Adam and Moses, but the actual written law for the children of Israel did not come into being until Mt Sinai when Moses received the Ten Commandments.

 

[nonaeroterraqueous]

If they have eaten from the tree of life, they wouldn't even have the desire or free will to sin or disobey God.

This doesn't solve anything, really. It just replaces a positive action with a negative. Instead of choosing to take the forbidden fruit, they choose not to take the necessary one. Then we're back to the original problem. You would have to ask why two perfect people would choose such a thing. It's the same problem.

The fact is that it's hard to reason why a perfect thing would become imperfect of its own volition. If someone chooses to be imperfect, then the choice demonstrates imperfection already. I run into this sort of logical problem whenever dealing with absolutes. I could write a book on the subject.

Scripture never says they ever took a bite from the tree of life.

That's an argument from silence. Scripture never says a lot of things about Adam and Eve, and what it does say is too short to suggest that such an omission implies anything.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

This doesn't solve anything, really. It just replaces a positive action with a negative. Instead of choosing to take the forbidden fruit, they choose not to take the necessary one. Then we're back to the original problem. You would have to ask why two perfect people would choose such a thing. It's the same problem.

The fact is that it's hard to reason why a perfect thing would become imperfect of its own volition. If someone chooses to be imperfect, then the choice demonstrates imperfection already. I run into this sort of logical problem whenever dealing with absolutes. I could write a book on the subject.



That's an argument from silence. Scripture never says a lot of things about Adam and Eve, and what it does say is too short to suggest that such an omission implies anything.

My comment in support of your post is that reading stuff into Scripture that isn't there is adding to God's Word and someone who does that runs foul of Proverbs 30:6.