Why Did Adam Eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil?

seeingeyes · Apr 27, 2012

holyrokker said:
James 1:13-15 Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death."

Adam sinned for the same reason we all sin today. He was enticed, and gave in to that tempation. The pull of desire was more important to him than faithfulness.

But the pull of his desire should not have been evil according to all the usual theology.

Living in the Light · Apr 27, 2012

Curiosity?

seeingeyes · Apr 27, 2012

James-49 said:
I used to read God's response, and project my own feelings into the verses, so God was very ticked in my view. God was the angry Dad who's child snuck the ice cream after they were told not to.

But now I see God as the Dad who looks on His child with pity because they have a stomach ache from the ice cream, and now He must administer the somewhat unpleasant cod-liver oil treatment to help them on the road to recovery.

I consider that fellowship and growth were all part of God's design, and growth required the knowledge of good and evil, because by that knowledge man can choose to love God, instead of just love God. Could Adam have received that knowledge if he said "no" to Eve's offer? I think so, because he would have still been exposed to the choice between his own opinion and God's. Exposure to that choice - the experience - is what opened his eyes to that knowledge.

So I don't think God punished so much as said, "Okay, option B". The path of Option A I'm sure was the easier

I agree with this right up until the end. I think we are still experiencing Plan A. I don't think God needs a Plan B, because His plan is (and always was) redemption.

Jpark · Apr 28, 2012

Possible reasons:

1. God willed it.

2. Since 1 Tim. 2:14 says Eve fell into transgression, perhaps Eve tempted Adam with the very same deception the serpent used in Genesis 3:4-5:

“You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Gen. 3:17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife...

holyrokker · Apr 28, 2012

holyrokker said:
James 1:13-15 Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death."

Adam sinned for the same reason we all sin today. He was enticed, and gave in to that tempation. The pull of desire was more important to him than faithfulness.

seeingeyes said:
But the pull of his desire should not have been evil according to all the usual theology.

Exactly! The desire itself isn't evil. Jesus, Himself, had desire. He was tempted as well.

seeingeyes · Apr 29, 2012

holyrokker said:
Exactly! The desire itself isn't evil. Jesus, Himself, had desire. He was tempted as well.

So are you saying that Adam's "nature" was the same before and after he ate? What do you suppose is different?

Or in other words: What exactly "fell" during "the Fall"?

holyrokker · Apr 30, 2012

seeingeyes said:
So are you saying that Adam's "nature" was the same before and after he ate? What do you suppose is different?

Or in other words: What exactly "fell" during "the Fall"?

What changed when Adam sinned?
1) His relationship with God was ruptured.
2) He became a slave to his own passions.
3) He was denied access to the Tree of Life.

seeingeyes · Apr 30, 2012

holyrokker said:
What changed when Adam sinned?
1) His relationship with God was ruptured.
2) He became a slave to his own passions.
3) He was denied access to the Tree of Life.

Ok, I was responding to your statement that "Adam sinned for the same reason we all sin". If his passions were not corrupt before "the fall", then that couldn't be true.

This is just a formal theological nit-pick, though. I'm not attacking, just unpacking.

Peace

jpcedotal · Apr 30, 2012

Adam knew what God said about this. In fact, he is the one who told Eve. Eve would not have known at all if it hadn't been for Adam telling her what God said...she hadn't been created yet. He knowingly disobeyed God by eating the fruit. The fact that Eve offered it to him has ZERO bearing on the fact that this action was a direct rebellion to God's command.

holyrokker · Apr 30, 2012

seeingeyes said:
Ok, I was responding to your statement that "Adam sinned for the same reason we all sin". If his passions were not corrupt before "the fall", then that couldn't be true.

This is just a formal theological nit-pick, though. I'm not attacking, just unpacking.

Peace

I think I understand your question now.

I disagree with the notion that we are born with a corrupt nature and corrupt desires. (Theologically nit-picking)

greatdivide46 · Apr 30, 2012

I think all the answers given so far are certainly possible. My own take on this is Adam ate of the fruit because he was in love with Eve. He'd rather live with her in sin than to have her in sin and himself not and have to live without her. Apparently he either thought God wouldn't give him another woman or he didn't want another woman. Nothing to back that thought up, but it's just what I've always thought.

stan1953 · Apr 30, 2012

holyrokker said:
I think I understand your question now.

I disagree with the notion that we are born with a corrupt nature and corrupt desires. (Theologically nit-picking)

Most certainly. Otherwise millions of still borns and infants who died upon birth, would be separated from God through no reason of their own. God ONLY holds those accountable who KNOW they have a choice to do good or not.
Romans 1:18-32 for your reading enjoyment.

seeingeyes · Apr 30, 2012

holyrokker said:
I think I understand your question now.

I disagree with the notion that we are born with a corrupt nature and corrupt desires. (Theologically nit-picking)

Gotcha. Thanks for fleshing that out for me.

holyrokker · Apr 30, 2012

seeingeyes said:
Gotcha. Thanks for fleshing that out for me.

Optimax · May 1, 2012

He ate because he wanted to.

Knee V · May 19, 2012

Adam ate of the fruit as a means of committing the same great sin that we've committing for our whole existence. It's the same sin that we committed at Babel, and the same sin that got Satan booted from his place in heaven - that we, on our own and for our own selfish reasons, might become like God to the end that we might usurp His place. What Adam did with that first tree was the polar opposite of what Christ did on the Tree at Golgotha.

jdbear · Jun 3, 2012

I haven't read all the posts on this thread so this idea might have been said already, but is it possible that what Adam did mirrors what Jesus did? Adam took from his wife something that he knew would kill him.
Adam was not deceived....1 Tim.2:14

rogueapologist · Jun 5, 2012

BrookeGF said:
Maybe the answer is just simply that Adam wanted to disobey God.

Or maybe Adam was just tired of eating figs

Exegetist · Jun 30, 2012

God did punish. He told them both that in the day they ate, they would die. This was not as much punishment as it was cause and effect. Eating of the knowledge of good and evil would somehow kill something special they had and enter them into a life where death reigned. It was also option B, because God knew that this was a possible choice for His new children.

God also cursed the serpent for his deception of the woman, and cursed the ground because the man listened or only listened when he should have done something.
The problem with Adams response is that he had more knowledge about the serpent since he had examined the serpent when naming it. He knew more about it than the woman, and thus was not deceived. His sin was deliberate, which is why it was Adams rebellion that got them ordered out of the garden.

This still doesnt answer why the man choose to deliberately disobey. Since he blamed the woman and God, I dont think we can say that it was out of any sort of love for her. But perhaps he did like something of what the serpent said and desired to check it out.

James-49 · Jun 30, 2012

Exegetist said:
The problem with Adams response is that he had more knowledge about the serpent since he had examined the serpent when naming it. He knew more about it than the woman, and thus was not deceived. His sin was deliberate, which is why it was Adams rebellion that got them ordered out of the garden.

This still doesnt answer why the man choose to deliberately disobey. Since he blamed the woman and God, I dont think we can say that it was out of any sort of love for her. But perhaps he did like something of what the serpent said and desired to check it out.

Your points, that Adam deliberately disobeyed, and that he knew more about the serpernt, implies that he had the knowledge of good and evil before he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Your points say that Adam's intent was disobedience - aka evil.

I disagree.

God did not create Adam that way. Adam became that way.

Why Did Adam Eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil?

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