Possibly God's forbidding Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil didn't have to be - or wasn't intended to be - permanent. Maybe if they had continued obeying God and refrained from eating from the forbidden tree, they would have proved over time - through the regular exercise of faithful trust in God - He could entrust them with the knowledge of good and evil? Or possibly it would have happened organically and eventually became a part of their character through their exercise of ongoing trust in (obedience to) God. At a minimum we know trust is what God seeks to develop in us this side of the rebellion in the garden.
Denying ourselves something we ¹want (the forbidden tree in this case) - or are tempted to think we need - is a ²form of suffering - a kind of knowing good and evil. As Christ learned obedience through the things he suffered, so too might have Adam and Eve i.e. They would have experienced a kind of evil by denying themselves eating from the forbidden tree.
The reason they died when they ate was not that knowing good and evil is bad in itself (it is after all a character quality of God himself) but because they distrusted and disobeyed God by eating. Their problem was not knowing good and evil first hand but seeking it in the wrong way for the wrong reason i.e. Out of rebellious independence. They wrongly concluded in doing so they would be "free" to do whatever they wanted without answering to God. They decided they no longer needed God to make life work but only themselves - or so they thought.
Could it be that their eventually acquiring the knowledge of good and evil, if and when approved by God, was good, not bad? Does it not give us a greater appreciation for good by contrasting it with evil? Maybe God only forbid it because he wanted us to prove over time we were ready - i.e. ⁵mature enough in our trust in God to partake of that knowledge without misusing it and being drawn away from God and spiritually derailed by it i.e. not using it to establish their independence from God but rather in submission to him? The only way to do this was to continue trusting and obeying His directions not to eat until He eventually decided they were ready and mature enough to allow it. Their faithful obedience would be evidence they were ready to partake.
And is this not exactly what Christ did? When Christ came up against the decision to trust or not trust God in the face of death, he said "not ⁶my will but yours be done."
Strong's 5315: A soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion
⁵Did not Christ himself learn obedience through his struggles and suffering? One of the key elements of struggles and suffering is trusting God when circumstances tell us not to. Being forbidden to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the circumstance by which Adam and Eve questioned whether God was trustworthy and possibly holding out on them. They believed the latter while Christ believed the opposite. They failed the test. Christ passed it... for our sake.
The reason they died when they ate was not that knowing good and evil is bad in itself (it is after all a character quality of God himself) but because they distrusted and disobeyed God by eating. Their problem was not knowing good and evil first hand but seeking it in the wrong way for the wrong reason i.e. Out of rebellious independence. They wrongly concluded in doing so they would be "free" to do whatever they wanted without answering to God. They decided they no longer needed God to make life work but only themselves - or so they thought.
By doing so they turned away from God and broke their connection, union, fellowship, and relationship with the One who is the source of life and love. Instead of experiencing the benefits of self-denial (i.e. exercising greater trust by experiencing good and evil first hand through the suffering of self denial) they reaped the consequences of self indulgence. No wonder things went terribly wrong from that point, eventually resulting in physical death.
Their death wasn't an act of revenge or retribution by God but the ³natural (organic) outcome of disconnecting from the Sustainer of all things and life itself. This connection to the source of their being (God) was essential for them to continue living at all, much less optimally as God designed. Afterall it was God breathing into Adam His very life that made Adam a living ⁴soul (and like God; in His image) and no longer merely a human shaped piece of dirt. God did not turn away and cut them off. They turned away from God cutting themselves off.
Could it be that their eventually acquiring the knowledge of good and evil, if and when approved by God, was good, not bad? Does it not give us a greater appreciation for good by contrasting it with evil? Maybe God only forbid it because he wanted us to prove over time we were ready - i.e. ⁵mature enough in our trust in God to partake of that knowledge without misusing it and being drawn away from God and spiritually derailed by it i.e. not using it to establish their independence from God but rather in submission to him? The only way to do this was to continue trusting and obeying His directions not to eat until He eventually decided they were ready and mature enough to allow it. Their faithful obedience would be evidence they were ready to partake.
And is this not exactly what Christ did? When Christ came up against the decision to trust or not trust God in the face of death, he said "not ⁶my will but yours be done."
The "2nd Adam" (Christ) succeeded where the 1st Adam failed (and we all still fail to this day).
And the most glorious news is the 2nd Adam then assigned his success to us as if we succeeded. As a result we are now looked upon, loved, and received as perfectly obedient sons and daughters of God - when in reality we are not - thanks to Christ and his faithfulness.
Now that we are fully freed from condemnation and rejection for our rebellious unbelief (once we place our full trust in Christ's gracious offer), we can resume and perfect the process of trusting and obeying God as he originally designed us to. Christ made this possible so we could pursue God without the ⁷requirement of perfect obedience hanging over us - something we fail at miserably. We are now free to obey not because we have to but because we want to out of love and a desire to honor God...not out of the need to gain (earn) God's acceptance and avoid His rejection but because Christ was rejected and slain for us so we might be fully (perfectly) accepted and embraced by the Father in and through Christ.
Now that we are fully freed from condemnation and rejection for our rebellious unbelief (once we place our full trust in Christ's gracious offer), we can resume and perfect the process of trusting and obeying God as he originally designed us to. Christ made this possible so we could pursue God without the ⁷requirement of perfect obedience hanging over us - something we fail at miserably. We are now free to obey not because we have to but because we want to out of love and a desire to honor God...not out of the need to gain (earn) God's acceptance and avoid His rejection but because Christ was rejected and slain for us so we might be fully (perfectly) accepted and embraced by the Father in and through Christ.
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¹At the heart of self-denial is loving and trusting the person calling us to it. Lack of love and trust in God was the key downfall of Adam and Eve in eating from the forbidden tree. Eating from the tree was the result, the outward display of an inward disposition of distrust in God and His direction, not the cause of their rebellion i.e. it was already present within their heart before they ate or they would have never ate.
²The essence of knowing evil is experiencing harm 1st hand. Harm results in suffering but not all suffering is harmful... at least not ultimately. Self-denial is also a form of suffering that leads to good. It is denying ourselves a short-term benefit that can never fully satisfy us to gaining a long-term benefit that does.
³In the same way a light bulb would go out if it were unplugged.
⁴being. - לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ (lə·ne·p̄eš)
Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singularStrong's 5315: A soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion
⁵Did not Christ himself learn obedience through his struggles and suffering? One of the key elements of struggles and suffering is trusting God when circumstances tell us not to. Being forbidden to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the circumstance by which Adam and Eve questioned whether God was trustworthy and possibly holding out on them. They believed the latter while Christ believed the opposite. They failed the test. Christ passed it... for our sake.
⁶This suggests Christ having the will not to choose the Father's will was real, just like it was for Adam and Eve. But instead, he chose to follow His Father's will...whereas Adam and Eve didn't. And this was because he trusted the Father when Adam and eve did not.
⁷It is no longer a requirement in the sense of being the means by which we're justified but it is still vital - "required" - in order for us to operate optimally according to how God designed us. For a further discussion on this point click here.
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Jim Deal