Cheryl Schatz

Gazza,

The problem is the sin nature if you read it without the filters of tradition. It doesn’t say that he knows good and evil as if the fruit gave him that knowledge. The grammar is the perfect tense which is an action completed but with continuing effects. The question we need to ask ourselves is when did Adam know the difference between good and evil and when did he become like God?

If we believe the lying words of the serpent, Adam just became like God and just came to know good and evil when he ate the fruit. But that can’t be true. Remember two things…Adam (and Eve) were made in the image of God right from the beginning and the Scripture says that Adam was not deceived which means that he had to know the difference between good and evil not to be deceived. He knew that what the serpent was saying was a lie. He did not believe it.

So if the serpent and God are not saying the same things, and it is my contention that they do not agree, then when God says in the perfect tense that Adam was (and continues to be) like God and knew good and evil before he ate the fruit, then this was the problem. Adam always was and continues to be like God except that now he not only knows the difference between good and evil but he has experienced the actions of evil.

Notice next that God says “but now”…. But now, what? But now (in the state that he is in – with a sin nature) it is not good that he lives forever in that state. So in order that he might not live forever by taking of the fruit which no longer belongs to him, he was forced out.

The biggest key here is to notice that Jesus said that there is no truth in satan.

John 8:44 (NASB)
44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

If he is the father of lies and there is no truth in him then the serpent could not be speaking the truth when he said that they would be like God knowing god and evil.

Since Adam already knew what good and evil as he was not deceived, and he was no more like God than he was when he was created, the serpent lied and God isn’t agreeing with the serpent. In fact it is just the opposite. God is saying that Adam was created like God and he knew enough about good and evil not to be deceived but now he had become evil in his transgression and he cannot live forever in this state.

I believe that this is the only way that we can read this passage using the inspired grammar and not having God confirm that the serpent was telling the truth. We need to understand that the serpent was lying and God was not confirming the lie.

It is also interesting that while God physically prevents a return to the tree of life a prohibition from eating of this fruit is never made.

The new prohibition is not directly stated but the actions resulting from the prohibition are clearly shown. The fact is that God told them that they would die if they ate the forbidden fruit. They aren’t going to die if they eat the fruit and then continue to eat the fruit of the tree of life. Remember that this is God’s testimony that if Adam stretched forth his hand and take and eat from fruit of the tree of life, he would live forever. So the tree of life had to be forbidden to them.

An interesting side note is that according to Eve’s testimony they were forbidden to “touch” and “eat” of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now they were forbidden to “take” and “eat” of the tree of life. It was two actions that are no longer allowed – no taking and no eating – and thus Adam was sent away.

So we do not have to have a direct quote from God to know that there was now a prohibition about the tree of life because of God’s words while talking to Himself and God’s actions (removing Adam so he could not “take” and “eat”).

So to recap, the serpent said that “in the day” that they ate, they would know good and evil and on that day they would be like God. But God said that they were created like God. They could not become any more like Him and they did not become more like Him when they ate the fruit. Adam already knew the difference between good and evil since he was not deceived. There was no “wisdom” obtained by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But they did experience evil (one by his rebellion and one by her deception).

I hope this helps a bit for you to work through this passage to allow it to make sense.