Chapter 1 The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden

Why did God put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden? If the tree had net been placed in the Garden of Eden, would Adam and Eve have sinned?

Did God know that Adam and Eve would eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden? Or did God not know? It is wrong to believe that the almighty God who foresaw the “end from the beginning”(Isa 46:10) did not know that Adam and Eve would sin and eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Then why did God put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden? God placed the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden, because he knew that Adam and Eve would sin. It was God who made the crafty serpent to deceive Eve. The role of the snake was to convince Eve to sin against God and eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which God commanded Adam not to eat from.

【Gen 3:1】 「Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made」

Creating a crafty serpent to deceive Eve should not be unusual to us. For the Scripture tells us that it was God who intended for the Israelites to suffer severely at the hands of King Pharaoh in Egypt.

【Exo 9:12】「But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said to Moses」

【Rom 9:17-19】 「For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth”. Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?”」

The reason God put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden was to make Adam and Eve eat from the tree. “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more”.(Rom 5:20) For Adam and Eve, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil became the commandment. “Sin is not taken into account when there is no commandment”.(Rom. 5:13).

How could God intend to make Adam and Eve sin? If you don’t understand God’s plan of redemption, it’s as if you don’t really know Him. It is clear that there is a reason why God causes us pain, but we must believe in God’s providence. When the time comes, God shall free us from pain and suffering.

No one who lives on this earth lives without pain. The Bible says that our existence is a slave to death. Pain has already begun from the moment of birth and will continue until death. However, if you are born again by obeying God’s teachings, you will be freed from the pain of death and enjoy eternal freedom and blessings.

【Isa 29:16】You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pot say of the potter, “He knows nothing”?

【Rom 9:21】Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

We must understand God’s real intention for us, starting with solving questions about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. How could we be born again through the Holy Spirit? Let’s get closer to the truth of salvation and eternal life.