Did Adam And Eve Know What Death Was?

Did Adam And Eve Know What Death Was? When God created Adam, the first man, and Eve, the first woman, He placed them in the Garden of Eden where they lived in a state of innocence, without sin. The Lord God freely gave them the fruit of every tree in the garden except one: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As for this tree, the Lord God told them not to it from it, “for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:17). Today, some people reason that Adam and Eve’s punishment for disobedience was overly harsh, because, before they ate the forbidden fruit, they could not have had knowledge of good and evil; not having that knowledge, they couldn’t really tell right from wrong. In response, it’s worth noting that the Bible never says Adam and Eve couldn’t distinguish between right and wrong.

According to Genesis 3:2-3, Adam and Eve understood the difference between right and wrong; Eve clearly knew that the Lord God had instructed her and Adam not to eat the forbidden fruit (cf. Genesis 2:16–17). Taking the name of the forbidden tree, “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9), to mean that Adam and Eve had no understanding of good and evil is a misunderstanding. The word knowledge in Scripture often means “experience.” Truth be told, prior to the fall, Adam and Eve had no experience of evil. However, they understood the concept of good and evil quite well, or they would not have known what obedience to God’s instructions meant. Notice that Adam and Eve had not yet sinned until they ate from the tree, and their sin was the gateway to a firsthand, experiential knowledge of the difference between good and evil.

Did Adam And Eve Know What Death Was?

Behold, Adam and Eve clearly knew the difference between right and wrong, because both were created with that understanding; it’s just that they hadn’t experienced it personally until they sinned. Their lack of experience doesn’t excuse their actions. The Lord God Almighty gave a simple, straightforward instruction to Adam and Eve. Notice that Adam and Eve had the understanding and the ability to obey, but they disobeyed anyway. In addition, might be the Lord God gave Adam and Eve an explanation of why they weren’t supposed to eat from the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil, other than “you will certainly die.” However, there is no such explanation recorded in Scripture, but we shouldn’t assume that one was never given. But even if the Lord God didn’t fully explain why eating from the tree was wrong, Adam and Eve could still know that it was wrong.

Today, we can know with great confidence that murder is wrong, without necessarily committing murder or being able to explain why it is wrong. And even if we can’t explain why murder is wrong, we should still be held accountable for any act of murder we commit. Behold, Adam and Eve’s not knowing the exact reason they were forbidden to eat the tree’s fruit has nothing to do with the fact that they clearly knew and understood eating it was wrong. Nevertheless, it is worth pointing to the fact that death exists in the world today because of sin, not because of Adam and Eve’s lack of knowledge (cf. Romans 5:12). As a matter of fact, God didn’t punish Adam and Eve with death for simply “not knowing” something but for acting against what they already knew was right. Thus, death was a consequence of disobedience and not ignorance.

Were Adam And Eve Naive?

Adam and Eve directly, intentionally disobeyed a command from God. Their disobedience brought sin unto humanity. And Romans 6:23 teaches us that “the wages of sin is death.” With this in mind, many people often ask how God could punish Adam and Eve (and the entire mankind) so harshly for doing something they could hardly have been expected to know was wrong. Thinking as such is somehow assuming that Adam and Eve had no more moral intelligence than the average toddler. Thinking of Adam and Eve as harmless, totally naive children certainly makes God’s response seem overblown, like a father who has lost all patience with his kids. Wouldn’t a reasonable God have at least given His beloved children a second chance? Or at least rid the garden of the tree before Adam and Eve could encounter that danger? Why sentence your own creation to death for one “innocent mistake“?

Such are the kind of questions that come up when we think of Adam and Eve’s sin as a naive mistake. But thinking of Adam and Eve’s sin as a mere naive mistake is off base. It is important for us to understand that innocence is not the same as ignorance. Consider what we know about the first couple, Adam and Eve: the Lord God created them in a perfect world and gave them dominion and freedom over the entire earth; they knew and spoke face to face with their perfect, loving, and good Creator God (Genesis 2:22). In other words, the Lord God created them, protected them, provided for them, and loved them. In spite of all these blessings, Adam and Eve listened instead to the serpent, who directly contradicted what God had told them (Genesis 3:4–5).

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The Trick of the Serpent

The Lord God Almighty provided all the needs of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Notice that the serpent had done nothing to provide for them and nothing to love and care for them, and his words only contradicted the goodness of God they had experienced up to that point. Adam and Eve had no reason at all, as far as we know, to trust what the serpent said. Unfortunately, they trusted him thereby rejecting what they knew about God’s will, provision, and loving care. As a matter of fact, Adam and Eve’s reason for rejecting God’s command was not an innocent mistake as Genesis 3:5-6 clearly demonstrates that Adam and Eve saw the fruit as an opportunity to become “like God.” Although shocking as it sounds, it was their desire to become “like God” that brought their downfall.

Behold, Adam and Eve – grown adults, rulers of the earth, perfectly capable of understanding what it meant to obey or disobey the loving God who had provided them with everything they needed – rejected the same God, in favor of the false promise of a serpent, who had never given them even a single reason to trust him over God. Notice that this is not the mistake of a child in ignorance but the willful, intentional rebellion of the created against the Creator, a mutiny against the rightful Ruler of the Universe. As a matter of fact, Adam and Eve were not artless babes misled into a regrettable choice; they were God’s own intelligent, morally accountable creation committing treason against Him. Both of them clearly knew that what they were doing was wrong, and they did it anyway.

Our conclusion

In conclusion, we must think of Adam and Eve the way Scripture portrays them: as responsible, comprehending adults who rebelled against the authority of their maker. Behold, Adam and Eve knew and understood that they were disobeying God, yet they ate of the fruit that was “a delight to the eyes, and . . . desirable to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6). Brethren, this was not an accident or a mistake but a choice. And that is the reason why the Lord God Almighty was justified in sentencing them-and us-to death. This confirms what Scripture says of the Lord God Almighty, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you” (Psalm 89:14).

Amazingly, God in His loving nature didn’t abandon mankind following the Fall of Man. The Lord God Almighty responded to their disobedience with a promise of redemption. Genesis 3:15 gives the first expression of the Gospel during the sentencing of the guilty: to the serpent, God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” The Good News is that God has made a way for us to be restored through the work of Jesus Christ. Despite all the evil displayed by Adam and Eve – and that which all of us have displayed ever since – God has reached out to us in love. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.“