God created Adam and Eve and provided them with everything they could ever need in the Garden of Eden. They were created in the image of God, which includes having a free-will, having the capacity to choose.
God Does Not Hide Reality
Fellowship with God in the Garden was the only reality they knew and everything at this point was “good.” There was another reality in existence yet to be discovered, and that was the nature of being evil, the alternative of being good. God did not keep the knowledge of the existence of evil from them. These two opposing realities were represented through two specific trees that were displayed in plain sight.
The Tree of Life, which is life with God, represents good; and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that came with the warning that if they ate from its fruit it would bring death, which is life without God, representing evil.
The Sinful Nature of the Tree of the Knowledge and Good and Evil
Notice that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is not the tree of death, but results in death if they were to partake of it. If they were to remain as innocent children of God, they were commanded to abstain from eating from it or they would die as a result. He gave them this one commandment, not just for the sake of being obedient, but to give them fair warning of the inevitable consequence from eating of its fruit would bring. They would not just be disobeying God, they would also break His moral law by desiring to bear fruit contrary to His nature, which is evil. The desire to attain the wisdom that is reserved for God alone would present a conflict in their relationship, for they would assume the role of the Creator God rather than be in obedient submission to Him as the created.
Adam and Eve Were Vulnerable to Deception
So you can see how this would be characteristic of being not good, but evil. Yet when they were tempted to be like God, knowing good and evil,1 they were not informed that it was evil, but learned the hard way that it is, as they allowed themselves to be beguiled to believe the serpent’s outright lie that they would not die instead of trusting in God’s warning. They may have fallen into temptation because of their ignorance of evil and the crafty nature of the devil, notice how he tempted them to sin against God by making it look harmless and attractive, a tactic he uses without failure up until this very day. Notice how he didn’t say to Eve “would you like to be enslaved to an evil angel, never knowing who to trust, lacking self-control, even to the point of self-destruction, etc…?”
Free-will, the Bridge to Manifested Evil in the Physical Realm
The conversation with the serpent gave them a self-awareness like never before, exposing a side of their human potential yet to be explored. The reality of evil existed in the spiritual realm, and was exercised on earth through the willingness of the serpent. Not until they willingly stepped over the designated boundaries set by God by disobeying His command and partaking of the fruit was the reality of evil manifested in the physical realm of Adam and Eve and became their immediate personal experience. They were no longer a part of the spiritual realm of the living but have now become subject to the evil realm ruled by Satan, which resulted in spiritual and eventual physical death.
How the Serpent Succeeded
If the serpent was more crafty (cunning, subtle) than all the other animals the LORD God had made, this should bring to our attention that in this instance he is gifted in “crafting” words to persuade one to believe in a false interpretation of what is true.
Genesis 3:1-6 “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”
How was the serpent successful in tempting Adam and Eve to sin? We can start by taking into consideration that in the conversation between the serpent and Eve, they refer to God as “God” (the distant Creator) instead of “The LORD God” (Creator and covenant partner) used regularly in the previous first two chapters of Genesis.2 So that reveals how he subtly planted a persuasive suggestive remark about God being impersonable into her mind.
As you read the conversation between the serpent and Eve, you can see how he persuaded her to re-interpret what God actually said, dropping and adding words to His original command.
The serpent makes three counter claims to God’s command: that they will not die, that their eyes will be opened, (a metaphor for knowledge, suggesting a newfound awareness not previously possessed) and that they will gain the ability to know good and evil,3 (a Divine level of knowledge reserved for God alone). He is trying to convince Eve that God is keeping a good thing from her, something that should be rightfully hers. He encourages her to think for herself, what she (as the created can only do in error) thinks is right in her own eyes as being good, rather than relying on her Creator who has spelled out in the first two chapters of Genesis what He has determined to be good.
“The Word of the Lord in the preceding chapters brought life and order; the words of the serpent now bring chaos and death.”4
Eve relied on her senses to determine what she thought was good. Practically it was good for food, visually it was pleasing to look at, and spiritually it would make her wise.5 So here we have an example of how we were created with the potential to exercise what God created for good, but was used in an evil manner: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16).
The serpent succeeds in raising doubt about God’s integrity, and motivated by the suggestion that they will be like God, Adam and Eve take the fruit and sin before God, becoming mortal beings. Although she attempts to justify her understanding of God’s command and defend Him in her conversation with the serpent, the awakening of the self-fulfilling use of the desires of the flesh won her over.
Notes
1. To say “good and evil” is a merism for being all-knowing, it is not referring to having the common knowledge of right and wrong. “A merism is an expression of totality by mention of polarity. You mention some opposites and it implies everything in between.” Douglas Stuart, What is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
2. World Biblical Commentary, Genesis 1-15 by Gordon J. Wenham Pg. 88
3. The New American Commentary NIV, Genesis 1-11:26 by Kenneth A Mathews, Pgs. 236-237
4. Creation and Blessing, A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis by Allen P. Ross Pg.134
5. Ibid., Pg. 133