What man should not have known

Genesis 3:1-6 (NLT)
1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” 2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’” 4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” 6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.


These verses are the well known story of Adam and Eve. The verses recall when they ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. Satan came to them in the form of a serpent and tempted Eve. Adam who had been directly commanded by God not to eat, the fruit took it from Eve and freely ate. This was a sad story for man because it marked the loss of grace and favor from God along with the loss His beautiful creation; something which was very, very good.


God himself said man has become like one of us, knowing both good and evil. But that is where God stops with His comparison. God does not say man is now like us knowing good and evil and abstaining from evil. God knew man was incapable of handling the knowledge of good and evil. For man gives in to the temptation of evil and seeks aimlessly after good. The Bible tells us only God knows what is in the hearts of man. For man can’t honestly recognize the evil that exists in life and instead man focuses on an attempt to become good. Yet all of man’s attempts to remain good are like dirty rags when compared to the holiness of God. God told Adam he could not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for God knew man could not deal with such knowledge.