Genesis Part 008

As affirmed in Genesis 3:22, Adam and Eve did indeed come to be like God in the sense of “knowing” good and evil. But what does this mean? To answer, we might ask, in what way does God “know” good and evil? One very important way is that He determines it—that is, He decides what constitutes good and evil. And that is what Adam and Eve now did—they determined for themselves good and evil. 

In Genesis 3:6, Eve “saw that the [forbidden] tree was good for food.” That wasn’t true according to God’s standard. But according to her own new standard, it was. In reality, she made that determination in her mind—as a result of Satan’s influence. And mankind has continued this thought process ever since. For “there is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12; Proverbs 16:25). This is the bitter result of relying on ourselves to determine good and evil—right and wrong—rather than trusting in what God reveals on the matter. 

It should also be pointed out here that while Eve fell prey to Satan’s deception, there was greater culpability on the part of Adam, who may have been right there “with” Eve during the talk with Satan (compare Genesis 3:6). As the apostle Paul later explained, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Timothy 2:14). Adam freely chose to join his wife in transgression—perhaps to avoid the pain of separation from her that would have ensued. In any case, Paul tells us that it was “through one man [that] sin entered the world, and death through sin” (Romans 5:12)—that man being Adam.” 

In verse 6, we see that the woman evaluated the tree and saw that it had edible fruit and that it was both “pleasant” to the eyes and “desirable” to make one wise.  The word “pleasant” means “a longing, desire, lust, covetousness.” Eve knew she wasn’t to take from this tree, but a “lustful desire” had formed. The word for “desirable” means “to desire, to covet, to take pleasure in”.  The same word is used in Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:21 in regard to “coveting” or “desiring” your neighbor's house or wife. 

In James 1:14-15 it says

“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” 

Satan had crafted a situation and through lies and deception planted a seed within Eve.  She began down this path to sin that James laid out and so she took of the fruit and ate. She then gives some to her husband, who was not deceived, and he is too late. Mankind sinned for the first time, and we’ve all followed the same pattern of behavior since.