Occasionally, I have received this question, and I would like to answer it here: “Why did God place the tree of knowledge in the garden if he knew full well what would happen?”
This topic is near to my heart. There was a time I pondered this myself a lot and I have relatives who I love and who I wish would love Jesus and His Word who say that questions like these keep them from believing in the God of the Bible. My approach to evangelism, which is really what is needed here, would be to not focus on answering this question about Genesis chapter 3, but instead to discuss the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins which restores eternal life for all who turn and believe.
One of the best things we can do for our loved ones who have questions like this is to pray for them, just like Jesus modeled for us when he prayed for Peter’s faith (Luke 22:32). Paul also prayed for Israel’s salvation in Romans 10:1. We can also just continue to lovingly be interested in the lives of nonbelievers, ask questions about how they are doing spiritually, show them care and concern, and then answer any questions the best we know how with patience. But I think much of the time a confident answer like “You know, I don’t know the answer to that, but I still trust that God of the Bible is good and knows what He is doing,” will go a long way. Ultimately I believe that steering away from focusing on controversial questions and instead sharing the gospel message whenever we can—literally sharing over and over, that Jesus came, died for sinners like you and me, rose again, and is coming again for all who turn and believe. That message of the gospel (and nothing else!) the Bible says is “the power of God” for salvation (Romans 1:16, 1 Corinthians 1:18)
Having said all that, I do believe in giving good answers when we can. “a reason for the hope” (1 Peter 3:15) So here is my attempt at some of my own understandings that I’ve developed from my own study of the Bible and from reading and listening to scholars and other thinkers.
There are many ways to approach the question about the tree in the garden, and you can probably find much better answers through a Google search than the one I’m about to give, and also in commentaries by scholars on Genesis chapter 3. One volume I recommend is the Word Biblical Commentary volume on Genesis by Gordon Wenham.
Here are a few points regarding the dilemma about God placing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden, and telling Adam and Eve not to eat from it, knowing they would:
1) If God is good, then everything He makes is good. If we start here and believe this, then the tree itself had to be good—not evil. It must have been a thing of beauty too. Some things are meant to be enjoyed without being eaten, like rocks for example– and like that tree. There’s also nothing that says we might have eventually been able to eat from the tree at some point at the right time, but that’s speculation I admit.
2) Freedom. They had one prohibition. That’s quite a lot of freedom.
3) Trust. For me, seeing the tree as a gift has helped. It was a gift because it gave Adam and Eve the opportunity to allow God to be God and to trust Him, not as their peer, but as their Lord and creator. It was a way for them to worship God and believe in Him without having to know everything. I think there is a part of love that involves trust or faith that God was giving them. They could have faith in God for eternity, even while He was sitting right in front of them.
4) A Mystery. Ultimately, this question leads into the age-old question of why evil exists at all. As I said above, I think the best answer this side of eternity is probably, “I don’t know.” Scripture itself calls sin (iniquity) a “mystery” (2 Thessalonians 2:7).
5) Moral Idealism. Some have argued that the presence of evil proves there is no God, since an all-knowing, all-powerful, good God wouldn’t tolerate such evil. But when you stop to think about it, the fact that we demand justice and recognize evil actually points to one ideal moral good. Who are we to say the world isn’t the way it’s supposed to be, if it’s not “supposed” to be anything?
6) Creatures Versus Gods. If we can admit that we are in fact creatures, we should ask why we don’t think of ourselves as creatures. We tend to see ourselves as gods, on a level with God, so we can’t comprehend any scenario that God could let any of us perish. In other words, we think of ourselves too highly. Compared to God though, we are like grass (1 Peter 1:24), and we are like clay (Romans 9:21). God doesn’t need to explain or justify Himself any more than we have to explain ourselves to grass and clay. We don’t ask the grass permission to mow it. Rather than perceive ourselves so low as worthless grass, rather, we can perceive God much higher than we do. God has been humble enough to walk among us and send 66 books worth of writing to us (His Word.) Unfortunately, the idea that God has communicated with us at all makes us think that we must be so special, that we have become arrogant about it. We demand more from God than He has revealed. Scripture answers that demand with “who are you, O man?” (Romans 9:20)
7) Men Are Evil. Since the fall of Adam, we have all hated God. So the issue is not that we don’t have answers, the issue is that we need a new heart. We don’t like the answers we are given, because (before becoming a new creation by faith in Christ) we all hate the idea of God. We hate the idea of a supreme being with as much power as God, demanding to be worshipped like some egomaniacal (man), and holding us accountable for any rules He makes up. God doesn’t answer to us, and we don’t like that. But He is also not evil, because He is not a man.* As evil men, we naturally find that hard to believe because evil is all we know. The point here is that we have a severe misunderstanding of who we are, and what “a god” is, the only God. We think of God more as a man. And men are not to be worshipped. So we think God is ugly to think He should be worshiped. But the worship of God is right. It is a gift to us. Worship is given to us for our joy. We get to know the God of the universe. He gets to lead us. We get to let Him lead us and take care of us, and no merely human man or king or president will ever lead us all or take His place. Thank God!
8) Wishful Thinking. Going back to the idea of our hatred of God, I believe this truly is the issue that the unbeliever has. This idea is supported all over scripture. “the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:19-20) It is not that there are no good answers to our questions, it is that we don’t like the answers we are given. We don’t want to admit it, but we just don’t like God. But more and more I find it fascinating how people think that if they don’t like the God of the Bible it must mean He doesn’t exist. That’s illogical, and just wishful thinking. I have enough faith today to know that even if I hate God, which I have done more than I even realize, I would still believe in the God of the Bible. If we take the time to read His Word then by His grace he turns our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh that allow us to see Him for who he really is, which is perfectly good.
9) God Can’t Steal What Is His. Perhaps also just an argument from logic about God and the nature of evil: as humans we are not all powerful and all knowing. If you think about it, every kind of sin or evil stems from our weakness. We know all about weakness so all we know is evil, and we project this knowledge of evil onto our ideas of who God is. We want more. We want to know more. We want more money or power. We steal because we lack. We covet because we lack. We murder because we want something. But if God is all knowing and all powerful, it’s impossible for him to lack, or to want anything. He has absolutely no motivation to do evil because he already has everything He could ever want or need. Everything belongs to Him. He cannot “take” the soul of a human if it belongs to Him in the first place. I cannot steal my own money. I cannot have someone arrested for throwing away a painting he made. Men do not own people, so we balk at the idea that we could belong to God. But again, God is not a man. Gods do as they please. Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases (Psalm 115:3) Thankfully for us, our God is loving and gracious and merciful, despite that His holiness demands perfect justice.
10) Evil Can Only Exist if God Allows. If we agree that God exists and is all-powerful, then the current evil we experience—while not good in itself—serves some good purpose. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t exist. Nothing prevents God from stopping any evil He chooses. God accomplishes everything He wants, even if that means allowing evil and using it for good purposes that would otherwise not exist. Scripture itself says God “means” the evil done by others for His good purposes: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). There are many scriptures like this, which tend to want to avoid, but they show that God is not afraid to say He is in charge and allows any and all the evil that exists. He can even send an evil spirit to do something: “And an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him” (1 Samuel 16:14).
11) The Cross of Christ Was a Great Evil. Nothing is clearer in Scripture about God meaning evil for good than the sending of His Son to die on the cross for sin. Men arrested and murdered an innocent man. That was evil. But Jesus said he was laying down his life. “The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” (John 3:19) God did this “to do whatever [His] hand and [His] plan had predestined to take place” (Acts 4:28). “It was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10).
12) Greater Joy. My conclusion, based on all of this, is that God definitely knew about and allowed the fall of man so that we would understand the depths of His grace and mercy toward us in a way we could never otherwise experience. God receives more praise and glory from those who have been forgiven much. “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” (Luke 7:47) We experience a depth of relief and joy we would never know—like coming in from a cold winter blizzard and warming ourselves with cocoa by the fireplace. We would not know the warmth without the chill.
God’s mind is greater than ours. It shouldn’t surprise us if we don’t know everything. God does all that He pleases. He is not like Santa Clause; he doesn’t need anyone to believe in Him or trust in Him. He is making a people for Himself by His own power. He will surely do it. Everyone who goes their own way in their own wisdom will perish, which is the way it should be and has to be. It would be like a grape deciding it doesn’t like its vine, separating itself from that vine. It will shrivel and die. (John 15) We can’t live without Him. Why won’t we love Him? Thanks to God, many of us will and do! “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5)
*Yes Jesus is fully God and fully man, but not born of a man, and born without a sin nature.
Adorn the Gospel 