God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden to give Adam and Eve a choice to obey Him or disobey Him. Adam and Eve were free to do anything they wanted, except eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:16-17, “And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’” If God had not given Adam and Eve the choice, they would have essentially been robots, simply doing what they were programmed to do. God created Adam and Eve to be “free” beings, able to make decisions and to choose.
That sin opened Adam’s and Eve’s eyes to evil. For the first time, they knew what it was to be evil, to feel shame, and to want to hide from God. Their sin of disobeying God brought corruption into their lives and into the world. Eating the fruit, as an act of disobedience against God, this act of disobedience was what gave Adam and Eve the knowledge of evil, which was immediate for they had the knowledge of their nakedness (Genesis 3:6–7). Nakedness as in shame and guilt they felt because of their rebellion.
God did not want Adam and Eve to sin. God knew ahead of time what the results of sin would be. God knew that Adam and Eve would sin and would thereby bring evil, suffering, and death into the world. Why, then, did God allow Satan to tempt Adam and Eve? God allowed Satan to tempt Adam and Eve to create an opportunity for them to make the choice of allegiance or not. Adam and Eve chose, of their own free will, to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit. The results—sin, suffering, sickness, and death have plagued the world ever since. Adam and Eve’s decision has affected every person born. The wages of sin is death, Jesus wanted to spare his creation from destruction so he came to pay that ‘wage’ on our behalf. May we echo the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:24-25, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”