God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). God made everything good. He made the first man and woman (Adam and Eve), and placed them in a garden of paradise. To test them, God placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden. God told Adam and Eve to not eat its fruit or else they would die. God did this in order to see whether they would believe God and obey Him.
The first sin was distrust
But Adam and Eve rebelled. The first sin was not trusting God. They didn’t understand why God would not want them to eat from the tree of knowledge. They suspected God and thought that perhaps He didn’t want them to have knowledge. So they listened to a stranger’s voice (the evil one’s voice) who said, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5).
Adam and Eve sought wisdom apart from God. Why didn’t they ask God to see what He would answer? If they were seeking for truth, wouldn’t it be better to ask God questions and get answers from His point of view?
Knowledge can be dangerous to the rebellious
Many people today still ask why God forbade people to eat from the tree of knowledge. But knowledge is sometimes dangerous to those who are rebellious. Adam and Eve became rebellious the moment they tried to acquire knowledge by disobeying God’s command. The newfound knowledge that Adam and Eve gained did not help them at all. In fact, their own firstborn son used the knowledge of evil to kill his brother Abel (Genesis 4).
Knowledge is like a tool. It can be used for good or evil. In the hands of sinners, knowledge can be used to make all kinds of weapons of war — to kill and hurt others. But God is good, and He knows what good is and what evil is. Our good God always uses His knowledge to do good. And He gives wisdom to those who are obedient to Him. Those who do God’s will are able to handle knowledge well and use it for good.
If Adam and Eve had not sinned, then God would have given them knowledge, and enabled them to understand His intent and why He tested them this way. But “professing to be wise, they became fools…” (Romans 1:22). So all the descendants of Adam and Eve became rebellious against God, because everyone has sinned.
Some have even denied God’s very existence. “The fool has said in his heart there is no God” (Psalm 14:1). But we can see God’s handiwork in all of creation.
If you look at your own clothing, you know someone made it. If you look at a machine, you know someone designed it. If you look at a book, you know someone wrote it. Then how is it that anyone can look at creation with all its complexities and say there is no Creator?
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” (Romans 1:20-21)
God calls everyone today to repent and believe in Him. Repent: turn away from wickedness and rebellion. Believe in His Son Jesus: overcome the original sin of distrust of God by placing our trust in Jesus for salvation.
Learn to trust God and be faithful to Him
Why is faith so important to God? It is because believing in God is placing our faith in Jesus and learning to be faithful to Him. This is God’s intent so that the paradise we lost can be found again in Christ.
The commandments of God are to learn to love Him and to love others (Mark 12:30-31). We need to learn to love first. Knowledge is second to love.
“Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.” (1 Corinthians 13:8-10)
Read the book of Genesis in the Bible.