There have been countless books written about the subject of this title, and so I have no expectations of providing an adequate answer to solve this question to anyone's satisfaction in full in such a sort blog post as this, however I think I can provide some thoughts to provoke more thought in that direction for someone who reads this post.
"Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness..." (Gen. 1:26) So here in this verse we see the purpose of God revealed, to make man in His image and likeness. Don't skip by this verse without considering it closely, it sets up the whole story! It is widely believed that it is Adam to whom God is referring to in this verse. Adam can also be interpreted as humankind. And in the broader sense, I believe God purposes the end from the beginning and so He sees the New Creation Man in Christ as the ultimate purpose, and Adam is the beginning of the process.
So with that in mind consider this verse in Gen 3:22 "Now man has become as one of us, knowing the difference between good and evil." Well, isn't that the beginnings of the purpose stated in Gen 1:26? I have always been told that it was such a problem for God since God told Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or he would surely die. However, was God unaware of what Adam would do? Of course He was aware, in fact God is Sovereign! He knows ALL things, and is fully aware of the end result of His purpose, and that purpose included Adam's disobedience in the Garden of Eden. Adam did not mess up God's purpose, Adam fulfilled God's purpose! The plan is in motion.
But why? What kind of plan is that? Didn't Adam freely reject God's love by his disobedience? Adam could not have known the extent of God's love, and couldn't know what he was rejecting, therefore his will was manipulated by the result of Eve being deceived by the serpent who enticed her desire to eat of the (figurative) tree in the center of the Garden, which we are told: "...that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom... Gen. 3:6. The truth is that Adam was set up to fall. It was not some kind of test to see if Adam would obey or disobey God like many bible scholars try to explain, it is the kind that gives a purpose to what we call the problem of evil. Let me explain.
Imagine there was no evil. No killing, no lying no harming others, no sorrow, no pain: just heavenly bliss... like the Garden of Eden non stop forever. Ahh, pretty good eh! How would you know? Not only how would you know there was no evil if you never knew about it, but how would you even know you were experiencing goodness? It's the tree of the knowledge of good AND evil. It is a comparison system. Good and evil. Light and darkness. Need and supply. Desire and fulfillment.
Adam was innocent like a new born baby, before this plunge into disobedience. So, how was he even to understand what it meant to die, before death entered into this world? For that matter how would Adam understand the Nature and Character of God? Adam just knew God as Creator. How is God to reveal Himself to His creation? Does God just explain to Adam who He is? How far can that go without experiencing examples?
There are different meanings in the bible for the word knowledge. I use the example of being a skydiver. I had knowledge at first that there are skydivers. Then I learned knowledge through training the process of how to skydive, but then there is the experience of actually jumping out of a plane and skydiving for myself!
In one biblical example of this is in Gen 4:1 "Adam knew Eve, and she conceived and bore a son.." It shows the intimacy of the knowledge. So how are we to have that same intimate knowledge of the creator God? By using that system of contrast. "Now man has become as one of us knowing the difference between good and evil." Man is also learning compassion, and forgiveness, and mercy, and love, and kindness, and patience. Rom. 5:3-4 "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:"
Okay, so this post might offer some explanation of the purpose God had in allowing evil to take place, but hasn't it gotten out of control, and what about all of the suffering it has caused? How can that be a good thing? I will say this before I continue in the next post: There is no question that people can easily cite many, many examples of great evil in the world's history! Unimaginable suffering of innocent victims. One only has to mention the Holocaust to make their point. So how can I say that evil is not out of control? I mean really haven't things gotten worse? Where is God? And the proof I offer that things are not out of control is this: That the absolute ultimate form of evil ever in history took place more that 2.000 years ago on a cross in Israel in the Deicide (murder) of God in the innocent person of Jesus!
The proof that God has ALL things under control, and evil does NOT have the final say, and evil is not running a muck outside the boundaries of God's purpose is that the ULTIMATE evil has already been perpetrated on God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, as part of the plan and has used that which was meant for evil to overcome evil and death and to redeem mankind from the curse. In the Sovereign Love and purpose of God, Jesus suffered and was crucified FROM the FOUNDATION of the world. The plan was finished before it was started and put in motion. God has proven that to not repay evil for evil, but rather that evil is overcome by LOVE is the solution which we will explore further in the next post, to The Problem Of Evil...
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