Transcript
ADAM, JOB & RESPONSIBILITY
Q&A 03: Did God Know Beforehand That Adam Would Fail?
QUESTION
Long before Adam was created, God already knew that he would eat the fruit. If God possessed that foreknowledge, was Adam’s failure not already settled?
RESPONSE
God knew Adam would fail when confronted by the combination of Satan and his wife, even after God raised him from dwelling upon the ground to dwelling in the East, in Eden. Yet if God had never allowed Adam to face the test and fail through his own decision, humanity could have accused God of imposing suffering and death upon Adam and his descendants without allowing Adam any opportunity to prevent them. God therefore gave Adam the opportunity to prevent humanity’s suffering and death by remaining faithful and refusing the forbidden fruit. Adam was given the command, the warning, the capacity, and the opportunity to stand. Yet Adam failed. God’s foreknowledge revealed what Adam would choose; it did not become the loyalty, desire, or action by which Adam chose it.