Today in the Word

Genesis 2:16-17





























God's Testing of Adam and Eve for Obedience

Genesis 2:16-17. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

It is clear that God gave the first man and his wife almost complete freedom. They could eat from any tree in the Garden of Eden in any way they preferred. But He warned them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they did so, they would die instantly.

Some lessons:

(1) God is always interested in testing us to see if we will trust Him or not. If we trust Him, we will obey Him.

(2) Evidently an untested life is not of as much value to God as is a tested life.

(3) God always wants us to pass His tests.

(4) We will find out that Satan always wants us to fail God's tests.

(5) There is always a negative consequence for not trusting God and choosing to disobey Him. Adam had no knowledge of what death meant. But Adam will find out that death is horrible.

(6) We will find out there are 3 kinds of death: Spiritual Death; Physical Death; Second Death.

(7) If you trust God, you will do the right thing and pass His tests.

(8) If you trust anyone else, you will do the wrong thing and fail God's tests. And you will suffer disastrous consequences.

By James T. Bartsch

Originally posted January 2, 2021


(Scripture quotation taken from the NASB.)



Image Credit: The image at the top of the page is from The True Account of Adam and Eve, written by Ken Ham; illustrated by Bill Looney.







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Updated February 8, 2021