Q: If God is all knowing and all powerful, then why did He let Adam and Eve sin? – Juan, 29

Juan,
Thank you for your question. Many great theologians and scholars throughout time have asked and wrestled with that very question. You are not alone in wondering why.

I am not a theologian, nor a scholar, but I have been studying and teaching the Word of God for the past 12 years. It seems to me that God, being all knowing and all powerful, allowed Adam and Eve to sin because He loved them enough to give them free will. He did not want them to sin, but He was not going to intervene in their choice to disobey Him because this would not be an act of love. Love is not real unless there is freedom to choose to love or not to love. The same could be said about doing what is right or wrong in the sight of the supreme moral law giver – God. God did not want to create a bunch of robots forced to conform to His purpose. He gave all mankind, including Adam and Eve, the ability to love Him or reject Him by obeying or disobeying His supreme moral standard. The Bible says, “Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them” (John 14:21). Every person has a personal choice to obey God or reject His moral standard. When we choose to go our own way, whether it is an act of rebellion against God’s law or through passive indifference, we sin against God. The Bible teaches us, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). Every person, from Adam and Eve until now, has messed up and fallen short of God’s law and the result of our sin is spiritual separation from God for eternity. The scriptures say, “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23). The good News, however, is this: God loved mankind enough to provide the way to reconcile man back to Himself by sending His only Son to earth. “For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, died on a cross and took the penalty of our sin upon Himself and then rose on the third day conquering the power sin had over us. When a person chooses to place his trust and confidence in what Jesus did for him and invite Christ into his life, he becomes a child of God and can experience His love and acceptance and spend eternity with God in heaven. He also has access to the many good things God wants to do in his life while still here on earth.

– Cory Nickols

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