Then Yahweh Elohim said: Behold, man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now lest he should stretch out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live for the eon. So Yahweh Elohim sent him out of the garden of Eden to serve the ground from where he was taken. After He drove the human out, He made him tabernacle at the east of the garden of Eden, and He set the cherubim and the flame of the revolving sword to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3: 22-24, Concordant Old Testament
If you're a believer, then you have read and heard about the "Fall" before. That moment where, succumbing to the lie of the deceiver, the Lords creation decided to forgo the Lords instruction and take of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree which the Lord had instructed them never to eat from or partake of. The deceivers offer sounded enticing, to "Be like God, knowing good and evil" {Genesis 3:5}. For Eve, that's all it took, she took of the deceivers offering and shared also with the man with her. Of course, it all went downhill from there. The Lord came knocking and inquired as to where His creation was. Granted, God already knew beforehand what was going down, but Adam and Eve did not know that He knew that. Indeed, the deceivers lie proved true in the fact that Adam and Eve instantly had knowledge of good and evil. They were ashamed at their being unclothed, which they had not been before that point {Genesis 3:9}. So it is that I grew up believing that it was Adam and Eves sin of disobedience which led to the fall. Yet this week a good friend offered me a new perspective on the incident. Was the original sin in fact disobedience, or was there something else involved? Well, if we look at the scriptures, as was pointed out to me, we see the real reason for the Lords banishing the human from the garden. Yes, their disobedience was indeed sin, but there's more. The Lord dismissed the human from the garden in order that they not partake of the tree of life and live forever {Genesis 3:22}. It is God who proclaimed, 'Now lest he should stretch out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live for the eon,' Now, Adam and Eve had not yet taken from the tree of life, they simply had been led astray and taken from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yet, after this God proclaimed that, 'Man has become like one of us.' Of course, in our universe, there is room for only one God, and having the human believing that he was 'Like God' wouldn't fly at all. Yet this is the narrative which continues to be preached and believed by many. Man is his own being, separate from God. THAT is the lie of the deceiver which did in Adam and Eve. How could Adam and Eve have known that they already had the Lord God within them? For when he came into being, the Lord breathed into Adam the breath of life and he became a living being {Genesis 2:7}. Indeed, they were already 'like' God in the fact that the human had the Father in them.
But the serpent said to the woman: Not to die shall you be dying; for Elohim knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be unclosed, and you will become like Elohim, knowing good and evil.
Genesis 3: 4-5, Concordant Old Testament
I'm sure that there might be more than a few Christians out there who might wonder why the Lord punished the man for something he had not yet done. See, we're told that God expelled the human from the garden to keep him from taking of the tree of life, something man had not yet even done. However, the damage had already been done at that point. The human had shown the propensity to have the 'Ability' to at some point take of the forbidden fruit of the tree of life. Obviously, he had already disobeyed the Lord and taken of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. To simply say, 'The serpent made me do it' wasn't going to cut it. For if the human had fallen for the lie of the deceiver once, what are the chances that the same scenario would take place in the future? In His knowing, the Lord knew that this could happen. So, the Lord in effect saved man from himself by tossing him out of the garden. But this was not the end, far from it. For as the apostle Paul tells us, as through one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, it is by one Mans obedience that many will be made righteous {Romans 5:18-19}. Because of Adams disobedience, all partook of sin {Romans 3:23}. Yet through the obedience and sacrifice of Christ Jesus a the cross, many will be made righteous. I believe that we can see mans fall in the garden not as a negative event, but as the glorious beginning of our Fathers redemption of His children.
Consequently, then, as it was through one offense for all mankind for condemnation, thus also it is through one just award for all mankind for life's justifying. For even as, through the disobedience of the one man, the many were constituted sinners, thus also, through the obedience of the One, the many shall be constituted just.
Romans 5: 18-19, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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