The First Foolish Choice

God, with great wisdom, created the first two people—Adam and Eve. He gave them a command to obey: Don’t eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil or you’ll die (Genesis 2:16–17).

Did they choose the path of wisdom or foolishness?

Sadly, they thought that by disobeying God’s command, they would become wise (Genesis 3:6). Adam and Eve chose the path of foolishness.

God is holy (without sin); and therefore, He must punish sinners. God judged Adam and Eve and found them guilty of disobeying His commands. And He punished them as He had promised. He sent them from the Garden of Eden, and they weren’t able to eat from the Tree of Life (another tree God had planted in the Garden of Eden) anymore. They began to die (Genesis 3).

From that time on, everyone born into their family (all humans—including you and me) is born a sinner and disobeys God’s commands (Romans 3:23). We are all foolish. And we all deserve the punishment for sin: death and eternal separation from God’s goodness in a terrible place called hell (Romans 6:23; Matthew 10:28).

But there is good news! God had a wise plan to make a way for us to spend forever with Him!