The Permission of Evil

Learning by Experience

Could the knowledge of sin have come in some other way? Could the dreadful evils the human race has experienced been avoided? Not in so effective and lasting a way.

There are four ways of knowing something:
● Intuition
● Observation
● Experience
● Information

Only God has intuitive knowledge.  He knows “the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10).  Therefore, man’s knowledge of good and evil could not be intuitive.  Adam had a knowledge of evil by information, but that proved insufficient to keep him from trying the experiment.  Man might have learned by observation, but in order to observe the results of sin, there had to be a demonstration of it somewhere in the universe.

Why shouldn’t man be the illustration? The Scriptures tell us that man's experience with sin and evil is, in fact, being observed by the angels (1 Corinthians 4:9).  However, the deepest learning is gained by practical experience, and that is primarily how mankind is learning—by personal experience with evil.

Adam did experience good in the garden, but his knowledge of evil was only from information:
“In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17).

He had no experience of sin with which to predict the pain and suffering that would come. Consequently, he yielded to temptation when it arose.

Adam's offense may seem small compared to the penalty, but at stake was the fundamental principle of obedience. Obedience is essential to the everlasting blessing of God's creation. God above knows what is best for His creation’s welfare and everlasting happiness.

Adam was induced into sin through his wife, whose communication with God was more limited than Adam's. Eve transgressed what she knew was right. But she was deceived by the serpent as to the consequences (2 Corinthians 11:3). Adam, however, was not deceived (1 Timothy 2:14). Adam willfully shared in Eve's disobedience, evidently choosing not to live without her.Thus both Adam and Eve were “in the transgression,” and both were cursed. Eve shared in the sentence which she helped bring upon Adam.

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).