The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was, as we shall see, a literal tree with fruit on it. God planted this tree to give Adam (and his wife) a TEST. We see this in Genesis 2:16-17, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (NKJV). This is the ONLY COMMANDMENT that God gave to Adam. I once heard a preacher speak on this passage and he said, “Adam was given a very thin Bible!” Yet that “commandment from God” was enough to see if Adam would be OBEDIENT to His Creator or DISOBEDIENT. God did not make Adam a robot to do whatever He programmed him to do. Rather, God chose to give Adam a “free will with the freedom of CHOICE.” His desire was that Adam would, out of love for His benevolent Maker, CHOOSE to obey this command. Yet we know that Adam (and his wife) made a FATAL CHOICE. I will now quote the whole passage which shows us of their choice to disobey God and in this passage, we will also learn more of “what the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is, and why it was forbidden.”

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of every tree of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You shall not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it YOUR EYES WILL BE OPENED, and you will be like God, KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL.’ So when the woman saw that it was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make on wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. THEN THE EYES OF BOTH OF THEM WERE OPENED, AND THEY KNEW THAT THEY WERE NAKED; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings” (Genesis 3:1-7).

We learn from this passage that Adam and his wife were created in INNOCENCE. They had NO KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL (like a baby or a very young child today). The main temptation of the serpent is seen in the words “God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes shall be opened, and you will be like God, KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL.” This temptation was successful, for the woman then fixed her eyes on the tree and saw that it was “a tree DESIRABLE TO MAKE ONE WISE.” The very moment she and Adam ate of it, it brought them the “knowledge of good and evil.” Their eyes were opened to the fact that they were naked, and they immediately tried to cover up their nakedness. I believe the moment they took that bite of the fruit they gained a CONSCIENCE; that “inward voice” that told them (and it tells us too!) that they had just disobeyed God. They had SINNED and their CONSCIENCE testified to that. Romans 2:15 speaks about this voice of conscience which they now had and which we all have: “Who show the work of the law written in their hearts, THEIR CONSCIENCE ALSO BEARING WITNESS, and between themselves THEIR THOUGHTS ACCUSING OR ELSE EXCUSING THEM.” In John 8:7 & 9 we have a very practical example of this: He (Jesus)… said to them, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.’… Then those who heard it, being CONVICTED BY THEIR CONSCIENCE, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest to even to the last.”

I said this was a “fatal choice” that they had made, for they began to die physically, and they died spiritually in an instant. This physical and spiritual death was passed on to the whole human race (see Romans 5:12; 6:23 and Ephesians 2:1). All the corruption, violence and death we see today had its origin in that “fatal choice” with one bite of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  (DO)  (737.3)