Did God Know Adam Would Sin?

I’ve heard people ask if God knew that Adam would sin, ushering in pain, sorrow, and death. There are many Bible verses that make it plain that God planned salvation before He created anything (1 Peter 1:17-21). However, there is a fascinating answer to this question of whether God knew Adam would sin.

The answer is found in Genesis 2:15-17. It is there that we learn that the Lord God commanded Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

There was only one decision for Adam and Eve. To obey and not eat or to rebel and eat. The tree represented the only decision that mattered. It is a type that pointed to Jesus. We make so many decisions in our hectic lives, but there is really only one decision that matters: choose Jesus and live, or reject Jesus, leaving our guilt on us.

If we choose life, then our lives will be filled with life-giving decisions. If we choose death, then our decisions derive from death. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were separated from God. That’s what sin does. Jesus is the only way for us to be reconciled to God, the only way back to paradise.

“This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:11-12

There was one decision before sin, and now one decision after sin. It really is that simple.

God knew Adam would sin. And because of God’s mercy, grace, and love, He prepared the way for our salvation before Adam was in the Garden. You see, the tree had already grown before God “took the man and put him in the garden of Eden.” (Genesis 2:15-17)