If God knew Adam and Eve would succumb to temptation, why did he let them be tempted in the first place?
The answer to this question is a matter of love.
God desired an eternal relationship with humanity founded on mutual, unconditional love. This caliber of love emanates from the entwining of two wills.
To establish this volitional congruity, God had to present Adam and Eve with an opportunity to wrap their malleable wills around his perfect will voluntarily.
God’s command not to eat the forbidden fruit offered them a binary choice: to either comply with his will or defy it.
Compliance would have entwined their wills around his, a trait they would have passed on to us. Unfortunately for them and us, they chose noncompliance.
God knew Adam and Eve would disobey his command. He foresaw the resulting damage to his creation. He knew that Jesus would have to die for their mistake.
Yet God so valued a personal relationship with them and us that he risked virtually everything to make it possible. This is a remarkable concept!
