If God knew that Adam and Eve would sin, why did He create them?

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If God knew that Adam and Eve would sin, why did he create them? We're going to answer that question, so you can also discover more on GotQuestions .org.

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The Bible says that God created all things, including us, for himself. He is glorified in his creation.

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From him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. God is omniscient, and he knows the future, so he definitely knew that Adam and Eve would sin, but he created them anyway and gave them a free will with which they chose to sin.

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Reading scripture carefully and keeping its overarching storyline in mind, we are led to the following conclusions.

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The fall of mankind was foreknown by God. The crucifixion of Christ, the atonement for God's elect, was foreordained by God.

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All people will one day glorify God, and God purposes to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

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God's purpose was to create a world in which his glory could be manifest in all its fullness.

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The glory of God is the overarching goal of creation and everything he does. The universe was created to display

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God's glory, and the wrath of God is revealed against those who fail to glorify

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God. God's wrath and God's mercy display the riches of his glory, but we cannot see either without the fall of mankind.

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We would never know grace if we had never needed grace. God's justice and wrath were on display when he sent the flood, and God's mercy and grace were again demonstrated when he saved

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Noah and his family. Therefore, all of God's plan, including the fall, election, redemption, and atonement of mankind, serves the purpose of glorifying

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God. God's glory is also revealed in his love. This is how God showed his love among us.

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He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. Had God decided not to create

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Adam and Eve based on his knowledge of their fall, we would never have truly known what love is.

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The ultimate exhibition of God's glory was at the cross where his wrath, justice, and mercy met.

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The righteous judgment of all sin was executed at the cross, and God's grace was on display in his son's words,

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Father, forgive them. Without the fall of Adam and Eve, we would never know God's justice, grace, mercy, or love.

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Some raise the objection that God's foreknowledge and foreordination of the fall damages man's freedom.

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In other words, if God created mankind with full knowledge of the impending fall into sin, how can man be responsible for his sin?

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The best answer to that question can be found in the Westminster Confession of Faith, which we will summarize.

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God ordains future events in such a way that our freedom and the working of secondary causes – laws of nature – are preserved.

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Theologians call this concurrence. God's sovereign will flows concurrently with our free choices in such a way that our free choices always result in the carrying out of God's will.

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By free, we mean that our choices are not coerced by outside influences.

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It's a complex interaction of wills and choices, but the Creator God can handle any amount of complexity.

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God foresaw Adam and Eve's fall. He created them anyway, in his own image, to bring glory to himself.

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They were given freedom to make choices, even though they chose to disobey. Their choice became the means by which

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God's ultimate will was carried out, and by which his full glory will be seen.

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That answers the question, if God knew that Adam and Eve would sin, why did he create them?

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On our website, GotQuestions .org, you'll find a deeper discussion and recommended resources. If this helped you, give us a thumbs up and click subscribe.