Jesus taught in Matthew 7:15-20 that there exists an absolute division between goodness and evil. Goodness can be sullied by sin, but the power of goodness can never be diminished by sin. This is true because all goodness comes from God. Isaiah 64:6; Genesis 1:31. Christ immersed Himself in the sin of the whole world while on the cross, but His holy blood and water washed all that sin away, and Christ arose immaculate from the grave. II Corinthians 5:21. In the end, God will effect an absolute division of all goodness from all evil and recreate "new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." II Peter 3:13.
Nothing was wrong with the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was perfectly good for food. Eve only sinned because she disobeyed God. But her sin was not deliberate. She sinned because of weakness. Her sin became the source of all human sins of weakness. Sins of weakness always consist of goodness that has been sullied by evil. Peter sinned because of weakness when he denied the Lord, but his sin may well have protected his life, which was good. God holds the power to bring a system of total goodness out of a sinful system of weakness as He did in the cases of Judah and Tamar and Joseph and his brothers. The Bible contains many such stories, and they all indicate that in the end, God will effect an absolute division of goodness from evil. For this reason, God always forgives sins of weakness when one repents. Genesis 3:1-7; Luke 23:34.
Adam's sin was completely different from Eve's. Adam's sin consisted of two extremes. At one extreme, Adam's sin was willful and deliberate. Adam knew full well the commandment of God, but he disobeyed anyway. Adam's sin became the source of all total evil within humanity. God never forgives total evil. Matthew 12:31-32; I Timothy 2:14.
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