Did evil exist at the time of Genesis 3:5?

[TonyChanYT]

Genesis 3:

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

God created everything good back in Gen 1. Now, God used the serpent to test Eve.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

Eve misquoted God's words but that's an innocent mistake.

4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.

The serpent formally contradicted God according to First-Order Logic.

5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

God knew everything. God knew evil existed.

At this point, has anyone done anything evil?

I think so. Contradicting God was an evil act. I think the serpent was a manifestation of the devil Satan. Jesus said in John 8:44 he was a liar from the beginning.

The innocent Eve was no match for the evil serpent. She failed the test. Immediately, she and Adam experienced bad thoughts that were not bad before. They saw that being naked was no good. They developed their independent definitions apart from God's.

What about today? How do we decide what is good or evil?

Well, I have been born of the Spirit. The more I grow in the Spirit, the more the Paraclete councils me and guides me in my conscience.

 

[O'Darby]

The potential for evil existed from the moment God decided to create beings with free will. I don't think we know who those beings were or when they were created. The creation that presently exists, in both the heavenly realm and the earthly realm, is not necessarily God's first or only act of creation. We just don't know.

Of course, even those who have not been born again can recognize evil. As Paul says, their consciences tell them. The indwelling and guidance of the Spirit hopefully "fine tunes" our consciences and helps us stay on the path of righteousness - at least better than someone who has not been born of the Spirit.

I think you're correct that the innocent Eve was no match for the evil serpent. She presumably would not even have had any concept of being deceived or of obeying God being "good" and listening to the serpent being "evil." This does, however, open a theological can of worms for a literalist reading of the Genesis account.

 

[Jay Ross]

Gen 1:2 tells us that evil existed, because darkness/evil was covering the face/opening of the deep.