Sin is the transgression of the law. Ergo a law existed before sin. What law existed before sin? We know laws can be called commands. Commands given and meant to be obey. Was there a command given by God before mankind sinned? Yes. What command?
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Gen 2:16 And the LORD God COMMANDED the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
The LORD God commanded… the LORD God gave a law. The law was mankind could eat of every tree in the garden but one.
They weren't told to follow that law blindly, just because God said so and nothing more. God didn't stop there with his law.. He told them the penalty involved for not listening. There was a law and a consequence for the breaking of the law. Thou shalt surely die- if you break the law given.
Isn't that the way of all God's royal laws, those given on the mount and carved by His finger in stone? Death was the penalty for all of them because breaking God's laws, sinning against God, is a willful acknowledgement that God's laws are not a part of Him, of His love. It's choosing other than God, the source of all love. His word tells us the wages of sin… is death.
As soon as the first pair stepped outside of love, evil took over.
They chose something other than God's loving command meant to protect them. They WOULD have kept that command if left to their own devices. But a being, who already had the knowledge of good and evil, no tree test for him, decided to step outside of God's love and tried to take God's place. No longer did this being recognize his creature status, a creature made out of love and brought to life. This creature decided that taking his eyes off God and away from love and putting them upon himself was better. He saw human kind being made in God's image, something he wasn't and this spark of jealousy ignited a furor inside him. He would be a god in his own right.
Yes, the newly created humans were the first creation to come into existence as evil was embraced by the covering cherub, Lucifer, the Morning Star- turning him into Satan. Turning him into one opposed to all that was God.
All the other worlds filled with inhabitants had no evil to contend with, it hadn't ignited, that seed hadn't yet sprouted. The seed of evil existed, but lay dormant where it could have remained forever. The seed sprouted in Satan and he nurtured it, and when he did the new world, the new creatures bore its greatest wrath.
That knowledge of good and evil was loosed before Adam and Eve ever came to full maturity in their relationship with God, to a place they could have this knowledge without being tempted by it. They hadn't let their love with God solidify as it had on so many other worlds throughout existence. God could allow this knowledge to those he deem ready to handle the knowledge. The knowledge of good and evil isn't evil in and of itself- it was forbidden because Adam and Eve were not ready to understand it. Their sin came in disobeying God, not in the knowledge they obtained. These new creature were forbidden the knowledge out of love, and if their love had grown, in time it would have been theirs. The Elohim, the two Gods knew their new creatures would now face an enemy unlike anything anyone on any other world had to face. Still, they had a contingency plan in place- one that could only come into play should the new creatures be led astray by this new evil being.
There it was a tree filled with the knowledge of good and evil, a tree they couldn't eat of and didn't eat of for who knows how long. A tree that Satan saw and knew if he could get them to eat of it they would no longer exist. He would ruin these awful creatures who had been made to eventually become counterparts with the two Gods- the Almighty and the I AM. The Almighty declared the Father and the I AM the declared Son. Satan wanted to destroy this new creation and he heard God pronounce the possible death sentence upon the newly created pair should they disobey Him.
Death, Satan, who had all the knowledge of good and evil knew what death meant- a nothingness, being as they'd never been. Satan had to get the pair to disobey the command, the law, given by God to them, and he did.
Through being compelled by Satan, Eve ate of the fruit and broke the law given to her by God. Adam quickly joined her, not wanting anything to happen to her that wasn't going to happen to him. Satan saw Eve take that first bite and waited for her to disappear into non-existence. It didn't happen. Satan watched as she held the fruit out to Adam and he too bit into it and swallowed, eating of the forbidden fruit. Maybe both had to do it for them to disappear. Nope. Adam swallowed and he didn't die either!
Satan watched as their understanding of all good and all evil was opened to them and he laughed as they realized they'd chosen the evil, forsaking good, forsaking God. He saw them scrambling about the garden trying to hide their newly naked state, the light of God's pure love no longer covering them. He saw when that light gave way and the creatures beneath it were altered, no longer flesh wrapped in light, but flesh filled with guilt. Their entire appearances changed without the light there to lend them purity and immortality. These hideous creatures were in the process of dying. The death perhaps didn't happen instantly, Satan didn't know, nothing had died before for him to know.
Continuing to watch, still waiting for them to be overcome and gone, Satan heard God call out to them in the garden. That's it, the Elohim had to bear witness to the death of their creations, the ending of them entirely. Not only that, they'd have to recognize him as a superior being, as a god, hadn't he just revealed his power over the fallen creatures? He could go to all the other worlds and do the same thing, causing them to turn from God.
The disgraced, condemned pair and the Elohim were together, Gods bearing witness to their fallen creations and the pairs ineffective attempt to hide the results of what they'd done with fig leaves, as if they hadn't been stripped of so much more- innocence, immortality, perfectness in flesh.
Satan listened in shock and realized because he'd interfered with the creatures obedience, they weren't going to immediately disappear! He hadn't rid them of existence! They would slowly die and live terrible lives, that wasn't enough!
Then the Elohim turned on HIM! Cursing him! Stripping the beautiful creature he inhabited of its beauty while he was still inside it! And he was told that he would be killed by an offspring of these horrible human creatures! Never! He couldn't let that happen! He'd brought the seed of evil to life and that power would overwhelm the Elohim's! He'd show them, he'd prove it to them! He would destroy these creatures before they'd ever get a chance to hurt him!
Of course, soon Satan realized they were protected by guardian angels- keeping him from outright ending their entire existence. He'd do his worse though and he'd never stop. There was going to be a terrible human spawn that would end him, but he'd end him first.
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So, yes, the command, the law given by the Elohim to obey God no matter what- tempted or not, was a real law and it was broken. That first sin stained all of humanity with its touch. When many years later Moses took up the tablets of the Ten Commandments the people knew they had been given a revelation of God's love towards them. Mankind was allowed to see sin as God saw it in all its horror. Sin in not loving God, not loving the very Ones who created and would redeem them, but choosing eternal death over eternal life. Sin in not loving each other more than loving themselves. Those laws revealed love and yet evil determined they be seen as cumbersome vile restrictions placed on personal freedom. The law can't save anyone, it never could. The law revealed the love of its Authors and their ability to save. After the Ten Commandments the people were given the ceremonial sacrificial laws of the tabernacle in the wilderness- an example of how God would save them. They had to sacrifice animals recognizing their sinning had a penalty they couldn't pay. Another had to give it's life. That animal sacrifice pointed towards the ultimate sacrifice, God, the declared Son giving his life, paying a penalty for sin that we can't pay. We could never redeem ourselves, and we still can't. We recognize the evil of our sins, and go to the only One who can give us forgiveness and cleanse us- daily.
The Ten Commandments were and are a constant reminder of God's love. Yes, other laws were added but none like the Ten Royal Laws which encompassed God's love.
All the laws given by God were meant to serve love. Mankind added to those laws, twisting them, explaining them to mean things they did not. They had a great number of laws added to the ones God gave and it placed a heavy yoke upon the chosen people of God.
Jesus the promised Seed came and well, we know what happened from there. The thing I'm trying to get across is the law was established in Eden first. The law of obedience to our Creator. That law was expounded upon at Sinai. That law was further expounded upon by our Savior who proclaimed not a single bit of it would be abolished. How could you abolish the revelation of love? To abolish it would be to say loving God and loving each other is no longer relevant.
God help us all to see the righteousness of Christ as our hope- He kept the Royal Law perfectly in a flesh body with natural inclinations towards sin that He overcame, and we overcome through Him! All glory to God in the highest!
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