The First Experiment

The first recorded scientific experiment is found in Genesis 3. Two hypothesis are presented, one of God’s, and the other, of the most subtle beast of the field that the Lord God had made, the serpent’s.

A scientific experiment can be defined as -
“a set of actions and observations performed in the context of solving a particular problem or question, to support or falsify a hypothesis… concerning phenomena. [The] experiment is a cornerstone in the empirical approach to acquiring deeper knowledge about the physical world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_experiment

A hypothesis is a “suggested explanation of a phenomenon.” The two hypothesis to be tested facing Adam and Eve were:The Lord God’s:“… you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Genesis 2:17 NIV and the Serpent’s:"You will not surely die…..for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:4,5

Adam and Eve, at this point, had only empirical knowledge of good. They possessed no ‘scientific’ or experimental knowledge of evil. They had to simply take God at His word to be spared any experimental knowledge of evil. They had to believe God’s explanation regarding the, as of yet, unobserved consequences of the phenomenon – the ‘seeable event’ of evil - that is, that they would “die [spiritually immediately and eventually physically] if they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

The subtle serpent planted the seed of doubt into Eve regarding God’s explanation as to what would happen if she was to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent called God a liar, and the serpent lied in saying that not only would they ‘not surely die,” but that "in the day they ate of the tree, their eyes would be opened and they would become as God, knowing good and evil."

Adam, and particularly Eve, did not believe God's explanation, but instead believed the serpent's. To find out for herself whose explanation was valid - God’s or the serpent’s - Eve decided to conduct an experiment, the first human experiment, with Adam assisting

Eve “took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and ate and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” Genesis 3:6

The results of their experiment were immediate:

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden." Genesis 3:7,8 NIV

The five immediate results of their experiment were:

1. Their eyes were opened for the first time to see evil
2. They came to the knowledge - 'they realized' - they were without clothes.
3. They worked, for the first time, making clothes - fig leaves.
4. They went into hiding.
5. They were afraid. (Genesis 3:10)

Adam and Eve proved, for themselves, and for all those that came after them, that God’s hypothesis was correct and that the serpent’s explanation was not only incorrect, but a lie meant to purposely deceive and cause man to doubt God’s goodness towards man.

Mankind has been living with the results of this first experiment ever since it was conducted. We now have scientific knowledge of evil. “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned…” Romans 5:12 Man is born spiritually dead to God and eventually experiences physical death.

All as the practical result of the First Experiment.