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I was reading the other day and I came across these verses

But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, (1 Peter 1:19-20, KJV)

I came to the conclusion that if Christ was foreordained before the foundation of the world then the fall of Adam and eve, and the need for a savior, must have been planned for, expected, or even meant to happen.

What is the biblical basis that the fall was the plan all along?

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    I think you answered your own question with the verse you quoted.
    – Flimzy
    Dec 2, 2014 at 1:30
  • This question appears to be off-topic because it is has false assumptions/premises/conclusions.
    – user13992
    Dec 9, 2014 at 9:18
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    @FMS What? That's never been a rule. Otherwise all the Catholicism questions would have to be closed because they're clearly based on false premises ;)
    – curiousdannii ♦
    Dec 9, 2014 at 13:22
  • The Biblical argument would be the argument from God's "sovereignty", which many interpret as "meticulous providence ".
    – Jas 3.1
    Dec 11, 2014 at 2:58

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The statement means God knew mankind would not be perfect and holy character, i.e. that they would sin.

God is unique in character. (Refer to references of "the Holy One of Israel", for example: unique in character is the intended message of this name God gave Himself to Ancient Israel).

There was zero chance mankind would be of the same character. So, God prepared a way to redeem them while remaining true to His character.

God's plan was made before He made 'the foundations of the world' (can be interpreted physical creation, or prior to making man in the physical creation. Either interpretation is irrelevant to the fact God knew beforehand man would fall short ("sin" is 'miss the mark'), thus God prepared a way to redeem mankind first, then made mankind.

But, God does not ordain free-will beings to fall, e.g. Jas 1:13-14

"For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed"

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The most obvious evidence that God intended our fall is the story that unfolds in the following 6000-ish years of recorded history. There is no way that any of it would have happened if Adam and Eve had remained naive and innocent in the Garden of Eden. I realize that others will have qualms with my interpretation, but a careful look at what happened in the Garden does provide answers to your question. Where my interpretation offers clear answers, popular evangelical narratives can't satisfactorily answer the most important questions of our faith.

Think about it - God's ultimate goal is to be glorified and worshiped by his people. What glory is there in worship from people who don't even understand the difference between good and evil? At some point we had to understand good and evil. The real question you should be asking is this: Why didn't God give us that knowledge from the beginning of creation? You'll find hints of an answer in Genesis 3:22-24

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

Such a question will help you to unravel the most important questions at the foundation of the Christian faith. Why are we here? Why did God allow evil? Why is there so much pain and suffering in the world? I wrote a short summary of my thoughts on this a few years ago. Here's a link to it.

As for the other user's answer, he is confusing temptation with deception. Adam and Eve were NOT TEMPTED by the serpent but DECEIVED. After the fall, people are tempted and deceived "when when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed..." I don't believe that applies in any way to the hearts and minds of Adam and Eve in the garden.

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