Q: In Genesis 3:22, God said: Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. Who is the “us”? If this is a reference to the pre-incarnate Messiah, how is it that He would know (i.e., experience) good and evil before His incarnation?
A: Whenever God revealed Himself as being in a plurality of persons, He would use the plural form, as He does in Genesis 3:22. Therefore, the pronoun “us” applies to the Triune God.
It was not necessary for God to experience good and evil before the incarnation because God had already been observing the sinfulness of humanity since the fall of Adam. Even before humanity, there was the angelic fall under the leadership of Satan. This evil act happened in heaven itself. So, the Triune God had already experienced evil, not in the sense that He had participated in it but in the sense that He was confronted with evil in the angelic rebellion against His authority. Hence, the incarnation was not essential for the knowledge or experience of good and evil.
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