Did Adam and Eve have children in the garden before they sinned?

Answer 1

Answer: from a Mormon PerspectiveWe do not know how long our first patents were in the garden of Eden, and as you say the were living in a state of grace, which was not the ideal situation for them to fulfill Gods commandment to multiply and replenish the earth.

They had to fall from that grace for them to be able to carry out gods commandments, even if it meant their becoming mortals, and leaving the garden where they knew no joy nor unhappiness.

They had to use their agency, and to do that there had to be a temptation which came in the form of a fallen angel, Satan. As soon as they partook of the fruit they became mortal and so were able to fulfill their purpose for being upon the earth. As it is with all mankind. agency is one of the greatest gifts which God has given to man.

Answer: from a Christian PerspectiveThe state of grace and perfection in which Adam and Eve found themselves would have been the ideal state in which to produce children who would have also been perfect. The garden of Eden with everything as God had planted it would have been the perfect situation for them to multiply and replenish the earth.

The Bible makes it absolutely clear from the fall in Genesis 3, right through to the final banishment of sin in Revelation that the entering of sin into the world was nothing but a tragedy of the highest order. Nothing could be so remote from Biblical teaching than to suggest that sin was necessary and a good thing. This is totally foreign to the entire scriptural teaching and is in fact in line with the lie that Satan sought to bring to Eve, unfortunately with great success. Thus there was no 'divine command' pushing them to sin in order to follow God better by having children.

As indicated in the question, it is true that there could have been many years before the fall, but a straighforward reading of the text would seem to indicate that not much time at all passed before sin entered the scene. Nevertheless the command given in Genesis 1:28 to 'be fruitful and multiply' was clearly given prior to the fall. The fact that this command was not fulfilled until after the fall is another indication that the fall occurred rather quickly.

But certainly in the text of Genesis nor anywhere else in all of scripture is there even the slightest indication that the fall was a divine necessity - else this would have been spelled out as part of the command in Genesis 1:28. This verse clearly states that, as part of the creation being very good, it also had within itself the capacity for reproduction, in the very beginning, not with any further necessity for anything else to make this possible such as the fall.

The rapidity with which the fall seemed to occur is totally due to both the cleverness of Satan as embodied in the serpent and the willingness of both Eve and then Adam to put the word of the serpent above the clear word of God.

Answer 2

It seems not. The bible states that they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden first Gen. 3:22,23). It was after their being expelled that Eve had Cain, (Gen. 4:1) who was named so because Eve said, "I have produced (aquired) a man with the help of YHWH.

In Hbrew the word Cain sounds like the word that means got. or aquired.