Why would Adam and Eve be afraid of death?

Gen 2:17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” 

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned --

Scholars generally agree that death entered the creation as a result of Adam's sin. However, since there was no death at the beginning, how could Adam and Eve be threatened by dying? What would they have known of death at that time that would even get their attention? "Dying, what's that?"

Clarify • Share • Report • Asked November 11 2014 • Frederic A Parker