In order to answer this question, we need to explain first what the two trees symbolized.
As
we read in the first three chapters of the book of Genesis, when God
created Adam and Eve, He placed them in a beautiful garden, called the
garden of Eden or Paradise. In that garden, God had planted two special
trees. Although these trees were literal trees, they also had specific
symbolic meaning and significance. The two trees were called the tree
of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
God said
that man could eat from all trees in the garden, including the tree of
life, but man was forbidden to eat from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. Therefore, God offered man to eat FREELY from the tree
of life. The Church of God has long understood and consistently taught
that the tree of life was symbolic of the Holy Spirit. If man had eaten
from the tree of life, he would have received the free gift of the Holy
Spirit of God, and with it godly understanding and wisdom as how to
live. Adam and Eve would have received, with the Holy Spirit of God, a
down-payment or a guarantee of eternal life, and they would have been,
in due time, upon continuously living the right way, changed to
immortal Spirit beings.
Adam and Eve did not eat from the tree of
life, but they did eat, instead, from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. In not eating from the tree of life, and in eating instead
from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, man decided to reject
God’s Holy Spirit, eternal life and godly wisdom, and to accept the
wisdom of this world, which leads to death. God had told them ahead of
time about the consequences of their decision. We read in Genesis 2:17
that God said that man would die if they were to eat from the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. Correctly translated, God said: “dying
you shall die.” The Broadman Bible Commentary explains:: “Genesis 2:17b
may be read, ‘In the day that you eat of it, you shall proceed to die.’”
But
Satan told Eve something different. We read, in Genesis 3:5, that Satan
told Eve, in effect, that she would not die, but that she would be like
God knowing, or better, DECIDING for herself, what is good and what is
evil. Eve saw, as we read in Genesis 3:6, that the tree would make man
wise–but the reference is to human wisdom, not the wisdom from God
which can only come through the tree of life–the Holy Spirit. And so,
man has used his own wisdom ever since, by rejecting, generally
speaking, the wisdom of God (compare 1 Corinthians 2:1-7; 3:18-20).
We
are now prepared to answer the question posed in this Q&A. After
both Adam and Eve decided to disobey God and to eat from the forbidden
fruit, God confronted Adam and Eve. He saw from their reaction that
they refused to repent of what they had done. Rather, they proceeded to
excuse or even justify their wrong decision. As a consequence, God
said, as recorded in Genesis 3:22-23: “‘Behold, the man has become like
one of Us, to know [or better, to decide for himself what he thinks is]
good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the
tree of life, and eat, and live forever’–therefore the LORD God sent
him out of the garden of Eden…”
Would Adam and Eve have lived
forever, if they had eaten from the tree of life, after having already
eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Realize that the
tree of life was symbolic of the Holy Spirit. So, even if they had
received the Holy Spirit by eating from the tree of life, God could
always take away from Adam and Eve the Holy Spirit, preventing them
from becoming immortal.
Some commentaries feel that the tree of
life symbolized more than just the receipt of the Holy Spirit. They
reason that it actually symbolized the immediate receipt of immortality.
For instance, the Ryrie Study Bible writes:
“Driving
Adam and Eve from the garden was both a punishment and an act of mercy,
lest they should eat of the tree of life and live forever in a state of
death and alienation.”
The better view, however, is that Adam and
Eve would not have changed into immortality, even if they had partaken
of the tree of life. Remember that God had already told them that they
would DIE, since they had eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil.
Matthew Henry’s Commentary writes:
“‘Behold, the
man has become as one of us, to know good and evil!…’ this was said to
awaken and humble them, and to bring them to a sense of their sin and
folly, and to repentance for it. God thus fills their faces with shame,
that they may seek His name…The reason God gave why He shut man out of
paradise; not only because he had put forth his hand, and taken of the
tree of knowledge, which was his sin, but lest he should again put
forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life and FLATTER HIMSELF
WITH A CONCEIT THAT THEREBY HE SHOULD LIVE FOR EVER.”
Jamieson,
Fausset and Brown agree with Henry’s conclusion that Adam and Eve would
not have become immortal, even if they had eaten from the tree of life:
“‘And
God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us’–not spoken in irony
as is generally supposed, but in deep compassion. The words should be
rendered, ‘Behold, what has become [by sin] of the man who was as one
of us!’ Formed, at first, in our image to know good and evil–how sad
his condition now. ‘and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take
of the tree of life.’ This tree being a pledge of immortal life with
which obedience should be rewarded, man lost… all claim to this tree;
and therefore, that he might not eat of it or DELUDE HIMSELF with the
idea that eating of it WOULD RESTORE WHAT HE HAD FORFEITED, the Lord
sent him forth from the garden.”
Man was made from the dust of
the ground. God said: “FOR DUST YOU ARE, AND TO DUST YOU SHALL RETURN”
(Genesis 3:19). For man to acquire immortality, God would have had to
change mortal man into an immortal being. Eating from the tree of life
and thereby receiving the Holy Spirit, would not have made man
immortal, all by itself. Even when we receive the Holy Spirit today, we
are not immediately changed into immortal Spirit beings. We still
die–physically–and need to be resurrected from the dead to
immortality. In addition, we can even still die spiritually, after
having received the Holy Spirit–if we lose the Holy Spirit and commit
the unpardonable sin, which cannot be forgiven.
We therefore hold
that Adam and Eve would not have been changed automatically to immortal
Spirit beings upon eating from the tree of life. Furthermore, God did
not want them to eat from the tree of life and receive the Holy Spirit,
as He did not see any repentance in them for their disobedience. God
does not grant His Holy Spirit to those who disobey Him–rather, we
read in Acts 5:32 that God gives His Holy Spirit only to those who are
obedient to Him. Revelation 22:14-15 confirms that only those have
access to the tree of life–the Holy Spirit–who “do His
commandments… But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral
and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.”
Lead Writer: Norbert Link
