WHAT HAPPENED IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN; PART 1. THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN; PART 1. THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.

The Bible is a complete book. It does not leave us to give our meaning or interpretation to what is written in it. A proper understanding of the different parts of the Bible is very relevant in Bible teaching. Every part of the Bible is very important and should be used appropriately. Genesis  to Malachi shows Christ encoded in different mysteries. Matthew to John contains Christ existence on earth. Acts  contains activities of those who prolong the days of Christ. Romans to Revelation contains the interpretation of Genesis to Malachi.  For us to understand what happened in Genesis 3, we must look at what the interpretation says in the epistles (Romans to Revelation). For a detailed teaching on HOW TO INTERPRET BIBLE CLICK HERE TO READ.
Many people have given different interpretations to the fall of man. Some said Adam ate physical fruit, others believed Adam had sex with animals and many other varied interpretations. As I said earlier, we can not give personal interpretation, we will look at what the interpretation(Romans to Revelation) has to say about the fall of man.
Genesis 2
9  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
16  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: note
17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Here in verse 9, we see that the Lord made other trees to grow from the ground. Then we see the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil in their midst. When you carefully observe verse 9, you will see that the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil and the tree of life were not created but were among the trees in the garden.
In Chapter 3, we see that the devil came tempting Eve and  Adam with her (Gen.3:6) by telling him to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam had the choice to eat the tree of life before then.
Genesis 3
1  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? note
2  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. note
7  And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons
8  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. note
9  And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10  And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11  And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
First, we must realise that if Adam had eaten a physical fruit, he would have used the toilet. Jesus said in Matthew 15:17 that what go into a man cannot defile a man rather it is excreted. Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
So we know that ADAM DIDN'T EAT A PHYSICAL TREE, if not he would have used the toilet and the issue of sin and death wouldn't be.
Second, we must know that Moses saw what he wrote by visions. When he said to God in  Exodus 33:13 to show him His way that he may Know Him. The word way there derek has to do with journey, direction of the course of life. In other words Moses was asking for how the journey of God with man began. This being answered was how Moses got  to know the beginning of God’s dealings with man. What Moses wrote was what he saw by visions . Many times visions are not literal. It can mean a different thing. Like when Peter was told in a vision to  arise, kill and eat in Acts 10, it meant preach the gospel. Pharaoh saw seven fat cows and it meant  seven years of plenty.
Now having established the fact that what Adam and Eve ate in the garden was not physical fruit, so what did they eat? We must realise that before God made man He stated His purpose. God has an eternal purpose which is to have all in Christ. (This eternal purpose will be further explained in part two of this series). So anything that Adam did must be in relation to God’s first intention of creating man. Let's ' look at how the interpretation(the epistles) portrayed the fall of man. You will never see a reference in the epistles where Adam's sin was referred to as eating a physical fruit.
2 Corinthians 11
3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Looking at  the scripture above, we see that what Eve did is referred to as deception. She was deceived. Paul shows this in relation to being corrupted from the simplicity in the gospel.  The word simplicity there has to do with singleness, mental honesty or generosity. So whatever Eve did must be in relation to moving away from simplicity in the gospel.

Romans 5
12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: note
13  (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15  But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16  And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17  For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) note
18  Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. note note
19  For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

From verse 12, we see that it is one man that brought sin and consequently  death into the world.  It is not the devil nor God that brought sin. Sin originated from man. From verse 13 explains that the law is what imputes sin. Before the law sin was in the world but never imputed. For more on this click here.
Notice, this act of sinning is called disobedience in verse 19. It is not by one man’s eating of fruit but by one man’s disobedience. The word  disobedience used in  verse 19 has to do with hearing amiss. It is towards an instruction given. The instruction was to believe the gospel and have life. Jesus consistently refers to Himself as the life in the book of John. Also 1 John 5. What Adam ought to do was to believe  in the gospel and receive Christ as the life. Moses portrayal of this as tree of life and tree of knowledge of Good and evil is figurative.
What does it mean to chop knowledge?  If someone tells you something and you just swallowed what you are told, what does it mean? It means that you believed or accepted the knowledge. Eve and Adam rejected life by wanting to survive on their own through the knowledge of good and evil. This is the fall of man. Because Adam was a prototype for mankind, his choice brought sin and  death to mankind as we saw in Romans 5. Now Christ has paid for the wages of sin which is death. He died for the sin of mankind so anyone that believe in Him will  have life as originally intended by God. Anyone that believe in Jesus have life. Now in Christ, we have what Adam missed . It may not yet appear what we are now but when Jesus returns to end this earth that sin has corrupted then we shall see what it means to have the life of God in Christ.
In the next part of this series(what happened in the garden ),we will look at God’s eternal purpose from the beginning. It will further enhance your understanding of what Adam fell from.

BY OBIAZIKWOR EMEKE MODESTY
www.emekemodesty.com