The Two Trees - Part I

"And the Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden, and there He placed the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing 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." (Genesis 2: 8-9)

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2: 16-17)

In the early chapters of Genesis we find the following things happening. God is the designer and the creator of all that is in the heavens and the earth and he sees that all that He has created is "good". He decides to make man "In Our image, according to Our likeness" so that man will rule over every living thing. He instructs Adam and Eve to "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it." God's only warning for Adam is to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Sometime later Eve is near that tree and Satan, disguised as a serpent, questions the wisdom of God's warning. Eve sees that the tree was "good for food . . . and desirable to make one wise" and she eats the forbidden fruit and gives it as well to Adam, who also eats. For the first time they realize they are naked and they cover themselves with fig leaves. When they hear God taking His evening walk in the garden they get frightened because they were naked and so they hide. God finds them and asks "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" God tells them that now the ground is cursed because of what they did and that their physical bodies would eventually return to dust. He clothes them with animal skins and sends them out of the garden so they will not eat of the tree of life and live forever (condemed).

Isn't it strange that the sin of Adam and Eve was in eating the fruit of a tree called "knowledge of good and evil?" To understand the problem we go back to the idea that man is a three part being; body - soul - spirit. We know that God is spirit (John 4:24) and although He took on a physical form and spoke with an audible voice, for Adam to be able to recognize that what he saw and heard was God he needed to receive this information through his spiritual senses, not just his physical senses. Before Adam disobeyed God his spirit was in communion with God through the Holy Spirit. I believe it was God's design and plan for the body of man to be subject to his soul, which was in turn in union through his spirit with the Spirit of God. Or think of it this way. The Holy Spirit was in a sense an umbilical cord from God, connected to man's spirit, bringing truth and life to the whole being of man.

When Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he was trying to obtain spiritual (moral) truth in a reverse direction. The physical would give knowledge to the soul, apart from revelation from God through the spirit. The effect on man and mankind was profound. His spirit was cut off from the ongoing action of the Holy Spirit, the umbilical cord was severed, and spiritually, man died. He still was body, soul, and spirit, but his spirit had no life because it was separated from God. The soul now would be in constant battle with the body, a body that now would eventually grow old and return to dust.

The world would wait for the promised "second Adam", who would one day bring a rebirth to the spirit of man, restoring what God had originally designed, and adding something even better; access to the tree of life, eternal life with God.