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Genesis 3 – Did Satan Tempt with the Wrong Tree?
If Adam and Eve had access to the tree of life, why did they die after eating from the forbidden tree? Either they never had eaten; or they needed continual access to keep living forever.
The last statement in this narrative doesn’t answer that question: Gen 3:22 – “The LORD God said, “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.”” (CSB). Let’s do some surmising.
If the first couple had never eaten of it, then Satan missed a golden opportunity. He could have encouraged them to eat from the Tree of Life; then tempted them to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That way the serpent could have made God a liar because they wouldn’t have died from eating the forbidden fruit.
If Adam and Eve needed continual access (which I think is true – Rev.22:2 says the fruit was produced every month), then we have an ancient example for modern times. Adam and Eve were not “once alive always alive”. They had to have constant access to the fruit of the tree. As they were, we are. Christians are not “once alive/saved always alive/saved.” We too must must have continual access to the fruit of the tree, the blood of the cross.
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