In Christian and Jewish tradition, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and humanity’s relationship to it, is of central importance in understanding the current state of humanity and the world. This symbol is part of an ancient narrative that humans have used for millennia to understand their place in the universe and their relationship to their creator.

THE GARDEN NARRATIVE

Both Jewish and Christian religious traditions begin their holy texts with the same narrative of the first humans (Adam and Eve) living in a lush garden, in relationship with the creative force behind all reality. This creative force is personal, and humanity was designed to be in personal relationship with it. This garden is characterised as a place where heaven and earth overlap, where humanity’s needs are abundantly met by their creator, and where they are tasked to rule side by side with the creator, over all of creation. The image that is painted for the reader is one of friendship between God and mankind. The centrepiece of this narrative is a proverbial choice that the creator gives Adam and Eve. The creator fills the garden with all manner of fruit trees and places the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil at the centre. The two rulers are encouraged to eat from all the various trees of the garden except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If they do, the creator says, it will kill them.

In a strange turn, Adam and Eve are met by a wise serpent who tells them that their creator is lying to them. The tree won't kill them, it will actually give them godlike capabilities to rule over creation. With the promise of the fulfilment of their purpose, the two are enticed by the words of the serpent and they eat from the tree.

You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil. - Gen 3:4-5

Immediately the two feel ashamed and hide from one another. Shortly thereafter, they are visited by the creator but instead of meeting their friend, they hide from God as well. We see the immediate impact of this choice is disconnection from one another followed by disconnection from God.

In the following scene, the creator finds them and reminds them of his promise that the tree will cause them to be cut off from life and follows through with the promise. Adam and Eve are separated from their creator and forced to live outside of the garden. Life is hard outside of the garden, there is pain, scarcity, broken relationships, and death. This is the world we all live in and know quite well. But, before Adam and Eve are banished from the garden, the creator promises that he will bring humanity back, that he will personally ensure their safe return to paradise, to a relationship with him, where they will have perfect provision.

This narrative is the setup for the rest of the christian bible, which tells the story of God’s plan to restore humanity to relationship with himself in the garden. But for millennia, this prologue has left readers with questions: Why couldn’t they eat from that tree? Why did God put the tree there in the first place? Why did God kick them out of the garden? We could go on, but we’ll focus on these three for now.

WHAT IS THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE?

IS THE FRUIT A METAPHOR?

So, why is it a big deal that Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? To understand this, we need to understand that the tree represents a choice for the humans. Remember, God has created them to live with him and rule over creation with him. But the humans were fresh off the cosmic printing press and needed to learn how to be proper rulers. According to the narrative, God’s plan was to teach them, directly, how to rule through their relationship with him. They were to learn from God, personally, how to discern good and evil and how to rule properly. In other words, friendship with God is the channel by which humanity is designed to live, learn, and work out its purpose. The tree of knowing good and evil represents the alternative to this method of learning, the humans could try to get the wisdom they needed apart from God. They could try to discern right and wrong, good and evil on their own. The failure of Adam and Eve in the garden represents humanity’s choice to seek independence from God (whom they were designed to depend upon).

WHY DID GOD PUT THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE GARDEN?

You may ask, Why did God allow such an alternative in the first place? Why did he make the tree so accessible? Why create it at all? Well, remember, the tree is a representative symbol of humanity’s rejection of God. As long as humans have free will, the option to reject God is always present, just like the tree was always present in the Garden. We are all constantly faced with a choice, to take from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, to decide for ourselves what is right and wrong, or to trust that God loves us and choose to obey him instead.

WHY PUNISH THEM?

Okay, so the tree is logically necessary, but why does God punish Adam and Eve for choosing to be independent from him? He gave them free will and they chose independence. Isn't it rather tyrannical and unloving to punish that choice? Well, many ancient traditions imagine that God is life. This means that humanity’s choice to reject God is a choice to reject life, it is a choice to embrace death. The consequence of their actions is not some childish tantrum from God, it is the logical end of their choice. Seeking to live independent of the source of life is an oxymoron. It’s like a laptop seeking independence from the power cord. As long as we remain unplugged, energy is scarce, life is short, things are more difficult, and we are anxiously searching for something that will give us a bit of the life we so desperately need. However, nothing but the outlet will do.

Furthermore, the narrative offers us a clue as to God’s posture in his decision to exile Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:22-23 tells us that God banished them to keep them from taking from the tree of life. Why would God want to stop them from taking from the tree of life? He says that if the humans took from the tree of life they would live forever. This almost makes it sound like God is afraid… Is God actually worried that the humans will threaten him as a rival?

“Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden” - Gen 3:22-23

Certainly not. God is all powerful and nothing can truly threaten him. But he is worried. He is worried that his beloved creatures, who are now corrupted with sin, will take from the tree of life and live forever in a state of eternal corruption. This eternal corruption is the worst possible reality for the humans, this is hell. It is a merciful act of love that God exiled Adam and Eve while they remained corrupt. But the same love that drove him to exile them is also driving him to restore them. God has already promised that he will heal them from their corrupt state. He insists that they eat from the tree of life and he will get them there. So, the humans remain exiled, outside of the garden, in a corrupt state for now. The rest of the bible is the story of how God executes his divine rescue mission and brings the humans back into the garden where they can finally eat from the tree of life and live in eternal wholeness.

HOW DO WE GET BACK?

We are all living outside of the Garden. We have all unplugged ourselves from life by choosing to be independent from God, the source of life. We are all in exile. We have done this for various reasons, but ultimately, it is because we do not trust God to adequately care for us and we suppose that we can do a better job caring for ourselves. We are in a strange situation, in need of life, constantly searching for it, but unwilling to approach and receive from the only one who can give it, God. We have chosen exile because we do not trust God. God has chosen our exile because he loves us, but it is that same love which drives his desire to restore us. All the pain and sorrow of life outside of the garden is temporary, if only we will come and eat from the tree of life.

The tree of life gives eternal life to all who eat of its fruit. This is why God did not want corrupted humanity to eat of it until they were restored. Jesus himself claims to be this tree of life. In John 11 says “I am the resurrection and the life, anyone who believes in me will live even though they die”. Later in John 15 he claims to be “the vine” which gives life to all its tendrils. In John 17, he prays to the father, “This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus christ whom you have sent”. Jesus is the tree of life: To know him is to have eternal life.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ME?

God has accomplished his promised restoration from Genesis 3 in the person and work of Jesus. He has plugged us all back into the outlet and will switch on the power for anyone that wants it. It costs nothing, it is a free gift, you must only receive it. The author of Hebrews says that anyone who wants to receive life from God must only believe that he exists and that he gives life to those who seek him. Eternal life IS relationship with Jesus, the tree of life. God does not force anyone to be with him, but he eagerly welcomes anyone and everyone who wants to be with him. God also does not ask you to pull yourself together and obey him, he only asks you to give him the opportunity to prove his love for you. You are now faced with the same choice as Adam and Eve: Will you turn toward your creator, looking to him to care for you, or will you take from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, trying to take care of yourself whilst unplugged from the source of life? The former is necessary, the latter is impossible. God wants to prove his love for you, will you turn toward him and receive it?

What tree did Adam eat from?

Adam ate from the tree of knowledge, following behind Eve, who was tempted by the snake. It may be easy to suggest that Adam was tricked by Eve, just as Eve was tricked by the serpent, but the narrative makes it clear that Adam was right there with her when she was speaking to the serpent. Meaning he overheard every word and went along with it, making him fully culpable for the entrance of sin into the world.

Is the tree of life and tree of knowledge the same?

The tree of life and the tree of knowledge are two different trees that represent two different ways of life. The tree of life represents relationship with God, where you learn from him, depend on him, and receive all manner of provision from him. The tree of knowledge represents the choice to try to learn apart from God, attempting to meet your own needs in a manner that suits your fancy. This is portrayed, in the bible, as a choice between life and death. Humans are not fully capable of meeting their own need apart from God because we were designed by God to depend on him. Meaning that life comes through dependence on God and separation from God is death.

What do trees symbolise in the bible?

Trees are a very common narrative theme in the bible. In order to understand why, we have to consider the context in which much of the bible was written: the arid, hot, desert of the ancient near-east. Trees were a source of shade, fruit, and life. What is interesting is that trees in the bible most notably symbolise people. Trees and Humans are often described with the same language and humans in the bible are often portrayed as trees of life or trees of testing (the tree of knowledge).

Who are the guardians of the tree of life?

At the end of the garden narrative, God exiles the humans and sets up to mighty angels to guard the way to the tree of life. These angels exist to protect humanity from taking from the tree of life in their corrupted state. They also represent the sharp divide that has been formed between heaven and earth. But the tree was not destroyed, it was guarded until the time when humans were to be restored and invited back in. That time came 2000 years ago when Jesus bridged the gap between humans and God, now everyone is invited back into the garden to take from the tree of life.

Does the tree of knowledge still exist?

The tree of knowledge does still exist as a choice facing all people at all times. The choice is this: Will you seek to carve out your own way in the world, defining good and evil on your own terms, or will you look to your creator who loves you and had promised to provide perfectly for you? The reality is that we don’t have the ability to judge rightly between good and evil. There is a lot of grey in the world and we don’t handle that grey very well. This makes doing the right thing and getting what we need very difficult. But for anyone that wants it, God has promised to provide for them in every way. In the book of Matthew, Jesus says: “God works all things together for the good of those who love him”

Where is the garden of Eden located today?

The garden of Eden was a place where heaven and earth overlapped, it was a place where God communed with his people and taught them wisdom. In Genesis 2, the garden was described as being between the Tigris, Euphrates, Pishon rivers. This correlates to somewhere north east of Egypt and Since the fall, heaven and earth have been separate places. But since the death and resurrection of Jesus, the pathway to heaven has been opened back up for anyone that wants to enter in. Specifically, Jesus promised to give his spirit to anyone that follows him. That means that heaven and earth overlap in the hearts of Jesus’s followers. So Eden has been restored within the heart of every believer, and the bible talks about the New Eden which will come when all things have been restored and the curse of sin has been completely undone.

Where is the tree of life now? Is Jesus called the tree of Life?

The tree of life is equally ubiquitous, it is the choice to be with God and learn from him. You may wonder, how does one “be with God”? Well, Jesus himself claimed to be God and is described by the Apostle Paul as “The fullness of God dwelling bodily”. Jesus came to bring God down to us. We can be with God, we can know God, we can learn from God by being with Jesus, knowing Jesus, learning from Jesus. Jesus has become to us the tree of life and anyone who takes from it will have eternal life.

The Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil