Did Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of Life?

[gratefulberean]

Interesting topic.

My wife and I are discussing this, Randy Alcorn in his book Heaven, seems to imply Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Life before the Fall (before they ate from the Tree of Knowledge).

We all know that they were banished from the Garden after the Fall, and angels guarded the gate to prevent their return and subsequent consumption of the fruit of the Tree of Life. Otherwise, Adam and Eve would have immortalized sin.

However, did they eat of the Tree of Life before the Fall? If so, it would seem that they would have already been immortal, and this was canceled by the Fall.

[antitox]

As I understand it, eating from the Tree of Life is not a one-time immortal thing. It does perpetuate immortality, but if you stop eating it, it will wear off over time. That's why they were barred from the tree after their disobedience.

The years following, you can see it still having powerful effect for a long time, but the residue of it still finally disappeared after Abraham. At its lowest ebb, Abraham lived to 175 and Sarah only to 130. After that, it was nil.

The bible tells us that we shall eat of it when we are with God, because it is the very life of God Himself that is imparted to us. We do not have that "life force" in and of ourselves. It must be regularly imparted to us from God.

[gratefulberean]

As I understand it, eating from the Tree of Life is not a one-time immortal thing. It does perpetuate immortality, but if you stop eating it, it will wear off over time. That's why they were barred from the tree after their disobedience.

The years following, you can see it still having powerful effect for a long time, but the residue of it still finally disappeared after Abraham. At its lowest ebb, Abraham lived to 175 and Sarah only to 130. After that, it was nil.

The bible tells us that we shall eat of it when we are with God, because it is the very life of God Himself that is imparted to us. We do not have that "life force" in and of ourselves. It must be regularly imparted to us from God.


Thanks anitox! That does make sense and is kinda how I saw it...

[Hootmon]

As I understand it, eating from the Tree of Life is not a one-time immortal thing. It does perpetuate immortality, but if you stop eating it, it will wear off over time. That's why they were barred from the tree after their disobedience.:nod

A&E were told they could 'freely eat' ('eat eat' in the Hebrew) of any tree except for one. Presumably they tried them all, including the 'bad tree' unfortunately.

[lmenningen]

...did they eat of the Tree of Life before the Fall? If so, it would seem that they would have already been immortal, and this was canceled by the Fall.3:22 strongly suggests they had not yet eaten of if - "...lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life..."

[antitox]

3:22 strongly suggests they had not yet eaten of if - "...lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life..."

They had to have eaten of it to live as long as they did, unless you believe that it was just a natural thing to live 800 yrs.

[Lisa in OK]

This may not come out quite right but here goes:

The question seems to imply that it was the fruit that held the power instead of the simple fact that they disobeyed God. If they were in the garden and they never ate of the tree of life or the tree of knowledge of good and evil, would they still be in the garden? Would they live in the garden but not live forever? The Bible says the wages of sin is death. It was not a sin to *not* eat of the tree of life. Sin came into the picture when they disobeyed God.

Ok, this all made sense in my head . . . I can't seem to articulate it properly. I wasn't trying to play "what if" but that's kinda how the question ended up coming out.

[antitox]

This may not come out quite right but here goes:

The question seems to imply that it was the fruit that held the power instead of the simple fact that they disobeyed God. If they were in the garden and they never ate of the tree of life or the tree of knowledge of good and evil, would they still be in the garden? Would they live in the garden but not live forever? The Bible says the wages of sin is death. It was not a sin to *not* eat of the tree of life. Sin came into the picture when they disobeyed God.

Ok, this all made sense in my head . . . I can't seem to articulate it properly. I wasn't trying to play "what if" but that's kinda how the question ended up coming out.

He barred them from the tree. There had to be a reason for doing so. This isn't mystic. Yes, the wages of sin is death and God has total control over it. He decrees and He handles it as such. If man chooses his own judgment of what is right and wrong, he has rejected God's standard, and God will not allow anyone to dwell in His kingdom who has essentially rebelled. Man no longer had eternal life and it had been perpetuated from that tree which was from God.

The bible says that when we are with Him, we will eat from the tree of life once again.
That Tree is found beside the River of Life, and it flows from the throne of God.

I see this as an obvious conclusion in regard to where life comes from. No different from communion where we are partaking of this very life once again through Jesus which will result in us partaking of that tree in Revelation that was experienced in Adam's origin.

[Kliska]

There's a simple answer: we don't know. Scripture doesn't tell us.

It is possible that Adam lived as long as he did without eating of the Tree of Life; he's not the oldest living human on record.

[antitox]

There's a simple answer: we don't know. Scripture doesn't tell us.

It is possible that Adam lived as long as he did without eating of the Tree of Life; he's not the oldest living human on record.

Yes, Methuselah was the longest living and obviously God allowed it:

Chuck Missler:
The Flood of Noah did not come as a surprise. It had been preached on for four generations. But something strange happened when Enoch was 65, from which time "he walked with God." Enoch was given a prophecy that as long as his son was alive, the judgment of the flood would be withheld; but as soon as he died, the flood would be sent forth.

But if you can explain the downward trend of aging, maybe you can make sense of it all?