Barking up the Wrong Tree
By Ed Fargusson
Ever notice that there are two trees mentioned in Genesis. We are mostly familiar with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But there is one other tree that is mentioned there; the tree of life. Now we could talk about the chemical makeup of the fruit of these trees or we could theorize as to what happened to them. What I want to do is examine those names.
First, let’s look at the tree of life. With a name like that one could expect the other tree to be called the tree of death. That seems logical to us but for some reason not to God. Now I personally don’t think this tree was magic or even that it had power to give life. In other words, I don’t think this is a fountain of youth tree. Jesus said He is the life and we know that God is the source of all life. Therefore, I conclude that God used this tree to illustrate for Adam and Eve their dependence upon Him. It was an object lesson for them.
Now let’s look at this other tree: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now if I were naming trees I might have one that was the knowledge of good and another that was the knowledge of evil. But again, that is human logic and not God’s. But why name it the knowledge of good and evil? Didn’t the already know about good? Obviously, the problem with the tree is not just evil; it is the mixture of good and evil.
Let me be so bold as to assert my humanity enough to rename these trees. The tree of life could be the tree of the knowledge of God. That leaves the second tree as being the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The reality is that the first tree is the tree of life and the second is the tree of death for God did say that eating of it brings death.
So, what does all of this say about our choices. Notice that the choice for us is not between good and evil. The choice is between life and death. I once heard a speaker say the miracle of Christianity is not that it makes bad people good, but that it makes dead people live! The danger for us is to struggle between good and evil, but if that is where we struggle, we struggle with death.
God has called us to life. When we accept Christ, we are a new creature that has moved from death to life. When Adam and Eve ate only of the tree of life they knew no evil for God is only good. But when they ate of the other tree they disobeyed. They moved away from God and now they knew both good and evil. But most importantly they began to taste of death.
When Jesus came He said, “I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full.” He also said that a good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Even our good deeds are rotten on the inside as Isaiah tells us. As long as we are focused on the battle between good and evil we miss out on the blessings of life.
From which tree are you eating? Paul in Romans 7 describes what it is to eat of the second tree. One is constantly battling the good and evil within. But Romans 8 describes the person who has been freed from that battle. God promises to take away our old hearts and replace them with new ones. On the new ones, He writes His law. When you eat from the second tree, keeping of the commandments is legalism because it is a moral question. When you eat of the tree of life, keeping of the commandments is a way of life.