What does eating the forbidden fruit mean?

Here’s what eating the forbidden fruit (eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) represents for the believer today. No one better to interpret the Word than the Word Himself.

In Genesis 2:17, God said: "16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 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 will surely die.”

Many of us have wondered how Adam and Eve could be so silly - the Tree of Life was right there in the garden and they could FREELY eat of it. Why didn't they eat of that one instead? Until we realise that many among us are still eating from this tree of the knowledge of good and evil and shunning the Tree of Life.

But how can one eat of this tree today, since we seemingly no longer have access to it? How is it possible to disobey God the way Adam and Eve did, even to the point of choosing the tree that kills over that which gives life? It is by trying to be godly (be like God) by human effort just like Adam and Eve did, aka feeding from the law which gives the knowledge of what is good and what is evil. See Paul's words concerning the forbidden fruit in Romans 7 (MSG)-

"The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me."

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a picture of the law which gives the knowledge of good and evil. As he did with Eve, Satan is still seducing people with the law, perverting the law into a temptation and making a piece of the forbidden fruit out of it. The aspiration that he sowed in Eve was not a bad thing; afterall, what is bad in desiring and trying to be godly? In fact, God wants us to be godly! Many in the church are trying to be godly today but are doing so after the example of Adam and Eve: many are trying to be like God (be godly/attain righteousness) through human effort; by trying to keep the law which only points out how sinful we are (Romans 3:20.)

Just as Eve was seduced to eat of the tree, many in the church are being deceived into thinking that they can be righteous (like God) by keeping the Ten Commandments, doing good things and shunning evil. But see what Romans 3:20 says about this- "For no one will be justified in His sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law."

It is no coincidence what is written in 2 Corinthians 3:6-“…for the letter [of the Law] kills [by revealing sin and demanding obedience], but the Spirit gives life.” Just like the tree, the letter kills. No matter what part of the forbidden fruit (the law) one eats from, even the good part of trying to obey it in order to be a good Christian, the result is the same: Death.

Also See Galatians 3: 10 “But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under His curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.” 11 So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” 12 This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.””

The letter kills. A person will have life through the law only if he obeys ALL of the law, but no one can. Romans 3:20.

The pursuit of godliness via human effort at keeping the law in order to be like God (godly) only leads to death. The good one does under law kills just as fast as the bad. The letter kills. When we try to be godly by our own effort, things tend to go awry as they did for Adam and Eve. So much more to their story that relates to life today, for example the fig leaves that they sewed together and covered themselves with after they became aware of their nakedness (sinful status) is a picture of self-righteousness; the kind of righteousness that proceeds from human effort at obeying the law. This is akin to a person with full–blown AIDS believing that putting plaster on a festering wound that is as a result of his infection can make him whole. See Romans 8:3-4 (MSG):

"The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us."

Unless the virus (sin nature inherited from Adam) is removed, the person will still die. Christ died to rid us of this sin nature; see Colossians 2:11- "When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature."

See Christ’s counsel to the church in Laodicea who also covered themselves with fig leaves of self-righteousness from their own obedience to the law (Revelation 3):

16 “So because you are lukewarm (spiritually useless), and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth [rejecting you with disgust]. 17 Because you say, “I am rich, and have prospered and grown wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked [without hope and in great need], 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold that has been heated red hot and refined by fire so that you may become truly rich; and white clothes [representing righteousness] to clothe yourself so that the shame of your nakedness will not be seen; and healing salve to put on your eyes so that you may see.”

To be neither hot nor cold is to profess Jesus Christ as Lord while simultaneously touting one’s good works and obedience to the letter that kills as what brings salvation. Part Moses, part Jesus. Partly under Law and partly under Grace. You’ll notice that obedience to the law (a part of which is the Ten Commandments) and doing good things is the underlying theme of the message that is preached in many churches. No “Jesus saving from sins” in the equation as it is written in Matt. 1:21- “And she will have a Son, and you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Instead, many teach that you have to stop sinning and live right (be like God) all by yourself….or else! Reminds one of the serpent and Eve. This is the broad road that leads to destruction that Jesus spoke of and many are on it. The prodigal son might have delayed going back home or not gone back at all if some law-keeping person who thought he was "doing the good that God wants" had saved him from his suffering in the pig-pen.

Back to Adam and Eve:) They ate of the tree and they died. Same thing happens with those who are trying to obey the law in a bid to be godly. The letter kills, but this death is not necessarily immediate. The YLT translation says "for in the day of thine eating of it -- dying thou dost die." Psalms 90:4 says of God "A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by,"; Moses wrote this concerning God's view of the life of man (v.3.) Adam did not give up the ghost immediately after his death sentence came into effect; he lived for almost 1,000 years aka one day gone by in the sight of God.

This death from law-keeping in a bid to be godly is a process that begins with guilt from sin and condemnation of which there is none for all who are in Christ (Romans 8:1.) Then comes “death begun” in the form of fear (of judgment for sins committed,) stress, depression, silly mistakes, oppression, lack, sickness, discontent and every earthly ill that is as a result of Adam’s disobedience. Physical death and the second death follow after these symptoms of death.

The root cause of this death process is condemnation. As long as one is trying to get right with God by obeying the law, that one is under perpetual condemnation. The law condemns all. After condemnation comes the judgment of the law expressed in the suffering of man today. Satan the Accuser knows this and works to keep everyone working hard at keeping the law and doing good things in order to be like God. Same strategy he used with Eve. The law is the only weapon in his arsenal. The Hebrew word Ha Satan literally means prosecutor at law. The Accuser cannot successfully accuse those who are not under law; those who have Christ as their righteousness. For all who are in Christ, Satan has been disarmed of this weapon: the “handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us” aka the law has been wiped out and nailed to the cross by Jesus. See Colossians 2-

“13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

The law condemns the best of us. But Grace - our Saviour Jesus Christ- saves the worst of us, transforming even the vilest offender to be like Himself (like God,) as it is written in 1 John 4:17- “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.”

As Christ is, so are we in this world. Because we are in Christ, we are a new creation, made to be like God. Colossians 2:9 says “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.”

In Christ, we are not under law but under grace where there is no condemnation for the believer (Romans 8:1,) even when we mess things up. As we behold Jesus and not our faults, no longer trying to cover our nakedness with our own fig leaves righteousnesses like Adam and Eve after they sinned but having Christ as our righteousness, the Holy Spirit that dwells in us permanently is transforming us to the image of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18.) Not by our might or power but by the Spirit of the Lord.

Again see 2 Corinthians 3:6- "who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

This life is not just being saved from accidents, etc neither is it restricted to life in heaven. Just as death by the letter that kills starts here on earth with condemnation, then fear, stress, poverty, lack, disease and finally death, even the second death in hell, this "life" of the Spirit also begins here on earth with "no condemnation" because of God's gift of righteousness to all who truly believe, then no fear, peace, love for all, health, wealth, every blessing of God and being caught up in the air to be with our Lord Jesus forever at the Rapture. These blessings are only for those who believe thus: Romans 3:27-

"Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."

By God's grace, let's stop trying to be godly/believing that we can be saved by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (the letter that kills.) Let us eat freely from the Tree of Life and live forever. How do we do this? Remember Genesis 3:22-

"And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

Notice the words eat and live forever ? Now see what Christ says in John 6:51-58:

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world...54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day...58...He who eats this bread will live forever.”

Because He loved us so, God Himself made provision for us to eat of the Tree of Life- Jesus Christ- and live forever (not perish as was our lot under law, but have everlasting life.) and we find this in the most popular verse in the bible- John 3:16- "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Believing Jesus- that He has overpaid the price of our past, present and future sins (Heb. 10:12;) that we are made godly (righteous) by His obedience (Romans 5:19) and not by our filthy rags fig leaves of law-keeping and good works and that in Him, there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1) and no generational or other curse hanging over our heads (Gal. 3:13) - is to eat from the Tree of Life. Partaking of His body and His blood (Holy Communion,) while discerning His body, is to eat from the Tree of Life.

Jesus Christ is the Tree of Life. 

By God's grace, let’s stop feeding on the Law that was given through Moses and turn to Grace and Truth that came through Christ. Believe Right. Partake of His flesh and His blood and you will live forever. This is God's gift to us. Remember Christ says in John 6 that the one who partakes of Him "has eternal life" and not "will have." Eternal life begins here on earth. Eternal life is a gift.