Adam and the Tree of Knowledge

Adam and the Tree of Knowledge February 21, 2005

Would Adam have been admitted to eat from the tree of knowledge if he had kept the probation in the garden? Jim Jordan has argued from hints in Genesis 1-3 that the answer is Yes. Perhaps there’s also some further hint in Matthew 4:1-11. Jesus goes into the wilderness, and is keeping a fast; unlike the first Adam, He resists the temptation to eat forbidden food, and He triumphs over Satan. At the end of the passage, however, he eats; having faithfully kept the fast, He is allowed to feast. This perhaps can be read back as the hypothetical history of the first Adam: Had he resisted Satan and kept the fast, He would have been admitted to a feast. Not decisive, of course, but perhaps relevant.


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