Before we answer each question, let’s read Genesis 3:22-24: “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” These verses are simple and clearly teach us that if Adam and Eve had eaten of the tree of life, they would “live forever.” The fruit from the tree of life would have given their bodies immortality, which means, as your question indicated; they would have lived forever in a fallen, sinful condition. God would not allow this, for He had indeed told them, in Genesis 2:17, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” This “death sentence” included “spiritual death” and “physical death,” and had they eaten of the tree of life His word would have failed, for their physical bodies would have never died. To prevent this from happening God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden and posted angels as sentinels to guard the tree of life.

We believe the answer to your third question is that THERE WOULD BE NO REDEMPTION FOR MAN IF ADAM AND EVE HAD EATEN OF THE TREE OF LIFE. The word “redemption” means “deliverance.” God’s redemption involves “God delivering man from the penalty of sin through Christ’s redemptive work on the cross. What is the “penalty of sin?” Sin actually has TWO PENALTIES. Romans 6:23 gives us the first penalty, “For the wages of sin is death.” Hebrews 9:27 adds the second penalty, “And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” If Adam and Eve had eaten of the tree of life they would not have been subject to physical death and Christ’s death would be meaningless. Again, they would have “lived forever,” but because of sin, their lives would have been filled with sorrow and misery on a cursed earth, and like the fallen angels they would have had no salvation offered to them.

God would NOT allow this to happen. He was true to His Word and Adam did die physically AND death has passed upon all men, as we see in Romans 5:12, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” But God, in love, has provided redemption for lost and guilty man, as we see in Galatians 4:4-5, “But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” Earlier, in Galatians 3:13, Paul reminded believers of exactly what Christ did to redeem them, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” When Christ took the sinner’s place on the accursed tree, He paid the penalty for sin. We saw that DEATH and JUDGMENT was the two-fold penalty for sin and on Calvary’s cross the Lord Jesus bore God’s judgment due to sin and then He died and shed His precious blood. In John 19:30 He cried out in victory, “It is finished.” He paid the debt of sin that we could never pay and REDEMPTION is now available to all who feel their need of a Savior. If you will trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Redeemer, you will be able to rejoice in the truth of Ephesians 1:7, “In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” This includes the future redemption of the body, for Romans 8:23 tells us that believers are “waiting eagerly for…the redemption of the body” (NASB). Praise God for the full redemption He offers us in Christ!  (186.6)  (DO)