Thank you, my dear friend, for this very good question. Well, let’s take a look at the verses in Genesis which speak of this. In Genesis 2:9 we read: “And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Then in verse 17 we read: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” In these verses, we have the Word of God relating to that beautiful place which God had prepared for Adam. Eden, from what I understand, means delights, and this place was certainly a delight to behold! I doubt that we today can imagine the loveliness of this place, and it contained all that man truly needed, not only in beauty but also for sustenance. And, in this garden, the Bible tells us that there were two trees in particular, and I believe these to have been actual trees with actual fruit because the Bible states it so. We don’t read much in this chapter about the Tree of Life, but I noticed that there was no commandment given about this tree. We do hear about that particular tree again, its leaves and its fruit, in Revelation 22:2.

The other tree was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and I do believe that this tree was an actual fruit tree. We are not told what type of fruit was to be found on this tree, but in chapter 3:6 we do find that the fruit of this tree was desirable, pleasant to the eye. So, if this was actual fruit which seemed so pleasant to look upon, why did God tell Adam in chapter 2 and verse 17 that this one tree was not to be eaten of nor even touched? I believe that it was forbidden to man because God said so.  This was the first “thou shalt not” in the Bible. Would man be obedient to God’s Word, or would man rather choose to disobey God simply because he preferred his own way? We must remember here that man was created with his own free will, so he could choose to obey or not to obey God’s commandments.  Man was not “perfect” in the sense that God is perfect, but rather he was “innocent”. And, as we see in Genesis 3, the devil tempted Eve with his lies about only this one tree, and her and Adam’s disobedience clearly demonstrated that man was capable of preferring his own will to that of God. Thus, I believe that this tree did have literal fruit, but it was symbolic in that man was demonstrated to have the capacity to sin. William MacDonald, in his Bible commentary on Genesis 2 said of Genesis 2:17, “The tree of the knowledge of good and evil provided a test of man’s obedience. The only reason it was wrong to eat of that fruit was because God had said so. In different forms, that fruit is still with us today.”

Thus, my dear friend, we learn early on in the Bible that man is a sinner, and the consequence of sin, sin being rebellion, is death, both physically and spiritually. As we read in Romans 3:23-25, we are all sinners, sinners by nature and sinners by choice, and we need a Savior. Thanks be to God for the Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself on Calvary’s cross to redeem us through His precious blood.  (SF)  (665.5)