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NASB | Genesis 1:26 ¶ Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 1:26 ¶ Then God said, "Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth." [Ps 104:30; Heb 1:2; 11:3] |
Bible Question:
Did God Create Man Mortal? If God didn’t create man mortal, why did he make a tree that could impart immortality? Part One. 1. The Purpose of the Tree of Life. Some in the Forum believe man was created mortal based on the existence of the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:22), and what is taken as merely a passing reference to man’s death in the curse (Gen. 3:19). Based on these two things, they also believe that the death that God threatened for disobedience was spiritual only and not both physical and spiritual. They believe that God made the Tree to sustain man physically, while man’s obedience would sustain him spiritually. Makes sense, doesn’t it? But is it true? So, what was the purpose, rather, what was God’s purpose in creating the Tree of Life? He doesn’t say, does He? Some may say, “Well, God says, ‘he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,’ doesn’t He?” Yes, He does, but is that a purpose statement, or is it simply stating what the tree could do? It is a statement of fact, not of purpose. The tree could impart immortality; therefore God put man out of the garden to prevent man from eating from it. Why? The reason God prevented man from becoming immortal was so that his curse would be fulfilled, so that curse of death would be completed or culminated. It should also be noted that if God had let man eat of the tree, man would have live forever in a fallen state. Now THAT would have been a nightmare! Again, God does not say WHY He made the Tree of Life. The whole purpose of the other thread on this subject was to try to answer that question. But to conclude that God MUST have made the Tree of Life because He made man mortal is not justified unless one can first prove from Scripture that man was in fact created mortal in the first place. What I’m saying is that the reasoning is backward. It starts with the supposed purpose of the tree, then reasons backward to postulate man’s mortality. Man’s mortality came as a RESULT of God’s curse for Adam’s sin, not as a result of being created that way, which I will write about more later. “(T)hrough one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men…” Rom. 5. Also, the Tree of Life mentioned in Revelation will not be for the purpose of sustaining man physically either, because according to 1Cor. 15 we will be resurrected with immortal bodies. 1 Cor. 15:42, 52-54 “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body… and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.” Revelation does say that “the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” Rev. 22:2 |
Bible Answer: I say we can know for a fact that God made us mortals as plainly stated in Gen 3:19. We were made from dust and to dust, we return. BUT of course there were exceptions. During the Patriarhcal Age, men lived for hundreds of years but I think that was the miraculous hand of God maintaining their bodies to populate the earth. The biggest question you pose is that of the Tree of Life. Like you mentioned it seemed to be for our education so we could get used to idea of living forever with God in heaven but the bottom line is: We can't possibly know with any certainty as to why God installed that tree in the Garden. But as always, I'd be interested in others' opinions. |