The second creation account is recorded in Genesis 2. This account focuses on the creation of man and the unique position in which he stands. Man was created in God’s own image.
“And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
This probably means that man shares some important characteristics of God. We suspect that this includes the capacity to have manifestation and communication in both the spiritual and physical universes. In this account we learn of the “Garden of Eden” and the fruit-bearing trees placed there to supply food for man and the animal kingdom. We find two additional trees in the “garden” which are spiritual in nature. These are the “Tree of Life” and the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”.
And out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:9)
These trees are symbolic of communion or communication in the spiritual realm (heaven). Man was commanded to eat from all the trees (including the “Tree of Life”) and was warned not to eat from the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely, 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 shall surely die”. (Genesis 2:16-17)
The consequences of eating of the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” would be death. Death in a Biblical context always means “separation” and never means “cessation of being”. So when man ate of this tree, he was driven out of the garden and “separated” from the “Tree of Life”. Man, with the capacity of eating of the “Tree of Life”, would have been sustained indefinitely.
Eating of the spiritual trees of the garden deals with communion or communicating in the spiritual realm. Before he rebelled against God’s command concerning the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”, man enjoyed unlimited communion and communication with God. He was sustained by the presence of God. He understood every event as good or evil in reference to God and not to himself. (Note. The condition of being good or evil must always be considered relative to someone or some entity. In our study of the Bible, we consider two possibilities, reference to God or to man. When speaking of “fallen man” we simply mean that man sees every event or situation “good or evil” relative to himself.) The spiritual character, revealed in the Bible as the Satan, was prevented from communicating with man, thus man did not experience condemnation. Every event and situation was seen as good or evil relative to God and His purpose.
Man must have rationalized that surely he could eat of both trees even though God had declared that he could not. He ate of the forbidden tree. The consequences of eating of the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” were: (a) He was separated from God and, hence, was no longer sustained by God’s presence. This would have started the man’s biological clock leading ultimately to his physical death. (b) He was prevented from establishing communion or communication with God by his own initiative. God could approach man but man was prevented from approaching God. (c) He was subjected to communion and communication with Satan who the Bible refers to as the “accuser of the brethren”. This led man to evaluate every situation and every event relative to himself rather than to God. Man became “self-oriented” and as a result has subsequently existed under the tyranny of the illusion of “self-determination” resulting from a continual flow of Satanic condemnation. This is the condition of “fallen man”.
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