After Adam therefore had been so created and so surrounded with every blessing that he was intoxicated as it were with joy in God and with delight in all the other creatures around him, God then creates a new tree, a tree of knowledge and of distinction between good and evil, in order that Adam by means of that tree might have a certain sign of worship and reverence of God. For after all things had been delivered into the hand of Adam that he might enjoy them according to his will or according to his pleasure, God next requires of him that by means of this "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" he should show his reverence and obedience towards God as his Creator; and that he should hold fast, as a sign of this exercise of his obedient worship of God, that he would not taste any of the fruit of this tree; thus refraining, as in obedience to God's prohibition.
All therefore that Moses has hitherto said have been things natural or domestic, or political, or judicial, or medicinal. The present however is theological. For here the Word of God concerning this "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" is set before Adam, in order that by means of this tree he might have a certain outward sign of the worship of God and of obedience to God, to be performed by him in his nature, as man, by the duty and service of an external work. Even as the Sabbath, of which we have spoken above, pertains more especially to the performance of the internal and spiritual worship of God; such as faith, love, calling upon God in prayer, etc.
But alas! alas! the true institution of this external worship and obedience toward God has been attended with the most disgraceful results. For we find at the present day that the Word of God, than which nothing is more holy, nothing more blessed, is an offense unto the wicked. Baptism also was instituted of Christ, as the washing of regeneration. But has not this divine institution become a great scandal and excitement of offense by means of various sects? Has not the whole doctrine of baptism been distressingly corrupted? And yet, what was more necessary to us than this very institution of baptism? It was most necessary in order that the animal man should have some correspondingly animal or outward worship; that is, some outward sign of worship and reverence of God, by which he might exercise an obedience towards God even in his body.
The present text therefore truly belongs to the church and to theology. After God had given to man a polity or national government, and also an economy or the principles of domestic government, and had constituted him king over all creatures, and had moreover appointed for him as a protective remedy the tree of life, for the conservation of his corporeal or natural life, God now erects for him a temple as it were, that he might worship his Creator, and give thanks unto that God who had bestowed upon him all these rich and bountiful blessings. So at this day we have churches and an altar in them for the celebration of the holy communion or supper of our Lord; we have pulpits also, or elevated chairs, for teaching the people. And all these things are thus prepared, not on account of necessity only, for the sake of solemnity also. But this tree of the knowledge of good and evil was itself to Adam his church, his altar, his pulpit; near or under which, as the place appointed of God, he might perform his acts of obedience to God, might acknowledge the Word and the Will of God, might offer his thanks to God, and in which spot he might also call upon God in prayer against temptations.
Reason indeed vents its rage that this tree was ever created at all, because by means of it we have sinned and fallen under the wrath of God and into death. But why does not reason on the same ground betray its rage that the Law was ever revealed by God at all, that the Gospel was ever revealed afterwards by the Son of God? For have not offenses of errors and heresies, infinite, arisen on account both of the Law and of the Gospel?
Let us therefore learn from this passage of Scripture that it was necessary for man, being so created and constituted as to have all the rest of the living creatures in his hand and under his dominion, that he should not only privately, but publicly also, acknowledge his Creator, should give thanks unto him, should offer him some public and external worship, and have a certain form and work of obedience. If therefore Adam had not fallen, this tree would have been a common temple or church, a sure palace to which all might have flocked. Thus it was afterwards, when nature was in her fallen and corrupt state, the tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple at Jerusalem were places appointed for divine worship. As therefore this "tree" eventually proved to be the cause of so awful a fall, it was rightly called by Moses "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," on account of the horrible and miserable event which followed.
Two questions may here be raised as to whether this tree of life was one only or whether there were more; and whether the Scripture which here speaks in the singular number should be considered as speaking in the plural; just as we, speaking collectively, use the expression "the pear," "the apple," whereby we mean pears and apples generally; either of those fruits as kinds; not individual species or specimens of them. To me it appears by no means absurd or out of the way that we should understand "the tree of life," as a certain space in the middle of paradise, or a certain grove, in which many "trees of life" of the same genus or kind grew, and were called by the same name, "trees of life." Hence it is probable that a certain grove was called collectively "the tree of life," which was a kind of sacred retreat, in which grew a number of trees of the same kind; namely, "trees of the knowledge of good and evil," concerning which God pronounced his prohibition, that Adam should not eat of any of them, and if he did he should surely die the death. Not that there was anything in the nature of this tree, or of any one of these trees, to cause death; but such was the Word of God pronounced concerning it or them, which Word of God was ever attended with its efficacy to all creatures; and the efficacy of which Word still preserves all creatures, that they degenerate not nor alter nor fail of their original form and intent; that all creatures may be preserved in their original form and nature by an infinite propagation!
Hence it was that by the Word the rock in the desert gave forth its waters in all their abundance, Ex. 17:6, and that by the same Word the brazen serpent healed all those that looked unto it, Num. 21:9. By this same efficacy of the Word of God's prohibition, this one tree or this certain species of many trees in the middle of paradise killed Adam by his disobedience to that Word of God; not that the tree itself was deadly in its own nature but because it was appointed by the Word of God to be so in its effects. In the same way also are we to understand the nature of the tree of life, of which God commanded Adam to eat as often as he needed to restore his powers. It was by the Word of God that the tree of life produced that restoration.
To reason indeed it seems absurd, that one apple could have such deadly properties or produce such deadly effects as to destroy the whole human race throughout its almost infinite succession; and that too with a death eternal. But this was not the nature or the effect of the apple in itself. Adam did indeed force his teeth into the apple, but his teeth struck in reality upon the sting in the apple, which sting was the prohibition of God, which made his bite to be disobedience to God. This was the real cause of the mighty evil. Adam thus sinned against God, disregarded his commandment and obeyed Satan. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was in itself "good," the tree which bore the most noble fruits. But as the prohibition of God was attached to it and man disregarded that prohibition, the tree became the deadliest of all poisons.
Just in the same manner as God has said, "Thou shalt not steal," Ex. 20:15, the man who touches the property of another as his own sins against God. So in Egypt when the Jews were commanded of God to ask silver from their neighbors and to carry it away with them; that was no sin; they were justified by the command of God, to whom obedience is due, whatever be the issue or result. So also the