Adam Was Not Immortal

I was asked if God created Adam immortal. My first response in my mind was affirmative, because Adam was created perfect in a perfect world, and it was sin that changed that condition, of which he had been warned:

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; 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.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

We know what happened: Adam ate and as a consequence lost immortality. In reality, it was not that way. Adam and Eve were the first human beings created by God.

The tree of life

As “created beings,” they were not God, and therefore could not possess all the characteristics of Deity, and immortality is an attribute of Divinity, since I believe that only God is eternal, immortal.

When our first parents ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, this tree lost all relevance, it is no longer mentioned.

The tree could still be there, because despite all the loving warnings received in the fullness of their perfect physical and intellectual faculties, man ate from its fruit, thus manifesting his decision for death and to act in evil.

“And the LORD God made to grow out of the ground every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; also the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” (Genesis 2:9)

The other tree

Genesis mentions this other tree, located in the midst of the garden of Eden. The tree of life. Our first parents were not immortal; the prolongation of their life depended on God. For this, He had provided the trees of the garden and particularly the tree of life.

Apparently, this tree provided fruits that contained essential nutrients that made life prolongation possible. Beyond the food for the maintenance and functioning of their organism. Life in and of itself was something man did not have and will not have.

From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, one was not to eat; there was an explicit prohibition, the only prohibition. Paradoxically, it had to be there just so that man would not eat of its fruit; it could have been an apple or any other. The fruit was not what was relevant.

God wanted what every parent would want for their children; that they would not know evil, and even less that they would have to die. We ask ourselves: what then was the reason for having that tree there?

Free will

If it occupied an important place, the reason must also be important, and it is. This tree gave rise to the greatest gift of God for man: free will; it was the signal to the universe that these creatures possessed free will.

Man was free; he could go wherever he wanted and eat of any of the trees of the garden. Freedom is established as a right in the realm of justice.

That is to say, it can only be exercised in the realm of good; if it is not in accordance with that medium, it is lost, or it becomes libertinism, which is freedom in evil.

Free will is more than freedom; it granted the human being the capacity to choose, not between all the trees of the garden, but between good or evil, between life or death, between God or Satan.

Being immortal, a danger

Adam was not immortal, nor would he be. It was the possibility of knowing evil and acting in it, distinct from an acquired freedom; it was his own faculty of choice. God and the angels know evil, but do not act in it.

“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.” (Genesis 3:22-23)

In light of contingency, one of the Creator's first measures was to protect His creatures, and He did so, paradoxically, by removing Adam and Eve from the tree of life so that they would not eat from it. They were expelled from the garden, and the way to the tree of life was guarded by cherubim:

“So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:24)

To prevent access to the tree of life, to restrict the period of life, is then an act of mercy. Leaving it at the mercy of man would have been an act of cruelty.

Death a blessing

It would have given him the possibility of extending his life indefinitely in a corruptible, degradable body, afflicted with diseases, physical, mental, emotional, affected by sin, with an innate tendency toward evil and in a world also mortified by sin.

Still, there are those who in the face of death or suffering consider God to be a cruel being who allows this to happen, but it was the conscious decision of man, in the fullness of his capacities and before all the warnings of his Creator.

Knowing what the consequences of an incorrect choice would be, he did it anyway. Even though God respects this decision, He provided a plan of salvation for all who wish to change their choice.

The death we know does not end life; it only ends the temporary permanence in this world. The promise of resurrection, of a new life in a world without sin, renders any suffering, sorrow, or pain, no matter how extensive it has been, into nothing.

Life, not existence

God, our Father wants, more than seventy or a hundred years of life, God wants much more than that for us. For those who do not know or do not believe in the promise of the Lord, this life is everything.

Seventy or ninety years are all existence; which makes it incomprehensible that God “allows” so much pain or suffering, that He does not intervene, that He does nothing, that it is His will, that there are prayers that He does not answer.

Why did God not divert a bullet that an individual shot into the air, but that entered through the weak roof of a house, to kill a sleeping baby? Why did He not cure a cancer despite all the prayers and prayer chains?

Perhaps it is because God does not alter our decisions, or the physical, chemical, or other laws that He established, but also, perhaps it is because that baby, that suffering mother, that son, brother, or friend who died will receive the fulfillment of this promise:

Life in abundance

“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them; and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, as their God.”

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.

And He that sat upon the throne said: Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me: Write; for these words are true and faithful.” (Revelation 21:3-5)

In eternity,

Thus, as in Eden, God will dwell with redeemed humanity; the tears of the saved may have their reason in the memory of what it meant to have eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The guarantee that in free will, they will not turn away from their God again, hence there will be no more pain, but above all, because Satan will no longer exist.

This is what the Lord truly and finally wanted for our first parents, for those who did not listen to His voice, for those who chose to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The Lord will make all things new; He will do what for many is a dream, to start over; and for those who want it, there will again be the tree of life that had to be removed:

“In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:2)

This is the promise of restoration without death, without pain, without suffering, and now not in a garden but in the New Jerusalem. The tree that had to be removed from Eden, which will allow us to prolong our lives without being immortal, as much as we want, will be there; that is why Jesus said:

“…I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10).