When it Comes to Adam and Eve did the father say that they could not eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge because they were be not ready for that knowlege? My other question is over time would they be allowed to eat from the tree?
You’re inventing content that isn’t there in the Genesis story. True biblical exegesis starts with the literal meaning of the text and doesn’t add to it. It then seeks to find the spiritual meaning.
So here’s what I have for the spiritual meaning.
I would argue that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents that human knowledge of these things grows. But it doesn’t encompass everything. It’s still a tiny bit of God’s creation. But what is the fruit of our growing knowledge? Well, we can take pride in it so much that we turn in on ourselves.
There are some other things to notice too. First, the serpent’s lie is veiled in truth. The lie isn’t overtly said, but the crux of it is that you can’t trust God. The lie is about God’s character. Afterall, they don’t die immediately upon eating the fruit and the scales fall from their eyes so that they can see good and evil just like the serpent said. Adam’s and Eve’s reaction is fear because what the serpent says seems to be true. And when they look down they see that they are naked…vulernable. What has God done? So they do everything they can to cover themselves and hide in fear of God.
The root of sin is not merely disobedience but pride. The fruit of this pride is fear and distrust of God. Christ calls us to faith, to not be afraid, and to hear the good news that God loves us. And He challenges our doubt to embrace the paradox of the cross and to look to the resurrection for hope.
Whether or not the story of the fall literally happened or not is irrelevant because the spiritual meaning is where all the wealth of the biblical exegesis is found. This is different from the literal meaning. Literal meaning looks at what is actually there in the text. This digs into whether it’s intended to be understood as a first hand account, a testimony, or an oral tradition told over camp fire. And I would argue that it is best to read it as an oral tale that was told over campfires so often it was memorized. Whereas the Epistles are actual letters from St. Paul and the gospels are testimonies of what had happened when it was relatively historically newish.
Does that mean the story of the fall is completely fiction? No. There could be a literal event that took place, but the content of this sacred story is more important than digging into content not in the story. It leads to errors or wanting to find truth in what
really happened or what
could have happened which pulls you away from true biblical exegesis. And those that dismiss the story as
merely myth are doing the same thing, because the danger of dismissing it can lead to the denial that we are born in a state of original sin.
