Why did Adam need the Tree of Life?

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Layp3rs0n

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If Adam was created immortal why did he need the Tree of Life?
 
I thought it was the Tree of knowledge of good and evil. The fruit is not a literal fruit, nor is it an apple. It was meant as a trial from God to test their obedience.

P.S. Love your sig.
 
There were two trees in the Garden. But the Command that Adam violated, theologians agree DID involve eating something. It is fitting since we are saved by eating Something: the Eucharist. But still one of the trees, figurative or otherwise, was the Tree of Life. Why did Adam need it if he was immortal.
 
Eating from the tree of life is thought by traditional Catholic commentators as preserving man from death.
 
Haydock Bible Commentary

Ver. 9. The tree of life. So called, because it had that quality, that by eating of the fruit of it, man would have been preserved in a constant state of health, vigour, and strength, and would not have died at all. The tree of knowledge. To which the deceitful serpent falsely attributed the power of imparting a superior kind of knowledge beyond that which God was pleased to give. (Challoner) — Of what species these two wonderful trees were, the learned are not agreed. The tree of knowledge, could not communicate any wisdom to man; but, by eating of its forbidden fruit, Adam dearly purchased the knowledge of evil, to which he was before a stranger. Some say it was the fig-tree, others an apple-tree, Canticle of Canticles viii. 5. But it probably agreed with no species of trees with which we are acquainted, nor was there perhaps any of the same kind in paradise. (Tirinus)
 
There was two trees in the Garden of Eden: The Tree of Knowelge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. Adam (and Eve) eat from the first but not the second. I don’t have my Bible handy but I do not remember Adam being immortal. :hmmm:
 
Many catholics don’t take Adam or a Tree of Life literally so what’s the relevance? These things didn’t exist, you came into existence over millions of years. Sin happened somehow but we really don’t know much about it. :rolleyes:
 
tabycat said:
There was two trees in the Garden of Eden: The Tree of Knowelge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. Adam (and Eve) eat from the first but not the second. I don’t have my Bible handy but I do not remember Adam being immortal. :hmmm:
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  1. *] The first man was created by God. (De fide.)
    *] The whole human race stems from one single human pair. (Sent. certa.)
    *] Man consists of two essential parts–a material body and a spiritual soul. (De fide.)
    *] The rational soul is per se the essential form of the body. (De fide.)
    *] Every human being possesses an individual soul. (De fide.)
    *] Every individual soul was immediately created out of nothing by God. (Sent. Certa.)
    *] A creature has the capacity to receive supernatural gifts. (Sent. communis.)
    *] The Supernatural presupposes Nature. (Sent communis.)
    *] God has conferred on man a supernatural Destiny. (De fide.)
    *] Our first parents, before the Fall, were endowed with sanctifying grace. (De fide.)
    *] The donum rectitudinis or integritatis in the narrower sense, i.e., the freedom from irregular desire. (Sent. fidei proxima.)
    *] The donum immortalitatis, i.e.,bodily immortality. (De fide.)
    *] The donum impassibilitatis, i.e., the freedom from suffering. (Sent. communis.)
    *] The donum scientiae, i.e., a knowledge of natural and supernatural truths infused by God. (Sent. communis.)
    *] Adam received sanctifying grace not merely for himself, but for all his posterity. (Sent. certa.)
    *] Our first parents in paradise sinned grievously through transgression of the Divine probationary commandment. (De fide.)
    *] Through the sin our first parents lost sanctifying grace and provoked the anger and the indignation of God. (De fide.)
    *] Our first parents became subject to death and to the dominion of the Devil. (De fide.) D788.
    *] Adam’s sin is transmitted to his posterity, not by imitation, but by descent. (De fide.)
    *] Original Sin consists in the deprivation of grace caused by the free act of sin committed by the head of the race. (Sent. communis.)
    *] Original sin is transmitted by natural generation. (De fide.)
    *] In the state of original sin man is deprived of sanctifying grace and all that this implies, as well as of the preternatural gifts of integrity. (De fide in regard to Sanctifying Grace and the Donum Immortalitatus. D788 et seq.)
    *] Souls who depart this life in the state of original sin are excluded from the Beatific Vision of God. (De fide.)
 
I was thinking of Adam’s body (mortal) rather then his soul (immortal).:gopray:
 
The Church teaches that Adam WAS created immortal, impassible, and then he is told to do something to stay immortal. When he sinned the Tree of Life was cut off from him by two flaming swords so he could no longer live forever. I am not arguing it was not figurative or literal. It just seems at first glance a.plot hole since he was immortal to begin with (so teaches our infallible Church. Since it cannot be a plot hole in the narrative I must be missing the significance of the Tree of Life. What is it is the question?
 
A&E were not immortal in Eden. They had the same sort of human body we do, which runs on chemical entropy. To overcome it’s effects would require the fruit of the Tree of Life.

The natural human body cannot hold everlasting life; you cannot pour immortal life into an old human skin. For that, you need to become pneumatikon soma.

ICXC NIKA
 
There are two trees in scripture as others have pointed out.

Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and their eyes were opened, and they knew they were naked. They did not eat from the tree of life. The tree of life was placed East of Garden of Eden and the Cherubim were set to guard it, and a firey, revolving sword.

***Then the LORD God said: See! The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil! Now, what if he also reaches out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life, and eats of it and lives forever? The LORD God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he had been taken. He expelled the man, stationing the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword east of the garden of Eden, to guard the way to the tree of life. *(Genesis 3:22-24)

Adam and Eve were banished from the garden not only because they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but to prevent them from further eating from the tree of life.

Many see the tree of life as Mary, and the fruit of the tree of life is therefor the fruit of Mary’s womb, Jesus. We eat the fruit of the tree of life, Jesus, in the Eucharist, and thereby obtain eternal life. Mary would have been guarded by angels from the beginning of creation until the time was right for the presence of Jesus in the world.

I have an extreme inclination toward this interpretation. 😃

-Tim-
 
johnnyjones said:
Many catholics don’t take Adam or a Tree of Life literally so what’s the relevance? These things didn’t exist, you came into existence over millions of years. Sin happened somehow but we really don’t know much about it. :rolleyes:
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Catholics are OBLIGED to believe Adam and Eve were real.

HUMANI GENERIS
(Concerning Some False Opinions Threatening to Undermine the Foundations of Catholic Doctrine)
Pope Pius XII

Encyclical Promulgated on 12 August 1950

Relevant extract:
  1. When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which through generation is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own.
 
if they had to eat from the tree of life, then they were not immortal.
they would have died if they didn’t eat from it, right?

this always was confusing to me too.
 
thistle said:
Catholics are OBLIGED to believe Adam and Eve were real.

HUMANI GENERIS
(Concerning Some False Opinions Threatening to Undermine the Foundations of Catholic Doctrine)
Pope Pius XII

Encyclical Promulgated on 12 August 1950

Relevant extract:
  1. When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which through generation is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own.
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At the time this was put forth, there were no theories apparent that could be reconciled with unchangeable dogma such as original sin and it’s transmission since theories at that time challenged such dogma (it wasn’t questioning Adam and Eve being real that sparked this encyclical but a response to the challenge of original sin and it’s transmission.) Today, however, theories are in discussion that challenge neither this encyclical nor any dogma. I am rather found of Pope Benedict’s theory of how sin can transmit by way of the human person being a relational being in form or essence (if you prefer St. Aquinas doctrine of essence and existence then form/matter in this case.) In the Beginning…’: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall is a collection of his homilies he gave in Munich in 1981 that expound on this in the concluding essay or the fourth homily if I remember correctly. This understanding of sin, which does not challenge what Doctors have said in the past about but adds to them, is grounds to reconcile ploygenism since the debate is centered around original sin and not necessarily Adam and Eve.
Layp3rs0n said:
If Adam was created immortal why did he need the Tree of Life?
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Man was immortal not by way of material causes, not naturally created so materially, but of efficient cause, by the dependency of the supernatural force given by God. This operation was through the tree of life of which man ate of to maintain his indissolubility. St. Augustine: “A taste of the tree of life warded off corruption of the body; and even after sin man would have remained immortal, had he been allowed to eat of the tree of life.” For more detail I suggest Question 97 Aquinas’ Summa, part one.
 
thistle said:
Catholics are OBLIGED to believe Adam and Eve were real.

HUMANI GENERIS
(Concerning Some False Opinions Threatening to Undermine the Foundations of Catholic Doctrine)
Pope Pius XII

Encyclical Promulgated on 12 August 1950

Relevant extract:
  1. When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which through generation is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own.
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Are they OBLIGED to believe Genesis is real? Many catholics will tell you the tree of life and Adam are symbolic or allergories.
 
The Genesis account is likely figurative, HOWEVER, it is Dogma that our species began with two. We call these two Adam and Eve. This makes sense even scientifically as two is the minimal number to begin a breeding population.
 
The idea that Genesis is figurative and not historical is not a traditional Catholic idea. That does not mean that the accounts dont have metaphors, but to say that it didnt happen is very modernized thinking. I’ll stick with what the great majority of Jews and Catholics have believed for over 2000 years.
 
COPLAND_3 said:
The idea that Genesis is figurative and not historical is not a traditional Catholic idea. That does not mean that the accounts dont have metaphors, but to say that it didnt happen is very modernized thinking. I’ll stick with what the great majority of Jews and Catholics have believed for over 2000 years.
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Well said. Why speculate on mans origins or if he sinned as a quasi human at the foot of a volcano instead of a Tree of Life when God put it in writing.
 
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