2014 Fall Duke & NCSU Genesis Review

1. The Tree of Life
and
the Tree of the Knowledge
of Good and Evil
Bo Gao & Stu Zhao

2. Verses
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground Jehovah God
caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to
the sight and good for food, as well as the tree
of life in the middle of the garden and the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil.

3. Verses
Gen 2:16 And Jehovah God commanded the
man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you
may eat freely,
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, of it you shall not eat; for in the
day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

4. The Tree of Life
John 15:1 I am the true vine…
Exo 15:25 ...And Jehovah showed him a tree…
The tree of life is a vine, which is god himself.
Christ is a vine tree and also a life, so the tree
is the tree of life.
The tree of life feeds Adam and Eve, just like
Jesus Christ feeds us.

5. The Tree of Knowledge
● Gen 2:17 … you shall surely die.
● Heb 2:14 … him who has the might of death,
that is, the devil,
● Satan as the source of death to man.
● All things apart from God.
● Even spiritual, religious things (e.g.
Scriptures, law) can be used by Satan to
bring death to man.

6. What god wants us to do
Gen 2:16 ...Of every tree of the garden you
may eat freely,
Gen2:17 But the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, of it you shall not eat; for in the day
you eat of it you shall surely die.
God gave us choices, so he did not actually kill
Adam and Eve, but he wants us to be fed on
him, not Satan.

7. Issue of the two trees
● Tree of life
○ dependent on God
● Tree of knowledge
○ rebel against God
○ independent from God
● The seed issues in two lines
○ line of life - ends with the New Jerusalem
○ line of death - ends with the lake of fire

8. The line of trees of life
Old Testament: Abel, Seth, Enosh, Noah,
Moses, Gideon, David, ...
New Testament: Christ, those whom saved by
Jesus, 12 apostles, the church as we are, ...

9. The line of tree of knowledge
● Old Testament: Cain, Nimrod, the people at
Babel, Lot, Esau, Pharaoh, Aaron, Nadab
and Abihu, Miriam and Aaron, ten spies,
Korah and his company, Saul, Absalom,
Ahab...
● New Testament: the chief priests,
Nicodemus, the Jewish religionists, the
scribes and Pharisees, the disciples, Martha,
Peter, Judas, the unbelieving Jews, Saul, …
Antichrist.

10. Examples
● The ten spies failed because they looked at
the situation in the land by their own sight;
they failed because they relied on their
knowledge and refused to trust in the
Lord.
● Martha was occupied with the line of
knowledge, holding the knowledge of the
sound teachings regarding the resurrection
in the last day.

11. Conclusion
2 Cor. 3:6b “... for the 3letter kills, but the 4Spirit
gives life”
63 The letter of the law, which only requires of man. It is
unable to supply man with life. Because of man's inability to
fulfill the requirements of the law, the law kills man.
64 The Spirit, the ultimate expression of the processed
Triune God, who became a life-giving Spirit, imparts the
divine life, even God Himself, into the believers and the
apostles, making them ministers of a new covenant, the
covenant of life. Hence, their ministry is one constituted
with the Triune God of life by His life-giving Spirit.