Do you remember in the first post I mentioned presuppositions? That's why you're having trouble answering the question. It's the presupposition that you're an immortal spirit. You're not. You are a flesh being. The Apostle Paul tells us that the Father alone has immortality.
In context, when Paul says that God alone has immortality, he was speaking about men, not their spirits. Scripture is replete with the fact that human beings are immortal as to our spirits...you will either live forever in heaven, or in the lake of Fire, just as Scripture clearly teaches. That is immortality. My presupposition on this point is straight from Scritpure.
13 I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
14 That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:
15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
16
Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto;
whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. (
1 Tim. 6:13-16 KJV)
You are flesh.
Correct to a point...you are a spirit temporarily dwelling within a mortal body, just as Scripture teaches...for example...
1 Corinthians 2:11
For who knows a person's thoughts except
the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
Human beings were created as tripartite beings according to a vast amount of Scripture: physical mortal body, soul (seat of the emotions and intellect), and spirit. This is quite solid in Scripture, which (so far that i know of) only JW's reject. That is how solid of a doctrine it is presented in Scripture...only heretical groups deny it.
17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken:
for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (
Gen. 3:17-19 KJV)
3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with
man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. (
Gen. 6:3 KJV)
When we start with the proper presuppositions our conclusions are different.
Yes...I see...I also make the solid observation that you do not employ a complete Biblical hermeneutic in your interpretations...and that is why your conclusion is false. We are flesh, we are also spirit. One text does not destroy another. All Scripture must be harmonized with all other Scripture, and when you fail to do that, you end up with false conclusions. Your presupposition is in error, not because I say so, but because Scripture demonstrates it as such.
As already demonstrated with Scripture, man is not JUST flesh. That is where your supposition goes awry.
He is given life by God on an ongoing basis.
Your Scripture that you get that from is...what? No where is physical life ever stated as continuously given by God, only eternal life is conditional from God. Physical life is conditional upon eating, drinking, sleeping, and breathing...anything that causes you to cease eating, drinking, sleeping, and breathing will kill you - and that has nothing to do with God.
Eternal life is not a quality of life. It is life that will never end.
The phrase, "eternal life" is utilized in the NT Scriptures in two ways only (both of them directly from covenant): either meaning that one is currently in personal covenant relationship with God, or that one has made it to the consummation of eternal life in heaven with God. The term "eternal life" does not mean in either capacity that "life" will never end. Those who will be cast into the Lake of Fire are called "dead" as well as those who are not walking with God...Paul says they are dead while they live. Spiritual discernment must be utilized in order to determine the correct Spirit-intended meaning of a word or phrase.
What I gave you in my first post is the answer to your question.
Actually, there was no answer in your first post. The question was, why did God place the tree of life in the garden. You did say, " that by eating of the Tree he would continue to have life." But that is not what the evidence of Scripture leads to...
Genesis 3:22
Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat,
and live forever--"
According to the passage, Adam was not immortal but if he had partaken of the tree of life even one time, he would...according to God's own words..."live forever." A continual eating from the tree was not necessary; all it would have taken, according to the text, is one bite.
The problem is the your presuppositions are leading you to an incorrect conclusion.
I have demonstrated with Scripture, that it is not my presupposition (which amounts to an unwarranted assumption) that is leading to an incorrect conclusion...
Blessings!
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