I agree , it was immortal life not eternal life (quite a difference IMO).
Great statement.
But it is framed in what some people call an "open theology" (A heresy IMO - God is omniscient of course) scenario - God wanting to see what Adam and Eve would do - kind of a test which they failed concluding with God asking "what have you done?" and then banishing them from the garden. So, how much is allegory, how much is metaphor and/or reality?
I take it as a literal event from which we can glean spiritual truth as well, which has application from a broader perspective of Redemption.
As far as viewing it as God wanting to see what they would do, I cannot embrace such a view myself, because we then nullify His omniscience and foreknowledge.
Here is a simple analogy that sums up the question "Why did God allow it to happen, why didn't He just make it so everything worked out:"
It's like those who would like to have a dog. We have several choices when we decide to acquire one, we can go get a pup, rescue an adult, or even buy a working dog which has already been trained.
If we look at the difference between the latter two, where certainly a relationship can be developed, and the relationship developed between a pup and a loving master, we cannot equate the two.
There is a bond formed through that growth period that cannot be equaled to the latter two.
My dog, well...his world literally revolves around my wife. There is a bond there that even I don't share.
That is why God decided, rather than allowed, for mankind to go through this process. He could have made organic robots who obeyed explicitly, but, one of the characteristics we share with God is that of being a unique individual.
God is One God, and truly there is no other. But, the same is also true of each of us, we are unique in ourselves, and God wants a relationship with us individually. He does not love all children as the same child, we don't even do that with our own children.
Why did God in His word come down to our level meeting us where we are in our limited knowledge?
Not sure we can attribute His Coming with meeting us at our level, in one respect, because He was rejected. It is not until He sends the Comforter that an understanding of what He has done and is doing became a matter of intimate relationship.
But in general, I think the question is simple enough, and oft repeated: God loved the world.
In reality and IMO it was immortal life from a real tree not eternal life, I believe that but can't prove it except to repeat God's words...
Genesis 2:17 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.
Christ uses the imagery of a Vine. Paul uses the imagery of a Tree.
The basic thrust being a source of provision to which someone or something is attached. In the Old Testament, God brought a vine out of Egypt. This represents the creation of Israel which is the source of relationship with and to God. Christ states, "I am the True Vine...abide in Me." In other words, "I am the true source of provision," and this is relevant, not just to the temporal provision we see given in the Old Testament (food, drink, shelter, and ultimately a land that provided the basic necessities for life), but a further revelation of man's needs from an eternal perspective.
Meaning, men did not understand the depths of their needs, which were eternal, rather than temporal.
Jesus on the other hand offers better than immortality without a test...
John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
A double negative involved "they shall never never perish" - allowed in Koine.
And I take a simple approach to that as well: Christ is the Source, the true provision for that which men needed, and this is accomplished in Reconciliation. We have eternal life because He that is Eternal Life indwells us. We are brought into a relationship not provided through Israel, the Covenant of Law, nor anything associated with that Covenant.
Eternal Life is not a substance added to man's existence, a substance poured into a/the vessel, but Eternal Life is God Himself.
More of a matter of us being placed into Eternal Life, which I what takes place when we are Baptized with the Holy Spirit, or, in other words, baptized into Christ.
God bless.
