Genesis 2:16 - Meaning and Application

Here we see, first, God’s authority over man. Man was made with reason and freedom of will, yet the Lord God gave him a command. Adam stood as a public person, the father and representative of all humanity, so the law given to him reached beyond himself. God rules all creatures according to their nature, and even the regular course of nature is under his law (Psalm 148:6; Psalm 104:9). Animals follow their instincts, but man was made for reasonable service, so he received the command of both Creator and Master.

Adam was a great, good, and happy man, yet the Lord God still commanded him. That did not lessen his greatness, stain his goodness, or weaken his happiness. In this, we should acknowledge God’s right to rule us and our duty to be ruled by him. We should never set our own will against God’s holy will, or even place it beside his as if it had equal weight.

Second, we see the particular way God exercised that authority. He told Adam what to do and on what terms he would stand before his Creator. First, God confirmed Adam’s present happiness by giving him freedom: “Of every tree in the garden you may freely eat.” This was a generous allowance, letting Adam enjoy the rich fruit of paradise as a reward for caring for it and working in it (1 Corinthians 9:7, 1 Corinthians 9:10).

It was also an assurance of life, even immortal life, if Adam obeyed. The tree of life was placed in the middle of the garden, as the special sign of that life (Genesis 2:9). So when Adam later fell, and this grant was taken back, the only tree named as forbidden was the tree of life (Genesis 3:22). There it is said that he might have eaten and lived forever, meaning he would not have died or lost his happiness. If Adam had stayed holy and kept in step with God’s will, he would have remained happy in God’s favor, either in that paradise or in a better one. On condition of complete, personal, and lasting obedience, Adam was assured of paradise for himself and his descendants forever.

But God also tested Adam’s obedience by threatening loss if he disobeyed. “Of the other tree,” the tree of knowledge, “in the day you eat of it you shall surely die.” This tree stood very near the tree of life, for both are said to be in the midst of the garden. The meaning was clear: Adam was on probation. He was placed in paradise on trial, and if he was obedient he would remain happy forever, but if he disobeyed he would become as miserable as he was now happy.

Adam was warned of death if he sinned. The words mean a sure and awful sentence. Earlier God’s generous promise was, in effect, “Eating you may eat.” Here the warning is just as strong: “Dying you shall die.” Even innocent Adam was given a threat to awaken fear, and if he needed such a fence then, we need it much more now. The penalty was death, meaning he would be shut out from the tree of life and from all the good it promised. He would become liable to death, with all the troubles that lead up to it and follow after it.

This death was tied directly to sin. “In the day you eat of it, you shall die” means that he would become mortal and capable of dying. The gift of immortality would be taken away, and the protection around him would be removed. He would come under the power of death, like a man condemned by law, though Adam was also given a delay because he was the root of the human race. Even so, the first signs and messengers of death would begin at once, and his life from then on would be a life moving toward death. This is a settled rule: the one who sins will die.

God also tested Adam with a positive command, one simple act of obedience, not to eat from the tree of knowledge. This was a fitting test because the only reason for it was God’s will. Adam already had an inward dislike for what is evil in itself, so he was tested in something that was wrong only because God forbade it. Since it was a small matter, it was all the more suitable for proving obedience. It also placed a restraint on the desires of the flesh and the mind, which are two great sources of sin in fallen human nature.

This command checked both bodily desire for pleasant things and the wish for curious knowledge. In that way, Adam’s body was to be ruled by his soul, and his soul by God. Such was the ease and happiness of man in innocence, with everything his heart could rightly desire. How good God was to him. How many blessings God placed on him. How easy the laws were that God gave him. How kind the covenant was that God made with him. Yet man, though honored, did not understand his own good, and soon became like the beasts that perish.