http://steve-finnell.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-tree-of-life-george-l.html
The Tree Of Life
GEORGE L. FAULL
Interviewer: Brother Faull, why do you believe men die?
Bro. Faull: Death is the result of sin.
Interviewer: Is that because of personal sin?
Bro. Faull: Of course not. Some are born dead. It is said of
Jacob and Esau while still in the womb, that they had neither done any
good or evil. Romans 9:11.
Interviewer: But why should everyone die for Adam’s sin?
Bro. Faull: Because that is what God warned would result if Adam
sinned. “For in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die,” or
“Dying you shall die.” This was before the creation of Eve. Adam is
the fountainhead of the human race. He obviously understood that not
only he himself would die, but all humans, likewise. Later he told his
new wife that she was included for she told Satan in plural: “Ye shall
not eat it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” So it is clear
that they understood it was for both of them and their posterity as
well. If an electrician says to a man, “You touch that wire and you
will surely die.” Surely it includes his family.
Interviewer: Well, I can see that it would apply to the man who did
the same thing, but not all men have eaten the forbidden fruit of the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. So why will they die? If I touched
a wire, I would die, but not my children, unless they touched the wire.
Bro. Faull: Good observation! Scripture does say, “Nevertheless,
death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam’s transgression.” Romans 5:17.
Interviewer: So again, why do men dir for Adam’s sin?
Bro. Faull: We do not die for Adam’s sin. That would imply that we are guilty of his sin. We die because of Adam’s sin. Romans 5:12.
Interviewer: Go on.
Bro. Faull: God warned Adam, that if he ate of the forbidden
fruit, he would begin to die. Adam sinned! As a result, God removed
Adam and his wife away from the source of life, namely the Tree of
Life. When God removed the source of life from mankind, and put
cherubim to guard them from partaking of the Tree of Life, they
obviously all died. Since their descendants could not eat of the source
of life, they too died. They did not die for Adam’s sin, but because of Adam’s
sin. Suppose a man and his family were in a lifeboat. The man drank
the rest of the forbidden canteen. The children did not die for the
guilt of the father’s sin, but because of his sin.
Likewise, the guilt of Adam did not pass to his
descendants. The effect of taking away the Tree of Life caused all men
to die, for it was the source of life. God drove the guilty pair from
the garden and from the source of life, causing their descendants to
simply die for there was no tree of life for them to partake of outside
the Garden of Eden. The children suffer the consequence of the parent’s
sin, not the guilt. Sin, therefore, is said to have brought death and
it happens to all mankind.
Interviewer: Are you saying then that death is not the wages of sin?
Bro. Faull: No. Death is the wages of sin. It is the price Adam
paid for his sin. He died and his posterity also died because we
cannot partake of the Tree of Life. The tree was the means of
life. Its absence brings death. Man could keep living even after he
sinned, if he could have continued to eat of the Tree of Life. This is
proven by what God said:
Genesis 3:22-24, “22 And the LORD God
said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and
evil: and, now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree
of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23 Therefore the LORD God sent him
forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was
taken. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the
Garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to
keep the way of the tree of life.”
Interviewer: But isn’t it true that all men are born sinners now?
Bro. Faull: This is the commonly held doctrine of both Catholicism and Evangelicals. I do not believe that.
Interviewer: Doesn’t the Bible say, “For as by one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners?
Bro. Faull: Yes, Romans 5:19 says that, but I suggest that we quote all of it.
Romans 5:19, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”
Now, let me ask you a question. When a person
becomes a Christian, the text says that he is made righteous. Is he
really righteous, or is he counted righteous? Is he righteous or is it
an imputed righteousness?
Interviewer: It is an imputed righteousness.
Bro. Faull: Likewise Adam’s descendants are counted
sinners. They do not become sinners in reality till they personally sin
any more than we are in reality righteous
Interviewer: But I must call you back to the statement, “By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners. They were made sinners!
Bro. Faull: Yes, they were made or declared to be, constituted or
rendered sinners just as we are declared to be or rendered, or
constituted to be righteous, even though we are not sinless in
reality. Note what Paul says in :
Romans 5:12-14, “12 Wherefore, as by one
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13 (For until the law sin was
in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had
not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the
figure of him that was to come.”
Note that sin is not imputed [counted, reckoned,
or laid to one’s charge] where there is no law. Nevertheless, death
reigned over those from Adam to Moses. Why did death reign? Because
there was no way for them to eat of the Tree of Life and live.
Interviewer: Didn’t those under law sin?
Bro. Faull: Not after the similitude or likeness of Adam. Once the law was given, they became sinners.
Romans 7:7-9, “7 What shall we say
then? [Is] the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by
the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt
not covet. 8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me
all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead. 9
For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came,
sin revived, and I died.”
Sin is a transgression of the Law.
I John 3:4, “Whosoever commiteth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the Law.”
By the Law is the knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:20, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law [is] the knowledge of sin.”
Before that, they were guilty of the sin of
omission and commission against their conscience. They will thereby be
judged by it.
Romans 2:14-15, “14 For when the
Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in
the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which
shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also
bearing witness, and [their] thoughts the mean while accusing or else
excusing one another.)”
Likewise, unborn children and infants have not
sinned against knowledge. They died simply because their parents never
ate of the Tree of Life. They suffered the consequences of Adam’s sin,
but not the guilt of it.
Interviewer: This is all new and interesting to me. However, we
Christians will get to eat of the Tree of Life, yet the Bible shows that
even the wicked will be raised. Does Jesus’ death give eternal life to
everyone?
Bro. Faull: By no means! Adam’s sin resulted in death to all
mankind. Christ’s death on the cross paid the price and His
resurrection proves that His work was accepted as the payment of the
wages of sin. His death makes it possible for all men to be raised from
the dead, as all shall be raised from the reign of death. However, not
all shall be raised to eternal life in Heaven. Some will be raised to
condemnation.
John 5:28-29, “28 Marvel not at
this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves
shall hear his voice, 29 And shall come forth; they that have done good,
unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation.”
It is those who do Christ’s will who have the right to eat of the Tree of Life, and live eternally.
Revelation 22:14, “Blessed [are] they
that do his commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of Life,
and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
Those who for sake Christ, will experience the second death.
Revelation 20:15, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Interviewer: I am still hung up on “made” sinners.
Bro. Faull: They were rendered or constituted sinners. The word
is a passive verb. They were not made to be sinners by nature or
against their will. They are reckoned sinners by God, that is in His
mind. God reckoned them to be sinners. One is not “reckoned” a sinner
if he really is a sinner!!! If a token is reckoned or rendered to a
quarter, it is not a quarter. God reckoned all men sinners because of
Adam’s sin. God did not make them sinners in the womb in actual fact,
for if they were made actual sinners, they are not “reckoned”
or “constituted” sinners. They are tokens, not quarters. God did not
start making embryos inherent sinners because Adam sinned. He counted
the sinners.
Interviewer: Please illustrate what you are saying so that I can grasp it better.
Bro. Faull: I recently went to a farmer and asked him if I could
fish in his pond. He said, “No. I allowed another man to fish here and
he made a mess and didn’t clean it up. I determined not to let anyone
else mess up my beautiful environment around my pond.” He counted me a
polluter. I am not actually a polluter. He counted or reckoned me to
be a polluter. I suffered the consequences of the actual polluter, and
like him, was forbidden the use of the pond. Now, he never changed my
nature, made me bent toward polluting or in any way affected my
future. He just reckoned I was like the polluter. God reckons all men
sinners. Bu choice we all become transgressors after we are born. We
go astray. There is none righteous. We have all sinned and are falling
short of His glory. Innocence soon leaves us by our own choice.
Interviewer: Won’t some argue with you on that?
Bro. Faull: Of course, but if that view is not held, they have a very serious problem.
Interviewer: Which is?
Bro. Faull: Jesus was made in the likeness of sinful man. He
took on our very nature. Was He indeed made an actual depraved, guilty
sinner? That would have to follow, if men inherited an evil nature from
Adam. Listen to these verses:
Hebrews 2:14-18, “14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil.”
Philippians 2:5-8, “5 Let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
If Jesus were made like man in his nature and
that nature is inherently evil, then Christ was born evil. Did God make
Christ a sinner so He could save us? Was the first Adam an inherent
sinner from creation when he was created in God’s image? Is not a baby
still created in the image of God? Is then God an inherent sinner? The
ramifications of the alleged depraved nature of man are endless.
Interviewer: I’m sorry. I think my time has run out. We will just have to get together soon to discuss this further.
Bro. Faull: That will be fine. Feel free to give me a call at any time. Thank you for your time.