Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Vusik
As all you know, or at least the people that at one time where a part of TLR, that there is a very high emphasis put on the ideology of “we must choose to eat of the tree of life”, and don’t be like Adam and Eve and choose the wrong thing.
However, unless I’m mistaken, there isn’t a single verse of scripture that equates Jesus Christ to the tree of life, nether calls Him the tree of life. I don’t care about symbolism or typology, nether do I care about some interpretation that says so. As far as I know and doing some studies on the matter, there is only 12 times that the tree of life is mentioned in the Bible, and not one of those referring to Christ!
The reason I’m posting this is to find out if anyone here can or had done some studies about it and has some input.
Just a side note, I’m not interested in any recovery bible verses, or footnotes, or quotes. I have a very strong suspicion where all this comes from, but was hoping to get some feedback first to see if it connects the dots.
Thanks.
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I 100% agree with you here, and I came to the same conclusion after some study too.
Jesus says He's the water of life and He says He's the bread of life. Any instance of Jesus claiming to be the tree of life is conspicuously absent.
I know you don't want the LC quotes, but I'll just say that as far as I know, the way they came up with this was to say "Jesus calls Himself the vine, and the tree of life is said to be on both sides of the river, so the tree of life must be a vine, therefore, Jesus is the tree of life." Pretty bad.
The other slightly stronger connection might be to say "the tree of life granted eternal life, and Jesus is 'the life', therefore, Jesus is our metaphorical tree of life." But again, I see absolutely no reading that forces that conclusion.
What I DO see is that Jesus does not symbolize the tree of life, but is our way BACK to the tree of life. The tree of life was guarded by cherubim and flaming swords so it could not be accessed after Adam's transgression. Jesus' death opens the way for us to have access to it again, which we see in Revelation.
One thing I am curious about is that Jesus was granted by the Father to "have life in Himself". I am unclear whether that is related to the TOL or not...I don't think it is. But since Jesus is our brother/pattern/forerunner, does this mean we also will "have life in ourself" in the same way the Father granted to Jesus? I don't know.
Trapped