Quote:
Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!
It's interesting that Galatians 5 talks about the "works of the flesh" vs. the "fruit of the spirit." Matthew 7:16 also says, "You shall know them by their fruits" (which can pertain to either flesh or spirit).
So why the picture of fruit trees in the Bible? Is it because we ingest/eat fruit, thereby taking something that is outside of us, into us - to become part of us? Just because the only mention of the TOKOG&E is in Genesis, doesn't mean it's not still around and strongly influencing us . . . or is that not the thought you are trying to put forth?
(BTW - I did find what you said about the TOKOG&E earlier to be a pretty fascinating thought! Once we are centered as God intended us - on Him - then maybe we are entrusted with a certain distinguishing/control on our own part(?). But then again, this doesn't seem to be the picture the Perfect Man portrayed to us when He walked among us, as He was fully dependent upon the Father in all things . . .)
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The fruit in Genesis is what is
eaten. This fruit eaten by Adam and Eve became poop (if you believe it's a literal garden, etc, which I do).
The fruits spoken of in Galatians and Matthew (and elsewhere) are what is
produced. They are the product (love, faith, hope, kindness, patience, etc) of a genuine believers Christian life, not something that is ingested or eaten. These aren't things we eat. The picture there is not so much of fruit trees, as it is of a product.
I don't think they are the same kind of fruit......at all.
The TOTKOGAE is still strongly influencing us. We still have the knowledge of good and evil, and so we are still influenced by what was eaten way back when.
What I see, and I may be wrong, is that you are accepting Lee's unsupported interpretation and are trying to support some conclusions drawn from what is a wrong interpretation from the get-go. The angle I'm coming from is having scrapped Lee's teaching and looked at it without his overlay, and so many things he says are just not there to begin with. Other than happening to use the same English word "fruit", there is otherwise no connection, stated or even remotely implied, between the fruit in those NT verses and Genesis. And the word "fruit" is not even used in the same way.
(Yeah, my "what if" interpretation on the maturity thing is just that....a "what if". Point well taken on the Son being submissive to the Father, but I think there is a difference between being dependent on the Father, and having discernment yourself. He didn't make us to be dummies. Sons of the Most High is an honor indeed.)