Genesis 3:22 Daily Devotional & Meaning – The Tree of Life and God’s Merciful Boundary
- Benjamin Michael Mcgreevy
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Daily Verses Everyday! Day 17
“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:”
Here again, we see a subtle but profound glimpse into the nature of God. Just as in Genesis 1:26, God uses language that indicates plurality within His singular divine being. He says, “the man is become as one of us,” implying a conversation or shared awareness among multiple persons within the Godhead. As already presented, God the Father is the all-encompassing, otherworldly being, perfect, eternal, and wholly beyond human comprehension. Nothing in creation has ever seen Him directly, yet through His Word, He spoke all things into existence. This Word is not merely a spoken command but a person, the second Person of the Trinity, through whom all creation came forth and through whom the Father’s will is perfectly expressed. The Spirit, which proceeds from both the Father and the Word, encompasses and unites all things, sustaining life, creation, and the divine order. In this verse, when God says, “the man is become as one of us,” we see humanity’s reflection of this triune nature. Humans are made in the image of God not only to know and reason but to relate, to exist in community, and to mirror, in a finite way, the relational unity of the Trinity.
The knowledge of good and evil that Adam and Eve acquired highlights both the gift and the danger of this likeness. They now possess awareness that requires wisdom and moral responsibility—attributes rooted in the very nature of God. This plurality in God’s speech emphasizes that from the beginning, relationality is at the core of His being. The Father, the Word, and the Spirit exist in perfect harmony, and humanity, though fallen, is designed to participate in relational life, both with God and with one another.
We are presented with the end of this verse with a conundrum that is hard to fully grasp. As discussed, when the Tree of Life first appeared, it reflected the all-encompassing sustenance necessary to ensure that humanity could live in perfect harmony with God forever. It symbolized the fullness of life, unbroken communion, and the ongoing provision of God’s sustaining presence. But now that sin has entered the world, God acts to prevent humanity from taking of the Tree of Life and living eternally in a fallen state. This action is both merciful and necessary.
To live forever in sin would mean eternal separation from God’s holiness, a state incompatible with the divine order. By restricting access to the Tree of Life, God preserves the possibility of true redemption and eternal life in the proper way, through His redemptive plan, rather than through unrestrained human autonomy. The verse underscores the seriousness of sin, the consequences of disobedience, and the wisdom of God in balancing justice and mercy.
This moment simultaneously reveals God’s ongoing care and foresight. He does not abandon humanity to its failure but instead sets boundaries that protect life and open the way for restoration. The Tree of Life points forward to Christ, the true source of eternal life, through whom fallen humanity can be reconciled to God. What was once a possibility through natural fellowship with God now requires redemption, foreshadowing the salvation that will come through the Word made flesh and the Spirit who restores life to those who believe.
If you would like to explore Genesis in a sustained, verse-by-verse way with space to reflect, journal, and trace how these foundational truths unfold through Scripture the Verse by Verse book expands these reflections into a unified reading experience. The book gathers these meditations into a structured journey through Genesis, designed to help readers linger in the text and engage God’s Word more deeply over time.
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