Please keep in mind verse 3 and Eve's declaration of the location of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was in the midst of the garden along with the Tree of Life.
The word midst is tavek (taw'-vek), 8432 in Strong's Concordance, from an unused root meaning to sever, a bisection, i.e. (by implication) the center - among(-st), X between, half, X (there-,where-), in(-to), middle, mid(-night), midst (among), X out (of), X through, X with(-in).
Right from the beginning God clearly gives men the way to go, but also the freedom to choose, because here in a nutshell is what this whole Bible and the history of mankind is all about: God gives us His eternal law of love, and then expects us to carefully consider what to do with it. His commandments are life, and they always will be for us to use to live as He lives. They are the way for us to carefully consider how to live within what God says is our right to choose as He commands in Deuteronomy 30. They are His gift to us so that we can choose the productive life He has set before us.
Taking of the fruit of that tree caused them to separate themselves from God as it says in,
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was in the midst of the Garden.
God uses this to give us a clear warning right from the beginning what will always be Satan's modus operandi.
They had gained an insight into their circumstances that they did not have before but they could not consider it correctly. Rather than being drawn to God, it drove man from God.
Brethren, knowledge alone puffs up, but love of God edifies. The love of God in Jesus Christ teaches us how to carefully consider and use that knowledge to draw us closer to God and one another. But to this day we are sometimes more concerned with prideful pontificating according to what we think we know, rather than humbly considering God's eternal law of love within all our relationships.
Brethren, those things that Mr. Armstrong spent so much of his life to focus on in Genesis 1-3 are vital to our unity within the Body of Christ.
Let us continue the story very shortly after Adam and Eve broke the first covenant God made with men who were in the process of being created in His image.
First of all let us get back to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil being in the midst or possibly the center of the Garden, and perhaps directly next to the Tree of Life.
Of course, here we see the Word of God, who, after the fact had to offer Himself up in sacrifice. But remember this is the God who walked with Adam and Eve before they sinned and they could freely be digesting His every word as He walked and shared with them all He had that would bring them life! But they needed to believe, tend, keep, and eat! They had an opportunity then to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Word of God without the impediment of sin.
Brethren this is not nearly the same situation that faced Adam and Eve before the fact, but it certainly was the same in that although they merely had the spirit of man in them they had the ability to connect with God's Spirit. They did not have God's Holy Spirit within them yet but they had direct, unfettered contact with God, to teach them His way of life and how to use His eternal law of love as it needed to be applied with careful consideration. If they kept their part of the covenant God made with them, it would continue.
Brethren, as John said, the earth itself stands as a major teaching device. So too did the Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve before sin entered the picture. So with this in mind, let us consider what those other trees in the garden of Eden could have and probably did represent for them to eat.
Adam and Eve did not have the Holy Spirit of God in them, but they did walk with the Word of God daily, and the Garden was a teaching tool! As the old saying goes, You are what you eat.
Brethren, this is exactly what God was teaching Adam and Eve face-to-face. If they would have continued to … . . .
