That Eve is vulnerable to vanity is clear. She is attracted by the fact that “the tree was pleasant to the eyes” and “beautiful to contemplate” (Genesis 3:6). If the tree does indeed represent a separate existence of her own, then the pleasant and beautiful thing that she is contemplating may very well be her own self-image. Eve shows that she is just as vulnerable to self-love and pride as the serpent. However, Scripture has nothing to say about the fruit. Is it also beautiful as the tree or is it ugly and bitter? Scripture doesn’t say, it simply says, “the tree was good for food” (Genesis 3:6). Now, the word for “food” used here in the Greek is βρωσις or brosis. The word does indeed mean something suitable for eating but without any connotation as to delectability or wholesomeness. However, it can also mean rust and corrosion. The exact same word appears again in Matthew, where Jesus says,
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust (brosis) destroy and where thieves sneak in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust (brosis) destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-20).
Jesus uses “brosis” both times for “rust” in the above passage. To a biochemist, the connection between food and corrosion is obvious. Foods must be digestible, degradable, easily broken down and converted to their basic constituents. Foods are typically metabolized and turned into energy by being oxidized in cells, just as rust is the oxidation of iron. Whatever this “food” or “fruit”1 was, it was actually “rust,” something that implies impermanence and disintegration. In other words, when Eve ate, she took corruption directly into herself.2
Jesus tells us that the way to discriminate between a good tree and a bad one is by its fruit.
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you shall know them (Matthew 7:15-20).
The fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is the worst possible. It is not only poisonous to the body, but it also destroys the soul. The tree and those who partake of its fruit are cut down and thrown into the fire. In other words, they suffer death and are thrown down into the eternal fires of hell. The most famous trees in Scripture are the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life which is widely interpreted as the Tree of the Cross. The good fruit of the Cross is the Eucharistic food of the Body and Blood of Christ, who redeems the “fruits” of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and brings eternal life.
The word “apple” appears nowhere in Genesis. All of the art describing and depicting Adam and Eve as eating apples are scripturally baseless. The error appears to have occurred when the Bible was translated into Latin. The word “malum” meaning “evil” is a heteronym3 of the Latin word for “apple.” Hence evil or forbidden fruit became an apple. In the Eastern Church, where Greek has always been used, there are no depictions in religious art of Adam and Eve with apples. Some may conclude that this is a cute and harmless accretion of the Latin Church, but it isn’t. The apple is a noble fruit which is both delectable and wholesome. For God to arbitrarily prohibit the eating of apples creates the impression of an arbitrary God, who demands and coerces obedience to silly rules just because he can. Ignoring these kinds of rules and this kind of a God would indeed be liberation. Satan and his collaborators to this day promote rebellion as freedom. In reality, rebellion against God is corruption and self-destruction, which always results in slavery to evil. God prohibits the eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil precisely because it is bad for us, not because it in any way diminishes him or his authority. The forbidden fruit may have seemed superficially attractive, but it was uniquely bitter.4
To take the attitude that if it has to be a “fruit,” then any fruit would do as well as another deflects from the point of the narrative. The word “fruit” also means “product” in virtually every language. The “fruit” of our labors is the “product” of our labors. The fruit of a tree is its product. The product of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is corruption and suffering, not wholesome nutrition. In many Psalms,5 the psalmist gives thanks to God for his Law, which creates identity and purpose for the man of God which separates him from the barbarians all around him. The Law is good because it is Truth. It reveals man to himself and elevates him who follows it to the level of the Lawgiver, though he knows that he is not the Lawgiver himself.
Unlike Eve, Adam is not attracted by the appearance of the fruit. Rather, he is enthralled by the woman herself. Prior to her creation, he was alone and it was definitely not good. Now, he can have any of the animals for companionship and might even have a devoted dog (presumably one of the animals in Eden), but still lacks an intimate companion who is “bone of his bones” and “flesh of his flesh.” 6
From the very first instance of his Creation, he was given dominion by God. Eve is given her dominion when she is created out of Adam. Her creation and her dominion depend upon his. She not only wants her own existence, her own “knowledge of good and evil,” she also wants to usurp God’s and her husband’s dominion. Eve wasn’t just the first woman; she was the first feminist with the same destructive results.
She alone, however, cannot be blamed. The price of dominion is responsibility. Adam’s duty is to protect and defend her. Yet, during the entire interaction between Eve and the serpent, Adam is completely inactive. We only know that Adam is present because after Eve ate the fruit, she gave it to her husband “with her” (Gen 3:6). Not only does he not defend her from the serpent, he doesn’t utter a peep of protest when she offers him the fruit; he simply eats it. Adam fails to exercise his responsibility and then lets Eve fill the leadership vacuum that he has created.7
Some patristic fathers believe that Adam and Eve were in Eden for only a very short period of time, perhaps only a few hours, before they ate the fruit. It wasn’t long after that God came looking for them. By then, “the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings” (Genesis 3:7). The couple felt shame for the first time. But why? They were beautiful and had already been naked in each other’s presence and “were not ashamed.” Perhaps it is because modesty is a wish not to be viewed in lustful sexual terms, but instead with the full dignity due to every human person. Sin, as a lack of the good and of being, causes the fragmentation of everything that it taints. Sin causes disease and death, which are fragmentations of health and life. Sin also causes the fragmentation of communion with other persons. A person tainted by sin is alienated from himself and others. There is no harmony of persons in hell. A sinner’s formerly ordered desires become lusts. Instead of sex being a mutually self-giving unification of persons ordered toward the co-creation of life, it becomes an instrument of mutual exploitation and self-gratification.
Why would Adam and Eve choose figs from which to make “coverings?” The story could simply say that “they sewed leaves together.” Why specify what kind? Scripture never includes a superfluous detail. It turns out that the sap from the fig leaves contains furocoumarins8 that are highly irritating. There were surely benign, perhaps even soothing and medicinal leaves in the garden. It seems possible that, as new human beings in a new place, they simply didn’t know any better. However, as a de novo created sinless being in full communion with God, Adam would have been given all of the infused knowledge necessary for him to survive and thrive. It wouldn’t have been much of a paradise if Adam continuously harmed himself in his new home out of ignorance. They knew full well about the properties of the leaves. St. Augustine writes,
When [Adam] first sinned, he made himself aprons of fig-leaves, signifying by these leaves the irritations of lust to which he had been reduced by sinning.9
Obviously, Augustine is also fully aware of the noxious properties of fig leaves in order to write those words. While Augustine interprets the leaves to mean that Adam has now symbolically taken upon himself an itch (lusts) that he now needs to scratch, it is also possible that the itchy leaves represent the first act of penance through a mortification of the flesh.
Genesis next reads,
Then they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden that afternoon, and Adam and his wife hid themselves within the tree in the middle of the garden from the presence of the Lord God” (Genesis 3:8).
In the Septuagint, the word “tree” is singular, though most translations render the word in the plural.10 This makes it sound as if Adam and Eve were hiding in the “midst of trees” in the garden. On the contrary, a little earlier it says,
Then the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man He formed. Besides this, God caused every tree beautiful to the sight and good for food to grow from the ground. Also in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of learning the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:8-9).
The only trees specifically mentioned as growing in the middle of the garden are the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There clearly would be numerous trees of all types growing in other parts of the garden, but it is reasonable to assume that there are no other trees in the middle of the garden since these are the only two mentioned. Whatever else is there, it isn’t other trees. Is Scripture making a connection for us here? Is it one of those trees within which Adam and Eve hid? Since Adam and Eve are clearly ashamed and sorry for eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in defiance of the Lord’s instructions, it is hard to believe that they would want to associate with it again, let alone take refuge in it. After all, it is so noxious that merely touching it brings death. Is it the tree of life? Because the Tree of Life is the Cross, Adam and Eve may have already sought redemption and communion through its Eucharistic fruit. They are also foreshadowing the coming of Christ, who shows his wounds from the Cross to his Father in atonement for our sins. He stands before us so that the Father does not see our sins, but instead looks upon the Son that he loves.
The “Lord God” is walking in the garden but does not see Adam because he is hidden and has to call out to him, “Adam, where are you? (Genesis 3:9). “Lord God” is the translation of the HebrewYahweh Elohim, meaning God in his fullness, as the Trinity. Here God does not see Adam because he is hiding in the midst of the Cross, in which all of our sins will be subsumed and made invisible. In addition, since sin is the lack of the good and therefore the lack of existence, Adam now has a void and is less “visible” to God than he was before the Fall. The Trinity doesn’t recognize him anymore. This is the only time in Genesis that God himself calls Adam by name. Hence, his call of “Adam, where are you?” becomes sad and plaintive. When we are speaking intimately to someone, it is natural to use their name. The Adam he loves, the one creature the Trinity has made in his own image and with whom he planned to share his own inner life for eternity, is now gone. The call of “Adam, where are you?” has changed from a call of love to a call of loss. God’s call is the call of a parent completely in love and devoted to his child calling out to him, but the child has been seduced, abducted and is now lost to a life of exploitation and misery. Like any grief-stricken parent, God will do whatever it takes. Without hesitation, he dedicates himself to getting his beloved child returned at any risk and at any cost — including enduring unspeakable torture and the sacrifice of his own incarnated life.
We see an echo of God walking in Eden when Jesus walks on water in the gospels. After multiplying the loaves and feeding the five thousand, Jesus needs to get away from the crowds, be alone, and pray to the Father so he sends the disciples away in a boat.
Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land. Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by. And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost and cried out (Mark 6:47-49).
The word translated here as “land” is actually γη or ge in the Greek. It does mean “earth” as in land, but also “the Earth.” So, here we have a fascinating description of Yahweh “alone on the Earth” out for an evening stroll in his Creation, just as he does in Eden. Similar to Eden, he could just as easily have kept to himself and passed humanity by, but like then he was moved by compassion for their plight and came to their rescue. In Eden as a good parent, he made them garments of skin and tended to their immediate physical needs, just as here he calms the wind and saves them.
However, this isn’t humanity generically, these are the disciples, so what he is doing is saving the early Church, the ultimate instrument of Adam and Eve’s salvation. Garments and calming storms are necessary, but the real “saving” is through the establishment of the Eucharist. It is through the transformation of the loaves by these disciples and their descendants that that will happen.Then Mark writes,
And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled. For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened (Mark 6:51-52).
The next day after the loaves are multiplied and the waves are calmed, Jesus delivers the famous Bread of Life discourse tying all of these incidents together:
The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. “For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him (John 6:52-56).
In Eden, God promised them salvation to come which would be done through the Tree of Life of the Cross. In Eden they could not eat of its Eucharistic fruit after the Fall, but now they are about to through the mediation of the Church and themselves as the first in persona Christi priests, though they don’t yet fully understand. This moment is re-presented and culminates the Mass when the in persona Christi priest turns to Eden (liturgical south)11 and says,
Misereátur vestri omnípotens Deus, et, dimíssis peccátis vestris, perdúcat vos ad vitam ætérnam.12
All present13 then make the sign of the Cross with him evoking the Tree of Life, as he says the words,
Indulgéntiam, absolutiónem et remissiónem peccatórum vestrórum tríbuat vobis omnípotens et miséricors Dóminus.14
After having re-presented his Sacrifice on the Cross during the canon of the Mass and having forgiven their sins, Christ in the person of the priest, can finally feed Adam and Eve and their descendants the living fruit of the Tree of Life.15
Ecce agnus Dei, indeed!
N.B. “Food” or brosis is different from “fruit.” The Greek word for “fruit” used here is καρπος or karpos and is a generic word for any kind of fruit. As Jesus himself makes clear, fruits can be good or bad. However, we can relate the “food” with the “fruit” on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil since it makes no sense for the “food” found on the tree to be something physically other than the “fruit.”
Boom. You are what you eat.
Written the same but pronounced differently and meaning something different.
It is no coincidence that the Apple “computer company” with its militantly woke corporate philosophy has taken as its logo a “fallen” rainbow apple with a bite taken from it.
E.g. Psalm 119
There is no substitute for the companionship of our own kind.
Perhaps her beauty and God’s command to go forth and multiply has him thinking with something other than his brain? The long history of men making fools of themselves over women begins right here.
Papzoglou, Anna, et al, “Fig Tree Leaves Phytophotodermatitis,” Journal of Pediatrics, Volume 239, 244-24, December 2021, https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(21)00790-3/fulltext.
St. Augustine, Sermon 19. para. 4, New Advent, accessed May 10, 2025, https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/160319.htm.
This is the Greek word ξυλον or xulon, which means wood and by implication, a stick, club or tree or other wooden article or substance. More translation issues? The Masoretic and all Protestant English translations that are dependent upon it have it as the plural “trees” when it should be the singular “tree.” This particular deliberate mistranslation could have a purpose. By obscuring the connection between the Tree of Life and the Cross, it obscures the fact that the fruit of the Tree of Life is the Eucharist.
Liturgical “east” is always considered to be the front of the church the direction from which the Second Coming will occur. To the left is the cold “north” where Godless pagans dwell. To the right is the warm and verdant “south” and Eden. If the priest is Christ speaking toward Eden, he must be addressing Adam and Eve since they were its only inhabitants — ever.
May almighty God have mercy upon you, forgive you your sins, and bring you unto life everlasting.
We all do this together because we are the descendants of Adam and Eve who are also saved by the Eucharist which is the fruit of the Tree of Life, the Cross.
May the almighty and merciful Lord grant you pardon, absolution, and remission of your sins.
In Genesis 3:14, God casts Adam and Eve out of Eden and stations a cherubim at the entrance specifically to “guard the way to the tree of life.” At communion in the Mass, the way to the Tree of Life is opened to them as well as to us, their descendants. As Marc Chagall depicts it in a Tarrytown Rockefeller Chapel window, the cherubim can drop the flaming sword and smile!
