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brilliant
brilliant
6:06 PM
@Rick Honestly, I am in troubles trying to understand, having looked through all these verses, how you arrived at the idea that the tree of life typifies the cross.
Yes, the author of Proverbs says that “the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life”, but there are also other things that he names “a tree of life”.
For example, he calls any human heart’s desire “a tree of life” (“Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life”, Prov. 13:12), as well as a human’s tongue (“A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit”, Prov. 15:4),
and we would, of course, then be foolish to conclude, based on these verses, that the tree of life in the New Jerusalem signifies any desire that has ever come upon a heart of a man, or that the tree of life represents whole tongues of humans.
In other words, you still need to prove that “a tree of life” in Proverbs 11:30 is a real reference to the tree of life mentioned in the book of Genesis
or the tree of life mentioned in the end of the book of Revelation, and not just a poetic expression of the author.
Plus, in Proverbs 11:30 the author is talking merely about the righteousness of humans
(which, later, as we know, proved to be invalid: “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one”, Rom. 3:10-12),
whereas in Rom. 3:22 Paul is talking about the righteousness of God.
Nor the excerpts from Spurgeon’s ministry show that the tree of life typifies the cross.
At best they could serve to show that the tree of life signifies Christ, but even that is more a belief, rather than a clear deduction from the text.
This belief is based on the fact the both Christ and the tree of life give life.
However, while we know that Christ is the source of the divine life, we are still not sure if the tree of life is also a source of the divine life and not merely a source of human life (immortality of human life with no element of divine life).
And we have no clear statement in the Bible that Christ is the tree of life.
Spurgeon, being an honest preacher, admits in the beginning that it is just a belief:
“…We believe our Lord Jesus Christ to be none other than that Tree of Life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations! We can scarcely conceive of any other interpretation, as this seems to us to be so full of meaning and to afford to us such unspeakable satisfaction!”
This, of course, is good for inspiration, encouragement and consolation, but, it is still poor hermeneutics.
@rhetorician ping :)
 
Rick
Rick
6:34 PM
Can you provide a Biblical construct of "mortal" or "death" that implies a cessation of life? When I said "cross" I naturally implied the Christian amplified view of the Cross, which includes the work of Christ and even God's grace.
Your argument seems fruitless if one simply understands that eternal life is realized through a relationship with God. Death is not cessation of life, but rather an existence outside of God.
 
Rick
Rick
6:52 PM
One could ignore verses where Christ identifies Himself with a tree “I am the vine, you are the branches” or that where Christ is identified as the “first fruit” which comes from a tree. One could ignore the bronze serpent, which is an illustration of Christ on the Cross. One can ignore that Jesus identified Himself as “the life”.
If Christ on the Cross signifies life, which it has to believers (crucifix), then it certainly is not a stretch to connect the Tree of Life with the giver of life and specifically that work that extends life to Believers. Even communion implores us to consume Christ, through His stripes we are healed.
It seems odd that you would so quickly dismiss the merits of this argument?
 

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