race . But Adam did not find this to be the meaning of the divine sentence . God declared that as a penalty for his sin , man should return to the ground whence he was taken : " Dust thou art , and unto dust shalt thou return ." Verse 19 . The words of Satan , " Your eyes shall be opened ," proved to be true in this sense only : After Adam and Eve had disobeyed God , their eyes were opened to discern their folly ; they did know evil , and they tasted the bitter fruit of transgression .
In the midst of Eden grew the tree of life , whose fruit had the power of perpetuating life . Had Adam remained obedient to God , he would have continued to enjoy free access to this tree and would have lived forever . But when he sinned he was cut off from partaking of the tree of life , and he became subject to death . The divine sentence , " Dust thou art , and unto dust shalt thou return ," points to the utter extinction of life . Immortality , promised to man on condition of obedience , had been forfeited by transgression . Adam could not transmit to his posterity that which he did not possess ; and there could have been no hope for the fallen race had not God , by the sacrifice of His Son , brought immortality within their reach . While " death passed upon all men , for that all have sinned ," Christ " hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel ." Romans 5:12 ; 2 Timothy 1:10 . And only through Christ can immortality be obtained . Said Jesus : " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life : and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life ." John 3:36 . Every man may come into possession of this priceless blessing if he will comply with the conditions . All " who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality ," will receive " eternal life ." Romans 2:7 .
The only one who promised Adam life in disobedience was the great deceiver . And the declaration of the serpent to Eve in Eden-- " Ye shall not surely die " --was the first sermon ever preached upon the immortality of the soul . Yet this declaration , resting solely upon the authority of Satan , is echoed from the pulpits of Christendom and is received by the majority of mankind as readily as it was received by our first parents . The divine sentence , " The soul that sinneth , it shall die " ( Ezekiel 18:20 ), is made to mean : The soul that sinneth , it shall not die , but live eternally . We cannot but wonder at the strange infatuation which renders men so credulous concerning the words of Satan and so unbelieving in regard to the words of God . Had man after his fall been allowed free access to the tree of life , he would have lived forever , and thus sin would have been immortalized . But cherubim and a flaming sword kept " the way of the tree of life " ( Genesis 3:24 ), and not one of the family of Adam has been permitted to pass that barrier and partake of the life-giving fruit . Therefore there is not an immortal sinner .
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