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[Sparing Link]

Is there a link to be made between the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 and the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in Genesis?

Especially when Gnosticism was a prevalent problem (I think it still is even today in some circles) I can see the image of the two juxtaposed being intentional. Reliance on knowledge produces the fruit of knowledge, which is sin and death, while reliance on the Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit, which is love and life.

Am I wandering too far from what these passages are saying, or is there any connection here?

[jimwalton]

Thanks for asking. Great question. There is no link, however, between the fruit on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Genesis 2-3 and the fruit of the Spirit. Both use the image of fruit, but they have no relation to each other. The fruit in Genesis 3 is real (I believe), but functions as a symbol of making a decision whether to treat God as the center of order and the source of wisdom, or to treat oneself as the center of order and the source of wisdom. The fruit in Galatians 5 is figurative language (a metaphor, actually, and not literal fruit at all) of what a life filled by the Spirit looks like.

The fruit in Genesis is indicative of a decision. The fruit in Galatians is figurative of inner character qualities. These are completely different things going on and being described. The Old Testament also uses the metaphor of God's people bearing fruit (Isa. 27..6; Hos. 10.1; 14.8), but makes no connect with that and the Garden of Eden. In Galatians Paul is contrasting fruit with works, so again there is no relation between it and the tree in Genesis 2-3.

The only possible "connection" between Galatians and Gnosticism of which I'm aware is that Galatians takes a totally different approach to cosmology than Gnosticism, with Paul separating himself from the Gnostic position when he speaks of the basic principles of the world (Gal. 4.3, 9). Some also see a repudiation of gnostic theology/philosophy when Paul speaks of "the Jerusalem that is above" in Gal. 4.26. But Paul is speaking with a religious figurer, not in a cosmological sense. Paul never subscribes to gnostic theology.

Craig Keener also sees a possible Pauline repudiation of gnosticism in 5.19 when Paul writes of "the flesh." He writes, "When “flesh” referred to people in the OT, it meant humans viewed in terms of their finiteness, creatureliness, and mortality. ... In the OT, flesh and Spirit had nothing in common (Gen. 6.3). (The view that Paul contrasts the human body with the human spirit, rather than human weakness and God’s Spirit, is based on a Platonic misreading of Paul, the sort that led to Gnosticism. Despite its strong condemnation of Gnosticism, the later church was influenced by some of the same Greek ideas.) Paul thus declares that those who have God’s presence living inside them by the Spirit have new moral ability and are able to reflect God’s own character; for Paul, this was the only way for believers to live out the new life."

So I still see no connection between the Genesis fruit and the Galatians fruit. Let me know what you think.