The tree of the knowledge of good and evil that was placed in the Garden of Eden contained the seed of unbelief. As Genesis chapters 1 and 2 discussed thoroughly all of life on the earth was seed bearing and the seed bore fruit of its kind. In other words an orange seed could not bring forth an apple. Nor the seed of a man bring forth a bull.
Therefore the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil’ would have had a seed and that seed would have been unbelief.
Let’s look at what Genesis says about how the ‘Tree’ came into being: Genesis 2:9, “Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
The Lord planted the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil’. What was Adam’s role in the Garden? Genesis 2:15, “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.”
Were there an instructions to Adam other than to ‘cultivate it and keep it’? Yes. Verses 16 – 17 show us: “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”’
What would die mean? Scripture teaches that Adam lived after he sinned; therefore die must have meant something besides ceasing to exist on the earth as a living being.
Dying, from the Lord’s perspective, would indicate dying to a relationship with God and therefore unbelief. Belief is the key word since the fruit of faith is believing the Lord’s word. Dying would be a statement of unbelief leading to disobedience and as the Scriptures teaches sin.
The Lord told Adam what he could and could not do in the Garden. Adam disobeyed and ate of the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil’ reflecting an act of unbelief and thus a dying to God.
Therefore every child born of Adam inherits the fruit of the ‘Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil’ and is born in a state of unbelief.
Views from an Evangelist 