A426 : by Tony Garland 
As you mention, Ryrie describes the pre-fall state of Adam and Eve as unconfirmed creature holiness1 meaning:
- Unconfirmed Holiness - sinless, but capable of sin
- Creature Holiness - more than innocent, but not holy in the same way as the Creator
The same thing as eternal life?
I would say this is not the same thing as eternal life, but that they had the potential of living forever prior to the fall by their perpetual access to the tree of life. In other words, their sinless condition allowed them to be in fellowship with God without the need of intercessory mediation such that God afforded them ongoing access to the tree of life. So long as they remained sinless God would have allowed continued access to the tree providing life perpetually (eternal life).
Their sinless obedient condition was such that they enjoyed eternal life, but their condition and the means by which they enjoyed ongoing life were two different things.
The pre-fall situation of Adam and Eve is similar to the eternal state where ongoing access to the tree of life, provided by God, sustains life (Rev. 22:2). Their condition—demonstrated by and contingent upon obedience—allowed access to the tree by which God, the source of all life,2 upheld their lives. However, as creatures, they cannot possess eternal life as an attribute of their own since eternality is a unique attribute of the Creator (Ex. 3:14; Isa. 43:10-13; John 8:58; Rev. 1:4, 17; 21:6; 22:13).
. . . we can suggest a relationship between the tree of life, sin, and death. The tree of life serves as a source from which sinless men obtain life. They do not attain eternal life in any sort of independent manner, but are completely and forever dependent upon God, the ultimate source of life. This dependence is reflected in their need to access the fruit from the tree for its life-giving qualities. The moment sin enters into the picture, as it did in the Garden and which it can never do again in eternity, independence of God results. When sin entered in the Garden of Eden and independence from God with it, God saw fit to remove access to the tree of life—the very channel by which He had chosen to dispense eternal life. The result was death. To summarize: sin brought independence from God which was manifest in being cut off from the tree of life resulting in death. In the eternal state, man will be sinless and have eternal life, but the creation and the creature will always and forever remain dependent upon the Creator as the source of life. The ongoing need to access the tree of life for eternity reflects the continued dependence of the creatures upon the Creator—a reality which God has chosen to manifest via the tree. -- Anthony C. Garland3 Similarity to the eternal life the believer has today?
Adam and Eve (pre-fall) and fallen redeemed humanity (believers today) both experience eternal life, but aspects of their condition differ. I’ve attempted to summarize some of those differences in the chart below.
In relation to eternal life, common aspects include: a natural body, the ability to sin, ongoing fellowship with God, and considered as sinless by God (de facto for Adam and Eve, de jure for believers).
There are also significant differences, for example: believers possess a sin nature, daily experience sin, and eventually suffer physical death.4
Believers live in a half-way-house of sorts: factually we remain sinners (unlike Adam and Eve pre-fall), but judicially we have eternal life (actually at glorification)—again different from Adam and Eve who factually would have lived forever. Ultimately, at glorification, we will differ from Adam and Eve in that we will no longer have the potential to sin (Rev. 21:27).
| ATTRIBUTE | Mankind
(pre-Fall) | Mankind
(post-Fall) | Believers
(now) | Believers
(resurrected,
glorified) |
|---|
| Natural Body | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | - |
| Glorified Body | - | - | - | ✅ |
| Able to Sin | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | - |
| Sin Nature | - | ✅ | ✅ | - |
| Sinless (de facto) | ✅ | - | - | ✅ |
| Sinless (de jure) | ✅ | - | ✅ 1️⃣ | ✅ |
| Physical Death | - | ✅ | ✅ | - |
Spiritual Death
(Separated from God) | - | ✅ | - | - |
| Partake of Tree of Life | ✅ | - | ✅ 2️⃣ | ✅ |
- 1️⃣ Believers are clothed in the righteousness of Christ (Isa. 61:10; Zec. 3:1-5; Mat. 22:11-14; Rev. 3:5, 18; 19:14).
- 2️⃣ In this age, the cross of Christ is analogous to the Tree of Life.6
Endnotes:
| 1. | “However we describe Adam’s moral nature before the Fall, it is clear that he was without sin. Some say this means a kind of passive holiness in that Adam was innocent of wrong. His holiness was such as to enable him to enjoy complete fellowship with God. Perhaps it is too strong to speak of a positive holiness since Adam was able to choose to sin. I prefer a description like this: Adam possessed unconfirmed (because he had neither passed nor failed the test) creature (because his holiness was not the same as the Creator’s) holiness (because he was more than “innocent”).” Ref-0098, p. 231 | | 2. | God is the source of the river of life, underscoring the dependency of living creatures upon their life-giving Creator (Gen. 2:10; Gen. 26:19 (LXX); Ex. 17:6; Lev. 14:5-6 (LXX); Ps. 36:8-9; Ps. 46:4; Pr. 10:11; Pr. 16:22; Pr. 18:4; Sos. 4:15; Isa. 12:2; Isa. 44:3; Isa. 55:1; Jer. 2:13; Jer. 17:13; Eze. 47:1; Eze. 47:8-9; Joel 3:18; Zec. 13:1; Zec. 14:8 (LXX); John 4:10; John 7:37-38; John 19:28; 1Cor. 10:4; Rev. 7:17; Rev. 21:6; Rev. 22:1; Rev. 22:2; Rev. 22:6; Rev. 22:17). | | 3. | Ref-1266, Rev. 22:2 | | 4. | Excepting those taken at the Rapture. | | 5. | Ref-0127, p. 484. | | 6. | Not all agree: “A suggested analogy between the cross of Christ and the Tree of Life is baseless.”5 |
Sources:
| Ref-0098 | Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1987). ISBN=0-989693-814-Xa. | | Ref-0127 | Robert L. Thomas, Revelation_8-22: An Exegetical Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1992). ISBN:0-8024-9267-3b. | | Ref-1266 | Anthony C. Garland, A Testimony of Jesus Christ: A Commentary on the Book of Revelation - Volume 2, (Camano Island, WA: SpiritAndTruth.org, 2004). ISBN:0-9788864-2-9c. URL=https://spiritandtruth.org/download/revelation/index.htm. |
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