The Garden of Eden was the first home of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman (Gen. 2:4—3:24). Eden is a translation of a Hebrew word which means “Delight,” suggesting a “Garden of Delight.” The garden contained many beautiful and fruit bearing trees, including the “tree of life” and “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:9).
Pinpointing the exact location of the Garden of Eden is difficult, although the best theory places it near the source of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Armenian highlands (see map). A major catastrophe, perhaps the Flood of Noah’s time, may have wiped out all traces of the other two rivers mentioned— the Pishon (Gen. 2:11 and the Gihon (Gen. 2:13) But modern space photography has produced evidence that two rivers, now dry beds, could have flowed through the area centuries ago.
God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17). They fell from their original state of innocence when Satan approached Eve through the serpent and tempted her to eat of the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:1-5). She ate the fruit and also gave it to her husband to eat (Gen. 3:6, 7). Their disobedience plunged them and all of the human race into a state of sin and corruption.
Because of their unbelief and rebellion, they were driven from the garden. Other consequences of their sin were loss of their innocence (Gen. 3: 7), pain in childbearing and submission of the wife to her husband (Gen. 3:16), the cursing of the ground and the resultant hard labor for man (Gen. 3: 17—19), and separation from God (Gen. 3:23, 24).
The apostle Paul thought of Christ as the Second Adam who would save the old sinful Adam through His plan of redemption and salvation. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 cor. 15:22).