Editing Tree of life (section)

===Christianity===
[[File:Lienzo alegórico del Árbol de la Vida de la Iglesia de San Roque de Arahal (Sevilla)..jpg|thumb|Allegorical painting of the Tree of Life in the Church of San Roque of [[Arahal]] ([[Province of Seville|Seville]]). Oil on canvas by anonymous author. Dated 1723]]
{{See also|Tree of life (biblical)|Tree of the knowledge of good and evil#Christianity}}
The tree of life first appears in Genesis 2:9 and 3:22–24 as the source of [[Immortality|eternal life]] in the [[Garden of Eden]], from which access is revoked when man is driven from the garden. It then reappears in the last book of the Bible, the [[Book of Revelation]], and most predominantly in the last chapter of that book (Chapter 22) as a part of the new garden of paradise. Access is then no longer forbidden, for those who "wash their robes" (or as the textual variant in the King James Version has it, "they that do his commandments") "have right to the tree of life" (v. 14). A similar statement appears in Rev 2:7, where the tree of life is promised as a reward to those who overcome. Revelation 22 begins with a reference to the "pure river of water of life" which proceeds "out of the throne of God". The river seems to feed two trees of life, one "on either side of the river" which "bear twelve manner of fruits" "and the leaves of the tree were for healing of the nations" (v. 1–2).<ref>The Bible (King James version), The Revelation of St. John, chapter & verses as noted.</ref> Alternatively, this may indicate that the tree of life is a vine that grows on both sides of the river, as John 15:1 would hint at.

[[Pope Benedict XVI]] has said that "the Cross is the true tree of life."<ref>{{cite web|last=Gheddo |first=Piero |url=http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pope-tells-WYD-youth:-the-Cross-of-Jesus-is-the-real-tree-of-life-5864.html |title=Pope tells WYD youth: the Cross of Jesus is the real tree of life |publisher= AsiaNews.it |date= March 20, 2005 |access-date=2013-02-25}}</ref> [[Bonaventure|Saint Bonaventure]] taught that the medicinal fruit of the tree of life is Christ himself.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://brbl-archive.library.yale.edu/exhibitions/speculum/1v-tree-of-life.html |title=The Tree of Life |publisher= [[Yale University]] |access-date=2013-02-25}}</ref> [[Albertus Magnus|Saint Albert the Great]] taught that the [[Eucharist in the Catholic Church|Eucharist]], the Body and Blood of Christ, is the Fruit of the Tree of Life.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/994/Fruit_of_the_Tree_of_Life_Albert_the_Great.html |title=The Eucharist as the Fruit of the Tree of Life {{pipe}} Saint Albert the Great |publisher=CrossroadsInitiative.com |access-date=2013-02-25 |archive-date=2013-12-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202172640/http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/994/Fruit_of_the_Tree_of_Life_Albert_the_Great.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[St. Augustine|Augustine of Hippo]] said that the tree of life is Christ:
{{blockquote|All these things stood for something other than what they were, but all the same they were themselves bodily realities. And when the narrator mentioned them he was not employing figurative language, but giving an explicit account of things which had a forward reference that was figurative. So then the tree of life also was Christ... and indeed God did not wish the man to live in Paradise without the mysteries of spiritual things being presented to him in bodily form. So then in the other trees he was provided with nourishment, in this one with a sacrament... He is rightly called whatever came before him in order to signify him.<ref>Augustine, The Literal Meaning of Genesis, VIII, 4, 8 (On Genesis, New City Press, p. 351-353)</ref>}}

In Eastern Christianity the tree of life is the love of God.<ref>Saint Isaac the Syrian said that "Paradise is the love of God, in which the bliss of all the beatitudes is contained," and that "the tree of life is the love of God" (Homily 72).</ref>

====The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints====
{{main article|Tree of life vision}}
The tree of life vision is described and discussed in the [[Book of Mormon]]. According to the Book of Mormon, the vision was received in a [[dream]] by the prophet [[Lehi (Book of Mormon prophet)|Lehi]], and later in a vision by his son [[Nephi, son of Lehi|Nephi]], who wrote about it in the [[First Book of Nephi]]. The vision includes a path leading to a tree, the fruit of the tree symbolizing the love of God, with an iron rod, symbolizing the word of God, along the path whereby followers of [[Jesus]] may hold to the rod and avoid wandering off the path into pits or waters symbolizing the ways of sin. The vision also includes a large building wherein the wicked look down at the righteous and mock them.

The vision is said to symbolize love of Christ and the way to [[Eternal life (Christianity)|eternal life]] and is a well known and cited story with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A member of the church reflected that the vision is "one of the richest, most flexible, and far-reaching pieces of symbolic prophecy contained in the standard works [scriptures]."<ref>Corbin T. Volluz, "Lehi's Dream of the Tree of Life: Springboard to Prophecy," JBMS 2/2 (1993): 38. – as quoted in Lehi's Vision of the Tree of Life: Understanding the Dream as Visionary Literature, Charles Swift, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, 2005. p. 52–63 – online version at [https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/JBMRS/article/viewFile/19705/18272]</ref>

====Nag Hammadi Gnosticism====
Different views on the Tree of life can be found in the [[Nag Hammadi library]] codices, writings belonging to [[Gnosticism]]. In [[On the Origin of the World]], the Tree of Life is said to be located to the north of [[paradise]], providing life to the innocent saints who will come out of their material bodies during what is called the consummation of the age. The color of the tree is described as resembling the Sun, its branches are beautiful, its leaves are similar to that of [[cypress]], and its fruit is like clusters of white grapes. However, in the [[Apocryphon of John|Secret Book of John]], the Tree of Life is portrayed negatively. Its roots are described as bitter, its branches are death, its shadow is hatred, a trap is found in its leaves, its seed is desire, and it blossoms in the darkness.<ref>{{cite book|author1=[[Marvin Meyer]]|author2=[[Willis Barnstone]]|title=The Gnostic Bible|publisher=[[Shambhala Publications|Shambhala]]|chapter=On the Origin of the World and The Secret Book of John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1SEFmwEACAAJ|date=June 30, 2009|isbn=9781590306314|access-date=2022-02-02}}</ref>