There is a rich and underlying message submerged just below the surface of the intriguing “three-way interplay" between Adam, Eve and the Garden of Eden. And being the "FOUNDING” story line of mankind, it stands to reason that it is also the “FOUNDATIONAL” story line for ALL of humanity, one that is woven into every subsequent age of mankind. If we are able to take a step back and appreciate the importance of understanding the interplay between the characters in the “opening story of mankind”, an understanding of this guiding interaction would go a long way to making sense of the underlying “model of human behaviour” as a whole. The “scene behind the scenes” of Adam, Eve and the Garden of Eden provides a rich context for understanding the contrasts and contradictions evident in humanity’s “spotted history”, seen throughout the passage of time, in the moral highs and lows in its behaviour, as well as for understanding the unique story line of our own personal lives.

With this underlying story in mind, it makes the sensibilities of man wonder if there is any measure or end to the number of layers man can peel back behind the immense forethought and wonder that is the awesome mind of God?

With that being said, in much the same way that God, our Creator, is the “triune God” of the “Father, Son and Holy Spirit”, man is also a “triune being”, being a complex three-way composite of “spirit, soul and body”. We find our confirmation of this in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. And regardless of our gender, whether male or female, in the context of the grand story that is the “opening account of humanity”, when it comes to the relevance of the interplay between the “spirit, soul and body”, Adam is a type of “the spirit” in both men and women. Eve represents “the soul” in men and women. And the Garden of Eden is “the body”. As a side bar for a story for another day, by the same token, with man (male and female) being “the temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3:16), as “the spirit”, Adam is a type of the “holy of holies” in God’s living temple of men and women. As “the soul”, Eve is a type of the “inner court” in us all. And as “the body”, the Garden of Eden is the “outer court” of the living temple of the Spirit of God.
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In the founding event of Eve tempting Adam away from “the will of the Father” so that Adam could join her in eating “the forbidden fruit”, we now see that the underlying story is a type of “the soul” in all men and women that leads “the spirit” of men and women away from the righteousness of God. As such, we begin to understand the significance of the daily interplay for all humanity of how “the soul part” of men and women plays a pivotal role in leading men and women to produce “forbidden fruit” in their lives. Which explains how the timeline of every man (both male and female) is often a mix of great moral highs and massive moral lows. As the type of “man’s soul”, it was Eve who led Adam astray, with the guiding principle and message from the Father heart being that if man (male and female) is ever led astray, it is always the soul of man (male and female) that ultimately entices the spirit of man away from the will of the Father. Which is expressly why the Father heart of God tells us that we all need to “die to self”. Which really is to “die to the soul’s inclinations” in leading the spirit away, so that we don’t produce “forbidden fruit”. Which actually produces life, not death, for it is effectively to die “to death”, being how we die to all those things that ultimately produce death, as opposed to dying “to life”, as some may mistakenly interpret “dying to the soul” to mean. Dying to the wayward and anarchistic appetites of the soul is ultimately ensuring that we may “all have life”, and “have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

As opposed to producing “forbidden fruit” in our lives, which is the fruit of the flesh (soul), by dying to the soul self, God is referring to dying to the ways of the fallen nature of “the soul” that entice us all away from producing “righteous fruit”, which are the “fruits of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23), with the emphasis being on fruits of the “spirit”, not the soul. Whereas the fruits of the Spirit produce and “release” life, the forbidden fruit of the soul is the type of fruit that ultimately always “chokes” the true life that is “the spirit” out of every man and woman, just like the living symbol of the “Adam’s Apple” remains forever lodged “in the throat” (representing choking) for all to see. When anything is lodged in natural man’s throat, it is impossible for that person to take in air, water or bread, until that blockage is cleared, which is synonymous of the spirit of man not being able to partake of the breath of life, the water of life, or the bread of life when being choked by forbidden fruit. "Bread (fruit) gained by deceit (the deceitful ways of the soul) is sweet to man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel." (Proverbs 20:17).
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Now “the soul” of men and women, allegorically represented by Eve, is also a tripartite construct, consisting of the three functions of "mind, emotions and will”. And understanding the role the soul plays in producing forbidden fruit in all men and women ties back to the three-way interplay in the courtyard of “the inner court” of man between the three distinct functions of man’s mind, emotion and will. Having said that, if we think that producing “forbidden fruit” is a fairly uncommon phenomenon, we don’t have to look that far to see just how common this universal human dynamic really is. For it is even the great Paul who said, “For the good that I would do, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Romans 7:9). And this is as true for Paul as it is for any of us, because we also know that “the mind” is part of the soul, and as part of the soul that can lead us astray, “the carnal mind is enmity against God.” (Romans 8:7), with the emphasis being on “CARNAL mind”. At the same time, it is the very same Paul who said “a thorn in the flesh was given to me” (2 Corinthians 12:7). And that thorn begins with the carnal mind. In working to thwart the will of the Father in man’s spirit (Adam), the soul (Eve) can be “the thorn” in every man’s side. And as such, it is no coincidence that it is out of “man’s side” that Eve was formed. And as a type of Eve, the church or body of Christ (in this case, representing the last Eve) is formed “out of the side” of Jesus (the last Adam). Which also explains why the Roman soldier pierced Jesus’ side with the spear. It was not to kill Jesus, for Jesus was already dead, but is representative of the twin systems of "religion and politics" that seek to kill the bride of Christ (Eve). The church is the thorn in Jesus’ side. The soul in the body of the church that hasn’t fully died to self is the thorn in Jesus’ side that forces Him to the Cross. But true to the nature of our amazing God, out of Jesus’ pierced side poured both “water and blood”, representing “life” as opposed to “death”, which is exactly what Jesus' crucifixion ultimately also represents, where the “water and blood” that poured out of His side represents the souls of mankind being both washed by “the water of the Word” and covered by “the blood of the Lamb”. Which is why our Father, who is the same Father of Paul, says: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Which, just as for Paul, is a message to "all of humanity", lest we puff ourselves up in pride and think that we can get the better of this thorny issue in our own strength without the help and grace of our Father.
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So to answer the pressing question, being the question of HOW the soul of Eve is able to entice and lead the spirit of Adam away from the will of the Father, and in so doing, to produce forbidden fruit in what is the body, or the Garden of Eden, we need to first understand the functional differences between the “mind, emotions and will” of the soul of man, as well as the root interplay between the three. Firstly, God tells us clearly in Genesis that "everything produces after its own kind". In this context, the mind is the domain of “thought”, or the seed of “good fruit” or “forbidden fruit”. Emotions are man’s “desires or motives”. And “the will” deals with “choice”. And as with every seed, our forbidden thoughts don’t necessarily have to be planted. For we are told by the Word of God to “demolish” every argument and every pretension (thought) that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and to “take captive” every “thought” to make it obedient unto Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). When the "thoughts" of the mind of man (male and female) connect with "desire or motive" (emotions), that’s when the mind connects with the heart, and a seed is then “planted”. When there is a spirit of union between “mind and emotion”, a seed is planted in man's soul which then conceives as the fruit “of choice” (the will). Which is fruit that “produces after its own kind”, which is either “good fruit” or “forbidden fruit”, as with the choice of fruit between the two opposite trees described in the Garden of Eden. Man's will makes a choice when there is a connection between our emotions and our thoughts, being the connection between our hearts and mind that activates the will. Which is why God says He will write His law (thoughts) on BOTH our hearts and our minds (Jeremiah 31:33). In order to ensure that the connection between mind and heart produces only “righteous fruit”, God has to make sure that His thoughts are written on both our minds and hearts so that the choices our wills ultimately make will always produce fruit after its own kind, which is His kind. For "as a man thinks, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7).
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Thoughts are alive. They are spirit. They are the fuel. And when the fuel of man’s thoughts connect with the flame of man’s desire, the seeds that are spirit then beget life. They produce offspring or “fruit”. Which is the principle of where “two or more agree concerning anything” (Matthew 18:19). Which is the exact same guiding principle when our thoughts and emotions, and our wills, then agree. It’s a spiritual law of union. An example of this is fear. Fear does not start as an emotion. It’s begins with a thought. The thought in itself is fine until it connects with your emotions. Then you have a real problem. The fruit of that thought soon fills your entire being. Because it’s flamed “by emotion”. As soon as the thought and emotion collide, there is conception, and it becomes a living thing, an offspring, a fruit after its own kind. Jesus said the words that I speak are spirit, AND they are life. As such, His thoughts are only life. Which is what we need our thoughts to become like. Which is what they can only become if we die to the soul. Just like His words are the expression of His thoughts, words are the expression of our thoughts. They are spirit. They have life. They are seeds. But God tells us to hold captive every thought unto the obedience of Christ and to demolish every thought that will lead man astray from the will of the Father. Which is to stop those thoughts that should not to be planted from falling to the fertile ground of our hearts. Which is why the battleground is “in the mind”. The mind is where both the devil “attacks us”, as with the example of Peter, as well as where God “transforms us”, by the “daily renewing our mind”, which is by washing it with the water of the Word that flows from His pierced side and the blood that covers the forbidden fruit of yesterday’s seeds of thought.

The mind is the strategic anvil upon which we either bend to the left or to the right. Which is why we need to daily renew what? Our minds. (Romans 12:2). So that our thoughts are HIS thoughts. Which are only life. So that when the seeds of HIS thoughts are planted (combine with the desire of our emotions), “our ways” may become HIS ways. And in so doing, by force of nature, His will then naturally becomes the choices of our will. And so, instead of the spirit of men and women being lead away by the soul from the will of the Father, we are instead lead by the spirit (Adam) towards the will of the Father by the wife (Eve, the soul) submitting to the husband (Adam, the spirit) as the husband submits unto the LORD (the will of the Father). “Wives (Eve), submit yourselves to your own husbands (Adam) as you do to the Lord. For the husband (the spirit) is the head of the wife (the soul) as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour.” (Ephesians 5:22-23). This is talking about bringing the soul under subjection to the leading of the spirit, which in turn produces sons (fruit after its own kind) by submitting to the leading of the Spirit (Romans 8:14). So that instead of producing fruit after the kind of the flesh (soul and body), we produce fruit after the Spirit, which are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:14-17). As sons, we are therefore of His kind. And being of His kind, as sons, we shall also therefore all produce fruit after His kind.

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be all the honour and all the glory for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:17).