According to Genesis, the original man and woman had an ideal existence in the Garden of Eden, with only one rule that God imposed on them: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17).
The fruit of that one tree was the “forbidden fruit.” The serpent tempted Eve (who then tempted Adam) into eating the fruit by telling Eve a lie: “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4–5).
Adam and Eve disobeyed God, leading to their own punishment, and the serpent’s as well.
The tradition that the fruit was an apple has no basis in the Bible. We don’t know what kind of fruit it was, except that it was the one that should have been avoided.
