Unbelief: The Undoing of the World
Reflections on sin, the Fall, and the need for faith.
“But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die.’” (Gen. 3:4)
At the centre of Adam and Eve’s fall into sin and ruin was a singular and all-important question: Whose word will you obey?
For Eve, this issue was presented in the dichotomy between the word of the serpent and the word of God: the serpent came with one promise where God had given quite another. For Adam the challenge was similar, but slightly altered, and lay in the choice between the word of his wife and the word of his God.
Indeed, when God condemns Adam for his failure, this is one of the principal issues that is highlighted: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you…” (Gen. 3:17). Both the man and the woman, then, were faced with the decision either to obey the word of the Lord or to obey the word of another, and in both instances they chose the latter.
Thus whatever else we may say about the Fall (and there is certainly much here to say), one of the chief things to note is the way in which God’s word was disbelieved while another’s was accepted. This was the first step toward destruction, the first stone to be toppled in a landslide of rebellion. As Calvin notes, “…never would they have dared to resist God, unless they had first been incredulous of his word.” Unbelief was the mother of our misery; suspicion toward the word of God the root of our undoing.
Faith and Unbelief
Recognizing the pivotal role of unbelief in Adam’s Fall should produce in us two very potent and visceral effects. In the first place, it should undermine completely any foolish confidence we may be tempted to place in ourselves. This, after all, was Eve’s downfall. Seeing that “the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,” Eve followed her intuitions, misguided though they were, and took that first fatal bite.
Rather than trust God’s word, she trusted herself—what her eyes saw, what her mind perceived. Unbeknownst to her, however, her senses were at that moment very unfaithful guides and her understanding was grossly skewed. Not seeing the whole picture, the very act she thought was her triumph was really her demise. Her impressions betrayed her, and it was a misstep that proved lethal.
Now, if this was true of Eve—a creature unfallen and glorious—how much more so is it true of us, riddled as we are with much corruption, blindness, hypocrisy, and deceit?
It is generally the case that we are very quick to ascribe to ourselves high degrees of confidence and surety—we trust ourselves, in other words, and tend to regard our thoughts, impressions, opinions, and judgments as fairly reliable and sturdy. But the example of Eve should teach us that such confidence is entirely unfounded. She was deceived, and quickly, simply through creaturely limitation; you and I face this same limitation, but with the added difficulty of being fallen creatures rather than merely creatures.
Our attitude toward ourselves should therefore not be one of trust but suspicion. We should think of ourselves, as Paul said, with “sober judgment” (Rom. 12:3), recognizing that the flesh is “corrupt through deceitful desires” (Eph. 4:22) and that the wicked heart loves to flatter itself “that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated” (Ps. 36:2). Even Paul said he didn’t understand his own actions (Rom. 7:15). We should be exceedingly cautious of granting ourselves more self-confidence than he.
But, secondly, seeing our weakness and limitation, we should throw ourselves wholeheartedly toward hearing, memorizing, and preaching the word of God. As Solomon says, “The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble” (Prov. 4:19). But the word of God, bright and clear, is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path (Ps. 119:105. “The unfolding of your words gives light;” the psalmist says. “It imparts understanding to the simple” (Ps. 119:130).
All around, then, is darkness and shadow: darkness without and darkness within. But the word of the Most High burns like a lamp shining in a dark place, and we would do well to pay attention to it (2 Pet. 1:19). Indeed, that Word has become flesh and shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. By this Word we hear, by this Word we see, by this Word we live, and through this Word the whole universe itself was created and holds together.
God’s Word, the eternal Son, is the foundation, the cornerstone, the fountainhead of all truth, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Apart from him, we die; but through Him—by believing in His name—we are given the right to become children of God and join Him in the possession of boundless and everlasting life.
Adam and Eve fell through unbelief; the restoration of the world is by faith in the Word of God. The question that remains for us, and the one that should burn daily within our hearts and weigh upon our consciences like a millstone, is, Do we believe this Word?
“But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” (Isa. 66:2)