An invitation to chaos

Today’s Bible study took me to Genesis 3, the account of man's rebellion against God’s command. God had instructed Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, warning that “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16–17).

Humanity was created as a free moral agent, yet that freedom has always existed within the sustaining grace of God. Nothing lives independently of Him (Acts 17:28). Nothing possesses power in itself.

All life is dependent life. A lightbulb shines only because it is connected to a power source. Disconnect it, and the light goes out, not because the bulb is faulty, but because it was never designed to exist on its own. In the same way, creation was designed to live through God, not apart from Him.

Colossians 1:16–17 (KJV)

“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

Many misunderstand God’s creation because they misunderstand 'existence' itself. Nothing exists by itself. Everything, whether natural or supernatural, draws its life and energy from God (Hebrews 1:3). This is why Scripture tells us that even the New Jerusalem has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God gives it light. God is the ultimate Source and Sustainer of all things.

Revelation 21:23 (KJV)

“And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”

When God created humanity, He gave a choice. Would man live in dependence on God, or would he attempt to construct life on his own terms? Adam and Eve were given the freedom to reject God’s authority and determine their own way (Genesis 3:1-6). That same choice confronts us daily. Will we trust God fully, or will we rely on our own reasoning and calculations? Do we presume to be smart enough to compute the parameters for our own existence, or will we trust in the timeless wisdom of God to govern our lives?

I am reminded of something from my childhood. When I was very young, my mother would hold my hand as we crossed the road. I would sometimes pull away, insisting that I was old enough to cross by myself. On more than one occasion, my stubbornness nearly led to disaster. Yet she never let me go completely. If something terrible had happened, many might have blamed her, on the basis that she was aware of my tendency to disobey. But such blame would be misplaced, because she was holding on and I was the one resisting.

Even now, traffic lights guide us on the roads, but nothing forces us to obey them. When someone ignores those rules and is struck by a car, we can say 'evil' has occurred. One might blame the system, but the designers of the traffic lights did not create the 'accident'. In the same way, God did not create evil. Evil entered into the world as a consequence of human disobedience.

James 1:13–15 (KJV)

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

When humanity rejected God’s authority, chaos followed (Romans 1:21–25). Chaos is simply the absence of God’s order. Since stewardship of creation was entrusted to man (Genesis 1:26–28), that disorder spread throughout creation itself as a consequence of man’s fall (Romans 8:20–22).

I love what John Calvin wrote, he said:

“…the Lord had declared that ‘everything that he had made… was exceedingly good’ (Genesis 1:31). Whence, then, comes this wickedness to man, that he should fall away from his God? Lest we should think it comes from creation, God had put His stamp of approval on what had come forth from Himself. By his own evil intention, then, man corrupted the pure nature he had received from the Lord; and by his fall drew all his posterity with him into destruction…”

By his own will, man corrupted the pure nature he had received from God, and through his fall drew all his descendants into ruin.

Romans 5:12 (KJV)

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”

Another illustration may clarify this. Imagine constructing a complex and detailed jigsaw puzzle. You then hand it to a child to care for, with one instruction: do not dismantle it. The child insists on discovering it independently, pulls it apart, and destroys its order. When confusion follows, it would be improper to attribute the fault to the creator rather than to the one who disregarded the instruction.

In Genesis 3, we see that Eve had three reasons for eating the fruit (Genesis 3:6):

• It was good for food (aka lust of the flesh - 1 John 2:16)

• It was pleasant to the eyes (aka lust of the eyes - 1 John 2:16)

• A tree to be desired to make one wise (aka pride of life - 1 John 2:16)

More on these later.

When they ate, their eyes were opened and they saw their nakedness (Genesis 3:7). They saw their inadequacy, frailty, and shame because the blissful covering of God’s presence was lifted from them. They became exposed as nothing but mere mortals. The thing they gained was not freedom, but the painful knowledge of life lived apart from God.