123…ABC… Theology

Biblical answers to questions you and those around you are asking or should be asking.

1 WHY DID THEY HIDE?

Immediately after committing the very first sin, Adam and Eve “heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden” (Gen. 3:8). Why did they hide? The Bible says that God has written His Law upon the heart of every person (Rom. 2:14-15), and when we break this Law we become guilty and feel ashamed. This awareness of guilt and the feeling of shame is what made Adam and Eve hide from the God who loved them (cp. Gen. 2:25). In short, they hid because their conscience condemned them for disobeying God (Rom. 2:14-15).

2 WHY DID GOD GIVE US A CONSCIENCE?

God created each of us with a conscience. God designed the conscience to compare our thoughts and actions to His Law, which is written on our hearts. The conscience urges us to do right and discourages us from doing evil. When we do right we feel good - this is our conscience “patting us on the back”. When we do wrong we feel guilt and shame - this is our conscience condemning us. In the conscience, God gives us an internal compass that guides us to obey Him, or tells us when we have strayed. Because of sin, all people have strayed and would rather hide from God, just like Adam and Eve did (Is. 53:6; Rom. 3:23).

3 GOD REVEALED IN CONSCIENCE

As previously mentioned, the conscience compares our thoughts and actions to God’s Law, which is written on our hearts. Therefore the conscience reveals that there is a God, that He is holy, and that we are accountable to Him for our thoughts and actions. God uses the conscience to reveal Himself in this way to every person. The Holy Spirit uses the conscience to urge believers to even greater obedience (Heb. 13:18). Likewise, He uses the conscience to convict unbelievers of their sin and their need of forgiveness (John 16:8).