Wedgeworth writes:
John Calvin writes of Adam’s condition prior to the Fall. Rather than only contrasting Adam’s task and duty with our own after the fall, Calvin draws a fairly close parallel:
We must, therefore, look deeper than sensual intemperance. The prohibition to touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a trial of obedience, that Adam, by observing it, might prove his willing submission to the command of God. For the very term shows the end of the precept to have been to keep him contented with his lot, and not allow him arrogantly to aspire beyond it. The promise, which gave him hope of eternal life as long as he should eat of the tree of life, and, on the other hand, the fearful denunciation of death the moment he should taste of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, were meant to prove and exercise his faith.
~ Institutes 2.1.4
Calvin certainly mentions obedience, but we must notice that this obedience is directly tied to the exercising of Adam’s faith. Adam was not to attempt to work his way beyond the initial state, but rather to trust in God’s provision. Continue reading “Adam’s Infidelity”