UNBELIEF
(DOUBT). After the fall, humanity constitutes an “unbelieving and perverse generation” (Mt. 17:17), which questions the word of God, and even its very existence (Ps. 53:1-4).
It is not that man is ignorant or incapable of believing: God speaks to him through the triple revelation of nature (Rom. 1:18-21), of conscience (Rom. 2:14, 15), and of the Scriptures (Rom. 2:17-20; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).
He who, despite all this, turns away from the Lord is therefore inexcusable (Rom. 1:20; 2:1; 3:19); He actually does it because he “loves darkness more than light,” because “everyone who does evil hates the light” (John 3:19-20).
Disbelief does not come at all from the impossibility of solving a multitude of intellectual problems. The origin of it is moral and spiritual: in the pride of it, man deliberately chooses to remain independent with respect to God.
He does not want to abandon his sin, or his own righteousness, and above all he refuses to abdicate his rebellious will. After having given the Jews all the proof they could desire of his divinity and of his love, Jesus had to say to them: “You are not willing to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:40).
«Jerusalem, Jerusalem…! “How many times I wanted to bring your children together… and you didn’t want to!” (Matt. 23:37). The guests at the king’s wedding do not want to come, nor do they bother in the least to attend to the invitation, but there are even those who kill the royal messengers (Mt. 22:3-6).
Unbelief is something so inveterate in our fallen nature that it is initially found in everyone (John 3:11, 32); “The unregenerate man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him” (1 Cor. 2:14).
Jesus came to his own, and his own did not receive him (John 1:11); He received no honor in his country (Mt. 13:57-58), the princes of his people rejected him (Jn. 7:48), and not even his brothers believed in him (Jn. 7:48). 5). Even his disciples were frequently incredulous (Jn. 6:60, 66; 20:24-29; Mt. 17:17).
The first manifestation of unbelief is negative in nature: by not accepting the word of God, one turns away from Him (John 1:5; 5:43; 6:66); Next come several sins related to it (Lk. 15:12-13; Rom. 1:20-25);
Subsequently, persecution manifests itself, which, after insults and mistreatment, leads to death (see this progression in Jn. 7:7, 13, 20; 8:6, 47, 59; 9:22, 34, 41; 10:31; 11:53, etc.).
The judgment that awaits those who persist in unbelief is terrible. Indeed, Christ was the propitiation for the sins of the whole world on the cross, and on this basis he offers forgiveness to all who repent (John 1:29; 1 John 2: 1-2); but what can be given to those who refuse to believe and reject grace?
“He who does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God… wrath is upon him” (John 3:18, 36). An entire generation of Israelites perished in the wilderness because they had refused to enter Canaan “because of unbelief” (Heb. 3:17-19).
The cowards (who never make up their minds) and the unbelievers are the first to go to hell (Rev. 21:8). How unfortunate are those whose intelligence has been blinded by the god of this century! (2 Cor. 4:4).
But there is a remedy for disbelief. God knows the weakness and inability of our nature, and ardently desires to help those who come to Him with all their doubts and lack of faith.
As Peter sank into the water and cried out for help, the Lord stretched out his hand saying: “O man of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Mt. 14:30-31). To Thomas who exclaims: “Unless I see… I will not believe,” the Lord responds: “Do not be an unbeliever, but a believer,” at the same time convincing him of the reality of his resurrection (John 20:25, 27).
He reaches out to him who cries, “I believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). By his Spirit, through the work of regeneration, he begets believers to a living hope (John 3:5; 1 Pet. 1:3).