After Eden, humanity was on its own — no garden, no direct divine instruction about daily life, no Mosaic law, no written Scripture. For 1,656 years, the only guide human beings had was the conscience God had built into them. The result? The worst moral catastrophe in human history. By Genesis 6, God looked at His creation and found that "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Not mostly evil. Not often evil. Only evil. Continually. That's what conscience alone produces without divine intervention.

Last time we saw God's full provision for human needs through His providence. Now we turn to a dark chapter: what happened when humanity was left to govern itself by nothing but inner moral sense.

This period is called the Dispensation of Conscience because, during this time, God tested humanity based on one thing: obedience to the inner voice of conscience. You could call this "the age of freedom." People were free to follow or ignore what their conscience told them—without any formal law to hold them accountable Romans 2:12-16.

Here's an important point: there was no revealed code of law until after the flood. The old idea that Adam had the Ten Commandments, and that people kept them before Moses, simply isn't supported by Scripture.

The law Adam broke wasn't the Ten Commandments. It was the specific command not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil Genesis 2:16-17Genesis 3:1-24. Any command from God carries the weight of law, but Scripture makes clear that the Ten Commandments weren't given to anyone before Moses Deuteronomy 5:2-21Deuteronomy 29:14-15.

What is Conscience?

"Conscience is the knowledge of our acts, states, or character as to right or wrong: the faculty, power, or principle which decides on the lawfulness of our actions and affections, and approves or condemns them; the moral faculty or sense."—Webster.

Think of conscience like an internal alarm system. It was activated—switched on—when humanity chose to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Ever since then, conscience has served as the guiding faculty in our moral decisions.

The Bible has a lot to say about different kinds of conscience:

• "Seared" conscience 1 Timothy 4:2
• "Awakened" conscience John 8:9
• "Purged" conscience Hebrews 9:9, 14Hebrews 10:2
• "Pure" conscience Acts 24:16
• "Weak" conscience 1 Corinthians 8:7, 12, 13
• "Defiled" conscience Titus 1:15
• "Witnessing" conscience Romans 2:12-15Romans 9:12 Corinthians 1:12
• "Good" conscience Acts 2:131 Timothy 1:5, 191 Peter 2:191 Peter 3:16, 21Hebrews 13:19
• "Convicting" or "healthy" conscience Genesis 3:10Genesis 4:13Matthew 27:3

By tracing the genealogies in Genesis 5:1-29 and Genesis 7:11, we can calculate that this dispensation lasted 1,656 years—from the creation of Adam to the 600th year of Noah's life when the flood came. Here's how it breaks down:

1. 1 Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born Genesis 5:3
2. 2 Seth was 105 years old when Enos was born Genesis 5:6
3. 3 Enos was 90 years old when Cainan was born Genesis 5:9
4. 4 Cainan was 70 years old when Mahaleel was born Genesis 5:12
5. 5 Mahaleel was 65 years old when Jared was born Genesis 5:15
6. 6 Jared was 162 years old when Enoch was born Genesis 5:18
7. 7 Enoch was 65 years old when Methuselah was born Genesis 5:21
8. 8 Methuselah was 187 years old when Lamech was born Genesis 5:25
9. 9 Lamech was 182 years old when Noah was born Genesis 5:28
10. 10 Noah was 600 years old when the flood came Genesis 7:6, 11

TOTAL: 1,656 years from Adam to Noah's flood.

In Genesis 3:15, we find God's first promise of redemption—through the seed of the woman, pointing to Christ. Humanity was being given another chance, another opportunity to prove faithful to God.

People had the promise that the curse would eventually be lifted and that they would be restored to their original position as rulers over the Earth. They had the ability to choose right from wrong. They had the capacity for faith in God and hope for redemption.

Here's something fascinating: humanity also started out with a knowledge of true worship. God had slain animals in the Garden and clothed Adam and Eve with their skins Genesis 3:21. Blood had been shed—a preview of the blood that would be shed by the coming Redeemer.

We see proof of this in the story of Cain and Abel. When they were old enough to worship, Abel brought the right kind of sacrifice—a blood sacrifice—showing that Adam and Eve had passed down the true way of worship. There was even a tabernacle for worship in those days! In Genesis 4:7, God told Cain, "If thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." The Hebrew word chata here means "a sin offering" Leviticus 4:3Leviticus 6:25. The "door" refers to the tabernacle door where sacrifices were offered. Genesis 4:3-5 makes clear there was a specific place where offerings were brought to God.

So humanity knew that God was just and merciful, that His Word was true, and that He would be with them if they chose obedience. They had witnessed the curse of sin firsthand. They had personal experience of both sin and the means of reconciliation with God.

Everything was as favorable as it could possibly be, given the fallen state. People could have proved faithful to God—but as time went on, humanity grew worse and worse until destruction became necessary.