According to the Bible, man is inherently sinful and flawed. The nature of man is a result of the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. When they ate the forbidden fruit, they became aware of their nakedness, which led them to feel shame. This shame caused them to hide from God, and he banished them from the garden.
The effects of this banishment have been passed down through generations; every person born since then has inherited a sin nature from Adam and Eve. This nature causes us to have sinful desires and thoughts, which lead us to commit acts of evil in our lives. If we are not redeemed by Jesus Christ, these sins will cause us to be condemned eternally in hell after death (Romans 5).
What Is The Nature Of Man According To The Bible
Most theologians have said that the ways in which humans are like God (but not God) include our capacity for a right relationship with God, ability to reason, creativity, sociability, dominion over creation, and freedom or choice. Some of these are implied in the Genesis text (dominion in Gen.
What the Bible says about Human Nature
| Deceitful means insincere, hypocritical, underhanded, false, dishonest, treacherous, sneaking, double-dealing, tricky, cunning, and crafty. Such a person is altogether untrustworthy. As Jeremiah 17:9 says, our heart is desperately sick or weak, implying it knows better but deceives anyway. Who can fathom its corruption, manifested in the incessant transgression of this commandment?Human nature is a reflection of the spirit of the prince of the power of the air, whom Jesus identified as the father or generator of lies (John 8:44). Satan had so deceived himself, he thought he could overcome his Creator! Proverbs 11:9 says, “The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.” Satan is a destroyer who passes this carnal attribute along to those who will follow him. Unless the hypocrite repents, he destroys himself too. This is also the lesson of Proverbs 26:26-28. God will deliver the just person, however, because he yields to truth.John W. Ritenbaugh The Ninth Commandment (1997) Related Topics: Deception | Human Nature | Hypocrisy |
| The most formidable and ever-present obstacle hindering progress toward the Kingdom of God is the flesh – human nature – that remains following baptism. It is the major component of the cross we must bear while following Christ (Matthew 16:24; Luke 9:23). In Romans 8:7, Paul plainly states, “The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” It is always with us, yet we must fight it to overcome its constant drag on progress toward conforming to the image of Jesus Christ.Paul describes in vivid terms the attitude in which we must fight it. He tells us that the flesh must be “crucified” and “put to death.” Our attitude is to be like that of a soldier under orders to take no prisoners.Did not God order the Israelites to do similarly when invading the Promised Land? They were to rid it completely of its original inhabitants, a command that they, of course, did not obey. Just as God predicted, as the Israelites became comfortable living among the land’s original inhabitants, they became attracted to their gods and practices, snares that drew them into sin.John W. Ritenbaugh The Christian Fight (Part One) Related Topics: Human Nature |
| Notice how strongly God expresses the concept of separation from what is spiritually impure. The Canaanites, and all of the other nations that are mentioned, were to be completely wiped out on religious grounds. This is because religion has such a powerful influence on conduct.Israel never did this, and the Canaanites were a constant thorn in their side through their false gods. Through Israel’s social and business interactions with them, they were persuaded to follow the Canaanites’ god’s practices—even to the extent of sacrificing their children in the fire.In order to properly understand this command to exterminate these peoples, it must be understood that, though God was their Ruler, Israel was a nation of this world. Israel was put into the place of God’s avenging angels—His agents—to take vengeance on those nations. However, the key is that Israel was a nation of this world, which is something that the church is not. When Jesus was before Pilate, He said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36).The lesson for us is that we are to be, as it were, this harsh with ourselves in getting rid of the sin within us. As Jesus says, “Pluck out your eye. Cut off your hand.”We know that He does not mean this literally! He wants us to understand the spiritual principle that is involved. We have to be willing to go to that extent—to fight “tooth and nail” the contamination of sin that so easily besets us, which can so easily be picked up from contact with this world.So the spiritual lesson for us is that God is equally demanding toward us—that we do not allow this world to influence us in any way that will contaminate our holiness, imputed as a result of Christ’s sacrifice. Israel did not follow through, and soon no difference could be seen between them and the Canaanites. God’s commands to be different make the witness and provide the means, the environment, for sacrifice.In order to keep from being uncontaminated by the world, there must reside in us a strong measure of religious intolerance, or we will find ourselves compromising. What we call “human nature,” and what the Bible calls “carnality,” produced this world. It loves this world and is easily attracted to its practices and its attitudes. To attain the Kingdom of God, we cannot tolerate those things in ourselves. Related Topics: Canaanites | Canaanitish religion | Carnal Human Nature | Compromise | Compromising | Compromising with Sin | Contamination from Sin | Contamination from World | Human Nature | Keeping Separate | Separation from Defilement | Separation from Evil | Worldly Associations |
| Genesis 1:26-31In the beginning, Adam and Eve were not created with the evil nature we see displayed in all of mankind. At the end of the sixth day of creation, God took pleasure in all He had made and pronounced it “very good,” including Adam and Eve and the nature or the heart He placed in them. An evil heart cannot possibly be termed “very good.” They were a blank slate, one might say, with a slight pull toward the self, but not with the strong, self-centered, touchy, and offensive heart that is communicated through contact with the world following birth.Following Adam and Eve’s creation, God placed them in Eden and instructed them on their responsibilities. He then purposefully allowed them to be exposed to and tested by Satan, who most definitely had a different set of beliefs, attitudes, purposes, and character than God. Without interference from God, they freely made the choice to subject themselves to the evil influence of that malevolent spirit. That event initiated the corruption of man’s heart. Perhaps nowhere in all of Scripture is there a clearer example of the truth of I Corinthians 15:33: “Evil communications corrupt good manners.”Comparing our contact with Satan to Adam and Eve’s, a sobering aspect is that God shows they were fully aware of Satan when he communicated with them. However, we realize that a spirit being can communicate with a human by transferring thoughts, and the person might never know it! He would assume the thoughts were completely generated within himself.Following their encounter with the evil one, “the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked” (Genesis 3:7). This indicates an immediate change in their attitudes and perspectives. It also implies a change of character from the way God had created them, as they had indeed willingly sinned, thus reinforcing the whole, degenerative process.This began not only their personal corruption but also this present, evil world, as Paul calls it in Galatians 1:4. All it took was one contact with, communication from, and submission to that very evil source to effect a profound change from what they had been. The process did not stop with them, as Romans 5:12 confirms, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Adam and Eve passed on the corrupt products of their encounter with Satan to their children, and each of us, in turn, has sinned as willingly as our first ancestors did.When we are born, innocent of any sin of our own, we enter into a 6,000-year-old, ready-made world that is permeated with the spirit of Satan and his demons, as well as with the evil cultures they generated through a thoroughly deceived mankind. In consequence, unbeknownst to us, we face a double-barreled challenge to our innocence: from demons as well as from this world.Six thousand years of human history exhibit that we very quickly absorb the course of the world around us and lose our innocence, becoming self-centered and deceived like everybody else (Revelation 12:9). The vast majority in this world is utterly unaware that they are in bondage to Satan – so unaware that most would scoff if told so. Even if informed through the preaching of the gospel, they do not fully grasp either the extent or the importance of these factors unless God draws them by opening their eyes spiritually (John 6:44-45).John W. Ritenbaugh Communication and Leaving Babylon (Part Three) Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnally Minded | Change of Heart | Change of Mind | Communication | Communication from Evil Influences | Communication With Spirit Influences | Corruption of the Human Heart | Demonic Influence | Demonic principalities | Demons | Evil | Evil Communication | Evil Forces | Evil Heart | Evil Nature | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Satan’s Attitudes | Satan’s Broadcast | Satan’s Influence |
| Genesis 1:31God Himself said that man was very good. This is an expression of pleasure; He was pleased with what He had accomplished. If we were very good when He created us, then that must include the nature He created us with.Does God take pleasure in a nature that is enmity against Him (Romans 8:7)? Not at all, which indicates very strongly that, as He created us and as we are born, we do not have the nature that we later come to have that is enmity against Him. Hateful, human nature is something that develops because God put a spirit in us that other spirits, either God Himself or the spirit of this world, are able to communicate with (I Corinthians 2:10-12).If the spirit that He is talking about in Genesis 1:31 was very good, then why has human history been a recording of violence, disease, anguish of spirit? Why is there so much bitterness, anger, prejudice, resentment, doubt, self-pity, vanity, envy, greed, jealousy, pride, and lust? Nowhere in God’s Word are these called good or even acceptable.Those traits do not come from God. He did not create us that way. God is love. He is kind, generous, good, merciful. We can honestly conclude that they do not come from man either, as he was created by God, because God judged man to be “very good.” Yet, mankind expresses these very attributes.Again, would something God pronounced “very good” produce what we see? We can conclude that these traits must have come from the spirit of this world, from Satan, who is invisible, soundless, but is able to communicate with our spirits.John W. Ritenbaugh Satan (Part 3) Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnally Minded | Human Nature | Satan’s Influence | Satan’s Spirit | Spirit in Man | Spirit of this World |
| Genesis 6:5What would it be like to live in a human society in which there was no set standard or rules by which its members were expected to conduct their affairs? Life would be pretty chancy. God was so saddened by this state of affairs that He felt that the only thing He could do was to wipe it out and start over again.In that kind of society, every excursion outside one’s door would be a venture into a societal jungle in which pain, fear, violence, and possibly death lurked at virtually every step. Indeed, if everybody were “a law unto himself,” one would not be safe even within his own home because the people there, too, would be living by their own rules. It does not sound as though life would be very fulfilling or enjoyable because only the strongest or the most clever would survive. This kind of life can only be described as a constant, fearful struggle. Community life under these conditions would be impossible because community is possible only when everyone adheres to the same rules. God is creating a Community, a Family, a Kingdom.Now a second scenario: What would it be like to live in a human society in which there were set standards, but people abided by them only when they felt like it? This might be a definite improvement because people might feel like obeying the rules at least once in a while. There would be more chance for agreement and decidedly less conflict, anxiety, injury, or death.A third scenario: What would it be like to live in a society in which there were set standards, and people generally agreed with them, and for a variety of reasons, many restrained themselves from breaking them, even when they did not feel like it? However, if a person or community really felt pressure – if one felt that his need or the community’s need was great enough – then he or it would break those standards, even to the point of mass murder – war. Again, this is an improvement over both of the other two scenarios, as the chances of peace and stability are increasing.A fourth scenario: What would it be like to live in society in which people or a community overwhelmingly agree on the standards and, for a variety of reasons, restrain themselves to obey them even when they did not feel like it? This scenario is downright Millennial.A fifth and final scenario: What would it be like to live in a community where the standards were absolutely engraved in each person’s character, and no one has even a thought of transgressing them? Every thought is for the well-being of each individual and the community. It is not difficult to choose which scenario would be the most pleasurable to live in and would produce the most and the best.As things now are, we live in the third scenario. Which of these five will allow people to concentrate their creativity and energies into producing prosperity in every lawful and edifying field of endeavor – without ever having to be anxious or having their abilities or energies dissipated by conflicts with their fellows? It is easy to see that the fifth scenario fits best.Of course, the standards are the basic laws of God regulating relationships between men and God and between men and other men. Yet, we are often told that we should obey God because we want to and because we love our fellow man. This is a statement that sounds good at first because it appeals to our vanity about what we think about ourselves and about God. We like to think that we love God and would never harbor any ill feelings toward Him or His rule in our life. We like to think that we do not really do wrong things – we are only misunderstood.There are no offenders in prison, are there? Everybody in prison is “innocent.” It was the fault of that dumb judge, who was prejudiced. Or, the evidence was twisted, causing the inmate to be unfairly convicted. Or, the witnesses lied. Convicts can come up with all kinds of reasons to justify their incarceration.I Corinthians 3:3 should be considered in this light, because the Corinthian people were converted! They had repented, been baptized, and had received the Spirit of God. Nevertheless, the apostle’s assessment, his judgment, of these people was, “For you are still carnal.”These converted people did not love one another very much, nor did they love God very much. They were not obeying God much, as the rest of the epistle plainly shows. The reality is that we do not always love God, and we do not always love those who belong to Him, our brothers in the faith. We do not always feel kindly disposed either toward God or toward our brethren.People have told me that they are angry with God. What they are really saying is, “I don’t deserve all of this trouble. I don’t deserve to be treated this way. I’m innocent!” Did Job feel kindly disposed toward God? Job acted carnally from time to time. There is a powerful lesson in the book of Job.If we “obey God because we love Him,” it might sound good, but in reality, we are in trouble because we will frequently wander off the way. We must discipline ourselves to obey Him and love our brethren – even when we do not feel like it. Our nature is so self-centered that God says in Jeremiah 17:9 that it is incurably sick.John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Two) Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Human Nature | Law Keeping | Lawkeeping | Lawlessness | Obedience | Society’s Ethics | Standards of Morality | Standards of Right and Wrong | Struggle | Struggle against Carnal Nature | Struggle against Sin | Survival of the Strongest | The Way |
| Genesis 9:1-2Once again God gives man dominion over all other life on the earth, and with this renewed authority comes the implicit responsibility to tend and keep what was explicitly given to Adam. In this post-Flood world, God gives mankind a second chance to use and preserve the resources He had so abundantly provided. To that end Noah, after 120 years as a preacher and shipwright, took up farming and planted a vineyard (verse 20). We can assume, from what we know of human nature, that this attitude of stewardship did not pass to very many of his descendants.Richard T. Ritenbaugh The Bible and the Environment Related Topics: Dominion | Dominion over Animals | Dress and Keep | Human Nature | Noah | Responsibility, Sense of | Stewardship | Stewardship of Earth |
| Exodus 6:5-8God promises to bring the Children of Israel out of their bondage, and we understand this also applies to us in that He is bringing us out of spiritual bondage. In us, He is getting to the root of the problem.The Old Covenant was weak through the flesh. We are no different from the Israelites; human nature has not changed, nor has Satan or the world. God certainly has not changed, nor His Spirit or His truth. All of these things being constant, the problem is still in us.The solution has to be a change of mind by the pure Word of God. We learn from John 8:32 that truth shall make us free. We also find, in John 8:44-45, that Satan was a murderer and a liar from the beginning. He was the one who tempted Adam and Eve, and we can understand, then, that our bondage is directly tied into lies and deceit.This is what we have to be broken free from. God never lies; His word is always true. We can rely on it, and if we use it, it keeps us free and protects us from falling back into the world once again.Usually, God does not remove us from one geographical location to another when we are called. We have to come out of our own personal, spiritual bondage, regardless of our location, because that is the real problem. We physically remain where we are, but something else has to be added.Life takes its values from its goals and purposes. Most people’s purpose in life is merely physical, so the things that they pursue in life and the means that they use to accomplish their goals are what are bringing everyone into bondage. The goals are carnal, and the ways of reaching them are also carnal. They involve lying, murder, adultery, fornication, stealing, coveting, breaking the Sabbath, taking God’s name in vain, or building statues to God. Breaking the Ten Commandments are involved, but it is much bigger than that.In Christianity, its great goal causes a person to set the very highest of standards. The goal is the Kingdom of God. No goal has higher standards. It takes a pure word to keep one strengthened to accomplish this goal.John W. Ritenbaugh Freedom and Unleavened Bread Related Topics: Bondage to Sin | Bondage, Spiritual | Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnally Minded | Change of Heart | Change of Mind | Goals | Human Nature | Kingdom of God | Liberation from Bondage | Pure Word | Standards of Morality | Standards of Right and Wrong | Standards, Setting High | Word of God | Word of God |
| Exodus 13:11-14The implication is that, when Israel finally came into the land, God made it possible for them to come into it. In other words, it was because of what the Lord did, not only in Egypt, but also in the wilderness, that enabled them to reach and enter the land. It is what the Lord does.This is not a minor bit of trivia. It is not merely that we come out of sin and this world, but this fact puts everything about our coming out—our growth and overcoming, and eventually entering the Kingdom of God—into its proper perspective, because human nature is ever ready to take the credit for more than it actually accomplishes.John W. Ritenbaugh Sanctification and Holiness (Part 1) Related Topics: Carnal Human Nature | God’s Involvement | God’s Involvement in Our Lives | God’s Sovereignty Over Our Lives | Growth | Human Nature | Overcoming | Sanctification and Holiness |
| Numbers 11:33-34Kibroth Hattaavah means “the graves of greediness.” Their sin was not just in giving in to their craving. Their sin was they doubted God’s ability to supply and they doubted His concern for their welfare.Understand that God’s concern for us is just as great after His calling as it is before. He is still working out His purpose, and He will supply our need. Remember, though, when God gives us what we desire and pray for, it does not necessarily mean that it is a blessing, as in this situation when the “blessing” turned out to be the instrument of death. It is a sobering lesson to keep in the forefront of our minds. Our prayer should always be, “Not my will but Yours be done. God, please remember I am just human.”Human nature is never satisfied. It is filled with self-concern and does not know what is best for it. What it lusts for may even lead to that person’s spiritual death. It makes us think that the grass is greener on the other side and that there is more and better in something else, something new and exciting. And when lust is involved, anticipation is always greater than realization. There is a law of diminishing returns at work in this universe that perversion lessens rewards. The Israelites had a perverse craving for tasty food, and their reward ended up being death. Human nature is something we are always going to have to deal with in this life.God was not dealing with these people in terms of salvation as He is with us. The lesson for us is not to let these cravings—even desires for good things—take our eyes off the goal and the reality of what God is doing for us.Jeremiah 10:23-24 says that the way of man is not in him to direct his steps. We have to understand that, when we come to God, we are admitting to Him through repentance that our salvation is not internal—it is not something we can produce. In the same vein, the right way to live is not within us. It must come from outside, and that “outside” is God. Thus, we ask God to direct our steps. At baptism, we are asking God to make us into the image of Christ and to rid us of the perversions of human nature that have produced this world.The experience of the Israelites shows us that, when the going gets unexpectedly rough and hardships occur—say, in the area of tithing, that we have not been blessed to the extent we feel we deserve, or in the area of Sabbath, that we lose our job and cannot find another—and then we have an intense craving for something and begin to look back at our former situation, we can also begin to lust for the very things that not long before we considered to be expendable and holding us in bondage.John W. Ritenbaugh Passover and I Corinthians 10 Related Topics: Appetite, Control of | Carnal Nature | Contentment | Craving | Craving, Perverted | Desire | Discontent | Dissatisfaction | Dissatisfaction with God’s Providence | Human Nature | Lust | Manna | Perverted Taste | Satisfaction | Spiritual Malnutrition | Stimulation, Craving | Taste, Perverted |
| Deuteronomy 6:4-7He covers every aspect of every day. The laws of God have to be considered and committed to memory for life. They have to be practiced, practiced, practiced. In a way, we have to drill, drill, drill, like a soldier in boot camp, so that they become instinctive behaviors. We have to force ourselves, if need be, to yield to them. This is our part in spiritual circumcision because human nature will put up a fight. It does not want to yield.John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Seven) Related Topics: Drill | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Law | Law Keeping | Lawkeeping | Soldier Metaphor | Spiritual Circumcision | Yielding to God | Yielding to God’s Will |
| Deuteronomy 32:15-21This is a prophecy, but it is also a typical human reaction to God. It is not just an Israelite peculiarity or weakness. God reveals Himself, and mankind loves it—at first. Then the relationship begins to deteriorate for a variety of reasons. Some become bored, while others grow impatient, wanting things to move faster. Some refuse to conform, not realizing how much the relationship would demand of them. Some lose interest as other things gradually become more important to them. Some become frustrated because they expected a free ride from an indulgent “sugar daddy.” Some lose sight of how much more wonderful, powerful, and brilliant the relationship will be in the future. Many forget their obligation to Him for what He has done for them.Whatever the reason, it is mankind that finds a reason to destroy the relationship because it is not in his nature to have one of the quality that God desires! Human nature will not remain constant in its affections for God. From the time of a person’s birth until God finally calls him, the impressionable mind develops an enmity that he cannot completely control (Romans 8:6). The history of God’s contact with humanity proves this—even with converted people.John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Eleven) Related Topics: Affection | Affection for God | Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnality | Carnally Minded | Enmity | Enmity toward God | Human Nature | Losing First Love | Losing Heart | Love for God | Love of God |
| Job 42:6Job finally recognizes that he had met the enemy – himself! He does not say, “I abhor my sins” but “I abhor myself,” recognizing that the problem was not just specific sins – what he was caused him to fall short of God’s righteousness. As explained in Romans 7, we repent not only of what we have done but what we are that caused us to do what we did!Martin G. Collins Basic Doctrines: Repentance Related Topics: Abhorrence of Sin | Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnally Minded | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Job | Repentance |
| Psalm 9:3David’s enemies were physical people. Our enemies, however, are Satan, his distracting world, and our human nature, which he has been molding in his image since our births. If we are not to “fall and perish,” these enemies must be vanquished—it comes down to “them or us.” If God does not fight the battle, we will ultimately lose because our flesh is weak; we have little spiritual power against our enemies, especially Satan and his devices (John 15:5). Striving to pray always puts us in His presence at every opportunity, and our enemies’ power over us recedes and eventually disappears.Pat Higgins Praying Always (Part Four) Related Topics: Enemies | Human Nature | Human Nature as an Enemy | Mortify the Flesh | Mortifying the Flesh | Satan | Satan’s Devices | Spiritual Enemies | World |
| Psalm 119:165What does “greatpeace” mean? “Peace” automatically suggests an absence of war, no battling, no fighting. Under temptation, a battle always rages, even if we are winning. In such a case, no peace exists, much less “great peace.” As an illustration, initially, the U.S. in Iraq won every battle handily, but it was still war. The spiritual war we fight is caused by temptation from Satan, our human nature, and the world. Remove temptation, and war stops. What remains is great peace.How do we achieve not just peace, but “great peace”? The last half of Psalm 119:165 tells us: “nothing causes them to stumble.” What causes a human to stumble? Temptation! This means that we have to be sheltered from it. The American Standard Version renders this phrase, “they have no occasion of stumbling,” Young’s Literal Translation puts it as “they have no stumbling-block,” and the Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible reads, “nothing to make them stumble.” All of these renderings mean that not even the opportunity to stumble is presented. Other scriptures mention protection from stumbling:Psalm 121:3 (NLT): He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.I John 2:10: He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.Jude 24: Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. . . .God through the gift of His Holy Spirit is the only power in the universe that can accomplish such a feat. If God does not place that shield around us, we have no hope of success. Alone, we are powerless in the face of temptation. We overcome it not by our strength, but by God’s power, the shield of faith (I John 5:4) given to us as His gift (Ephesians 2:8). It is our only sure defense.To acknowledge God and to pray always are to be in alignment with one of Christ’s most basic principles, a principle found in Matthew 6:33—to “seek first the kingdom of God” in all things. Praying always is stepping out in faith, believing that if we seek God first, He will add all the things we need (Philippians 4:19), including the strength to overcome, to finish this journey, and to enter His Kingdom.When faced with the myriad decisions we have to make during each day, if we are not acknowledging God’s presence, we have placed ourselves in the position of fighting our battles on our own. Israel made the same mistake, choosing the hard road in their fight, one littered with bodies. We probably all know of some bodies that now litter the spiritual road we have walked. We veterans carry scars from the battles we have lost.Our battles to overcome are more like skirmishes than battles. In fact, we experience our most severe temptations and trials in everyday events like eating, conducting business affairs, or relating to others in the family or community. Luke 16:10 acknowledges this: “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in whatis least is unjust also in much.”What better way to win those little skirmishes than to have an invincible Champion, God, in the van of the battle? Because these skirmishes are in the myriad of details we deal with every day, only striving to pray always during the day gives us that unyielding first line of defense.Our deceitful human nature has in its arsenal countless ways, reasons, and excuses to avoid confronting the real issue of life—overcoming and allowing God to form and shape us into His image. Just bringing God into the picture unleashes forces that will not only help us to overcome, but will also protect us from the pitfalls that litter our path (Psalm 91:12). It is this striving to pray always that a Laodicean naturally avoids because he feels no need.Pat Higgins Praying Always (Part Six) Related Topics: Acknowledging God | Acknowledging God in Our Lives | Acknowledging God’s Presence | Holy Spirit Aids our Overcoming | Holy Spirit, Gift of | Human Nature | Human Nature, Deceitfulness of | Laodicean Attitude | Peace | Praying Always | Praying at All Times | Seeking God First | Spiritual Battle | Spiritual Warfare | Stumbling | Stumbling as a Metaphor | Temptation |
| Psalm 121:1-8Once we recognize that the psalmist uses “hills” as an image of a problem to a pilgrim, we easily understand the rest of the psalm as an encouragement to those on a spiritual pilgrimage to the Kingdom of God. It certainly does not give the impression that God—at any time—lets His mind wander, unaware of what is happening in His children’s lives. Not only is He ever on guard, He is also ready, willing, and able to intervene with strength. He is not a parent distracted by other concerns so that He neglects His children. We can be greatly encouraged that God is always alert to His responsibilities.Because God is this way, all things work together for our good, even though there are times when we sin and nothing evil appears to have happened to us. Human nature easily deceives itself into thinking it has gotten away with something. This, however, is like saying we can defy the law of gravity, and nothing will happen! God does not let us get away with anything pertaining to His purpose, but He is never overbearing in thoroughly following through.John W. Ritenbaugh The Sovereignty of God: Part Nine Related Topics: All Things Work Together for Good | Consequences of sin | Deceptiveness of Human Nature | God as Parent | God’s Intervention | God’s Sovereignty | God’s Watchful Care | God’s Watchfulness | Human Nature | Self Deception | Spiritual Pilgrimage |
| Proverbs 4:23Human nature, the law of sin within us, is always seeking to pull us again into the defilement of sin, seeking to destroy our hope of sharing life with the holy God. That is why God counsels us in Proverbs 4:23 to keep—that is, guard, preserve, and maintain—our heart. It is very easy to become defiled by lapsing back to old habits. In stark reality, Romans 8:7 and Jeremiah 17:9 show why: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” The normal human mind deceitfully convinces each person that they are good and love God, men, and law. But the reality is just the opposite: It is at war with God and men, and hates God’s holy, righteous, and spiritual law. It loves itself and its desires far more than anything else. It is this deceitful, self-centered enmity that exerts constant influence, pulling us into the defilement of sin.John W. Ritenbaugh The Beatitudes, Part 6: The Pure in Heart Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnally Minded | Deceitfulness of Heart | Deceitfulness of Sin | Defilement | Heart, Deceitfulness of | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Law of Sin | Sin, Deceitfulness of | Sin, Defilement of |
| Proverbs 19:10Luxury in the hands of fools will be squandered on dissipation and useless frivolity because they have never learned to control themselves. The second example of inappropriate waste is directly attached to preparation for God’s Kingdom. A slave to human nature, having been subject to it all his life, who is then given power to rule, stands every chance of becoming abusively tyrannical. How quickly he forgets the pain of his slavery!John W. Ritenbaugh Seeking God (Part Two): A Foundation Related Topics: Battle against Human Nature | Dissipation | Human Nature |
| Proverbs 30:21-23Each of these illustrations describes people unprepared for their new status. We can be certain that God will not allow this to happen in His Family Kingdom. Those who are in it will be prepared to live, work, and rule at the level He assigns to them. Their responsibilities will be challenging, but they will not be constantly frustrated due to being in over their heads. Nor will their offices go to their heads. Despite having great power, they will humbly serve, exhibiting no abusive authority in the conduct of their responsibilities. They will be balanced in all areas of life.Most dynastic rulers, like the monarchs of Europe, understand this concept well. Recently, Smithsonian Magazine ran a long article about Marie Antoinette. Her Austrian Hapsburg parents arranged her marriage while she was very young, promising her to the Bourbon family who ruled France. She was to become the wife of the future Louis XVI, also quite young at the time.Within a year of this arrangement, the Bourbons sent a tutor to Austria to school Marie to become France’s queen. The tutor remained her almost constant companion until Marie was married when she was fifteen years old. Prince Charles of England experienced a similar rigorous education. He has been trained since birth to sit on the throne of England. In one sense, especially in his pre-adult years, he had little time for himself.We might think that this practice has not worked well, but we must not forget that these monarchs lacked the ability from God to discipline their human natures. Nevertheless, God follows the same principle of preparation, and our lives must be devoted to these operations. Thus, we must follow the same basic program laid down for Prince Charles except that our preparations are for the Kingdom of God. Just as Charles must devote himself to learning all the particulars of his kingdom’s operations, so must we devote ourselves to learning the ways of God’s Kingdom because we, too, are to be kings (Revelation 5:10). God will not allow us to escape these responsibilities.John W. Ritenbaugh Seeking God (Part Two): A Foundation Related Topics: Human Nature | Human Nature, Controlling | Preparation for Future Role | Preparation for Rulership | Preparedness | Responsibilities, Increased | Responsibility, Sense of | Responsibility, Varying Levels of | Seeking God | Seeking God’s Counsel | Self Control | Self Discipline |
| Ecclesiastes 4:1-3The world shows a long history of oppression—the strong oppressing the weak. Regardless of when people live, their lives are only relatively better or worse. In other words, we really would not improve our lives by going back to the time of Solomon or Christ or the Renaissance or the Wild West.There is no such thing as “the good old days.” Life has always been the same. This is hard for us to grasp, it is true because people are driven by the same things: by envy, by lust, by vanity, by revenge—by human nature. Solomon goes into this in verses 4-7.John W. Ritenbaugh Ecclesiastes and the Feast of Tabernacles (Part 2) Related Topics: Futility of this World | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Oppression of Courts | Oppression of Poor | Vanity | Vanity of Physical life |
| Ecclesiastes 8:11-13Just because the penalty does not occur immediately does not mean it will not come. Be aware! Adam and Eve set aside the teaching of God because they became convinced that the penalty—death—would not occur. When they sinned and death did not occur immediately, they were even more convinced. But death did occur, and other evil things happened in their lives that did not have to occur.We need to understand this as part of the way God operates; He gives us time to learn lessons, to come to a better knowledge of Him, to understand cause and effect. If God reacted immediately when we sinned, it would be all over the very first time. No building of character could take place, no learning by experience, no growth in wisdom, and no understanding of human nature.Do not be deceived because the penalty does not seem to fall quickly.John W. Ritenbaugh The Sin of Self-Deception Related Topics: Cause and Effect Principle | Cause and Effect, Spiritual | Character | Character, Building | Character, God’s | Death | Death Penalty | Death, Contemplation of | Heart, Deceitfulness of | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Self Deception | Spiritual Growth | Spiritual Maturity |
| Ecclesiastes 8:11Human nature is so tricky that it can deceive even one who is converted into taking the grace of God for granted. Human nature has the tendency to pull a person further and further into sin. If God does not execute His wrath and justice immediately against such a person, and instead gives him grace, He allows that person an opportunity to continue to live longer so that grace can work in his life and lead him to repentance. “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).John W. Ritenbaugh Justice and Grace Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnal Reasoning | Carnally Minded | God’s Grace | God’s Justice | God’s Patience | Grace | Grace, Cheap | Heart | Heart is Incurable | Heart, Corruption of | Heart, Deceitfulness of | Heart, Desperately Wicked | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Justice | Repentance | Repentance, Motivation For | Repentance, Opportunity for |
| Jeremiah 5:19-26The Isrealites were choosingto forsake the relationship established through the Old Covenant. Why? Because they had a defiant and a rebellious heart! “Revolting” and “departing” indicates a conscious choosing.How is this fault going to be overcome? By changing the nature of the party making the New Covenant, so that the flaw is removed. In Hebrews 8:10, Paul says that the reason for making the New Covenant is so God’s law can be written in the heart.John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Eleven) Related Topics: Choosing | Heart is Incurable | Human Mind | Human Nature | Law Written on Our Hearts | New Covenant | Old Covenant |
| Jeremiah 17:9When the scripture says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,” its ramifications to life are profound. It becomes clearer when we add synonyms: Human nature is dishonest, underhanded, untrustworthy, misleading, crooked, and insincere besides. To appease an appetite or receive instant gratification, it craftily tricks us into discounting plain truths as unworthy or unnecessary.John W. Ritenbaugh Eating: How Good It Is! (Part Six) Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnally Minded | Deceitfulness of Heart | Heart | Heart, Deceitfulness of | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of |
| Jeremiah 17:9Human nature will try to reassert its dominance in a converted person’s life. The word that is translated from Hebrew into the English word “deceitful” means “tortuous, twisted, convoluted.” That is the way human nature is—tortuous, twisted, and convoluted in its thinking and reasoning. God is referring to the kind of justifications or rationalizations that it will make to convince a person that it is okay to sin, not to pay attention to the law of God, to say to the self, “It really does not matter. I am only one person.”Note this frank quote from Aldus Huxley, which appears in his book Ends And Means (p. 270):I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning; consequently assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find gratifying reasons for this assumption.Convoluted, tortuous, twisted. Looking for rationalizations and justifications. Continuing on page 273:Most ignorance is vincible ignorance. We don’t know because we don’t want to know. It is our will that decides how and upon what subjects we shall use our intelligence. . . . Those who detect no meaning in the world generally do so because for one reason or another it suits their books that the world should be meaningless. . . . We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom.This is how human nature works—the heart twists the truth of God and deceives itself into thinking that, “Well, let us make the assumption that the world and life have no meaning, therefore we can do what we want to do.” This is from a highly intelligent human being.We know that for us to acknowledge and yield to truth will be personally costly, and we often do not want to pay the price, so we allow ourselves to be deceived into thinking it really does not matter if we yield to the wrong thing this time. We will fight the battle the next time it comes up.John W. Ritenbaugh The Sin of Self-Deception Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnally Minded | Deceit | Deceitfulness of Heart | Deception | Human Nature | Rationalization | Self Deception |
| Jeremiah 17:9This verse is among the best known of all verses in the Bible. Though we know the words, could we perhaps not grasp some of the depth of what Jeremiah is trying to convey, particularly its practical, everyday application?It is interesting that the Hebrew word translated “deceitful” (Strong’s #6121) comes from exactly the same root as the name “Jacob” (which gives a bit of insight into the mindset of that famous Bible character in his pre-conversion days – God has a habit of naming things what they are). This word is used only three times in the Old Testament. It indicates “a swelling,” “a humping up,” and thus a knoll or small hill.When used in relation to traits of human personality, it describes an inflated, prideful vanity, a characteristic that is distastefully useless, corrupting, and intensely self-serving. According to Strong’s, it also indicates something fraudulent or crooked. In other words, it suggests an intentional perversion of truth intended to induce another to surrender or give up something of value. What Jacob twice did to Esau gives a good idea of its practical meaning.Today, we might say our heart is always attempting to “con” us into something that is not good for us in any way. Its inducements may indeed appear attractive on the surface, but further examination would reveal that its appeals are fraudulent and risky. In fact, its appeals are not only downright dangerous, it is incurably set in this way.In Jeremiah 17:9, the Hebrew word is translated “deceitful,” but in the other two usages, it is translated “corrupted” and “polluted.” This word should give us a clear indication of what God thinks of this mind that is generating our slippery, self-serving conduct and attitudes. In His judgment, it is foul in every sense, to be considered as belonging in a moral sewer or septic tank.The King James translators chose to use “deceitful,” and since it is a good synonym, just about every modern translation has followed its lead. Deceit is a cognate of deceive, which means “to mislead,” “to cheat,” “to give a false appearance or impression,” “to lead astray,” “to impose a false idea,” and finally, “to obscure the truth.” “Deceitful” thus indicates the heart to be brim-full of these horrible activities.The term “desperately” (Strong’s #605) also needs definition. It indicates something so weak, feeble, and frail as to be at the point of death. Thus, most modern translations, including the KJV margin, have opted for “incurable.” Elsewhere, God calls it “a heart of stone,” as if rigor mortis has already set in despite it still being alive. In other words, nothing can be done about it, as it is set in a pattern of influence that cannot be changed for the better. God promises, then, that He will give those He calls a new heart, a heart of flesh, one that will yield to Him and His way of life.It is good to understand all these descriptors, but they only give us what amounts to book-learning on this vital topic. It is what its problems are in everday, practical situations that makes God so dead set against it that He declares it “incurable.” It cannot be fixed to His satisfaction and is therefore unacceptable for His Family Kingdom.We can understand why from this brief illustration: What are the two great commandments of the law? First: We are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37-38). In other words, we are to love Him above all other things. We are to respond to God’s wonderful, generous love toward us with a love that employs all of our faculties to match His love toward us.Jesus says in Luke 14:26, “If any one comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” Do we grasp the practical application of this? He means that we are to make whatever sacrifice is necessary, even to giving up our lives, to submit in obedience to any, even the least, of God’s commands. If at any time we put ourselves on equal footing to Him, we have actually elevated ourselves over Him and have committed idolatry.The second great commandment is to love others as ourselves (Matthew 22:39). Though not quite as stringent as the first, it still is a very high standard. Jesus says that on these two commandments everything else in our response to God hangs (verse 40). Love and law are inextricably bound together in our relationship with God.Yet, herein lies the problem. Keeping them is impossible for man as he now is, encumbered with this deceitful heart. Our heart will not permit us to do this because it is so self-centered it absolutely cannot consistently obey either of these commandments. Thus, no character of any value to God’s Kingdom can be created in one with a heart as deceitful and out of control as an unconverted person. It is incurably self-centered, self-absorbed, and narcissistic in its concerns about life’s activities.This deceit has many avenues of expression, but none is more effective than to convince us we are far better than we actually are – but far better as compared to what or whom? Our hearts have an incredible ability to hide us from the reality of what we are spiritually and morally. It does this so effectively that it can harden us to the extent that we can be blinded to any and every failing in our character! It lures us into sin, hiding its seriousness from us and making us believe it to be a rather minor affair. It convinces us that “nobody got hurt” or “everybody’s doing it.”In Hebrews 3:12-13, Paul issues a warning just as applicable today as it was in the first century: “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.'” Sin promises more than it can deliver. It assures us of pleasures it never imparts. Sometimes it does deliver some pleasure, but it conceals the boomerang effect that will surely come. It also obscures its addictive power, invariably leading us beyond our original limits. When we first sin a specific sin, we are under delusion, and it will lead us step by step until we are enslaved to it.It can put on plausible appearances, even the mantle of virtue, convincing us we are doing ourselves and others a favor. Sin deludes us with hope of happiness, but what does the gambler feel when he loses his bankroll, or the drunkard after he is burdened with a death caused by his drunk driving, or the fornicator who discovers he has AIDS, or the adulterer who must live with the fact that he has destroyed a marriage and family?Human nature will generate any number of excuses – self-justifications, really – to avoid any sacrifice, no matter how small, or to admit any guilt that might damage its self-assessment of its value. It sometimes manages to produce narcissism so strong that all activity must have it as the center of the universe, and it will work hard to make sure it controls virtually everything. Pride and self-gratification are its driving impulses.By insisting on “tolerance” over the last several decades, human nature has deceitfully managed to produce an open-minded acceptance of what was once commonly known to be sinful behavior. It has succeeded by maintaining that no absolutes exist regarding conduct, thus one morality is just as good as another. The nation has been bulldozed into accepting this deceitful concept by cooperative media, good-looking celebrities, savvy politicians, and liberal judges.Thus, a polite, secular paganism has overtaken our nation, and many have become convinced that the gods and ways of the Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Taoists, occultists, or whatever religionists are all the same. In one way, they are correct. They all do have the same god, but it is not the God of the true Christian religion and the Bible, One who adamantly insists on purity, chastity, and integrity of life in harmony with His commands.John W. Ritenbaugh Is the Christian Required To Do Works? (Part Two) Related Topics: Corruption | Corruption of the Human Heart | Deceit | Deceitfulness | Deceitfulness of Heart | Deceitfulness of Sin | Deception | Heart is Incurable | Heart of Stone | Heart, Deceitfulness of | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Idolatry | Jacob | Love for God | Love for Man | Pride | Sacrifice | Sacrifice, Living | Self Centeredness | Self Seeking | Sin | Sin, Deceitfulness of | Sin, tolerating | Tolerance of sin |
| Matthew 5:8The heart is central to this because in the Bible the heart stands for the seat, source, reservoir, and instigator of our thoughts, attitudes, desires, character, and motivation. It is synonymous with our modern use of “mind,” since the mind is where we hold knowledge, attitudes, motivations, affections, desires, likes, and dislikes.Jesus says in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Obviously, the quality of the heart is the issue in this beatitude. Proverbs 4:23 reads, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” Our Father directly addresses the book of Proverbs to His sons (Proverbs 1:7). It assumes our hearts have been purified by His initial cleansing, that we have received His Spirit, and are in the process of sanctification and going on to perfection. Ezekiel explains this process:Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. (Ezekiel 36:25-27)This does not all take place in an instant. It is a process, and as we have all discovered from Scripture and our own experience since baptism, human nature is still very much alive within us (Romans 7:13-25). Paul confirms this in Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you cannot do the things that you wish.”Human nature, the law of sin within us, is always seeking to pull us again into the defilement of sin, seeking to destroy our hope of sharing life with the holy God. That is why God counsels us in Proverbs 4:23 to keep—that is, guard, preserve, and maintain—our heart. It is very easy to become defiled by lapsing back to old habits. In stark reality, Romans 8:7 and Jeremiah 17:9 show why: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” The normal human mind deceitfully convinces each person that they are good and love God, men, and law. But the reality is just the opposite: It is at war with God and men, and hates God’s holy, righteous, and spiritual law. It loves itself and its desires far more than anything else. It is this deceitful, self-centered enmity that exerts constant influence, pulling us into the defilement of sin.Jesus preaches on this in Matthew 15:16-20:So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”It is sin that defiles holiness. In terms of character, of being in the image of God, sin defiles, pollutes, contaminates, or blurs the reflection of God in us. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (I John 1:8).John W. Ritenbaugh The Beatitudes, Part 6: The Pure in Heart Related Topics: Beatitudes, The | Beatitudes: Pure in Heart | Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnal Priorities | Carnal Reasoning | Carnality | Carnally Minded | Cleansing | Deceitfulness of Heart | Defilement | Double Mindedness | Habits | Heart | Heart , Pure | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Law of Sin | Pure in Heart | Purity | Purity of Heart | Repentance | Sanctification | Sanctification as Process | Truth in the Inward Parts |
| Matthew 5:43-45This truly goes against our human nature, and it definitely takes thought and genuine concern to pray for blessing and good to come to one’s enemy. Praying for soundness and fairness in thinking, and working to make sure we do no harm to that individual are difficult, yet in preparing us for our future responsibilities, this is what God wants from us.John O. Reid (1930-2016) Out of the Abundance of Our Prayers Related Topics: Human Nature | Loving Enemies | Praying for Enemies | Preparation for Future Role | Preparation for Rulership |
| Matthew 12:9-14Jesus‘ healing of the man with the withered hand (also in Mark 3:1-6) reveals a fundamental difference between Jesus and the Pharisees in their approach to the Sabbath. The Pharisees had not entered the synagogue to worship, nor did they ask Jesus their question—”Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—out of loving concern. No, they were an accusing authority attempting to judge Christ by their regulations.It helps to remember the historical context. The Jews were developing specific regulations to cover any and every possible circumstance to keep them from sinning. Eventually, they compiled 1,521 regulations covering Sabbath conduct alone. By Jesus’ time, they had already turned their observance of the law into a legalistic ritual rather than a loving service to God and man. They did this sincerely in a vain effort to become holy, not understanding that this is not how a man becomes spiritually holy.In this vignette, does Christ do away with the Sabbath or restore it to its original divine value and function, as He did with marriage and divorce in Matthew 19:8? He gives no indication that He intended doing away with it. He merely broke their misguided perception of how to observe the Sabbath.We also need to recognize that the liberating healing He performed was not done to a man whose life was in immediate danger, but to one who was chronically ill. So are we spiritually; as Jeremiah 17:9 says, our heart is “incurably sick” (margin). God gives us the Sabbath day to help free us from the chronic problems of human nature.John W. Ritenbaugh The Fourth Commandment (Part Two): Christ’s Attitude Toward the Sabbath Related Topics: Doing Good | Healing | Human Nature | Judaism | Legalism | Liberty | Relieving Burdens | Sabbath | Sabbath, Keeping Properly | Sabbath, Liberating Intent of | Sincerity | The Fourth Commandment |
| Matthew 25:1-13Knowing that human nature loses heart over time without the help of the Holy Spirit, Jesus understood that His church would need encouragement to be watchful while awaiting His second coming. For this reason, He gave the Parable of the Ten Virgins to some of the twelve disciples just days before His brutal crucifixion. The parable pictures ten virgins waiting for the Bridegroom’s return. However, half of the virgins are unprepared because they lose heart in the face of their uncertainty, and as a result, they do not prepare and persevere to the end.Jesus gives ample warning in His teaching concerning the last days and the need for spiritual preparation for them. But He also realizes that His church would need spiritual focus while waiting for His return. Therefore, He warns that lack of adequate preparation for His coming can be eternally devastating. Jesus makes the purpose of this parable clear in its last verse. “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming” (verse 13).Martin G. Collins Parable of the Ten Virgins (Part One) Related Topics: Encouragement | Human Nature | Losing Heart | Parable of the Ten Virgins | Spiritual Preparedness | Vigilance | Virgins | Watchfulness |
| Mark 8:34-38Why does Christ have to say things like this? Because human nature is driven by the impulse that the only way to the things a person deeply desires is through self-centered, assertive, competitive concentration on getting what it wants. We all have this drive; however, individuals differ in the strength of human nature in them and the methods they employ to achieve their goals. Jesus says the self must be denied because human nature is driven by pride and covetousness.Of course, the Bible is not urging us to court martyrdom. It is speaking of a general approach to life, of crucifying the self-centered impulses of human nature. This means subordinating a clamoring ego with its preoccupation with “I,” “me,” and “mine”; its concern for self-assertion; and its insistence on comfort and prestige. It is denying the self for the sake of embracing Christ’s cause. To be ashamed to live this way of life is equivalent to being ashamed of Christ Himself.John W. Ritenbaugh The Elements of Motivation (Part Six): Eternal Life Related Topics: Bearing Our Cross | Competition | Denying Christ | Denying the Lord | Get Way of Life | Human Nature | Pride | Self Assertiveness | Self Centeredness | Self Denial | Taking up Cross | Way of Get |
| Luke 5:39Concluding His parable of new wine in old wineskins, Jesus laments what might be human nature’s most perverse paradox: “No one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better'” (Luke 5:39). When it comes to physical matters, human nature is all too ready to accept the new. However, in spiritual matters, like Peter’s dog returning to its vomit (II Peter 2:22), it all too readily turns away from the new. Rather than accept the plain truth of the gospel of God’s Kingdom upon hearing it preached, all too many return to the false doctrines Satan taught the first man, Adam (I Corinthians 15:45-48). Adam and his family have believed those same old lies ever since. Human nature deceives too many into believing, “The old is better.”Charles Whitaker (1944-2021) Choosing the New Man (Part Three) Related Topics: Balancing Old and New | Dog Returning to its Vomit | False Doctrine | Human Nature | Parable of the Old and New Wineskins |
| Luke 12:15Marketers have thoroughly studied human nature’s desire to conform so that they will be considered to be at the same level as everyone else in a social status they admire. This desire is stimulated by constant urgings from marketers to buy what everybody else—obviously—already has, so that one does not seem “backward,” unsophisticated, a nerd in their peers’ eyes. In the face of this societal pressure, not to compete for the same material things the neighbor already has makes a person appear to be unambitious and odd.Sometimes it seems to be a paradox, a contradiction, that God says He wishes above all things that we prosper and be in good health (III John 1:2), and that many of God’s servants, especially in the Old Testament, have been wealthy; yet He also tells us that it is better to give than to receive (Acts 20:35) and that the accumulation of things is not to be a major goal (Matthew 6:19).Overall, God teaches that the things prosperity makes it possible for a person to have are a means to an end and not the end in themselves. He instructs us that “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). Others may make it life’s goal to have them, but we must not.John W. Ritenbaugh The Tenth Commandment Related Topics: Covetousness | Desire | Desire for Gain | Desire for Money | Desire for Riches | Desire for Wealth | Desire, Inordinate | Human Nature | Tenth Commandment | The Tenth Commandment |
| Luke 14:27There is something sobering in the instruction Jesus gives here. What was the cross or stake in reality? Was it not the instrument of Christ’s death? It is what He was killed on. Certainly, He was killed by sin. We could carry that further, but the actual instrument of His death was the cross. He had to carry His own instrument of death with Him. He stumbled under it, and another had to help Him.That equates symbolically with something that we carry with us everywhere. What is the instrument of our death? Sin. Sin lodges in the mind. The apostle Paul says in Romans 7 that he found sin still within him. Here is a converted man, an apostle of God, long after he was called, yet sin still lived in him. Every once in awhile, it would get control over him, and he would find himself under its domination once again. That cross that we have to bear and carry with us right to the grave is our own mind laden with sin! Sin lies at the door, as God said to Cain (Genesis 4:7). It is at the door of our minds all the time. God has given us an interesting challenge: Everywhere we go our cross is with us. It is sobering.John W. Ritenbaugh Freedom and Unleavened Bread Related Topics: Bearing Our Cross | Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnal Priorities | Carnal Reasoning | Carnality | Carnally Minded | Human Nature | Human Nature, Controlling | Human Nature, Perversity of | Instrument of Death | Sin, Bondage to | Sin, Consciousness of | Sin, Slavery to |
| John 1:14Some commentators feel that this is the greatest verse in the Bible because the apostle John is saying that God became a man. The Greeks could have never, not in their wildest imaginations, have thought—with their background of philosophy and with the gods they worshipped—of God becoming a man. Doing so would have been something too far beneath a god to do. They believed that flesh is evil, so they could not associate a perfectly pure and righteous God becoming something they considered inherently evil. Yet, God “became flesh and dwelt among us.”The word “flesh” is the exact same word that the apostle Paul uses in his books to designate human nature. When we remember some of the things the Bible says about the flesh, John is saying that the Word—the Logos, the pre-existent One, the Creator—became subject to humanity in its fullness, in the exact same way that we are subject to humanity.He was subject to the pulls of the flesh. He could have been influenced by Satan. He had human desires. The possibility was there for Him to have the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. God did not withhold Him from any of these things. It is awfully hard to think of God encumbering Himself with humanity, but there was a reason why it had to be done.To be the payment—to be man’s Savior—He had to be a human (Hebrews 2:14-18). However, He had to be a man who was more than a man. He had to be encumbered with humanity yet be God in the flesh. He had to be both at the same time. So, the pulls of the flesh could not be withheld from Him. He had to endure and overcome those things. He had to rise above the influences of Satan the Devil to become the payment for the sins of the people and also to be prepared to be a merciful and faithful High Priest.This has a great deal to do with our calling because we have been called to become priests—kings and priests, as Revelation 5:10 says. What we go through during our converted lives is similar to what Christ went through. As He was called to become High Priest, we are called to become priests under Him. So, we have to experience trials similar to what He did. To qualify for what He is, He had to go through what we do. God is preparing us to aid others who will come along later, just as Jesus was prepared to aid us.Therefore, the Word became flesh and everything that “flesh” might mean.John W. Ritenbaugh John (Part Three) Related Topics: Christ as Logos | Enduring Trials and Tests | Human Nature | Jesus Christ as a Flesh -and -Blood Human | Jesus Christ as God | Jesus Christ as High Priest | Jesus Christ as Son of God | Jesus Christ’s Qualifications for High Priest | Jesus Learned Obedience by Suffering | Logos | Lust of the Flesh | Pulls of the Flesh |
| John 3:6What, then, is the new birth? It is not the removal of anything from the sinner, nor the changing of anything within or without the sinner’s body. It is, instead, the communication of a precious gift to the sinner. It is forgiveness and the imparting of the new nature. When we were born from our mothers, we received from our parents their nature, what Paul calls the “carnal” or “fleshly” nature. When one is born again, he receives from God His nature, as II Peter 1:4 relates, “. . . by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature.”As early as Genesis 1, the Bible shows that a fundamental law of nature is that every living thing brings forth its own kind. What is produced by a vegetable is vegetable; what is born of animal is animal. What is born of sinful man and woman is a sinful child, which Paul designates in Romans 8:8 as being “in the flesh.” It cannot be anything else. We may educate and cultivate it all we please, but human nature remains “in the flesh.” It may be refined flesh, beautiful flesh, or religious flesh, but it is still “in the flesh.”On the other hand, what is born or brought forth by the impartation of God’s Spirit is spirit. To use Paul’s term, such a person is “in the Spirit” (Romans 8:9). The child always partakes of the nature of its parents. What is born of man is carnal and sinful; what is born of God is spiritual.Being born again is the creation of a new man in Christ Jesus. It is the birth of a new spiritual man within the physical. The new birth is the imparting of the mind, the nature, of Jesus Christ. Paul explains in I Corinthians 2:9-16:But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.Every born-again person is automatically and instantaneously a child of God, a member of the Family of God, and being part of that Family, he becomes a citizen of the Kingdom of God. In every case in which God commands or exhorts His children, He does so as to an adult who is fully capable of carrying out what He says. A command may be said to one young in the faith, even one called a “babe” due to his spiritual immaturity, but he is not a spiritual fetus. He is physically an adult with a great deal of experience from which he can draw for decision making, along with his growing knowledge of God.There is no gestation period, just as there was no gestation period when God created Adam and Eve as the culmination of the physical creation. In Genesis 2:7, God breathed into Adam the breath (ruach, a type of the Holy Spirit) of life, and he immediately became a living soul, not a fetus in a womb. Paul calls us “a new creation” (II Corinthians 5:17). However, the spiritual creation is not fully complete, in the same way as the development of a newly born human child is incomplete. Much growth remains to be done.John W. Ritenbaugh Born Again or Begotten? (Part Two) Related Topics: Breath as Symbol of Spirit | Citizens of Kingdom of God | Human Nature | Mind of Christ | New Creation | Partakers of Divine Nature | Spiritual Creation |
| John 3:6Some have mistakenly used this verse as proof that an individual is not born again until he is composed of spirit. However, Jesus is not considering a person’s bodily composition at all. A Bible student can be misled by abruptly abandoning Jesus’ use of spiritual imagery and returning to a literal interpretation. Like the rest of the context, verse 6 must be understood spiritually and figuratively.The verse states why the new birth is necessary. Flesh can continue to give birth only to what it has always produced: flesh. Yet, Jesus states clearly in John 6:63, “The flesh profits nothing.” In John 8:15, He accuses the Jews of judging Him according to the flesh rather than using God’s Word—which is Spirit—as their evidence. In both of these cases, Jesus is also speaking figuratively.In Greek, “flesh” is sarx (Strong’s #4561). Jesus and Paul commonly use the term as a metaphor for sinful man’s nature, sometimes also described as “carnal.” Used in this way, sarx is morally negative, even though by creation a person’s flesh is not intrinsically negative. Figuratively, it symbolizes the unregenerate moral and spiritual state of man that almost continuously generates sinful acts. “Flesh,” then, represents the inward, carnal inclination rather than muscle, skin, and bones—disposition rather than composition.Paul writes in Romans 7:18, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells,” meaning nothing good spiritually. Later, in verse 25, he admits that his “flesh [serves] the law of sin.” In Galatians 5:15-17, he positions the Holy Spirit as the opposite of the flesh, declaring that these two are at war:But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.Biblically, the term “born” or “birth” is used, not only to indicate coming from the womb as in mammalian birth, but also to describe the source or beginning of a thing, an event, or series of events. For example, we speak of the birth of a nation, an institution, or a concept. The “womb” of those births was an event or series of events that triggered the inception of a new direction, manner of life, activity, or thought.This is how Jesus is using “born” or “birth” in John 3. He is not speaking of the birth of a human child but the birth of a new nature. The events triggering this birth are the calling of God, repentance from sin, justification through faith in Christ’s death, and the receipt of God’s Holy Spirit. All of these are effects of the acts of the spiritual God.Conversely, human nature gives birth to more human nature and thus more of human nature’s sinful works. It cannot do otherwise. As Job 14:4 says, “Who can bring a clean thing out of any unclean? No one!” Paul makes the same point theologically:For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:6-8)The flesh expresses itself, produces, and gives birth to the works of the flesh and thus to immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, and other evils, as Galatians 5:19-21 details. Though the flesh is capable of doing some good things (Matthew 7:11), in relation to God and His way, the evil will always dominate. The natural, fleshly condition of man will always exhibit the same propensities. In contrast, the Holy Spirit gives birth to and is expressed by the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, etc. (Galatians 5:22-23). Therefore, a change must take place from a life dominated by the natural human heart to one motivated by God’s Spirit—or a person will never be prepared for the Kingdom of God.John W. Ritenbaugh Born Again or Begotten? (Part Two) Related Topics: Battle of Flesh and Spirit | Begotten of God | Birth of a Spiritual Mind | Birth, Spiritual | Born Again | Born of the Spirit | Born or Begotten | Carnal Mind | Carnal Mind, Enmity to God’s Law | Carnally Minded | Figurative Language | Human Nature | Motivated by God’s Holy Spirit | Sarx | Spiritually Minded | Womb Analogy |
| John 8:44Notice that Christ pointedly tells these people that they want to do what their spiritual father does. In addition, he speaks what is natural to him. There is a strong drive in all of us to follow the path of least resistance, that is, to do what comes naturally.John W. Ritenbaugh Revelation 2-3 and Works Related Topics: Children of Satan | Human Nature | Satan as father of liars | Satan’s Character | Satan’s Children | Satan’s Lies | Satan’s Offspring |
| Romans 1:18-21Paul is describing the perversity of human nature. That a Creator God exists is evident. Every normally intelligent person, converted or unconverted, has enough capacity to be aware of God. The natural outgrowth of this knowledge should be to glorify Him through praise and thanksgiving. The perversity appears when mankind largely ignores or resists what should be a natural inclination.However, not everyone suppresses this tendency. Those who follow the natural inclination to praise and thank the Creator and Provider usually give their thanks to something that is not really God, but an idol. Thus, while sincere, the inclination is wrongly applied, frequently resulting in a harvest festival, as history shows.John W. Ritenbaugh Thanksgiving or Self-Indulgence? Related Topics: Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Idolatrous Religious Influence | Idolatry | Knowing God | Knowledge of God | Perversity of Human Nature | Thanksgiving |
| Romans 3:12English writer G.K. Chesterton, known for his wit as well as his insight, once wrote, “The word ‘good’ has many meanings. For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of five hundred yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man.”His words strike at the heart of a question theologians, philosophers, artists, and many others have debated for millennia: Are people good or evil? Is man’s nature on the side of the angels or the demons? Are we beings of light or darkness? Why do otherwise good people do evil things?People are split on the subject. A few years ago, Debate.org, a website devoted to arguing such questions and polling the public on them, asked, “Is human nature good or evil?” Their results, which are not scientific, show 49% of respondents answering that it is good and 51% saying that it is evil.Some Christian churches teach a doctrine of total depravity. Theopedia defines this doctrine in this way: “. . . as a consequence of the Fall of man, every person born into the world is morally corrupt, enslaved to sin and is, apart from the grace of God, utterly unable to choose to follow God or choose to turn to Christ in faith for salvation.”This belief does not mean that humankind is utterly evil, that is, that people are totally incapable of good. It means that, while not all of human nature is depraved, all human nature is totally affected by depravity. Even the goodness that we do, then, is tainted by our sinful nature. This agrees with God’s description of the tree from which Adam and Eve partook in Genesis 3: It was a tree that allowed them to know good and evil (Genesis 2:17; 3:22). Human goodness is insufficient to satisfy the righteous requirements of God.It is somewhat surprising that more people, especially Christians, do not know the basic nature of mankind. It should be evident from the lives of men and women throughout history. For Christians, who should know their Bibles, a cursory survey of Scripture brings out many plain statements that show what God thinks of human nature. No philosophizing or critical thinking, even by the greatest of human minds, will change God’s view into something else.Richard T. Ritenbaugh Are Humans Good or Evil? Related Topics: Are Humans Good or Evil? | Battle against Human Nature | Carnal Human Nature | Human Nature | Human Nature as an Enemy | Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil |
| Romans 6:4The apostle Paul informs us in Romans 6:6 that, when we were submerged in the waters of baptism, “our old man was crucified with [Christ], that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” Once this has occurred, “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (verse 4).Every Christian, then, is a new man, no longer living the old life of sin and slavish obedience to human nature. Paul says later in the chapter that, “having been set free from sin, [we] became slaves of righteousness” (verse 18). Because the new man is a new creation (II Corinthians 5:17), he is to be renewed in mind (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23; Colossians 3:10) and conduct (Titus 3:5, 8; Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:10, 12). Ring out the old, ring in the new, and the new man begins his walk toward perfection (Hebrews 6:1).Charles Whitaker Choosing the New Man (Part Two) Related Topics: Baptism | Baptism as Symbol of Death | Human Nature | New Man | Old Man | Slave of Christ | Slave of Righteousness | Slave of Sin | Slavery | Slavery to Satan | Slavery to Sin |
| Romans 7:5Paul explains how that before we were converted, our sinful natures brought us under the death penalty. He shows that the carnal, sinful mind is so hostile toward God (Romans 8:7) that knowledge of God’s commandments actually stirs a desire in an unconverted person to commit even greater sins.Earl L. Henn (1934-1997) Dead to the Law? Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Dead to the Law | Death Penalty | Demonic principalities | Enmity toward God’s Law | God’s Law | Hostility to God’s Law | Human Nature | Sin |
| Romans 7:15Paul was not living a life of sin as he had before conversion. His words reflect the keen perception into the deceitfulness of human nature of a man so close to God he could see virtually every self-centered, evil, twisted, and perverted nuance of carnality that still lurked in him. He abhorred it, groaning and yearning for complete deliverance from it!John W. Ritenbaugh The Beatitudes, Part Three: Mourning Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnal Priorities | Carnal Reasoning | Carnality | Carnally Minded | Human Nature | Human Nature, Controlling | Human Nature, Perversity of | Sin, Bondage to | Sin, Slavery to |
| Romans 7:22-25Was Paul a novice in the faith when he wrote the book of Romans? God would hardly allow a novice to write Scripture. The apostle Paul was one of the most mature Christians who ever walked the face of the earth. But he saw himself being torn—the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. Paul was in the middle, having to make the choice. If he had not grown spiritually, he would never have seen the conflict; his mind would have passed right over it. Thus, on the one hand, Paul delighted in his understanding of the purpose and perfection of God’s law, yet on the other, that insight produced much dismay in him because he could see how far short he fell, from time to time, of itsperfection.The existence of this inward conflict is not a sign that the person is not sanctified. As long as we are in the flesh, we will never be entirely free of this struggle. Human nature does not go down without a fight. It must be overcome! In a way, this evil entity within us actually becomes part of the means of our perfection.Overcoming is a long process, and it requires diligent and humbling effort to subdue our human nature. However, we must never allow ourselves to fall into the attitude that all of our effort is somehow justifying us before God—even though it pleases God and gratifies us. The holiest of our actions, the holiest of the actions of the holiest saints, are still full of imperfections and defects. Even some of these are done from the wrong motive. They could even qualify as being nothing more than a splendid sin in God’s sight. Nevertheless, we are saved by grace through faith. Even with that, God requires that we make an effort to do what we can on our part.John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Nine) Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnally Minded | Conflict | Heart, Deceitfulness of | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Overcoming | Perfection | Perfection, Going On To | Salvation | Salvation by Grace through Faith | Struggle | Struggle against Carnal Nature | Struggle against Satan’s Influence | Struggle against Sin |
| Romans 8:3The context of Romans 8 is somewhat different than the context in Hebrews 8, but the principle Paul deals with is similar. Flesh in Romans 8:3 refers to people. The problem with the Old Covenant was not with its laws, but with one of the parties who made the covenant—”them” (Hebrews 8:8). Obviously, he refers to the people who made the covenant. They would not keep its terms!This is confirmed by the Old Testament record, which shows that Israel never kept the Old Covenant except for brief periods of time. This is why there are so many references in the Old Testament to their being stiff-necked, being fornicators or adulterers, or filled with iniquity.It was not that Israel could not keep the terms of the covenant but that they would not. God’s intent in making the Old Covenant was limited. Israel should have been able to keep its terms. To think otherwise is to accuse God of being unfair in His proposition and having taken advantage of Israel’s ignorance. Human nature is always looking for ways to shift blame.We must be careful, or we might be guilty of doing the same thing under the New Covenant. We could say that it is too hard, and use our complaint as a justification for our failures and bad attitudes. Jesus anticipated this.In the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, He gives five talents to one, two talents to another, and one talent to a third. The response of the person to whom He gave one talent is, “I knew that You were a hard man, and that You reap where you do not sow. And therefore I hid it” (Matthew 25:24-25). He is saying, “God, You were too hard!” He essentially shifts the blame to God. Jesus understood that human nature never changes: It always wants to shift the blame!John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Ten) Related Topics: Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | New Covenant | New Covenant, Superior to Old | Old Covenant | Old Covenant, Problem with | Parable of the Talents |
| Romans 8:7At the core of our entire Christian walk is government—not the government of a nation but the issue of whom we will allow to govern us. For example, either we can govern ourselves by “deciding” when it is permissible to kill, or we can submit to God’s benevolent authority and His explanation of morality. In the final analysis, we are not allowed to determine what is right and wrong—God has already done this. Our only decision is if we will act in accordance with God’s law!What we decide demonstrates what we hold in the higher regard, that is, what we worship. For example, if we break the Sabbath or deny its importance in our lives, we are choosing the self over God. Likewise, if we intentionally—non-accidentally—take another man’s life in defense of our own, we are worshipping the self rather than God.Romans 8:7 describes this power struggle perfectly. Human nature puts its own cares and interests above God, and the result is that the carnal man will not submit himself to God’s clear commands. The carnal man will be willing to harm, even kill, another created human being to protect his own interests, in spite of God’s law and Jesus Christ’s striking example to the contrary.David C. Grabbe Does Scripture Allow for Killing in Self-Defense? Related Topics: God’s Law | Government | Human Nature | Murder | Self Worship | Submission | Submission to God |
| Romans 8:7The carnal mind is hostile to God and subsequently to one’s neighbor. Because Satan’s spirit is hostile to law, all who bear his image are hostile to law, breaking laws, taking advantage of each other. They are self-centered just like Satan, interested only in the protection and the increase of themselves.Here is the basic drive of that spirit, its heart and core: overweening pride. Remember, Satan is “the king of pride.” Overweening pride reveals itself in hostility, animosity, hatred, malice, deceit, anger, cunning, competition, resentment, bitterness, self-pity, and intellectual vanity. Every one of these attributes divides people against each other.Consider how that spirit divided the Jews from Jesus. That spirit eventually led them to divide to the ultimate: They murdered Him. They took His life, defending themselves from the truth that He was preaching to them. The animosity, the hostility to God has never been shown more clearly in the Jews’ relationship with Jesus Christ. What God tells us is we have the same spirit as those people. We have been marked.This is only a partial list of this mark, a partial list of the spirit that emanates from Satan. All we have to do to add to the list is to think of those attitudes that drove Satan to persuade one-third of the angels, organize them, and then lead them into war against God, and we will discover the elements of that spirit emanating from the Beast and marking men.Have we ever felt any of these attitudes toward some of our brethren in the church? Perhaps so strong that we do not want to be around them, so we do what we can to divide from them because they actually become repulsive to us? We become convinced that they are evil, unconverted, that we cannot control them so that they will do or be what we want them to do or be. When this happens, the mark—the spirit of this world—worldliness—might just be gaining the upper hand in our lives.John W. Ritenbaugh The Spiritual Mark of the Beast Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Human Nature | Pride | Satan | Satan’s Influence | Satan’s Spirit | Worldliness |
| Romans 8:7This word hupotasso is translated in the Revised Standard Version and in the New International Version as “submit.” This suggests a slightly different shade of meaning. The carnal mind will not submit to God or to the law of God.John W. Ritenbaugh Submitting (Part 1) Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnally Minded | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Hupotasso | Submission | Submit |
| Romans 12:2After being willing to sacrifice (verse 1), the next step to unity is throwing off the world, human nature, and inferior way of life that we have learned in this world. We could also say we must get rid of the old man and put on Christ, the new man (Romans 13:14; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10). Paul later says we have to transform and renew our way of life and our thinking processes (II Corinthians 3:18; 4:16; Ephesians 4:23), and by doing so, we approve and are convicted by God’s will. Only by going through this process do we finally get thoroughly in our minds and hearts what God wants us to do to live God’s eternal way of life. If we never start walking that walk, we will never prove it, and thus we will never be unified.Richard T. Ritenbaugh Psalm 133 Related Topics: Cosmos | Eternal Life | God’s Will | Human Nature | New Man | Transformation | Unity | Walk the Walk | Worldliness |
| Romans 14:19This seems so obvious that it need not be said, but God includes it in His Word because Christians within the church do not hold in check some of the very things that cause so much disunity in this world. The apostle entreats us to lay aside the causes of contention so we can live in harmony.Sometimes we do not understand how competitive human nature is. It is proud. It feels it has to win, be vindicated, and if possible, elevated over others. These attitudes do not make peace. Rather than pursuing the things that cause contention, Paul says, pursue the things that cause peace. It is a Christian’s responsibility, part of his vocation. Emphasizing the positive is an incomplete, but nonetheless fairly accurate, description of what can be done.Solomon writes in Proverbs 13:10, “By pride comes only contention, but with the well-advised is wisdom.” Contention divides. Much of the strife and disunity in the church is promoted by those who seem bent on “majoring in the minors.” This is the overall subject of Romans 14. Church members were becoming “bent out of shape” over things that irritated them but had little or nothing to do with salvation. They blew these irritants out of proportion to their real importance, creating disruption in the congregation.Essentially, Paul tells these people to change their focus, to turn the direction of their thinking, because we agree on far more that is of real, major importance to salvation than what we disagree on. If we will cooperate on these major things rather than on private ends and prejudices, peace and unity will tend to emerge rather than strife and disunity. Paul further admonishes the irritated members to have faith in God’s power to change the other: “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand” (Romans 14:4).Why can we not cultivate a spirit of peace by striving for holiness? Holiness is a major issue leading to preparation for God’s Kingdom and salvation. Peace is one of its fruits. Why can we not show love for the brethren and strive to do good for them “as we have opportunity, . . . especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10)? Why can we not spend more serious time studying God’s Word, getting to know Him? These admirable pursuits are humbling and serving. They produce peace and put other, less important matters into a proper perspective and priority. If pursued sincerely, they keep the “minors” right where they belong because they tend to erode one’s pride.John W. Ritenbaugh The Beatitudes, Part 7: Blessed Are the Peacemakers Related Topics: Competition | Conflict | Contention | Harmony | Harmony With God | Harmony with God’s Purpose | Holiness | Human Nature | Peace | Pride |
| 1 Corinthians 3:1-3Paul is writing to people in the church who are still doing what comes naturally, speaking and behaving from their own resources and from the education in attitudes and conduct that they learned from Satan and his society (Ephesians 2:2-3).John W. Ritenbaugh Revelation 2-3 and Works Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnally Minded | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Human Reason | Satan’s Attitudes | Satan’s Character | Satan’s Influence | Satan’s Nature | Satan’s Teaching | World’s Influence |
| 1 Corinthians 4:6-7This reaches right down to all of us. What room is there for either boasting or envy? There is room for nothing but to face humbly what the Bible tells us. In Romans 12:3, Paul makes a similar statement and adds a warning: “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” Who among us clay vessels can rightfully ask God who has made us, “Why have you made me thus?” or look with disregard or envy at another, knowing God is also measuring out to him the gifts that please Him?John W. Ritenbaugh The Sovereignty of God: Part Two Related Topics: Boasting | Envy | Gifts | God’s Gifts | Human Nature | Humility | Pride | Spiritual Gifts | Spiritual Gifts, Abuse of |
| 2 Corinthians 13:5God intends for us to discover the reality of our nature. Of course, it is impossible to fathom it entirely, but we can and must come to grips with the potential for evil that exists in every one of us. We must at least annually measure the extent that we have overcome the evil in us and the sincerity of our commitment to our relationship with God. As we examine ourselves this and every year, God expects us to prepare ourselves as mature Christians, to rededicate ourselves to Him afresh at Passover and to put sin out of our lives diligently and actively.If we sincerely ask God in faith, He will reveal our inward, hidden faults to us (see Psalm 19:12-13; 51:6; 139:23-24). It is important that we not be overly discouraged by what He reveals. It is human nature. It has lived and grown within us for as long as we have lived, and it takes long years to overcome its influence. In fact, we cannot entirely escape it in this flesh, a compelling reason Christians long for the resurrection at the return of Jesus Christ.Rather than wallow in discouragement, we should channel our energies in eradicating its power over our lives (see II Corinthians 7:9-11). Paul tells us in Romans 7:14-23 that, to his shame and regret, he often did what he hated, sin, and conversely, he did not do what he really wanted to do. Yet, the same apostle also writes in verse 25: “I thank God—[I am delivered from my sinful flesh] through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” As long as we are “in the flesh,” we will sin, but we must continually—daily—repent and ask God for help in fighting our carnal nature.God has promised the overcoming if we do our part. Although every imaginable wrong influence in this age besets us, we must remember that God has promised to stick with us and give us the help we need: “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you. ‘So we may boldly say: ‘The LORD is my helper; I will not fear'” (Hebrews 13:5-6).In Psalm 119:57-60, the author intimates that it is a Christian’s obligation to turn again, day after day and year after year, to God, saying:You are my portion, O LORD; I have said [declared, promised] that I would keep Your words. I entreated Your favor with my whole heart; be merciful to me according to Your word. I thought about my ways, and turned my feet to Your testimonies. I made haste, and did not delay to keep Your commandments.By doing so, we will, due to God’s help, succeed in attaining eternal life.When approaching the Passover season, we would do well to fast, dedicating an entire day to searching the Scriptures and ourselves. We need to make sincere inquiry of God regarding our sins and shortcomings so that God will never need to reveal them to us in condemnation.Let us recall I Corinthians 11:28-30:But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.Notice verse 31: “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not [need to] be judged.” Christ is the righteous Judge. He would much rather we judged ourselves and turned to righteousness than have to point out our faults to us.In II Timothy 4:7-8, Paul speaks of his life’s accomplishments. He knew he had run the course of his life in a way that was “pleasing” to God. He described it this way:I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.He is speaking about us!We have no need to be discouraged at Passover time. It is our opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to Almighty God and renew our dedication to putting on the new man. As James says, sometimes we do not have because we do not ask (James 4:2). We need to ask God for a clean heart before Him, as well as for hope, joy, peace, and a close, personal relationship with Him and His Son.Staff What Does ‘Examine Yourselves’ Mean? Related Topics: Fasting | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Repentance | Secret Sins | Self Examination |
| Galatians 1:11“I certify to you” translates into modern English as “let me make this clear.” Then, just as he had denied their claim that his was an inadequate apostleship, he begins to deny their claim of an inadequate source of his gospel. He says it was “not after men,” that is, it did not have its source in men. (The proliferation of manmade gospels is something that cannot be stopped. It seems as if God allows it to happen so that we will discern the true from the false.) There is a way we can tell the source of a gospel. A reasonably well-read person can compare Paul’s gospel with gospels that come from men, and Paul’s agrees with the rest of the Bible.Another thing is that gospels of men always elevate man at God’s expense. Sometimes it is very subtle, but it can even be discerned right in the book of Galatians, once we understand that the people Paul is confronting were elevating themselves as worthy—because of their works—to be called of God. They were not empty of their human nature at all but filled with it! It came out in their proud boasts about how great their works were.Paul always denigrated himself in favor of God. God and Jesus Christ are always the great Ones, while all the rest of us are lowly servants. This is a major point to comprehend.John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Twenty-Four) Related Topics: False Apostles | False Gospel | Gospel | Gospel of Christ | Gospel, A Different | Gospel, Perversion of | Human Nature | Paul the Apostle | Paul’s Credentials |
| Galatians 3:21The word is at the beginning of this verse is not in the original Greek. This is significant, because the rest of the verse is entirely in the past tense: “had been,” “given,” “could have given,” “should have been.” Given that the context has been the Old Covenant, and not God’s eternal codification of right and wrong, if a word needs to be added to make the meaning more clear, the word “was” fits the context better: “Was the covenant against the promises of God?”God’s promises to Abraham were not contrary to the covenant. God’s promises to Abraham and God’s covenant with ancient Israel accomplished different things! The Old Covenant was a temporary agreement, given until the Seed arrived. It had health, wealth, national strength, and military protection and dominance as its benefits. The promises to Abraham had physical components as well, but with the promise that includes eternal life (see the notes at Galatians 3:14) comes a plethora of other benefits. The promises and the Old Covenant were not in disagreement with each other, but rather the Old Covenant was an auxiliary to the promises, to further the plan inherent within the promises so God would have a nation to send His Son to in order to begin the church—the Body of Christ, which will become His Bride.God’s Law is an extension of His very character and nature. When He codified it and set it before Israel, one of the results was that it showed anybody who was willing to look that mankind does not naturally gravitate to God’s way; it is exceedingly difficult to live God’s way because our human nature wants to fight it at every turn. The Old Covenant demonstrated to Israel, and to anybody who reads Israel’s history, that man needs a different heart in order to come into alignment with God’s intent for him. It also demonstrated that the blood of innocent animals was not sufficient to really take away the sins of the people. Those animal sacrifices were only a shadow of the reality to come—Jesus Christ. The whole system was on a physical level, without spiritual promises. The Holy Spirit was not generally available, and so all of Israel’s experience also demonstrates that without the right heart, without the same intent and desire as God, it is impossible to come into alignment with Him. And that new heart is only available to those with whom He makes the New Covenant.God is faithful in His promises. For Abraham to have a “great nation” come out of him, and for him to have a “great name” through his posterity, and for him to be a blessing, God had to enact a system by which an unlearned people could live in accordance with the natural laws that would bring about the desired results. The Israelites, after living in Egypt—sin—for so many generations, had that sin implanted into their national character, and it was perpetuated by their generations even after they left Egypt. God made the Old Covenant because of their sins, to show them just how far off course they had gotten.This covenant also was to be a preparation for Christ’s first coming and the New Covenant. If they had used the covenant properly, it could have given them a head start when the Seed arrived, and they could have seen what God was working out. Paul shows in his writings to the Romans that the Jews (Israelites) had “first dibs” (Romans 1:16; 2:9-10), but that the opportunities were no longer exclusive to the chosen people. Paul also shows that the Old Covenant was a means by which to preserve the knowledge of God’s laws in Israel to prepare them for the coming of Christ! In this way Christ could return to a people already familiar with His laws and statutes, rather than coming first to a Gentile nation that He would have to teach essentially from scratch.When He came as a man, He came to a people and a culture that had a long history of at least familiarity with His laws, if not complete obedience. They clearly did not understand the true intent behind the laws, and even abused them to the point of thinking they could be justified by keeping them, but this way of life was not entirely brand new to them in the way it would have been if Christ first appeared in Africa or the Orient. There would have been no hope of those Gentile nations recognizing how Christ fulfilled and personified the law. Without the history of the Old Testament, Christ would have meant very little to them, although He would have undoubtedly been worshipped as a type of deity because of the miracles He performed. But He was not seeking worship—He was seeking a people who would live as He lives.David C. Grabbe Related Topics: God’s Law | Human Nature | Israel | Old Covenant | Promises to Abraham |
| Galatians 5:23In Galatians 5:23, “self-control” (temperance, KJV) is the translation of the Greek word enkrateia, which means “possessing power, strong, having mastery or possession of, continent, self-controlled” (Kenneth S. Wuest, Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, “Galatians,” p. 160). Vincent’s Word Studies of the New Testament adds that it means “holding in hand the passions and desires” (vol. IV, p. 168). The word thus refers to the mastery of one’s desires and impulses, and does not in itself refer to the control of any specific desire or impulse. If a particular desire or impulse is meant, the context will indicate it.Self-control is comprehensive in practical application to life, but the Bible does not use the word extensively. It is implied, however, in many exhortations to obedience, submission, and sinless living. The noun form is used only three times, the verb form twice (I Corinthians 7:9; 9:25), and the adjective form once (Titus 1:8). The negative form of the adjective is used three times. In II Timothy 3:3, it is translated “without self-control [incontinent, KJV]”; in Matthew 23:25, “self-indulgent [excess, KJV]”; and in I Corinthians 7:5, “lack of self-control [incontinency, KJV].”Another Greek word, nephalios, has the same general meaning, but it generally covers a more specific area of self-control. It is often translated as “temperate” or “sober.” Even though its root condemns self-indulgence in all forms, the Bible’s writers use it to refer to avoiding drunkenness.Despite self-control’s obvious importance, we should not limit our understanding of these words to merely the stringent discipline of the individual’s passions and appetites. These words also include the notions of having good sense, sober wisdom, moderation, and soundness of mind as contrasted to insanity.We see a good example of self-control implied in Proverbs 25:28: “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls.” No specific Hebrew word in this sentence means “self-control,” but “rule” certainly implies it. In its comments on this verse, the Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible states:The picture is that of a city whose walls have been so nearly destroyed as to be without defense against an enemy; so is the man who has no restraint over his spirit, the source of man’s passionate energies. He has no defense against anger, lust, and the other unbridled emotions that destroy the personality. (vol. 4, p. 267)Proverbs 16:32 shows a more positive side of self-control: “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” Here Solomon uses an entirely different word for “rule,” but the sense of self-control remains. A comparison of the two proverbs reveals the great importance of self-control as both an offensive and defensive attribute.Undoubtedly, self-denial, self-sacrifice, and self-control are inextricably linked in Christian life; each is part of our duty to God. Yet human nature exerts a persistent and sometimes very strong force away from God, as Romans 8:7 clearly shows: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” It is this force that each Christian must overcome. Controlling ourselves, denying human nature its impulse to satisfy its desire, and even sacrificing ourselves are necessary if we are to stop sinning as a way of life. When we add the concepts of self-denial and self-sacrifice to our understanding of self-control, we can see more easily how large a role self-control plays in the Bible.John W. Ritenbaugh The Fruit of the Spirit: Self-Control Related Topics: Desire | Enkrateia | Fruits of God’s Holy Spirit | Fruits of the Spirit | Holy Spirit | Human Nature | Lust | Moderation | Self Control | Self Denial | Self Discipline | Self Indulgence | Temperance |
| Ephesians 2:2A major characteristic of the human spirit is that it is habitually self-centered rather than God-centered. A simple example illustrates how it became this way. In Genesis 1:31 God takes satisfaction in all He had made, declaring it “very good.” Included in this is Adam and Eve’s nature, as they were already created by this time.Thus, at the beginning, mankind’s nature was not corrupted by contact with this world. Genesis 3 records the episode of their confrontation with Satan that began the evil transformation of their basic nature. God did not create their nature as evil, but it became evil through the influence of another spirit that they chose to follow without any intervention from their Creator.The same process continues to this day, as each of us is born into this world and comes under the influence of the same spirit that influenced Adam and Eve to turn from God. We are all born with a slight pull toward self, but not with the evil that eventually develops and manifests itself in our conduct. Evil is not – cannot be – passed on through procreation, but it is fashioned anew by the spirit of the age into which each person is born. It is a converted parent’s responsibility to God and to his children to ensure the right spirit dominates his home so the children can be properly nurtured.People in the world understand this to some extent when they observe with maxims like, “The apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree,” “Like father, like son,” or “Like mother, like daughter.” This world’s Christians, to avoid responsibility for their evil, have blamed God for creating us this way. But God did not make us this way. Mankind, represented by Adam and Eve, chose to become this way, and all of their descendants, including us, have chosen the same path under the influence of the same evil spirit who offered Adam and Eve the choice. This accounts for the course of this world.Jeremiah 17:9 shows us how evil God judges the source of our unconverted motivations to be: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” The Revised Standard Version translates this as, “The natural heart of man is desperately corrupt; incurably sick.” It is so bad, so evil, it cannot be salvaged by repairing it! It must be completely replaced. This is what the conversion process – our calling, repentance, justification, and sanctification – accomplishes.We need to understand more completely why this aspect of God’s command to flee Babylon is so important. We can be easily deceived about it, misunderstanding why God says the human heart is incurably sick. In Luke 11:13, Jesus makes an easily overlooked comment: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” The way He says this implies that those before Him were thoroughly, not partly, evil.He flat out calls them evil! There is no equivocation, no modification of this verse in the heart of the sermon on the mount. Jesus Himself was called “good” in Matthew 19:16, but He immediately corrects the speaker, saying, “No one is good but One, that is, God.” This is God’s assessment of human nature, not man’s.Jesus is saying that, just because human nature knows how to and actually does some good things, it does not alter the fact that it is still incurably evil. Our pride tends to blunt God’s assessment, rising to defend us from the condemnation of what we are compared to, the standard – God.John W. Ritenbaugh Communication and Leaving Babylon (Part One) Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnal Priorities | Carnally Minded | Heart, Change of | Heart, Deceitfulness of | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Satan’s Influence | Satan’s Responsibility for Sin | Satan’s Spirit | Self Absorption | Self Centeredness | Selfishness |
| Ephesians 2:2The Bible uses spirit to designate an invisible, immaterial, powerful influence whose characteristics are absorbed and then exhibited in the attitudes and conduct of the general population of a given people.Course is an influence of which we can be much more aware. We can compare it to a path, riverbed, or highway, suggesting a way by which or in which something flows. It is a means to an end, a result, which may be a destination or an action. Course, under the heading “tendency” in Roget’s International Thesaurus, has synonyms such as “thoughts,” “disposition,” “character,” “nature,” “makeup,” “bent,” “slant,” “frame of mind,” “attitude,” “inclination,” “drift,” “mindset,” and “perspective.” It is helpful to understand “the course of this world” by rephrasing it as “the disposition of this world,” “the character of this world,” “the nature of this world,” or “the makeup [mindset, attitude, perspective, etc.] of this world.”In the apostle Paul’s usage of this word, “course” is the whole mass of elements that encompass the conduct and attitudes of the times, the zeitgeist. It would not be the same all over the world because its expression in people would differ depending upon many factors. However, in Paul’s writings, its elements will invariably be carnal and evil because the spiritual source, Satan, is always evil.We can begin to understand this more practically by realizing that someone from France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, or Iraq, though carnal, would not be as inclined to see, understand, and react to a given situation exactly as an American would. The specifics of what affects their minds will differ. Though all are of the world, the things that make up one nation’s course will impress themselves on other nationalities somewhat differently.Regardless of nationality, the course of this world greatly enhances the self-centered pull that we are born with, and becomes our nature. It is from this that we must be converted, the largely unrecognized foundation of our pre-conversion attitudes and conduct, and it is the same force still motivating us when we behave carnally. Despite conversion, it remains within us, compressed like a spring ready to leap into action and reveal itself in carnality once again.A prime characteristic of this world’s course – exhibited worldwide, regardless of culture – is that it is habitually self-centered rather than God-centered. This is due to the underlying spirit beings who are its heart and soul, the key elements in communicating the course of this world into humanity. Through a simple illustration, we can perceive how it became this way. Genesis 1:31 reads, “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” God’s statement of satisfaction in all He had made at the end of the sixth day of creation includes Adam and Eve’s nature, as by this time they were already created.Thus, in the beginning, mankind’s nature is designated by our Creator as, “very good.” Genesis 3 records the episode that began the transformation of their basic nature to the extremes of self-centeredness we witness today. Man’s nature was not created evil, but it became evil through the influence of another spirit – besides God – that Adam and Eve chose to follow without any interference from their Creator.Once they committed to that initial step, the course of this world began. By the second generation, murder had occurred (Genesis 4:8), and by the Flood, men were so evil that they were “only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). It is this same peak of evil toward which this world and its multiple courses are being driven. All of this takes place because of the communication, reception, and acceptance of evil concepts from an evil source.II Timothy 3:13 reveals a general principle still working as we “progress” toward the return of Jesus Christ: “But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” Improving character and conduct in any given culture are temporary, indeed very brief, when observed within a survey of all of man’s history.The same process of moral deterioration that concluded with the Flood was quickly restarted shortly after its waters receded, and it persists to this day, as each person is born into this world and exposed to the same spirit and to the variety of courses that influenced Adam and Eve and all their progeny. Because we are made of flesh, we are born with a slight pull toward self, but not with the corruption that later develops and reveals itself in our conduct. Contrary to Catholic Church teaching, evil is not passed on through procreation, but by the spirit of the age through the course of this evil world. It is transferred to us primarily through the cultures into which we are born, all of which are carnal to the core.It is the responsibility of converted parents to God and to their children to ensure that the right spirit prevails in their homes so their children can be properly nurtured. People grasp this to some degree when they observe that, “The apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree,” or “Like father, like son.” Unless parents make a concerted, persistent effort to change and live as God commands, they will succeed only in passing on copies of themselves.This world’s Christians, in an effort to evade responsibility for the evil in them, have instead blamed God for creating man this way. God is responsible to a degree, in that He has not yet chosen to halt Satan’s deceptions. Nevertheless, God did not make us this way. Mankind, represented by Adam and Eve, chose to submit to Satan, and all of their descendants, including us, have also chosen to become evil under the sway of the same evil spirit that offered our first parents the choice. This creates and accounts for “the course of this world.”John W. Ritenbaugh Communication and Leaving Babylon (Part Two) Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Course of this World | Human Nature | Self Centeredness | Spirit | Zeitgeist |
| Ephesians 4:1-6The part we have to play is to walk worthy of our calling, and as the apostle goes on to say, our calling is to be one: one body, one spirit, one faith, one baptism, one hope, just as we have one Lord and one Father. We are to be one bride of Christ. He is not a polygamist; He will not marry many brides but one united bride.We in the church can be disunified if we fail to practice verses 2 and 3: Without lowliness (humility), without gentleness (meekness), without longsuffering (forebearance or patient endurance), without love and peace, we will never have unity. As long as we are proud, easily angered and offended, jump on every little thing, lack patience, and treat each other hatefully—as long as we cause strife—there will never be unity. Even with all that God does (I Corinthians 1:4-9), it will not happen. He will not force unity upon us if we show that we do not want it. The natural order of things is that we will disunify further if we fail to show Him that we are working toward it. So, without these virtues, even with God deluging us with His Spirit, we will not have unity.Richard T. Ritenbaugh Psalm 133 Related Topics: Attitude | Body Analogy | Body Metaphor | Bride of Christ | Church, The | Doing Good | Gifts | God’s Blessing | Growth | Hope | Human Nature | Humility | Love | Pride | Relationships | Self Centeredness | Unity | Works |
| Ephesians 5:28-33A baby is not born evil. It is most certainly born with a measure of self-centeredness that God pronounced as very good in Genesis 1:31, for some small measure of self-centeredness enables a person to take care of the self.Understood and controlled, a right measure of self-love provides a foundation for the love of others, which proves beneficial for the giver as well as the receiver. This is especially true in marriage because husband and wife become one flesh; to love one’s spouse is to love the self because of this oneness.It is at least equally true, if not more so, in our relationship with Christ. He is our example. Because of our spiritual oneness with Him, and because we are His body, His loving service of us is the same as loving Himself. This principle works both ways. Our loving service of Him is also the same as loving ourselves. What we see in these two intimate relationships is a practical application and benefit of the Golden Rule—”Do unto others as you would have them do to you”—in operation, with the added benefit to the giver.The problem with self-love is that, without contact with God throughout life, an individual’s innate self-centeredness can easily develop into an extreme and sharply honed sinfulness and evil. Such an egotist gives little thought to loving others as a way of life; he shows little care for others and rarely looks for ways to serve. Without God, life becomes all about the self. The world, established by and built upon selfish human nature, continues to feed its self-absorbed inclinations and cravings.John W. Ritenbaugh The Christian Fight (Part Two) Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnally Minded | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Marriage | Relationship with Christ | Relationship with God | Relationships With People | Relationships, Husband-Wife | Self Centeredness | Selfish Attitude | Selfishness |
| Philippians 2:14-15Comprehending God’s sovereignty should begin to produce another necessary yet difficult quality: complete resignation to God’s will. We Israelites have gained quite a reputation with God for being unwilling to accept life without griping.Human nature naturally complains when it feels it has been deprived of what it had its heart set on. We think that our possessions are ours unconditionally. We feel that we are entitled to success when we have done something well. We believe that, when we work hard and competently, we deserve to keep what we have accumulated. We hold that, when surrounded by our happy family, no power may enter our beloved circle and strike down a loved one. We can even think that we should be immune from bankruptcy because God must honor our obedience! However, understanding and accepting God’s sovereignty includes His right to do or allow anything He wills.John W. Ritenbaugh Sovereignty and Its Fruit: Part Ten Related Topics: Calamity, God Creates | God Creates Calamity | God’s Sovereignty | Human Nature | Sovereignty of God | Yielding to God | Yielding to God’s Will |
| Philippians 3:12-14The word picture in Philippians 3:12-14 is of men straining to win a foot race. The Christian life is especially like the longer races where the runner must sustain a winning frame of mind over a longer period of time. We cannot run our race like the hare of the “Tortoise and the Hare” fable, in which the hare took a nap during the race.Paul illustrates that after having received God’s grace, our responsibility is to return full effort to God in striving to perfection in moral, ethical, and spiritual areas. He did not see the struggle against sin, fear, and doubt as being accomplished by God alone. The apostle is here urging his erring brothers to follow his example in persistently concentrating on our common goal.Life for us now consists of discarding wrong attitudes and habits accumulated in the past. In modern, psychological terms, we must lose our baggage. For us, the past is dead, buried in the waters of baptism. With that behind us, we must diligently make unwavering progress in putting out the leaven of sin, growing in God’s love, producing the fruit of God’s Spirit, moving toward the Kingdom of God, and putting on Christ’s perfection, His image in us.John W. Ritenbaugh Five Teachings of Grace Related Topics: Duty | God’s Image | Grace | Growth | Human Nature | Israel | Overcoming | Perfection | Race Analogy | Running Analogy | Sanctification | Striving to Perfection | Struggle against Carnal Nature |
| 1 Thessalonians 5:21I Thessalonians 5:21 instructs us to “test [prove, KJV] all things,” which would include our old notions, and then “hold fast” to the good ones—the ones that pass the test. A mistake many make is to follow tenaciously the instruction of Revelation 3:11 to “hold fast to what we have” while completely ignoring the additional instructions of I Thessalonians 5:21 to test first.Experience proves that not all that we believe is truth, even if held fast for forty years. We have to test our beliefs continually and rigorously against the only standard that counts—the Bible (Acts 5:29).Human nature is lazy and takes the easy road at every opportunity. It will rely on human reasoning, the word of others, or tradition rather than do the hard work of studying the Bible and believing what it actually says. Human nature also will not naturally do the humbling work of allowing the Bible and its plain, unambiguous verses to prove matters rather than following humanly devised ideas. The church’s history over the last few decades displays the fruits of taking doctrine for granted rather than allowing clear scriptures to guide our understanding of the truth.Why do people have so many different opinions about what the Bible says? Generally, people come to the Bible with preconceived ideas and latch on to any scripture that seems to prove their belief. At the same time, they will ignore or make light of a clear verse that obviously contradicts their belief.God can use this as a test to determine the true intents of the heart. Where does one’s allegiance really lie? Will a person humbly submit to the clear instructions of God, allowing them to lead him or her to create a true spiritual foundation (Deuteronomy 8:2-3; Psalm 149:4)? Alternatively, will they choose instead to hold on to their preconceptions or other ideas of men—their idols (Revelation 21:8)—desperately grasping at the straws of unclear scriptures to build a shaky foundation?When doctrinal disputes arise, if a person cannot or will not prove beliefs using clear and unambiguous scriptures, that fact should raise a red flag. Clear scriptures are a solid-rock foundation. Ambiguous scriptures, open to private interpretation, lead to a foundation of sand. Only one of these foundations will stand when storms come (Matthew 7:24-27).Pat Higgins Praying Always (Part One) Related Topics: Doctrinal Changes | Doctrinal Disputes | Doctrinal Problems | Doctrine | Holding Fast | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Human Reason | Proving | Proving All Things | Test all Things | Test the Spirits | Testing | Testing All Things | Testing the Scriptures | Testing the Spirits |
| 2 Timothy 2:10-13The apostle gives this warning directly to God’s children. Despite how we may personally relate to Him in how we live, God cannot deny what He truly is. We may be highly variable in our attitude and conduct because we are lackadaisical and tolerate human nature having its way. We may yield to this world’s influence on us and backslide into the same careless way of life that dominated us before God called us into His church (Ephesians 2:3). Yet, our God and Savior is constant and faithful to what He is. His character and purpose never change. God loves, and because He does, He also judges. Does not Proverbs 13:24 instruct, “He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly”? Our Savior will not overlook this need in us.Sometimes His discipline can be very stressful (Hebrews 12:11), but that is the cost of following Him where He leads. He will act as He truly is regardless of what we personally think or fail to think or whether we allow Him to be closely or only marginally involved in how we live our lives.This world’s nominal Christianity has so wrongly overemphasized God’s grace that it makes salvation assured if we will only accept Jesus Christ. However, it does so without equally teaching that we must meet the responsibilities that God also clearly reveals. We must faithfully walk to the Promised Land. To keep our part of the New Covenant, we must live His way of life to be prepared to live in the Promised Land.John W. Ritenbaugh Fully Accepting God’s Sovereignty (Part One) Related Topics: Accepting God’s Sovereignty | Backsliding | Carnal Human Nature | Cheap Grace | Fully Accepting God’s Sovereignty | God’s Chastening | God’s Correction | God’s Discipline | God’s Sovereignty | Grace, Cheap | Human Nature | Sin, tolerating | Tolerating Human Nature |
| 2 Timothy 2:15-18Today, people are saying, not that the resurrection has occurred, but that Christ is not going to come soon, indeed not for a few hundred years. How bad will this world be in a few hundred years? Can humanity possibly survive that long at the rate things are going? Can the world survive, considering how angry the nations are and how competitive they are with one another?Can things possibly go on for that long, when the nations have weapons that can wipe mankind out completely? Man’s history proves that, eventually, every weapon is used! When some madman sees particular advantage to himself or his country, he will use those weapons. Men will take those chances because human nature gambles, and the human nature in some people gambles recklessly with other people’s lives.It is irresponsible to be telling church members we will have to wait a few hundred years for the return of Christ, but that idea is out there, floating among the churches.John W. Ritenbaugh Trumpets Is a Day of Hope Related Topics: Christ’s Return | Gambling | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Jesus Christ’s Return | Jesus Christ’s Second Coming | Trumpets | Trumpets, Feast of | Weapons of Mass Destruction |
| 2 Timothy 3:1-5Perilous suggests “difficult,” “threatening,” and “dangerous.” The term “last days” does not specifically mean the times we are living in at this moment, as Paul believed he was living in the last days. He expected Christ’s return to be imminent, certainly during his lifetime, as many verses relate. Thus, he meant his instruction to Timothy to apply immediately. If this were not so, why would he tell Timothy in verse 5 to withdraw from the people he just described?In verse 13 (“But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”), the Greek grammar gives the sense of conditions or expressions of human nature that ebb and flow like waves of the sea rather than a constant state of affairs. When combined with the idea of things growing “worse and worse” and Jesus’ comments about the days of Noah, we can understand the situation will be especially intense in our time.In addition, Paul did not intend us to suppose that everyone would express all of these traits all the time. Rather, all of them would indeed exist in each person since he is describing the elements of every human’s deceitful heart, but the intensity of their expression would vary from person to person.The peril to church members is not to being injured or killed but to being drawn into expressing the same sinful attitudes and conduct that everybody else is! Paul’s warning is not to mix with people dominated by these characteristics. This helps us to understand that the potential to commit these sins is right in the church! Why? It exists in the church because we have all come out of the world where these things are nurtured, and none of us have overcome all these characteristics yet. In other words, despite conversion, we are still capable of expressing these sins. We must be on guard!The first characteristic Paul lists is “men will be lovers of themselves,” the wellspring of all eighteen subsequent traits. The wellspring remains in us, as Paul graphically explains in Romans 7. About this verse, William Barclay says in the Daily Bible Study Commentary:Love of self is the basic sin, from which all others flow. The moment a man makes his own will the centre of life, divine and human relationships are destroyed, obedience to God and charity to men both become impossible. The essence of Christianity is not the enthronement but the obliteration of self.New “religions” calling themselves “Christian” and having self-love as their very essence are popping up everywhere. These churches are quite popular, and their congregations tend to be large. In them, tolerance is a key concept, and the facts about the vileness of sin and man’s vital need of repentance are smoothed over. Additionally, they will not teach several true Christian doctrines, ones essential to salvation, because of their belief that they are “divisive.”Truly, those doctrines do divide! They divide Christians away from the world yet unite them with God. These new religious groups are ignoring essential doctrines for the sake of so-called unity. Which is more important: unity with God or men? Men are easily deceived by their deceitful heart and blinded to their real state, believing all is well because everybody in the congregation is so “friendly,” because the “gospel” music is entertaining, because the slide program is informative, and because the church is growing so large. With all these “good” proofs, they reason, surely God must be blessing their “church”!They are deceived. None of these things is necessary to salvation and a good relationship with God. They are not proofs of God’s blessing. Christ gives no indication His church would grow large. In fact He calls it a “little flock” (Luke 12:32). These churches may appear successful on the surface, but the fact remains that they are not teaching essential doctrines. They might as well be a weekly social center that also teaches some religious principles. Strong, detailed preaching about sin, repentance, and glorifying God through the works He demands must be part of Christian instruction, or the members will not grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ (II Peter 3:18).The preachers promoting this agenda are cheating people through their smooth words, convincing them that sin is not nearly as bad as the Bible makes it out to be. Sadly, church members do not sufficiently realize the extreme subtlety of our heart’s disease. It does not come at us loudly proclaiming to be our deadly enemy, saying, “I want to ruin you in the Lake of Fire!” Sin comes like Judas, with a kiss, and like Joab, with his hand extended in friendship and his tongue uttering flattering words.John W. Ritenbaugh Is the Christian Required To Do Works? (Part Two) Related Topics: Conversion | Days of Noah | Deceitfulness of Heart | Human Nature | Last Days | Lovers of Self | Unity | Unity with God |
| 2 Timothy 3:13This does not mean that, as we approach Christ’s return, human nature itself will get any worse than it already is, but that the expressions of its evil will intensify and increase. As the heart’s evil acts multiply, greater inducements and opportunities are provided for everyone to be involved in its sinful ways.In Matthew 24:37, Jesus states that, just before He returns, conditions will become as they were in the days of Noah. Moses reports under God’s inspiration in Genesis 6:5, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” A plethora of evidence indicates that we are approaching such a time in our lives.John W. Ritenbaugh Is the Christian Required To Do Works? (Part Two) Related Topics: Days are Evil | Days of Noah | Evil | Evil Nature | Evil, Days are | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Noah, Days of | Wickedness | Wickedness of Man |
| Titus 3:3What is missing from verses like Titus 3:3 is that they do not show how tenaciously human nature clings to our attitudes and behavior, providing a constant challenge to maintaining peace with God and others. Paul vividly describes his battle with it in Roman 7, and numerous other exhortations encourage us to employ self-control and love for God and the brethren. This leads us to understand that peacemaking involves more than mediating between disputing parties. Peacemaking is a constant responsibility. Its achievement is possible but more difficult than it first seems because many factors—both from within and without—challenge us in maintaining it.John W. Ritenbaugh The Beatitudes, Part 7: Blessed Are the Peacemakers Related Topics: Battle with Human Nature | Human Nature | Peace Maker | Peace Making | Peace of God | Peace Of Mind | Spiritual Battle | Struggle against Carnal Nature | Struggle against Sin |
| Hebrews 10:26-27Plainly, when this occurs, the sacrifice of Christ will not apply. These people, whoever they are, have put themselves into a carnal state again, and their enmity against God is exposed, as evidenced by their law-breaking.John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Twenty-Nine) Related Topics: Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnally Minded | Enmity against God | Human Nature | Law Breaking | Lawlessness |
| James 1:13-15Every problem, individual or national, has its root embedded in sin. But what causes sin? Wrong desires brought to fruition, and everyone—from peasant to king—is subject to wrong desires. From the beginning of time, sinners have blamed their sins on others. Satan blamed God, Eve blamed Satan, and Adam blamed Eve. James sternly rebukes this.God does not cause sin, nor do things. Sin would be helpless if it did not appeal to something in man. Sin appeals to man’s human nature through his desires. If a man desires long enough, the consequence is virtually inevitable. Desire becomes action.Desire can be nourished, stifled or—by the grace of God—eliminated altogether. If we humbly, thoughtfully, and wholly give of ourselves to Christ and involve ourselves in good activities and thoughts, we will have precious little time or place for evil desires. The tenth commandment pierces through surface Christianity, really showing whether we have surrendered our will to God.The spiritual requirements for keeping it are in some ways more rigid than any other because it pierces directly into our thoughts. II Corinthians 10:4-5 sets a very high standard for us to shoot for:For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.These verses, revealing God’s authority over even our thoughts, also sets what may be our ultimate goal in this life. The tenth commandment shows the depth of God’s concern about the state of our inner character as well as our apparent character. If our thoughts are right, our actions will be too. Changing our thinking strikes right at the heart of character, emphasizing why spending time with God, in studying His Word and in prayer, is so important.John W. Ritenbaugh The Tenth Commandment (1998) Related Topics: Bringing Thoughts into Captivity | Carnal Nature | Character | Desire | Human Nature | Prayer | Self Control | The Tenth Commandment |
| James 4:1-3This world is filled with wars of every size and magnitude, declared and undeclared. The strong attack the weak, and oppressed minorities fight to throw off the yoke of tyranny. Labor and management throw verbal bombs at each other. Husbands and wives do not divorce because they have peaceful, productive marriages! Increasingly, parents and children seem to look upon each other with scorn and sometimes break into open anger and fighting.James shows ever so clearly that the root of these problems is lust, merely one expression of human nature. Human nature expresses itself in vanity, jealousy, lust, greed, murder, hatred, avarice, competition, lying, stealing, dishonoring parent, fornication, adultery, and – the most damaging of all – idolatry. In fact, we could say that all the above flow from idolatry!John W. Ritenbaugh Preparing to Rule! Related Topics: Anger | Carnal Mind | Carnal Nature | Carnal Reasoning | Carnally Minded | Fighting | Greed | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Jealousy | Lust | Relationships, Employer-Employee | Relationships, Husband-Wife | Relationships, Parent -Child | Vanity | War | War, Causes of |
| 1 Peter 2:24-25The most brutal example of divine justice is found in the New Testament, not the Old. We see the most violent expression of God’s wrath and justice in the crucifixion of His own Son. If anybody had room to complain that He was not being treated fairly, it was Jesus Christ, who was not guilty of even one sin! He was the only innocent person who ever lived, yet He suffered a horrible, cruel death. If we were to become upset or offended at something that seems to be unjust, this would be it.The crucifixion, similar to the Flood, the casting out of the Amorites, and so forth, is simultaneously the most just and the most gracious act in history. It would have been absolutely diabolical of God to punish Jesus if His Son had not first voluntarily taken on Himself the sins of all the world. Even though He was innocent to that point, once He took upon Himself that concentrated load of sin, He became the most repugnant thing that ever existed on earth before God. He became an obscene and accursed thing, and God executed His wrath. He acted in total impartiality. God could not overlook sin, even when it touched His Son.Jesus Christ did this for us. Christ took the justice that was to fall on us, and He paid for it with His priceless life. It is the “for us” aspect that displays the majesty of the grace of God.We cringe at God’s justice because it is so unusual, since most of the time He is so gracious. Human nature deceives us into taking it for granted, but we need to keep it in mind because it just as integral to His character.John W. Ritenbaugh Justice and Grace Related Topics: Christ’s Death | Crucifixion | Divine Justice | God’s Character | God’s Justice | God’s Wrath | Grace, Costliness of | Human Nature | Jesus Christ’s Crucifixion | Justice | Sin | Sin, Christ becoming | Sin, Consequences of |
| 1 Peter 4:3He could have named a hundred more sins, but the point remains: We were all like the unconverted people in the world. We were all cut off from God and living in sin, just like all the rest of humanity from the time of Adam and Eve. There have been no exceptions apart from Jesus Christ.Richard T. Ritenbaugh Are Humans Good or Evil? Related Topics: All Have Sinned | Are Humans Good or Evil? | Carnal Human Nature | Cut off from God | Human Nature |
| 1 John 2:15-16These verses are a basic guideline to the alluring heart of the Babylonish system. This system has its basis in human nature. It feeds right into our desire for frequent change and variety of experience as the answer to fulfillment in life, but the Bible clearly reveals God drawing His children into His oneness.Babylon promotes fulfillment in material things, excitement and gratification of the flesh, and variety of experience. These major fruits are easily seen in the world around us as confusion of purpose. People do not know where they are going. They are bouncing in every different direction. There is competition, hitting heads with one another. There is disunity and diversity everywhere. There is disharmony, fighting with one’s neighbor. There is separation from each other and eventually from God and ultimately the separation of death. The result is that the world is not a happy place to live in.None of these factors that are part of the allurement of Babylon can give a lasting sense of peace, fulfillment, abundant living, and purpose in life because none of them is in constant harmony with the purpose of God. Each of these things, though they may not be sin of and by themselves, can only produce a temporary burst of well-being.Many, many times, God instructed Israel against this proclivity. They were to seek out only Him in His only habitation in Jerusalem. But Israel is disastrously curious and terribly smitten with the discontented, unsettled, impatient “grass is always greener” disease.John W. Ritenbaugh Where Is the Beast? (Part Seven) Related Topics: “Grass is always greener” disease | Allurement of Babylon | Babylon | Babylon, Allurement of | Babylonish System | Competition | Competitive Spirit | Confusion of Purpose | Discontent | Disharmony | Disunity | Diversification | Excitement | Flesh, Gratification of | Gratification of the Flesh | Human Nature | Love of the World | Lust | Lust of the Eyes | Lust of the Flesh | Materialism | Variety of Experience | Variety, Drive for |
| 1 John 4:1-5Their message appeals to human nature, not to divine nature. The divine nature will recognize it for what it is and reject it! But human nature accepts it. To human nature—to the carnality within us—it looks logical and right, like something we can apply and use as a part of our personality and character.John W. Ritenbaugh The Wisdom of Men and Faith Related Topics: Divine Nature | Human Nature | Human Nature, Perversity of | Human Reason | Test all Things | Test the Spirits | Testing All Things | Testing the Spirits |
| Revelation 3:17The Laodicean may not necessarily say these things consciously, but he broadcasts it for all to see by his works and way of life! He thinks he lives in his “golden years.” Being blind to his own spiritual poverty, however, is the real tragedy of his situation. He thinks he is in good standing with God. Christ judges differently, very concerned that the Laodicean cannot see his spiritual condition. He is spiritually bereft.Christ describes the Laodicean as “poor.” Biblically, “poor” does not mean the same as our normal English usage of the word. It indicates someone who is weak, with no consideration of how wealthy he may be. To God, the Laodicean is spiritually weak, when he thinks he is strong.Next, he is “blind.” Of course, this is not physical blindness but a lack of spiritual comprehension or judgment. Just as a blind person cannot use his eyes to judge a circumstance, the Laodicean is unaware, unknowing, unobservant, uncomprehending, and heedless.Christ also judges him as “naked.” Clothing—or its lack—illustrates a person’s state of righteousness, and here it shows converted people who are still carnal, as Paul called the Corinthians (I Corinthians 3:3). The Laodicean is dominated by his fleshly attitudes. Physically oriented, he is governed by human nature, rather than by God.”Wretched and miserable” together provide further descriptions of “poor, blind, and naked.” Because they are poor, blind, and naked, they are wretched and miserable, even though they have not realized it. Miserable has been translated elsewhere as “pitiful” or “pitiable.” Wretched is especially interesting. In other places in the New Testament, it indicates destitution because of war. God means that while they may be wealthy, they are losing the spiritual war against Satan and their carnal nature. |