ARE PEOPLE BASICALLY GOOD OR EVIL?
Understanding how mankind went from being made in the image of God to a carnal and selfish nature.
The thought that “people are evil” and “not good” might sound like a negative attitude to many or even harsh, but it is true. Every human being is born with a fallen nature, the same nature that came when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God. The “original un-fallen nature” is available, but it only comes through the “spiritual change” that happens when a person, through Jesus Christ, is born-again.
Once a person becomes a Christian by truly giving their life to God, this new, born-again nature (the one restored to the image of God) begins to war with the old fallen nature. The "fallen nature" is gone from the spirit, but not gone from the person. The “immoral part” of human nature is referenced by certain terms in the Bible where it is most commonly called the “flesh” and “carnal nature” of the “old man.” Some call it “our will” - which in a sense, is quite appropriate in that true Christians lay down “self will” to “God's will” beginning at conversion.
Galatians 5:16-17 “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.”
Let's see how this began in the Bible by looking at the Old Testament first.
Genesis 1:26-31 “Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
It is clear that the first parents of mankind, were created in the image of God and were good.
Genesis 2:15-17 “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." '
And it happened; they ate of it. The “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” became the “tree of disobedience” for them. And when they ate of it, something did die. They went from spiritual life to spiritual darkness. The biblical definition of death is separation from God. And that is what happened. And from that time forward, all humans have been born with a sinful nature, as “sinners” with a separation from God caused by sin. The cost of sin, or as the New Testament puts it, “the wages of sin” is death. There is only one remedy for disobedience in that there is a price to pay. Blood has been required for the remission of sins (“without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Hebrews 9:22 ) from the very beginning.
Genesis 3:21-24 “Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"-- therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”
The skins that God used to make the first clothes, were made from something innocent and living. The first sacrifice for us was made by God and the last one to ever be needed was also made by God, through Jesus Christ. To qualify for forgiveness, we must be truly repentant and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord, choosing to no longer live in rebellion against the Father and His laws and ways. And then, when we sin as His born-again children and repent, the blood of the innocent Son of God, the Lord Jesus, is able to continue to speak for us and wash away our sin.
Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and our choosing to honor and respect God, we can be born-again. This is when the born-again experience brings us into right fellowship with God. The new pure nature becomes alive in us spiritually as we actually become temples of the Holy Spirit. As temples of the Holy Spirit, it is now God who is Lord over us and no longer ourselves. The problem is, we still live in a physical body with it's fallen nature and whatever programming it has accrued. So once again, this is when the war between the old nature (the natural selfish nature of the physical) and new nature (the spiritual one now restored like the original one made in God's image) begins. This “spiritual change” does not come from becoming a religious, good or moral person. It is a huge change that only happens when one truly repents of self-lordship and seeks God and His ways, accepting Jesus' sacrifice in one's place.
Here are a few verses on the matter:
John 3:1-8 “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
From these verses, we see Jesus explain the requirement for entry to the kingdom of God. What Jesus means by being “born in the Spirit” is exactly that. When we are sincere with God and give it all to Him, the Spirit of God takes our spirits from our “fallen nature” - into the Light of God and we become born-again in His Spirit and in ours with God becoming our true Lord. We must be born-again to enter (become part) of the kingdom of God. This true salvation experience, is done by the power of the Holy Spirit and is when the new nature, God's nature, changes the spirit-nature in the individual person. It does not come from baptism or joining a church. It comes from a repentant and sincere heart who accepts Jesus Christ's pardon and the new life found in Him.
Jesus went on to also say this to Nicodemus:
John 3:14-21 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
Moses' “pole” that Jesus was referring to is found in Numbers 21:4-9. That pole was ordered for Moses to make by God, for the children of Israel who had gotten rebellious against God and bitten by the serpents that God had sent in reply to their grumbling and ugly attitudes. If they would admit their sin and come before the pole, they were forgiven and lived. The rest died. This was an early type and shadow of Jesus and we can see Jesus using it in His ministry here with Nicodemus. But it was not only for the children of Israel back in the Wilderness, but for all. As Jesus was explaining, the pole was pointing to Him and the sacrifice He was about to make.
Hebrews 10:10 “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Through the nation that God birthed through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a priestly covenant was made between God and His people. Jesus came to do a way with the old priestly system and become our personal High priest. The blood of sheep and rams could only put man's sins on hold, until through Jesus, sin could be totally taken care of, not just covered but washed away. Though our sins were as scarlet, through Christ Jesus, they become white as snow.
Hebrews 9:11-15 “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
Let us look at the fallen nature that we all were born with since Adam and Eve.
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.”
Genesis 8:20-21 “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.”
Romans 6:5-6 “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”
Ephesians 4:17-24 “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
Colossians 3:9-11 “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all”
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."
Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”
Proverbs 14:12 (AMP) “There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death.”
We have the strong ability in our fallen nature to see something look right to us and be totally wrong and it usually is a problem when we want to believe the lie more than the truth. This is also confirmed in seeing the bigger picture in 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12.
Psalms 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”
King David's parents were married when he was conceived and born. As a matter of fact, by the time David was born, he had 7 older brothers of the same parents. David understood being born with the fallen nature and that it is passed down from generation to generation.
Ephesians 5:8-14 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light."
Galatians 5:16-17 “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.”
1 Corinthians 2:14 “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.”
In conclusion, when a person starts to become weary of sin and self-lordship and begins to seek God and the way out, their spiritual eyes start to open. Even things that seemed foolish before start to make sense and if they want it enough, the truth of Jesus Christ is revealed to them.
Repenting of self and choosing Jesus Christ with one's whole heart opens the door for the spirit to be born-again by the Holy Spirit. And so the war begins and continues until the day we are released from these human bodies and fallen nature. Praise God for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the gift of salvation and eternal, beautiful, pure and wonderful life we find in Him.
Once a person becomes a Christian by truly giving their life to God, this new, born-again nature (the one restored to the image of God) begins to war with the old fallen nature. The "fallen nature" is gone from the spirit, but not gone from the person. The “immoral part” of human nature is referenced by certain terms in the Bible where it is most commonly called the “flesh” and “carnal nature” of the “old man.” Some call it “our will” - which in a sense, is quite appropriate in that true Christians lay down “self will” to “God's will” beginning at conversion.
Galatians 5:16-17 “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.”
Let's see how this began in the Bible by looking at the Old Testament first.
Genesis 1:26-31 “Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
It is clear that the first parents of mankind, were created in the image of God and were good.
Genesis 2:15-17 “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." '
And it happened; they ate of it. The “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” became the “tree of disobedience” for them. And when they ate of it, something did die. They went from spiritual life to spiritual darkness. The biblical definition of death is separation from God. And that is what happened. And from that time forward, all humans have been born with a sinful nature, as “sinners” with a separation from God caused by sin. The cost of sin, or as the New Testament puts it, “the wages of sin” is death. There is only one remedy for disobedience in that there is a price to pay. Blood has been required for the remission of sins (“without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Hebrews 9:22 ) from the very beginning.
Genesis 3:21-24 “Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"-- therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”
The skins that God used to make the first clothes, were made from something innocent and living. The first sacrifice for us was made by God and the last one to ever be needed was also made by God, through Jesus Christ. To qualify for forgiveness, we must be truly repentant and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord, choosing to no longer live in rebellion against the Father and His laws and ways. And then, when we sin as His born-again children and repent, the blood of the innocent Son of God, the Lord Jesus, is able to continue to speak for us and wash away our sin.
Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and our choosing to honor and respect God, we can be born-again. This is when the born-again experience brings us into right fellowship with God. The new pure nature becomes alive in us spiritually as we actually become temples of the Holy Spirit. As temples of the Holy Spirit, it is now God who is Lord over us and no longer ourselves. The problem is, we still live in a physical body with it's fallen nature and whatever programming it has accrued. So once again, this is when the war between the old nature (the natural selfish nature of the physical) and new nature (the spiritual one now restored like the original one made in God's image) begins. This “spiritual change” does not come from becoming a religious, good or moral person. It is a huge change that only happens when one truly repents of self-lordship and seeks God and His ways, accepting Jesus' sacrifice in one's place.
Here are a few verses on the matter:
John 3:1-8 “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
From these verses, we see Jesus explain the requirement for entry to the kingdom of God. What Jesus means by being “born in the Spirit” is exactly that. When we are sincere with God and give it all to Him, the Spirit of God takes our spirits from our “fallen nature” - into the Light of God and we become born-again in His Spirit and in ours with God becoming our true Lord. We must be born-again to enter (become part) of the kingdom of God. This true salvation experience, is done by the power of the Holy Spirit and is when the new nature, God's nature, changes the spirit-nature in the individual person. It does not come from baptism or joining a church. It comes from a repentant and sincere heart who accepts Jesus Christ's pardon and the new life found in Him.
Jesus went on to also say this to Nicodemus:
John 3:14-21 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
Moses' “pole” that Jesus was referring to is found in Numbers 21:4-9. That pole was ordered for Moses to make by God, for the children of Israel who had gotten rebellious against God and bitten by the serpents that God had sent in reply to their grumbling and ugly attitudes. If they would admit their sin and come before the pole, they were forgiven and lived. The rest died. This was an early type and shadow of Jesus and we can see Jesus using it in His ministry here with Nicodemus. But it was not only for the children of Israel back in the Wilderness, but for all. As Jesus was explaining, the pole was pointing to Him and the sacrifice He was about to make.
Hebrews 10:10 “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Through the nation that God birthed through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a priestly covenant was made between God and His people. Jesus came to do a way with the old priestly system and become our personal High priest. The blood of sheep and rams could only put man's sins on hold, until through Jesus, sin could be totally taken care of, not just covered but washed away. Though our sins were as scarlet, through Christ Jesus, they become white as snow.
Hebrews 9:11-15 “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
Let us look at the fallen nature that we all were born with since Adam and Eve.
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.”
Genesis 8:20-21 “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.”
Romans 6:5-6 “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”
Ephesians 4:17-24 “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
Colossians 3:9-11 “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all”
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."
Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”
Proverbs 14:12 (AMP) “There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death.”
We have the strong ability in our fallen nature to see something look right to us and be totally wrong and it usually is a problem when we want to believe the lie more than the truth. This is also confirmed in seeing the bigger picture in 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12.
Psalms 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”
King David's parents were married when he was conceived and born. As a matter of fact, by the time David was born, he had 7 older brothers of the same parents. David understood being born with the fallen nature and that it is passed down from generation to generation.
Ephesians 5:8-14 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light."
Galatians 5:16-17 “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.”
1 Corinthians 2:14 “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.”
In conclusion, when a person starts to become weary of sin and self-lordship and begins to seek God and the way out, their spiritual eyes start to open. Even things that seemed foolish before start to make sense and if they want it enough, the truth of Jesus Christ is revealed to them.
Repenting of self and choosing Jesus Christ with one's whole heart opens the door for the spirit to be born-again by the Holy Spirit. And so the war begins and continues until the day we are released from these human bodies and fallen nature. Praise God for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the gift of salvation and eternal, beautiful, pure and wonderful life we find in Him.
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Copyright 2017 E. Cockrell May be used for personal study or instruction but shall not be copied and/or distributed in whole or part without permission or for financial profit.