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Briefly, what is the nature of man? Some people say the nature of man is to be good and man is generally influenced in life right or wrong depending upon his upbringing. Others say the nature of man is to do evil, and the only thing that keeps him from doing evil is law and his fear of incarceration. Which is correct?
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If we are going to allow God to be the authority, then the first option is totally incorrect, as God's word says the nature of man is "not" to be good. The second is partially correct. The nature of unsaved man is decidedly evil and is equated to the nature of a beastt. That is to say, the nature of natural man is to lack reason, to be willful, instinctive, impulsive, self-driven and carnal where he is unable to tame the lusts or desires of the flesh. That is the nature of man. Without the Spirit of Christ, man has a beast's heart which is naturally governed and influenced by carnal, fleshly, visceral instincts. His nature then is as a beast to ignorance, living instinctively, ravenously, despising law. In the beginning, with the introduction of original sin, from our birth its stain is congenital upon human beings and makes it impossible for us to be good (as God defines the term).
Psalms 58:3- "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies."
Every person that is not saved is wicked. As soon as we come ino this world we "naturally" depart from our father and His righteousness (Genesis 8:21) because we have the stain of Adam's original sin. This causes a bondage of the will where it is in our nature to do evil.
Romans 5:12- "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"
By Adam's transgression, the stain of sin came upon mankind where it is passed down congenitally to all of mankind where it is our nature to sin. Since the fall, man is by nature not good but sinful. So without man having a "rebirth," wherein he is born again of the spirit of God, all men will
by nature be the children of wrath reserved unto the judgment of God. Without Christ, there isn't one of us that has a nature to do good.
Psalms 14:3- "They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one."
Romans 3:10-12- "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
- There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
- They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."
These passages make it clear that when unrestrained by the Spirit of God, mankind in his natural condition is without understanding, cannot do good according to God's definition of it, and is desperately wicked. He has gone astray from God to do his own will and of his own volition "will not" seek God nor attend unto righteousness. From the least to the greatest of us, our nature is not good, but evil.
Jermiah 17:9- "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
By the stain of sin the nature of man is polluted so that we are decietful, fraudulent and crooked. There is not one of us who
can keep the law of God, which is the only real measure of what is "good" in the world. Male or femnale, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, finally our nature is to do evil so that we are all fully dependent upon the unmerited and sovereign mercy of God.
However, the "good news" is that in Christ we are provided with a changed nature wherein we are free from the filthiness of sin.
Ezekiel 36:25-27- "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
- A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
- And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them."
A New heart and a new Spirit is the only thing that can change the nature of man where he becomes a new creature or creation. Once man is saved, he has a new and divinely inspired nature wherein he is moved of the Spirit unto righteousness to do good works in Christ Jesus.
2nd Peter 1:4- "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."
The nature to lust as an animal or beast is gone and we are made partakes with the divine nature of God. It is only in His nature do we escape the carnality and corruption of the flesh to be regenerated unto a new creation.
Ephesians 4:22-24- "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
- And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
- And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."
So when the question is asked, what is the nature of man, the only Biblical answer for Christians is that without Christ, the nature of man is desperately wicked and so corrupt that it cannot do good (unto salvation) or obey God. There is none, no not one man that has the nature to be good, according to God. They are all wicked from the womb. He is as a beast, and in fact just a more highly inferential animal. Which is why God sometimes speaks of wicked man as an ignorant beast and uses that symbolism to illustrate his carnality and lack of reasoning (as in the number of the Beast).
Psalms 73:22- "So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee."
Unsaved man is as a beast because he is carnal, foolish and ignorant of the consequences and seriousness of his actions. This is the nature of man. There are only two natures of mankind in this world. The divine nature and the nature that original sin of Adam stained us with. These two natures illustrate that we are either the man of sin or the man of righteousness. One unto life and the other to death.
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nosce te ipsum"
Peace,
Tony Warren
"I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. -Psalms 32:5"