The Nature of Man
Have you ever looked into the eye of a child and thought, “That brat is evil”? Have you ever been around someone whose every action seems to land him in trouble? Does it seem that some people are just born troublemakers? Some mothers would go into court and testify that people are just plain bad from the moment of conception because they had a child who was nothing but trouble from the very beginning. All he did throughout pregnancy was kick, punch and cavort – and then he was born. That was when the trouble really began.
Many theologians have looked at all the evil surrounding mankind and concluded that humans are born sinners. They believe that human beings have an inherently evil nature. On the other hand, some thinkers argue that there is good in every man. This question about the real nature of man has been debated by philosophers and religious scholars through the ages. There have been all sorts of conclusions drawn and mind-numbing books written purporting to give the answer to this basic question of life.
What is the nature of man? What does the Bible have to say about this question?
The Good
To answer that question, let’s first look at how man was at the beginning.
Genesis 1:26-31
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; … 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them,… 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good…
At man’s creation, we see that God made man in His image – in His shape and form and according to His likeness – to have the same character He has. He blessed the male and female, and he pronounced that what He had created “was very good.” Later in chapter 2, we get an idea of Adam’s attitude from creation. God gave him the task of naming the animals. Adam didn’t whine and grumble or pitch a temper tantrum saying the job was too hard. He didn’t pout and refuse to do the task. At the end of chapter 2, we see that Adam and Eve did not have any shame or guilt. In the beginning, there was no evil in the Garden. The man and the woman were not evil. The Bible account indicates they were not born sinners.
If we fast forward four thousand years, we can see what Christ thought about the nature of little children.
Matthew 19:14
14 But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
If little children were born evil, Christ would hardly have used them in such a positive way to describe the Kingdom of God.
The Bad
On the other hand, we have scriptures that tell us about the utter wickedness and depravity of mankind.
Jeremiah 17:9
"The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
Paul wrote the following in Romans.
Romans 8:7-8
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
The Bible tells us that the human heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. The carnal mind is hostile to God and cannot be subject to His law. Many believe these scriptures prove that man is evil and that each of us was born a sinner.
The Answer
What is the answer to this seeming conflict? Are we born evil or are we not? The Bible indicates man was not evil from the beginning. Christ did not condemn little children as evil. Yet beyond a doubt, the Bible is full of scriptures detailing the evil that is in man. If Adam and Eve were not evil from the beginning and little children are not evil at birth, then what happened?
The answer is back in the Garden of Eden. Human beings were made physical and were created with free moral agency. Adam and Eve were shown two trees in the Garden and given a choice. They could choose of the tree of life or they could eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and die. They had a choice of life and death. At this point they were neither good nor evil. Their character and way of life had not been set. Paul revealed in I Corinthians 2 that in the natural human state, man does not comprehend the things of God, things that are spiritual. Man has to be given the Spirit of God to understand the things of God. The Bible thus indicates that man is incomplete. In our natural, physical state, we are missing something. We need the Spirit of God.
Adam and Eve were given access to the tree of life and to the Spirit of God. They were given a choice. Everything was good in the Garden. They had all they needed; they were surrounded by beauty and had access to the Creator God. But when they faced their first test, when they had a chance to choose the way of the tree of life, they turned their back on God and chose the way of the deceiver, Satan the Devil. They thought they were choosing to determine for themselves what was right or wrong. Instead, they chose to let the deceiver lead them and tell them what to do. They rejected God and accepted Satan. They gave their heart and mind to their lord, the devil. At that moment, they chose to acquire Satan’s nature. They chose to let Satan stamp His brand on them. Ever since, man has been deceived. What humans believe is the nature of man is in reality the nature of the Devil.
There in the Garden, Adam and Eve made a choice which founded this world’s civilizations and systems. They chose to base everything upon the mind and attitude of Satan. They set the course for all future humans who would be born. Little babies are born with no evil thoughts. But the environment they come into is a hostile one. They are brought up by parents who practice the way of life that has been handed down to all humans by the first man, Adam. If that training and immersion into Satan’s system is not enough, Satan is constantly broadcasting his attitudes of hate and lust and rebellion. Every human, soon after birth, begins to acquire Satan’s nature of hostility and enmity towards God. Each of us is born without sin. But the world we have grown up in has written on the tablets of our heart a way of life that is desperately wicked. We have grown up in a world that has encouraged us to continually partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and to continue the course set by Adam.
The Purpose
So what is the nature of man? The Bible indicates that we humans are not evil at birth; we are not born sinners. We are born physical, weak and incomplete. As we grow up in this world, we acquire Satan’s nature. But even in the midst of Satan’s system, God offers something different. He offers us the opportunity to acquire His Divine nature. He encourages us to choose the way of the tree of life. He provides us His Spirit to help us make the transition from the way of Satan’s nature to His. That transition is not easy. Paul wrote about the struggle he experienced in the inner man between the way of the flesh and the way of the Spirit (Romans 7).
God made us physical and has presented us with a choice. He knows that if we choose to acquire His nature and will struggle to overcome our inner pulls and weaknesses in this life, then He can trust us with eternal life. The struggle we experience on a daily basis is a good one. Our struggle to choose the good and reject the bad is how we set our character. Our daily positive choices show God we want His Divine Nature and that we will struggle to get rid of Satan’s evil nature.
Every day we must choose to make the nature of man one that is characterized by “… love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Those are fruits of the Spirit, fruits that come by choosing the Tree of Life. Those are fruits of God’s Divine Nature. That is the nature we must acquire. When we have acquired that nature, we will have fulfilled the divine purpose for our existence.
Many theologians have looked at all the evil surrounding mankind and concluded that humans are born sinners. They believe that human beings have an inherently evil nature. On the other hand, some thinkers argue that there is good in every man. This question about the real nature of man has been debated by philosophers and religious scholars through the ages. There have been all sorts of conclusions drawn and mind-numbing books written purporting to give the answer to this basic question of life.
What is the nature of man? What does the Bible have to say about this question?
The Good
To answer that question, let’s first look at how man was at the beginning.
Genesis 1:26-31
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; … 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them,… 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good…
At man’s creation, we see that God made man in His image – in His shape and form and according to His likeness – to have the same character He has. He blessed the male and female, and he pronounced that what He had created “was very good.” Later in chapter 2, we get an idea of Adam’s attitude from creation. God gave him the task of naming the animals. Adam didn’t whine and grumble or pitch a temper tantrum saying the job was too hard. He didn’t pout and refuse to do the task. At the end of chapter 2, we see that Adam and Eve did not have any shame or guilt. In the beginning, there was no evil in the Garden. The man and the woman were not evil. The Bible account indicates they were not born sinners.
If we fast forward four thousand years, we can see what Christ thought about the nature of little children.
Matthew 19:14
14 But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
If little children were born evil, Christ would hardly have used them in such a positive way to describe the Kingdom of God.
The Bad
On the other hand, we have scriptures that tell us about the utter wickedness and depravity of mankind.
Jeremiah 17:9
"The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
Paul wrote the following in Romans.
Romans 8:7-8
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
The Bible tells us that the human heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. The carnal mind is hostile to God and cannot be subject to His law. Many believe these scriptures prove that man is evil and that each of us was born a sinner.
The Answer
What is the answer to this seeming conflict? Are we born evil or are we not? The Bible indicates man was not evil from the beginning. Christ did not condemn little children as evil. Yet beyond a doubt, the Bible is full of scriptures detailing the evil that is in man. If Adam and Eve were not evil from the beginning and little children are not evil at birth, then what happened?
The answer is back in the Garden of Eden. Human beings were made physical and were created with free moral agency. Adam and Eve were shown two trees in the Garden and given a choice. They could choose of the tree of life or they could eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and die. They had a choice of life and death. At this point they were neither good nor evil. Their character and way of life had not been set. Paul revealed in I Corinthians 2 that in the natural human state, man does not comprehend the things of God, things that are spiritual. Man has to be given the Spirit of God to understand the things of God. The Bible thus indicates that man is incomplete. In our natural, physical state, we are missing something. We need the Spirit of God.
Adam and Eve were given access to the tree of life and to the Spirit of God. They were given a choice. Everything was good in the Garden. They had all they needed; they were surrounded by beauty and had access to the Creator God. But when they faced their first test, when they had a chance to choose the way of the tree of life, they turned their back on God and chose the way of the deceiver, Satan the Devil. They thought they were choosing to determine for themselves what was right or wrong. Instead, they chose to let the deceiver lead them and tell them what to do. They rejected God and accepted Satan. They gave their heart and mind to their lord, the devil. At that moment, they chose to acquire Satan’s nature. They chose to let Satan stamp His brand on them. Ever since, man has been deceived. What humans believe is the nature of man is in reality the nature of the Devil.
There in the Garden, Adam and Eve made a choice which founded this world’s civilizations and systems. They chose to base everything upon the mind and attitude of Satan. They set the course for all future humans who would be born. Little babies are born with no evil thoughts. But the environment they come into is a hostile one. They are brought up by parents who practice the way of life that has been handed down to all humans by the first man, Adam. If that training and immersion into Satan’s system is not enough, Satan is constantly broadcasting his attitudes of hate and lust and rebellion. Every human, soon after birth, begins to acquire Satan’s nature of hostility and enmity towards God. Each of us is born without sin. But the world we have grown up in has written on the tablets of our heart a way of life that is desperately wicked. We have grown up in a world that has encouraged us to continually partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and to continue the course set by Adam.
The Purpose
So what is the nature of man? The Bible indicates that we humans are not evil at birth; we are not born sinners. We are born physical, weak and incomplete. As we grow up in this world, we acquire Satan’s nature. But even in the midst of Satan’s system, God offers something different. He offers us the opportunity to acquire His Divine nature. He encourages us to choose the way of the tree of life. He provides us His Spirit to help us make the transition from the way of Satan’s nature to His. That transition is not easy. Paul wrote about the struggle he experienced in the inner man between the way of the flesh and the way of the Spirit (Romans 7).
God made us physical and has presented us with a choice. He knows that if we choose to acquire His nature and will struggle to overcome our inner pulls and weaknesses in this life, then He can trust us with eternal life. The struggle we experience on a daily basis is a good one. Our struggle to choose the good and reject the bad is how we set our character. Our daily positive choices show God we want His Divine Nature and that we will struggle to get rid of Satan’s evil nature.
Every day we must choose to make the nature of man one that is characterized by “… love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Those are fruits of the Spirit, fruits that come by choosing the Tree of Life. Those are fruits of God’s Divine Nature. That is the nature we must acquire. When we have acquired that nature, we will have fulfilled the divine purpose for our existence.
posted by Manuel at 9:47 PM
2 Comments:
When you mentioned that some people are just born troublemakers, I couldn't help but slump down in my seat a little, but then when you didn't mention me by name I felt relieved. I was sure you were going to reveal what the "T" in TMan stood for.
Seriously, we truly look forward to your sermonettes and are appreciative that you post them. I like being able to look back at a sermon or sermonette and catch something I may have missed because of a distraction or that just may have slipped my mind since. Keep 'em comin'!
LOL.
Thanks for the encouraging words!
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