Cheryl Schatz

Greg,
You have brought up an excellent question for discussion.

I think that first of all that there is an issue of definitions that needs to be discussed. In my discussions with Calvinists, they have told me that the “sin nature” that we have inherited makes us a “sinner” and means that we are guilty of sin from the time that we are an unborn baby in the womb. However their definition is faulty and this meaning is not found in the Bible. The “sin nature” is not actual sin and so we cannot be a “sinner” just from the “sin nature”. There must be personal sin that accompanies it for us to be actual sinners. So while a young child may have the natural desire to sin (and this is the sin nature) there is no guilt until actual sin is committed. No one will ever go to hell for having a “sin nature”. They go for their own actual and practiced sin and rebellion.

One can also argue that humankind has an inherited ability to do great good and therefore fulfill the law of Christ (Romans 2:14-16).

Romans 2:14-16 doesn’t say that. It says that the Gentiles have a conscience within them that is a law to them. Paul also says that their conscience sometimes defends them and sometimes accuses them depending on whether or not they follow their conscience. But these verses doesn’t say that we have a ability to fulfill the law of Christ. After all, if we were able to fulfill the law of Christ, then we would not have needed Christ to die for us. We could have made it on our own through doing good things if that is all it takes.

So where’s the rub? Do humans have no ability to do the right thing and make the world a better place?

Sure. Some say that unregenerate man can not do a single thing that is good, but I don’t see that in the Scriptures. Jesus said that those who are evil can give what is good.

Matthew 7:11 (NASB)
11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

But is our ability to do good enough to say that we are basically good? It is interesting to see the the humanistic view is that we are basically good.

Carl Rogers says: I do not find that…evil is inherent in human nature. Carl Rogers was an influential American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology.

But the Biblical world view is at odds with this view as we are told that we have desires inside that are part of our fleshly nature and these desires are not good.

Galatians 5:16–18 (TNIV)
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

There is a battle going on between the Spirit and the “natural” desires of our carnal “fleshly” nature. We have been tainted by the fall, not by someone else’s sin coming on us, but by a nature that we are at war with. For if we give in to the sinful nature within us, Paul says that we will die.

Romans 8:13 (LEB)
13 For if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Paul talks about this inner war with his sin nature that he needs to fight and win through Christ.

Romans 7:15–23 (LEB)
15 For what I am doing I do not understand, because what I want to do, this I do not practice, but what I hate, this I do. 16 But if what I do not want to do, this I do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that lives in me. 18 For I know that good does not live in me, that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but the evil that I do not want to do, this I do. 20 But if what I do not want to do, this I am doing, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that lives in me.
21 Consequently, I find the principle with me, the one who wants to do good, that evil is present with me. 22 For I joyfully agree with the law of God in my inner person, 23 but I observe another law in my members, at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that exists in my members.

Since the bible says that even those who are evil can do good, why is it that Paul says that there is no good in him? The answer is that although we can all do good, we are not good. Our deeds can include good, but our nature is not good. There is evil in the human nature that comes from the fall.

The truth claim in the Bible is that man is fallen and his heart is desperately wicked. The world’s philosophy is that man is basically good and that he should get in touch with his own inner desires so that he can have self actualization and save himself through self-oriented pursuits.

It is a cosmic battle that rages over two dimetrically opposed truth claims. Man is not intrinsically good but he has evil living within him and so mankind needs divine grace, regeneration and redemption. If we were created as good and perfect human beings without a “natural desire” to sin, then it would be possible for one of Adam’s offspring to live without sin. But the truth is that all have sinned and our natural desires are to continue to sin. Where does the natural desire to sin come from? Scripture says that one man brought sin into the world. Where did this sin go when it came into the world?

If there is no sin nature (or natural desire for sin) then the sin that Adam brought into the world didn’t go anywhere. It just died with him. But the Scriptures talk about a “spread” of sin that has spread to all. This natural desire for sin lives in each one of us and it comes from the rebellion of the one man.

I would like to challenge anyone who thinks that we as humans do not have the natural inclination to sin within us that has been inherited from Adam, to bring as much Scriptural proof for their position. Let’s not just argue from our reasoning, but let’s discuss the texts.

Thanks, Greg, for bringing a text onto the table. I don’t think that it proves your point, but it was nice to see Scripture here instead of just an argument.