Unregenerate Man
UNREGENERATE MAN
Since the fall, unregenerate man has been characterized by a quality of sinfulness. The Westminster Confession defines sin as “any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God.” This definition is taken from the pages of John's first epistle.
Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. (1 John 3:4).
All unrighteousness is sin... (1 John 5:17 a). In addressing those who had rejected Him, Jesus spoke of the nature of the one who follows in the footsteps of Satan.
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies. (John 8:44). The word “nature” is supplied by the translators, yet the idea is present as it tells us that the devil speaks from what he is. He is a liar and a liar tells lies. That is what makes him a liar. In much the same way, we can say that sinners sin because they are sinners. It is who they are. It is a part of their nature to sin.
Sin is a continuing choice.
Though this sin has been both imputed and inherited, it is also the result of man's continuing choice. Man continues to be in a state of ongoing rebellion against God. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18).
Paul's language is set in the most general terms. He takes us to a vantage point from which we can look at unregenerate man as a whole. It is not that unregenerate man has no knowledge of what is true. God has revealed truth to him. It is that he makes a decision to suppress that truth and to replace it with a lie of his own making. This brings up an interesting point. It is that no one can stop believing. There is something within you that demands you believe in something. You cannot help yourself. You are a believing creature. If you do not believe in God, then you will necessarily turn to believe in something else.
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. (Romans 1:21-23). When unregenerate man worships, he does not do it to get to the true God, but to move away from Him. Marx said that religion is the opium of the people, but the truth is that religion is an attempt to escape from God by constructing a substitute. Unregenerate man wants to worship a god of his own making.
Sin has an absolute character.
There is no neutral condition between good and evil, although there are degrees of both. You cannot remain neutral either to God or to sin. You are always on one side or the other.
He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. (Matthew 12:30).
You are never in neutral. You are either moving toward the Lord or you are moving away from Him. You are either on His side or you are against Him. The myth of philosophic neutrality says that man is able to look at God objectively and is able to make a decision about God merely by weighing the evidence for or against his existence. The truth is that no one is neutral when it comes to God. You are either for Him or you are against Him. Jesus said this in very straightforward terms.
He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters. (Matthew 12:30). The corollary to this principle is that its opposite is also true. Jesus went on to say on another instance, “He who is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:40). The point is that it is impossible to be neutral to the Lord. You are either on His side or you are against Him. You are either unregenerate or you are regenerate. You are either born again or you are still in your sins.
Sin is not limited to overt acts. The Pharisees seem to have adopted the idea that sin only involved overt and outward actions.
You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery”; 28 but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28). The law of God forbids men and women to engage in sexual relations outside the bonds of marriage. Jesus teaches us that this law does far more than to merely forbid outward actions. It also teaches an inward attitude. The Pharisees taught that you should not commit adultery, but it was assumed that anything short of adultery was permissible. Such a stance ignores the commandment which says, “You shall not covet your neighbor's wife” (Exodus 20:17). The law against coveting speaks against the corresponding inner attitudes pertaining to all of the other commandments. The standard given by Jesus goes far beyond that which was held by the scribes and the Pharisees. They were concerned with outward appearances. They said, “Look, but don't touch.” Jesus said, “Don't even look.” He is saying that God is not only concerned with what you do but also with what you think. This is not a new teaching.
If I regard wickedness in my heart,
The Lord will not hear (Psalms 66:18). Does this mean if you see a pretty girl and find her attractive, that you have sinned? Does it mean that if you find yourself suddenly tempted with an impure thought that you are in sin? I do not think so. Rather, it is when you take that impure thought and begin to entertain it that you move from natural desires to sin. The Transmission of Sin.
Man was created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). We have defined that in the context of Genesis to speak of his rulership over the creation, though these are likely many other points of similarity. When Adam fell into sin, that image was tarnished and infected with the disease of sin. Adam's descendants were not born in the image of God, but in Adam's fallen image. When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. (Genesis 5:3).
Adam's sinful state was passed on to all of his descendants so that all men find themselves in a sinful state. Man continues to be in the image of God (1 Corinthians 11:7; James 3:9), but that is today a tarnished image in that God is without sin while man is a sinner. The Universality of Sin. The Scriptures uniformly teach that all of mankind is in a state of sin. All have sinned and all continue to sin.
2 The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God.
3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
There is no one who does good, not even one. (Psalms 14:2-3). Who can say, "I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin "? (Proverbs 20:9).
Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. (Ecclesiastes 7:20). For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The parallel passages in 1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10 are particularly compelling as they speak both to our present condition as well as our past condition.
1 John 1:8|1 John 1:10|
If we say that we have no sin...|If we say that we have not sinned...|
...we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.|...we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.|
Each of these passages bears testimony of man's fallen condition. We have all sinned and fallen short of that which is commanded us by our Creator. We are sinners both because we sin and also because it is our nature to sin. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (Ephesians 2:1-3).
Notice the part of this description that describes the state of the unbeliever as being “by nature” a child of wrath. The story is told of a man living in India who was trapped by a flood. He made his way to some high ground and found that a tiger had also come to this small refuge. The tiger was completely docile in the face of the floor, yet the man took his gun and shot the tiger. Why? Because he knew that after a day or so the tiger would become hungry and that he would become a threat. The tiger is a hunter and a meat eater. It is a part of his nature. So it is with the unregenerate man. He is by nature a child of wrath and a sinner. The Extent of Sin.
It has become customary to speak in theological circles of “total depravity.” What does this term imply?
It does NOT mean...|It DOES mean...|
• That every man is as bad as he can be.
• That the sinner has no knowledge of God.
• That the sinner has no conscience that can discriminate between good and evil.
• That man is no longer in the image of God.|• That every part of man has been affected and infected by sin.
• That the sinner has no spiritual good within himself that makes him deserving of God's mercy.|
Total depravity means that you are a total sinner, but it does not mean that you sin totally. When we speak of total depravity, we should also speak of man's total inability. By this, we mean that man in his own strength is unable to fulfill the demands of God's law. Indeed, he is unable even to appropriate the things of the Lord. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart, the unbeliever does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. He looks at the things of the Spirit of God and wants no part of them because he deems them to be foolishness. It is only when the Spirit has come and done a regenerating work within him that he will begin to accept the things of the Spirit of God. Paul describes the unregenerate man when he speaks to the Ephesians about their former lifestyle prior to coming to Christ. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (Ephesians 2:1-3).
Notice the elements of this description. It speaks to your former condition, your former manner of life, and your former family connection.
Spiritually dead: You were dead in your trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).
Walking in sin: You formerly walked according to the course of this world (Ephesians 2:2). By nature children of wrath: We... were by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). A pig acts like a pig because he is a pig by nature. It is a part of his makeup and nature to act in such a way. You can dress him up and give him sheep lessons, but the pig nature will eventually emerge. This is why humanistic efforts at reformation so often meet with dismal failure. They are operating under the wrong assumption that mankind is not all that bad. More often than not, the education of a criminal results, not in an honest citizen, but in an educated criminal. It is because there is no change from the inside out. Man is, at his heart, a sinner. He sins because it is a part of his very nature to sin. When he sins, he is acting in accordance to who and what he is.
How does this impact man's free will? Augustine taught that man continues to have a free will, but he is not morally free because of his sinful nature. His free will, such as it is, is only free to operate within the confines of his sinful nature. We can illustrate Augustine's fourfold view of man like this:
Pre-Fall Man|Post-Fall Man|Reborn Man|Glorified Man|
Able to sin|Able to sin|Able to sin|Able not to sin|
Able not to sin|Unable not to sin|Able not to sin|Unable to sin| Benefits of Understanding Total Depravity.
There are good and sufficient reasons why the doctrine of total depravity is presented in the Bible and why we ought to be aware of this teaching.
It will stop you from unjustly judging others. We are warned against judging until we have first judged ourselves (Matthew 7:5). That does not mean you cannot discern the sin in someone else and it does not disallow church discipline to take place, but it means that we enter into such activities with a sense of our own failings.
It will clear up any false teachings regarding your own works for salvation. We are saved by works; but it is not our own works of righteousness, but those done by Jesus Christ and imputed to us through faith.
It will help you to understand yourself. God, in His grace, only lets you see the tip of the iceberg of the sin in your own heart. As you grow in Christ, He sometimes allows you to see just a little more. Such self revelations are designed to drive you to the cross.