Since the Fall in the Garden, man has inveterately tested God’s patience. This habit is clearly illustrated in the microcosm of the household, where children test their parents’ patience via disobedience. Eventually, the children suffer the consequences (assuming the parents are active and upholding their duties). I place specific emphasis on the word eventually here because, with God, the outcome is absolute. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7). To an unregenerate person, this is an idle threat. This person argues that since they don’t subscribe to the demands of the Holy God of the Universe, they are loosed from His sovereign right to administer justice that affects them, personally.
Man is so depraved that his natural heart actually celebrates disrespecting his Creator. As foul as this may seem to a believer in Christ – we are in possession of a new heart – it is normal thinking for an unbeliever. Historical accounts, including those recorded in the Bible, have proven man’s propensity for all things antagonistic to God. In fairness to carnal man, this is all he is able to be, nothing better, being wholly depraved. Therefore, it follows that he would behave the way he does.
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and thatevery intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
— Genesis 6:5
The above verse reveals a completeness in man’s depraved nature, leaving no room in his natural heart for anything purely good to exist, for every part of his essence has been polluted by sin. David said, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me,” (Psalm 51:5) because he knew of his natural plight. This is the hallmark of any repentant person – humility in the face of human depravity. Even this is something that must be stirred by God the Holy Spirit in man, for in his natural estate, he is utterly arrogant.
What I write here and, more importantly, what the Word of God clearly reveals, isn’t popular at all, not even in Christian circles today. In fact, the greatest assaults I’ve ever endured have consistently come from so-called “brothers and sisters in Christ.” This may be a shocking revelation to some reading my words here, but it is nevertheless true, as awful as it sounds. The sad explanation for this is a very simple one – even Christians have been duped, grown complacent, and have sought conformity to the sentiments and sensibilities of the world rather than to God. I’m not throwing stones at anyone in particular here, just setting the foundation of my point that follows. What I say is to be expected, given the influence of sin in this world, even over believers. “For the imagination (the strong desire) of man’s heart is evil and wicked from his youth” (Genesis 8:21b). Job described natural man as “[drinking] iniquity like water” (Job 15:16b)! Man’s thirsts are not for God; rather, they are for the things that satiate his flesh.
A perfect example of this is when a person presents, even defends, an unbeliever as “good.” I actually think this may be one of the most common affronts that we believers must learn to handle because, in his natural estate, man’s estimation of his own righteousness/goodness is emboldened by hearty agreement from his peers (some of who may be professing Christians). It is a highly functioning economy between fallen men that doesn’t even require harmonious relationships to thrive. The currency in this economy is what many know as “creature credit” (derived from a scale of values based solely on self-righteousness – cp Romans 1:25). The issue with the aforementioned defense of the so-called “good” unbeliever is that God wholly disagrees (that’s a really big deal). It’s inconsequential if I (or you) disagree, for we are fallible and therefore open to question. God has said that natural man is literally incapable of doing any good in His eyes.
This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead.
— Ecclesiastes 9:3
The above argument usually progresses from here as follows; the worldly defender of “good” will contend that unbelievers can do good things, providing lists of reasons why this is true. For example, we must concede that unbelievers can/do accomplish the following: love their children, obey their parents, help others in need, sympathize with those suffering, work hard, respect their leaders, etc. While these things may be true, they do not address the actual issue of human depravity, and therefore they’ve missed presenting viable proof of man’s goodness.
In God’s eyes, good must sprout from a root of goodness; that is, all thoughts and behavior must be fruit of love for God, in subjection to His authority, and with the intent of glorifying Him. “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”(1 Corinthians 10:31b). A carnal person will never ask themselves, “Is what I’m doing right now glorifying God?”
What defenders of human goodness are actually revealing about themselves is a love for darkness. “The lamp [the light that guides the plow] of the wicked, is sin” (Proverbs 21:4b). “If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness” (Matthew 6:23b)! This type of labor is evil.
Those who defend the so-called good in this world and the supposed nobility of human nature must contend with Jesus’ own verdict on the subject. If they are unwilling, or unable, to agree with Jesus, they may rightly count themselves as being in greater fellowship with those they defend than with God!
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
— John 14:16-17
The trap for us believers, when confronted by defenders of human goodness, is to concede that the love of God isn’t an imperative. In a world filled with polluted souls, it’s easy to get tripped up by satanic arguments that are based on the presupposition that divine goodness can exist in the absence of love for God. Love is everything to us believers. Without love, we are lost, just like Jesus said, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Without love for God we are relegated to love for self. Selfish love never produces good in God’s eyes.
By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
— 1 John 3:10
But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
— 1 John 3:17
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
— 1 John 4:20-21
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
— Philippians 2:3-4
The next time someone proposes you accept an unregenerate person as “good,” know that God disagrees. What you’re experiencing in that moment is the deep roots of human depravity attempting to gather righteousness unto itself. While exalting someone arbitrarily as good may seem palatable at first, it’s no less evil than the satanic deception that was carried out in the Garden of Eden. Don’t take fruit of unrighteousness and suppose it’s something good for you to digest. It is rotten to the core, no matter how adamant or convincing your adversary may be (trust me, I’ve come across some pretty passionate defenders of human goodness). The Bible has equipped us with a single question that cuts through the smoke screen and illuminates satanic devices used to dismantle our defense (cp 1 Peter 3:15) – “Does this person truly love God?” If the answer is negative, from God’s perspective, there exists no good at all in them, for they remain selfish lovers, antithetical to God.
“The only reason why we do not more clearly see this foulness is because we are accustomed to it, just as those who work daily among offensive odours at last cease to smell them.”
— Charles H. Spurgeon
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins