Our Fallen Nature
For us to understand personal change, we must understand something of the nature of man. The Bible defines us as fallen. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil” (Jer 13:23 NIV). “The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so” (Rm 8:7 NIV). How did this begin? Well, let’s go to Genesis, the book of beginnings.
The fall of man is described in Genesis three. Genesis three deals with issues we must understand if we’re to understand ourselves. Let’s take a look. Before the fall, God’s love and care inspired our first parents with love and trust. This motivated their cooperation or as the Bible often puts it, obedience. They followed God because they trusted Him. They saw His guidance as in their best interests. They rested in His care.
How do we know that? It’s simple. These are the same principles meant to motivate change in the new covenant which is also referred to as the everlasting covenant for it’s principles are not arbitrary. They were not simply thought up for the occasion, they are eternal principles. The purpose of salvation is to bring us back to this relationship from which we have fallen.
The fall resulted in a break in man's healthy relationship with God. Eve was confronted by Satan, the deceiver, disguised as a serpent. He accused God of deception and withholding good from her. “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it [the tree of knowledge] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”. Satan challenged God’s love and care. He attacked man’s trust in God.
People often ask why Christianity is based on faith. This is nothing unusual. Christianity is relational. It’s based, as all other relationships, on our perception of the person we are relating to. Are they kind, patient, and compassionate; or are they authoritarian, vengeful and cruel? The way we see a person determines whether we’ll trust them. It sets the atmosphere for that relationship.
It’s by faith we accept what we see in people. Character is not something you weigh or measure. It’s qualities and characteristics can’t be seen. We don’t eat them, live in them, or drive them; we experience them. The results may be apparent, but character is subjective. We accept what we see by faith.
The way we see our presidents exemplify this. Some of us have faith in them; some of us don’t. Faith, or the lack of it, is based on our perception of them. That’s the way it is in our relationship with God. We have evidence and a character reference, the word of God. How we understand and relate to these facts, our perception of them, determines the nature of that relationship.
Eve bought the lie. She saw that the serpent could talk. He hadn’t died as God had said. His words, and the evidence of her senses, backed up what the serpent said. She ate the fruit. Now what? She did not die; or did she? Her faith in God died. Their relationship had been fractured.
It’s faith that makes relationships possible. It’s faith that makes our relationship with God possible. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God
must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb 11:6). Faith trusts that God loves us and wants our best. That’s why we follow Him. Eve did die. She died spiritually. Her relationship with God was fractured.
Distrust brought about a spiritual separation. Natural consequences and God’s necessary response created even more questions in Adam and Eve’s minds – many of the same questions we might ask. Why such dire consequences for such a seemingly insignificant act? Why couldn’t God simply forgive? Was this truly fair? Was God really just? These doubts and questions needed answers, but that would take time.
We see spiritual separation in human relationships marred by adultery. There’s a fracture that results through lack of faith in a common commitment. God characterizes our own distrust as spiritual adultery.
The results of this relational separation from God were profound. Her distrust resulted in a shift to default mode. Now I take care of me. No longer trusting a loving heavenly father, it’s down to me.
Not only did Adam and Eve lose their trust relationship with God, they lost something more. “He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (Jn 7:38). “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall
never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst” (Jn 6:35). These images picture the result of our resting in God’s love and care. This atmosphere gives us spiritual life. Living in that atmosphere lifts us above the problems of this world to an atmosphere that influences everything. This loss was devastating!
The results were fast in coming. Adam no sooner ate the fruit than the effects of separation are seen. Their peace was shattered. In his new found guilt and fear he points to Eve as the one at fault. “The woman you gave to be with me - she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” He blamed Eve, and by inference God, in his need to justify his actions. Selfishness and self-justification, the result of separation, began to cast their baleful shadow over our lives.
When I distrust God, I am basically on my own. The result, selfishness, is a need driven existence. Why need driven? Who is going to take care of me if I don’t take care of myself? Many are the ways we try to mask this fact but, if I don’t trust God, it’s down to me. Our natural and appropriate needs are distorted into three great “lusts”:
“the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (I Jn 2:16). Sensuality, materialism, pride, and fear of loss become driving forces in our lives. They motivate and distort our lives. This is the basis for sin and our sinful nature. It is not a germ or gene, it’s the result of a broken relationship.
The first few verses of Romans 7 point out the importance of faith and our relationship with God.
Copyright Patrick Fagenstrom, 2004, edited 7/2013
For us to understand personal change, we must understand something of the nature of man. The Bible defines us as fallen. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil” (Jer 13:23 NIV). “The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so” (Rm 8:7 NIV). How did this begin? Well, let’s go to Genesis, the book of beginnings.
The fall of man is described in Genesis three. Genesis three deals with issues we must understand if we’re to understand ourselves. Let’s take a look. Before the fall, God’s love and care inspired our first parents with love and trust. This motivated their cooperation or as the Bible often puts it, obedience. They followed God because they trusted Him. They saw His guidance as in their best interests. They rested in His care.
How do we know that? It’s simple. These are the same principles meant to motivate change in the new covenant which is also referred to as the everlasting covenant for it’s principles are not arbitrary. They were not simply thought up for the occasion, they are eternal principles. The purpose of salvation is to bring us back to this relationship from which we have fallen.
The fall resulted in a break in man's healthy relationship with God. Eve was confronted by Satan, the deceiver, disguised as a serpent. He accused God of deception and withholding good from her. “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it [the tree of knowledge] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”. Satan challenged God’s love and care. He attacked man’s trust in God.
People often ask why Christianity is based on faith. This is nothing unusual. Christianity is relational. It’s based, as all other relationships, on our perception of the person we are relating to. Are they kind, patient, and compassionate; or are they authoritarian, vengeful and cruel? The way we see a person determines whether we’ll trust them. It sets the atmosphere for that relationship.
It’s by faith we accept what we see in people. Character is not something you weigh or measure. It’s qualities and characteristics can’t be seen. We don’t eat them, live in them, or drive them; we experience them. The results may be apparent, but character is subjective. We accept what we see by faith.
The way we see our presidents exemplify this. Some of us have faith in them; some of us don’t. Faith, or the lack of it, is based on our perception of them. That’s the way it is in our relationship with God. We have evidence and a character reference, the word of God. How we understand and relate to these facts, our perception of them, determines the nature of that relationship.
Eve bought the lie. She saw that the serpent could talk. He hadn’t died as God had said. His words, and the evidence of her senses, backed up what the serpent said. She ate the fruit. Now what? She did not die; or did she? Her faith in God died. Their relationship had been fractured.
It’s faith that makes relationships possible. It’s faith that makes our relationship with God possible. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God
must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb 11:6). Faith trusts that God loves us and wants our best. That’s why we follow Him. Eve did die. She died spiritually. Her relationship with God was fractured.
Distrust brought about a spiritual separation. Natural consequences and God’s necessary response created even more questions in Adam and Eve’s minds – many of the same questions we might ask. Why such dire consequences for such a seemingly insignificant act? Why couldn’t God simply forgive? Was this truly fair? Was God really just? These doubts and questions needed answers, but that would take time.
We see spiritual separation in human relationships marred by adultery. There’s a fracture that results through lack of faith in a common commitment. God characterizes our own distrust as spiritual adultery.
The results of this relational separation from God were profound. Her distrust resulted in a shift to default mode. Now I take care of me. No longer trusting a loving heavenly father, it’s down to me.
Not only did Adam and Eve lose their trust relationship with God, they lost something more. “He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (Jn 7:38). “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall
never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst” (Jn 6:35). These images picture the result of our resting in God’s love and care. This atmosphere gives us spiritual life. Living in that atmosphere lifts us above the problems of this world to an atmosphere that influences everything. This loss was devastating!
The results were fast in coming. Adam no sooner ate the fruit than the effects of separation are seen. Their peace was shattered. In his new found guilt and fear he points to Eve as the one at fault. “The woman you gave to be with me - she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” He blamed Eve, and by inference God, in his need to justify his actions. Selfishness and self-justification, the result of separation, began to cast their baleful shadow over our lives.
When I distrust God, I am basically on my own. The result, selfishness, is a need driven existence. Why need driven? Who is going to take care of me if I don’t take care of myself? Many are the ways we try to mask this fact but, if I don’t trust God, it’s down to me. Our natural and appropriate needs are distorted into three great “lusts”:
“the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (I Jn 2:16). Sensuality, materialism, pride, and fear of loss become driving forces in our lives. They motivate and distort our lives. This is the basis for sin and our sinful nature. It is not a germ or gene, it’s the result of a broken relationship.
The first few verses of Romans 7 point out the importance of faith and our relationship with God.
Copyright Patrick Fagenstrom, 2004, edited 7/2013