When man fell into sin his nature became corrupt. By this we mean that his disposition, his desires, his appetites became prone to evil. Man’s very nature — his very instinct, was to do evil (in the Bible sense, everything which is not done to the glory of God is evil). Man does not sin in order to become a sinner — he sins because he is a sinner. Man, in his natural state, loves sin (Matthew 12:33; Matthew 15:19; John 3:19).

While in this state man’s will is a slave to man’s nature. So no man has a free will. There is no such thing as a free moral agent.

For example: place a piece of raw meat and a bowl of cereal in front of a lion.

Which will he choose?

The raw meat, of course.

Why?

Because he is by nature a meat eating animal. In a sense he was free to choose either the cereal or the meat, but in another sense he was not really free because he was controlled by his nature. Likewise, a spiritually dead sinner will always choose to do evil, he will always rebel against the demands of Christ in his life. He will always reject the gospel. Outwardly he may appear pleasant and good, but inwardly, he is always bad. And even his outward good works are bad in God’s eyes. This is because “whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23). The spiritually dead sinner does not have faith so everything he does is sinful in the eyes of God (Hebrews 11:6; II Thessalonians 3:2).

Questions

1. Why is even the action of a dead sinner when he is working at his normal occupation sin in the eyes of God? (Proverbs 21:4).

5. What does Matthew 7:15-20 mean? (I John 4:2-3).