Ephesians

The Sinful Nature

The second channel by which the devil indirectly assaults us is that which the Bible calls “the sinful nature.” This is a term that describes the human urge to self-centeredness, the distortion of human nature that makes us want to be our own god. The sinful nature is the proud human ego, the uncrucified self, the seat of willful defiance and rebellion against God’s authority.

We are all born with this channel, the sinful nature, built into us. We never had to be taught or trained to be rebellious or selfish—it came naturally. It is a sin-distortion of the beauty God intended and created us to have. It is the part of us described by Romans 3:23, which says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The sinful nature is that inner urge toward total independence, toward being our own little gods. It is our inner core of self-centeredness. The devil can gain access to us through our sin nature and attack us indirectly—and with devastating effectiveness.

You can immediately see how universal this is. We all have what the Bible calls “the sinful nature” within us, and it is a battlefield. This is not something remote from us, nor something that only a chosen few Christians must face. This is universal. All of us, without exception, are on the front lines of this war, every moment of our lives. We cannot escape it, we cannot run from it, we cannot leave it behind. We must learn how to be victorious soldiers in this war.