Ephesians

Understanding the Sinful Nature

According to the Bible, the sinful nature is identified with the mortal body. In Romans 8 the apostle says, “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10). We would say, “The body is dying because of sin,” but the apostle looks on to the end and says that it is as good as dead already. We all agree with this. We all must die, we say. In this temporary state before the resurrection, the body is the seat of sin or the sinful nature—this evil principle of self-centeredness in each of us. So the sinful nature is with us for life. We shall never escape it until that wonderful day of the resurrection from the dead.

But the body, soul, and spirit of a human being are inextricably tied together. No one can understand this. Where does your soul live in your body? You don’t know—but you know that you have a soul, though no one can locate it in the body. The relationship between the body, soul, and spirit is beyond our comprehension. But because they are so inextricably tied together, the sinful nature, linked to the body, touches the whole human being in all dimensions. This means that the devil can influence us through the channel of the sinful nature. Through the channel of the mind, the devil makes his appeal to our human pride. Through our emotions, he works on our fears. And through our senses, he appeals to our desire for pleasure.

At the same time, it is important to notice that God also reaches out to us through the channel of our sinful human nature—through our mind, emotions, and senses. Through the mind we read and understand His Word. Through our emotions, we reach out to Him in prayer. Through our senses, we experience His goodness and love in nature and in His provision for us.

If both God and the devil reach us through these channels of our sinful human nature, then how does God’s approach differ from Satan’s? The difference is simply this: God moves to create balance, harmony, and beauty. The devil moves to create an imbalance, an extreme. God reaches us through our senses and enables us to enjoy the good and beautiful things in life in harmonious balance: a good meal, a good film, a good book, and good sex with our spouse in a protective enclosure of the marriage commitment. Satan reaches us through our senses and drives us toward obsessive and addictive behavior with these good things: we become gluttons, alcoholics, drug addicts, pornography addicts, violence addicts, and promiscuous sex addicts.

It is the same in the realm of our human minds. God reaches us through our intellect, enabling us to understand and appreciate His truth. Satan reaches us through our intellectual pride, turning us into cold, extreme rationalists, agnostics, and atheists. Satan’s ploy is to take our natural desire for the good things of God and to push us toward extremes of thought, emotional obsession, and behavioral imbalance.

The devil appeals to our fears. God appeals to our faith. From faith comes hope and love—but the devil continually pushes toward the opposite extreme. Again and again, Jesus’ word to His followers was, “Do not be afraid. Do not be troubled. Do not be anxious.” Why? “Because I am with you.” Faith produces courage and hope. Fear produces discouragement and despair. That’s why Satan works so hard at producing fear in our lives—he wants to undermine our effectiveness for God. He wants us to feel defeated. He wants to destroy God’s work in us.

In dependence upon God, we must not allow that to happen. As Christians we are salt and light. Salt is a preservative. Light is illumination. Our presence in the world preserves society against destruction and illuminates the world with the light of God’s truth. We are here on this battlefield called Planet Earth in order to do battle with Satan and satanic forces—not in our strength but in the strength of the Lord. If we were not here, holding back the darkness, human society would be a planet-wide hell. By telling the Christian story, teaching Christian values, and living out Christian character, we make possible—despite the horrors and evils of this world—those moments of goodness and joy in life that even non-Christians are able to experience.

Now, as we are moving closer than ever to the last days, as the darkness of the demon-dominated systems of this world closes in around us, Paul’s trumpet call sounds louder than ever: “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:10-11).

God has made a provision for us to defeat the schemes of the devil—and the power to defeat him begins with a humble recognition of our own weakness and God’s great strength. That is why Paul does not say, “Be strong in your own willpower,” or, “Be strong in your own emotions and intellect.” He says, “Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.”

It is when we recognize our own weakness that God is able to unleash His power through us. God has provided the means by which we can stand in the fiery battle that rages not only around us but also within us. We can live in victory.

Ephesians Appendix: References to Spiritual Gifts in Scripture

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