The best way to understand human nature is by paying attention to how Scripture describes it. People are poor, miserable creatures as described by the words of Jesus, “That which is born of flesh is flesh” (John 3:6). The apostle Paul declares, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot” (Rom. 8:6-7). Is it true that the flesh is so perverse that it is perpetually resisting God with all its might? Is it true that cannot obey the righteousness of the divine law? In other words, the flesh can only bring forth that which brings forth death. 

If human nature is nothing but the “flesh,” then good luck trying to pull anything good out of it! Some people might object that the term “flesh” only refers to the physical aspects of a person, but not to the higher parts of the soul. But both the words of Jesus and Paul refute such thinking. Jesus claims that people must be born again because they are “flesh.” He’s not talking about being born again with a body. Furthermore, a mind is not “born again” because only part of it has been reformed. It must be totally renewed. The need for complete renovation is confirmed by the antithesis used in both passages. There is no “in between” state between the Spirit and the flesh. Everything in people which is not renewed by the Holy Spirit falls under the control of the flesh. 

We have no spiritual good in us except through the Holy Spirit’s work to regenerate us. Everything in our natural states comes from the “flesh.” If you doubt this teaching consider the words of Paul in Ephesians 4. He first describes the “old man” as someone who is “courrpt through deceitful desires” (4:23). Paul bids people to be “renewed in the spirit” of their minds. Paul places our unlawful and depraved desires not merely in our physical bodies, but in the mind itself. Therefore, even our minds need to be renewed. Moreover, a little bit earlier in his letter, he draws a picture of human natures which shows that every part of it is corrupted. Paul exhorts his readers: “You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Eph. 4:17-18). His words apply to everyone who has not been renewed by the Lord. After describing humanity’s condition, he adds that believers have “not learned Christ in this way,” implying that the grace which comes from Christ is the only remedy for spiritual blindness and its evil consequences (Eph. 4:20). 

Isaiah also depicts the regenerating work of Christ. When Isaiah prophesied about the kingdom of Christ, the Lord promised the Church that although darkness should “cover the earth, and thick darkness all the people,” eventually he will “arise” upon it and “his glory” will be seen on it (Isa. 60:2). If divine light will arise on the Church alone, everyone outside the Church are left to blindness and darkness. 

I won’t go through all the Scriptures, especially in the Psalms and prophets which speak about the futility of human nature. David points out the fleeting nature of human life: “Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath” (Ps. 62:9). The human mind receives a humbling blow when all its thoughts are derided as foolish, frivolous, perverse, and insane. 

“Blogging the Institutes” is my on-going attempt to paraphrase John Calvin’s work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion. You can find out more about the series in the Introduction. For all the posts in this series, check out the Master List.