Dealing with the Sinful Nature

One lazy afternoon a turtle was swimming happily along a lake. As the turtle was nearing land, he heard a scorpion hail it from the muddy shore. A scorpion, being a very poor swimmer, asked the turtle if he would carry him on his back across the lake. The turtle thought it was the craziest thing he ever heard. “Why would I carry you on my back?” he boomed, “You’ll sting me while I’m swimming and I’ll drown.” “My dear turtle friend,” laughed the scorpion, “if I were to sting you, you would drown, and I would go down with you and drown as well. Now, where is the logic in that?” The turtle pondered this for a moment and eventually saw the logic in the scorpion’s statement. “You’re right!” said the turtle with a smile. “Hop on!” So, the scorpion climbed aboard, and the turtle paddled his big fins in the water. Halfway across the lake, the scorpion gave the turtle a big sting, and he started to drown. As they both sank into the water the turtle turned to the scorpion with a tear in his eye. “My dear scorpion friend, why did you sting me? Now we are both going to drown.” The turtle was gasping for air, “Where is the… logic in that?” “It has nothing to do with logic,” the scorpion sadly replied, “it’s just my nature.”

The scorpion was doing what was in his nature, that is what he knew, nothing else. Being a beast, he does not go on logic but instinct. How are we to deal with our sinful, beastly nature? The seriousness is if we don’t deal with it, we will end up dying as well. Let us see if we cannot get a deeper understanding of the word “sin.”

Sin means an offense, habit, or practice that degrades or corrupts, a transgression of the law (Torah) of God, to be estranged (loss of former closeness) from God [1].

Thayer’s Dictionary states “flesh” as the sensuous nature of man, “the animal nature.” The flesh denotes (indicates) mere human nature, the early nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God [2]. 

Ps. 51:3, “For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin (offense) is always before me.” 

Galatians 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

We can see here that these are attributes of us following our natural desires, our carnal, fleshy nature. Flesh makes us prone to sin (offend), and we miss our inheritance of the kingdom of God. 

Numbers 32:23, “But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the LORD; be sure your sin will find you out.” The Lord sees everything and the motives behind our actions as well. We can see that the literal interpretation of sin is doing what our fleshly, beastly carnal nature desires. That we can not hide it from God and it is always with us… but there is also a spiritual interpretation of sin meaning “ignorance of God’s Word.” When we are in ignorance, we are in the state of being ignorant, meaning we are in lack of knowledge or intelligence. 

When we have no deeper understanding, we lack knowledge. Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” The Hebrew meaning of knowledge is to know (properly to ascertain by seeing). The people are destroyed because they’re in darkness (no light) because of their lack of seeing and understanding the Scripture. They are not seeing with their spiritual eyes but looking through with their physical eyes, and therefore no transformation is happening.

When we are in lack, we are deficient or missing something. In Hebrew the word sin means: to miss the mark by not fully understanding Jesus and having his divine nature (character and function) within us. When we do not understand the deeper meaning of what sin is, we are left in darkness (no light) because we are looking through the flesh and not by the spirit. 

Romans 8:5, 8 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh [which gratify the body], but those who are living according to the Spirit, [set their minds on] the things of the Spirit [His will and purpose] and those who are in the flesh [living a life that caters to sinful appetites and impulses] cannot please God.”

When we do not open up the scriptures and study to see the deeper meaning, we miss knowing who Jesus is, and therefore we miss the mark or the target goal.

James 1:14-15, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin (ignorance, habits); and sin (ignorance, habits), when it is full-grown, brings forth death (physical and spiritual).” 

If we do not study the scriptures and take the time to have that intimate relationship with Jesus, how can we say we know him? When you start a relationship with a person you take the time to get to know them, you talk with them, you listen to them, you are excited to be with them. You want to know everything about them. That is what Jesus wants to have with each and every one of us. We have to get our desires out of the way because our flesh does not want to be submissive to the spirit it wants to be in control. 

Romans 8:8-9, “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit  of God dwells in you.”

Galatians 6:7-8, ”Do not be deceived, God is not mocked [He will not allow Himself to be ridiculed, nor treated with contempt nor allow His precepts to be scornfully set aside]; for whatever a man sows, this and this only is what he will reap. For the one who sows to his flesh [his sinful capacity, his worldliness, his disgraceful impulses] will reap from the flesh ruin and destruction, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” 

When we sow we are setting something into motion. It is an action. The way we understand the scriptures will determine what kind of harvest we will produce. The outcome is our choice as we were given a free will. The Greek meaning of corruption: decay, rottenness, decomposition. Thayer’s definition of flesh: the animal nature with cravings which incite to sin. When we choose to live by our beastly animal nature we set into motion the decaying of our body/soul for without the living word and spirit which gives life through truth we will die. [2]

John 8:12, “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” When you have no understanding you are in darkness and when you understand you are in the light.”

1 John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin (ignorance, habits).”

We must kill those fleshly desires which cause us to have an offense against Jesus by remaining ignorant in His word because we do not know the deeper understandings that give us life through the spirit. The moral character of a man’s actions is determined by the moral state of his heart. Let ours be one of light and not darkness.

References:
1. Merriam Dictionary
2. Thayer’s Dictionary 
3. All scripture references are from the NKJV or AMP Bible versions

Keywords:
Sinful 
Beastly Nature 
Flesh
Light
Death
Jesus