HUMAN GOOD: A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE

[Ro 8:5a]:

"Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires;..."

Even the human good that people do is contaminated by the sin nature - by rebellious substitution of one's own idea of what they want to do as human good instead of what God has for them to do, (Eph 2:10); or by impure motives or thoughts at the very least; or by the motive of self-glory, (rather than for the glory of God), or for the purpose of earning or paying God back for the free gift of salvation. In any case, God views all of the human good that man does as outside of the influence of righteousness, i.e., unrighteous:

[Ro 6:20]:

"When you were slaves to sin [unbelievers are slaves to sin, (v. 6) and so are carnal believers, (vv. 12, 16)] you were free from the control of righteousness."

Such human good is unacceptable to God as contributing toward one's salvation or rewards in heaven:

[Titus 3:5a]:

"He [God our Savior, (v. 4)] saved us, not because of righeous things [human good] we had done, but because of His mercy."

and God actually views such human good as "filthy menstral rags":

[Isa 64:6]:

"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags [lit. filthy menstrual rags]."

God view our human good which is directed by our own sin nature motivation (as opposed to the divine good that man does which is directed by God the Holy Spirit within the faithful believer, Eph 2:10) as filthy menstrual rags..

A number of passages in Scripture indicate that unbelieving man and carnal believers are unable to do anything except evil or human good motivated by evil both of which are unacceptable in God's eyes:

[2 Cor 4:4]:

"The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God."

If one cannot see the light of the gospel of Christ then one is an unbeliever under the control of the sin nature, (Ro 6:17), or a carnal Christian acting as an unbeliever would; and unbelievers "cannot [are unable to] please God", (Ro 8:8). Therefore, unbelievers cannot obviously do ANY good that is acceptable to God - it is all "filthy menstral rags" (Isa 64:6), outside of the influence of righteousness, (Ro 6:20).

[Ro 8:7-8]:

(v. 7) "the sinful mind [includes ALL unbelievers and carnal Christians] is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.

(v. 8) Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."

Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot even do anything good that will be acceptable to God, only evil, even carnal Christians.

[Mt 7:21-23]:

(v. 21) "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven.

(v. 22) Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'

[In the name of Jesus these people performed many deeds of human good based on human reasoning of what they wanted to do to please God. They substituted for what God would have them do: first they should have trusted alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life and enablement by the Holy Spirit to then do the divine good works that God has set aside for them to do, (Eph 2:10)]

(v. 23) Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. [unbelievers]. Away from Me, you evildoers!"

[notice that the human good that the people earnestly plead as having been done for God is defined as evil by the Son of God]

[Jn 8:38-41a, 44]:

(v. 38) "I [Jesus] am telling you............."

[the Pharisees, (Jn 8:13), and by application, all unbelievers and carnal believers with respect to their allegiance and lifestyle]

(v. 38 cont.) "I [Jesus] am telling you [unbelievers and carnal believers] what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you [unbelievers and carnal believers] do what you have heard from your father.[the Devil] (v. 39) "'Abraham is our father, 'they answered.

'If you were Abraham's children,' said Jesus, 'then you would do the things Abraham did.

(v. 40) As it is, you are determined to kill Me, a Man Who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.

(v. 41a) You are doing the things your own father does.' "

(v. 43) Why is My language not clear to; you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.

(v. 44) "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires.

["desires" = "epithumias" = lusts]

(v. 44 cont) He [the Devil] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him, When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (v. 45) Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me!

(v. 46) Can any of you prove Me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe Me?

(v. 47) He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.' "

Here we have very clearly declared by the Lord that people are slaves of Satan by their natural birth. They are controlled by the devil through the sin nature. The slaves of Satan have no choice but to be subject to the will of their master, their father,

the devil. All that they do, even human good, is motivated out of their sin natures which are under Satan's control. They "do not believe" the truth even when presented by the Son of God because they "do not hear" it - they "are unable to hear" it. They do the things" Satan does, they want to "carry out his "desires".

[Eph 2:1-2]:

(v. 1) "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

(v. 2) in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient."

It is the devil who is the controlling force upon the wills of unbelievers and carnal believers. Satan demands that his slaves live a life of filthiness and of lawlessness. Now this life of filthiness and lawlessness is frequently hard to see because it is often covered over with a veneer of culture, human good, good manners or the hypocrisy of sophistication:

[Ro 6:20]:

"When you were slaves to sin, you were free [totally separated] from the control of righteousness."

So you have a group of people who form the majority of the world's population who are slaves to Satan who are pursuing the human good and the sins of their master and their father the devil. People, because of their arrogance, make a very serious mistake in thinking that they are free - they are not, they are slaves of Satan if they are not a slave of God and His righteousness. Slaves of Satan will experience what their father the Devil believes:

(Jn 8:43) Why is My language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.

[Because Satan has blinded and deafened the unbeliever to truth - to reality]

(Jn 8:44) "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires.

["desires" = "epithumias" = lusts.

Unbelievers have the lusts of the devil]

(v. 44 cont) He [the Devil] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him, When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

[The unbeliever is a murderer like his father the devil and does not abide in the truth. Compare what our Lord said about committing murder, it is more than just taking a life premeditatively:

[Mt 5:21-22]:

(v. 21) ''' "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.'

(v. 22) but I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' [an Aramaic term of contempt] is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell." '''

(v. 45) Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me!

(v. 46) Can any of you prove Me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe Me?

(v. 47) He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.' "

Those who have trusted alone in Christ alone apart from human doing have been made slaves of God's absolute righteousness in the sense that the control has shifted from what is sinful to what is Godly. So a Christian, Paul emphasizes, has at the point of trusting in Christ as Savior transferred from one authority to another authority: from the authority of the sin nature to the authority of God's righteousness. What remains to be understood is what the requirements and parameters are of this new control of godliness under God the Holy Spirit for the believer:

The sin nature which each individual on the face of the earth inherits from Adam is reflected in the turmoil in which the societies of the world find themselves - the whole disruption of the fabric of human relationships is directly attributable to this propensity to do evil with which everybody is born. Now people try to compensate for this propensity and for the sins that flow from it by another evil in the form of human good. Often this human good is so ill-conceived, (out of the thoughts of the old sin nature), that it causes more harm than the evil that the ill-conceived good was supposed to compensate for. Human good - the good which is conceived out of the mentality which is controlled by the old sin nature - is just as condemned by God as individual acts of moral evil. No form of human works can meet or pay for the violations of the divine standard of absolutely perfect righteousness. So what people do doesn't matter with God when it comes to getting into heaven. It is only what God has done that matters with God relative to eternal life in heaven. (Eternal rewards are another matter where what one does as directed by God the Holy Spirit is all important and rewarded by our Lord at the judgment seat of Christ, cp. 1 Cor 3:11-15).