There are many people who call themselves believers of the Bible and yet have a problem with the idea that men are evil, rather than good. Most people like to think of men as inherently good, with a little bit of evil showing through every now and then. They like to think of sin as something that attacks us from the outside, rather than something that is the very core of our being. However, the Bible describes quite a different state of being when it comes to what all men really are.

We will take a look at a few scriptures showing the true state of man in this fallen world, and hopefully come to a greater understanding of our nature. We must understand that because of Adam's sin a great fall took place near the beginning of creation, and this fall of creation goes much further than we humans like to admit. Let it be noted that what follows is in reference to any person who is lost and is not regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. It must also be noted that what may seem good to us as humans, may not be good to a Holy God.

The first scripture we will examine comes from the book of Genesis, right before God had flooded the earth. It should first be noted that the flood was a judgment from God upon a wicked people. As it is written in Genesis chapter 6, verse 5: "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." It must also be noted that man did not change after the flood, and we can view this as a description of the heart of every person alive today.

Notice it says that EVERY intent of the thoughts of his heart was ONLY evil. If every intend of your heart is only evil, there is no room for any sort of good. In addition to this, the verse states that it was evil continually. In other words, there is never a point when the intent of man's heart is good. This is not the only place where the Bible calls men evil.

Next we move to Romans chapter 3 where it talks about how all men are under sin. It says that there none righteous, not even one. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. Most relevant to this topic, it says that there is none who does good, not even one. Now we can either choose to ignore these verses because we don't like to hear them, or we can accept what they say about the condition of men being truly evil in nature.

Lastly we move to Matthew 7 verse 11, where Jesus Christ himself calls a group of people evil. As it states: "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!" Here we have it straight from the Lord Jesus Christ's own mouth.

Do these verses mean that there is no good done in the world? Absolutely not. What must be pointed out is that the only way any good will come out of any of us is if the Holy Spirit of God is working in us. As it says in Ephesians chapter 2, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." If we are in Jesus Christ and regenerated by the Holy Spirit, we have a new nature, and we can be assured that God will work good works through us that he has already prepared.