Which other scriptures discuss the inherent sinfulness of humanity? Starting Point: Psalm 58:3 – Estranged from the Womb “The wicked are estranged from the womb; the liars go astray from birth.” • From the very beginning of life, Scripture testifies that the human heart is bent away from God. Old Testament Witnesses • Genesis 6:5 – “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.” • Job 14:4 – “Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!” • Job 15:14-16 – “…What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? …man, who drinks iniquity like water!” • Psalm 51:5 – “Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.” • Psalm 130:3 – “If You, O LORD, kept a record of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand?” • Proverbs 20:9 – “Who can say, ‘I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin’?” • Isaiah 53:6 – “We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” • Jeremiah 13:23 – “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good—you who are accustomed to doing evil.” • Jeremiah 17:9 – “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure—who can understand it?” New Testament Confirmation • Matthew 15:19 – “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” • Romans 3:10-12 – “As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one…’” • Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” • Romans 5:12 – “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned.” • Romans 7:18 – “For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.” • Ephesians 2:1-3 – “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins…we were by nature children of wrath, just like the rest.” • Colossians 1:21 – “Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds because of your evil deeds.” • Titus 3:3 – “For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures…” • 1 John 1:8-10 – “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves… If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” A Consistent Thread Across Scripture • From Genesis to Revelation, the testimony is unanimous: humanity’s problem is not merely external acts but an internal nature bent toward sin. • The breadth of passages—historical, poetic, prophetic, gospel, and epistle—reveals a single storyline: every person needs rescue because every heart is corrupted from birth. Implications for Our Walk Today • Recognizing inherent sinfulness keeps us humble, dependent on grace rather than self-reliance. • It magnifies the beauty of the gospel: Christ came precisely because we cannot cure ourselves (Romans 5:6-8). • Awareness of this truth fuels compassion toward others—we all share the same need for redemption. |
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