What Are the Consequences of Lust?įrom the context of the passage ( 1 John 2:15-17), it is clear that we cannot love both God and the world (including worldly things), just as we cannot live both in the Spirit and in the flesh ( Galatians 5:16-17, Romans 8:13). The pride of life speaks of any wicked desires motivated by pride, power, prestige, and popularity (this includes the desire to comply with God’s laws through religious acts and self-righteousness). The lust of the eyes speaks of any wicked desires stirred by the things that we see and covet, including the desires for passion and possessions. The lust of the flesh speaks of any wicked desires stirred by our physical or emotional needs, particularly the desire for pleasures. Worldliness is anything that draws our hearts away from God. These worldly desires are not from God but are the results of sin, which “infected” this world through man’s disobedience, that is the desire to be independent, or to be like, the Creator, having the authority over one’s own life.
John wrote, “For everything in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - comes not from the Father but from the world” ( 1 John 2:16). Our sinful nature is evidenced by our inclination toward seeking our own interests, to disobey and rebel against God, the Law Giver. What Does the Lust of the Flesh Mean?Īccording to Paul, we were all by nature children of wrath, who once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind ( Ephesians 2:3). In the Bible, the word “flesh” (Greek: sarx, Hebrew: basar) can carry neutral, literal meaning (for example, in Genesis 2:23-24), referring to the human body (i.e., the soft substance of the living body, which covers the bones and is permeated with blood).įiguratively, “flesh” is also often used to carry negative meaning, referring to making actions or decisions according to self, done apart from faith, and proceeds out of the part of us that is not transformed by God. Humans are created with appetite, a natural desire to satisfy a bodily need, which may become sinful lust if the desire is overwhelming toward the things God has forbidden. At the heart of it, lust desires to take – in contrast to love, which desires to give. Lust is an intense desire for an object or circumstance (e.g., sexuality, money, or power) to indulge or content oneself, often at the expense of others. The only way to overcome it is by abiding in God’s Word and allowing the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives. The lust of the flesh is part of worldliness, driven by the desire for worldly, selfish pleasures, which draw our hearts away from God and ultimately lead to death.
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