Are people good by nature?

Post Date

May 2, 2021

Reading Time ‘Minutes’

Word Count

If you were to ask a group of people if they would consider themselves “good,” most would answer by comparing themselves to others.

When faced with guilt, our natural human tendency is to look at the world and say, “certainly, there is somebody worse than us.”

But the dilemma is God is not going to judge us based on how we stand or stack up to other’s morality, but we will be judged against the background of His eternal purity and Holy nature.

So are we good? Let’s see what the bible says:

Romans 3:10 – (NKJV)

As it is written: There is none righteous, no, not one;

Isaiah 64:6 – (NKJV)

But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.

The word used for rags literally translated means menstrual rags (a type of disposable feminine hygiene product). We may think of our good deeds and righteous acts, but in reality, they are more like rags in front of a Holy and Righteous God.

When God looks down on our efforts/attempts to earn Heaven and be righteous, He sees us as wholly and utterly sinful.

So are we good? The answer depends on who you are comparing yourself to.

When we compare ourselves to the world, we may be better than some worse off people. However, when we look at God’s eternal righteousness, we realize how dark our sins are.

This is where the hope of the gospel shines because God showed us mercy and grace by sending His son to demonstrates His love for us, and now by trusting in Jesus and repenting of our sins, we can receive the gift of eternal life.

Romans 5:8 (NKJV)

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us..

God’s love is immense and eternal for all those who believe in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, we should take hope that when God looks at us, He sees the blood covering of His Son over our lives, and He then looks onto us as pure, spotless, and blameless children.