Are we really “only evil, all the time”?
In Genesis 6:12-13 we read how God determined to destroy all people with a flood, because they had filled the earth with violence. When he looked at humanity God saw “how great the wickedness of the human race had become … and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” Are we to understand that this is still God’s assessment of the human heart today? If so, how should we assess the good things we see people doing, even those who are not Christians? Let’s break it down into three questions that might help us understand this.
Is God’s assessment of humanity the same now as it was then?
It’s clear in Genesis 6-8 that the flood has not made any difference to the state of the human heart. God makes precisely the same assessment of humanity in 8:21, once the flood has subsided. And the rest of the Bible (Romans 8:7-8, John 3:19, Ephesians 2:1-3) presents the same picture of humanity. Romans 3:10-12 is particularly striking: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands … there is no one who does good, not even one.” So we shouldn’t think that the people in Noah’s day were particularly sinful, in a way that isn’t true of us today. All human beings are, by nature, slaves to sin. By nature our hearts are inclined away from God, and towards evil.
So how can we explain the good or selfless acts of those around us?
Part of the answer is that although we’re completely tainted by sin, by God’s common grace (rather than saving grace) we are not as corrupt as we could we. Sin has affected every part of us, but not to the fullest extent that it could have. So people behave differently not because some have a better nature than others or are somehow less intrinsically evil, but simply because of God’s grace. We see examples every day of people outwardly conforming to God’s moral commands. Thankfully, not everyone is a murderer or a thief. And we see people doing things that are rightfully recognised, in a sense, as good. Nevertheless, however good we may seem, we all share the same natural inclination away from God and towards evil.
Can good deeds be recognised as truly ‘good’?
Given that Romans 3 says that no one does good, the short answer is ‘no’. “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) So those who are not Christians cannot act for God’s glory or in service of him. We must recognise therefore that what pleases the Lord is more than mere outwards conformity to God’s moral commands. Goodness involves our heart attitude to God.
Nevertheless, those who are not Christians can do good in a limited sense (see for example Luke 6:33, Romans 13:4). Here’s an illustration that might help.[1] Imagine hearing a series of notes in a musical melody that sound good by themselves. But then, put into the context of a whole song, when you hear it altogether they don’t fit and sound wrong. Similarly, those who are not Christians can do things which in and of themselves are good, in a limited sense. But when those good actions are seen in the light of the whole person (their desires, intentions, the outcomes related to that action - in other words when seen from God’s omniscient perspective) then it cannot be seen as truly good. It is good, but in a limited way.
Conclusion
As we read God’s assessment of humanity in Genesis 6:5 we are to recognise that we are still the same today. Praise God that through Christ we have been given new hearts and new minds, and by his Spirit we have new desires such that we want to please him (Romans 8:5-6). But by nature we are lost and wicked. Although we can do good in a limited sense, we can’t, and don’t want, to please God.
All this might raise the question of how God views our works now, as Christians. Can Christians please God? Can we do things that are truly good? We’ll address these questions in a follow up post.
1 James McGlothlin, “Can the Godless Do Good?,” Desiring God, 19 November 2019, cited 23 November 2022.
