What Does the Bible Say About Human Nature Is Evil?

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV / 11 helpful votes

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Matthew 12:34 ESV / 7 helpful votes

You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

1 Peter 3:18 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

James 1:13-14 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Philippians 2:7 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

1 John 3:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

1 John 3:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

2 Peter 1:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

James 4:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Hebrews 2:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

1 Timothy 4:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Romans 12:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 8:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

John 1:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Isaiah 64:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

1 Peter 2:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1 Peter 1:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Hebrews 5:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.

Hebrews 4:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Ephesians 4:26-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.

Ephesians 4:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

Ephesians 2:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

Galatians 5:22-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:13-15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Galatians 4:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,

2 Corinthians 11:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

Romans 10:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 8:38-39 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

Romans 8:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Romans 7:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

Romans 1:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;

John 15:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

John 14:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

John 14:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

John 8:44 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 3:14-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Luke 18:15-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Luke 16:19-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ...

Matthew 22:37 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

Matthew 5:43-48 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ...

Hosea 4:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

1 Samuel 2:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.

Deuteronomy 4:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

Genesis 3:1-24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ...

Genesis 2:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, ...

Genesis 1:1-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. ...

59 Bible Verses about Human Nature Is Evil

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV / 11 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 12:34 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 3:18 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 1:13-14 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:2 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 2:7 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 3:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 3:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Peter 1:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 4:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 2:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Timothy 4:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 1:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 64:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 2:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 1:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 5:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 4:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 4:26-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 4:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 2:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:22-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:13-15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 4:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 11:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 10:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 10:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:38-39 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 7:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 1:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 15:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 14:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 14:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 14:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 8:44 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:14-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 18:15-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 16:19-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 22:37 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:43-48 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hosea 4:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Samuel 2:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 4:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 3:1-24 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 2:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 1:1-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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