3. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
4. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
Our Natural State as Fallen Beings
It is no secret—and often said—that we live in a fallen world. There is no better proof of this than our natural attraction to what harms us and our resistance to what is good. Why is it that good girls like bad boys? Why do boys want to be “bad” in the first place? Why do we associate pleasure with the very things we come to regret, even though as children we were warned against them? There are many examples that show our pleasure principle leads to pure vanity. So why do most of us spend our youthful peak years feeding our flesh?
It may surprise many, but God’s perfect order for mankind is that we begin life in our natural state before we come to understand who we are spiritually. This does not mean that God wants us to be led by sin. Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians 15:46: “However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.” What Paul is saying is, our spirits first dwell in earthly, natural bodies before we receive our eternal spiritual bodies. Also true is that our natural impulses come first in life—and along with them our fleshly desires and weaknesses that Titus 3:3 describes so honestly—before we learn who we are spiritually.
But there are other examples in Scripture that show it is God’s will for the natural to precede the spiritual. Although Abraham and Sarah moved ahead of God, Ishmael, born of the flesh, came before Isaac the child of promise. Cain, who thought he could choose how to please God and rejected God’s instruction, came before Abel, whose obedience pleased God. Esau, who sold his birthright to satisfy a momentary craving, preceded Jacob, whom God later named Israel—the father of the twelve patriarchs from whom the twelve tribes of Israel came. Scripture continually shows us this pattern: first comes the natural, revealing the weakness of the flesh, and then the spiritual follows, revealing the power and purpose of God.
God’s Order for Mankind: Natural Then Spiritual
This natural-then-spiritual order is unique to mankind. Scripture shows that before God created humanity and earthly creatures, He had already created spiritual beings that dwell in the heavenly realm—angels who could observe mankind and even walk the earth. Job 38:7 tells us: “the morning Stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy“, when God laid the foundations of the earth. Genesis 6:2 speaks of angels who abandoned their proper place in Heaven, saying, “the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took to them wives, of all which they chose.” But even these were not the first to rebel against the spiritual order God established.
God’s will for the natural to come before becoming spiritual only makes sense when we consider the fall of Lucifer. Ezekiel 28 gives a vivid description of who Lucifer was before iniquity was found in him. Verse 12 describes him as: “full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.” Verse 13 reveals: “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering,” showing the honor and splendor God had given him. Verse 14 goes even further: “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so.” These verses reveal the extraordinary trust and authority God placed in Lucifer. And verse 15 tells the tragedy of his fall: “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.”
Most people say the first sin in the world was the partaking of the forbidden tree. But few recognize that the first sin in the universe was the pride of Lucifer. Pride is the same sin he used on Eve when he told her in Genesis 3:5, “you will be like God.” This was the very delusion that led him to oppose God. This is why God hates pride in man. Pride corrupted a perfect spiritual being, and pride led humanity into rebellion. Yet it was also Lucifer’s fall that led God to create mankind in His own image—although lower than the angels, yet possessing something the angels do not have: free will with the gift of redemption. So it makes sense, when considering the rebellion God experienced from His angelic creations, that mankind would first experience life through the trials of our fallen state, to allow our free will to lead us to choose God and mature spiritually.
Fallen but Not Cursed: Gifted With Free Will and Redemption
It wasn’t a curse, and we did not have a choice about being born into this world already marked by spiritual decline and moral depravity. But we do have a choice about whether we remain in that natural state of mind or embrace the spiritual life that God breathed into us from the beginning. Before mankind, all of God’s creations were spoken into existence. But with Adam, God did something different—He breathed His own breath into Adam giving him life; and that same breath gives life to each of us.
Adam and Eve were made glorious, clothed in a heavenly countenance that covered their nakedness. But when sin entered, their glory was lost—their fleshly eyes were opened, their nakedness exposed, and spiritual blindness took hold. Sin had become woven into the human DNA.
Not only do we have free will—we also have redemption, another attribute the angels did not receive. As Titus 3:3 says: we all begin life “foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” This is our natural “before Christ” condition, inherited through the tainted blood of sin. But once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, His shed blood cleanses us from all sin and all unrighteousness. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us, making our bodies the temple of God. From that moment, the Holy Spirit begins His work of regeneration—the renewing of our minds and the transformation of our hearts. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” This is the true definition of being born again spiritually. When we choose to leave our natural minds to seek the mind of Christ—our desires and motives are no longer carnal, but godly.
A Relationship That Saves His Lost Sheep
The beautiful thing is this: when we begin to form an intimate relationship with our Father God, His Spirit begins to reveal truths not only about who He is, but about who He created each of us to be. His kindness and love, shed abroad in our hearts, begin to manifest in our daily lives. Instead of fear-laden thoughts filled with worst-case scenarios, our minds become courage-filled with the expectation of God’s best. Not because we deserve anything good, but because we are now right with God. He blesses the believer so that we can become a blessing to others—and in doing so, our lives bring glory to Him. With every person that surrenders their life to Christ, we are also defeating the same evil in the spiritual realm that Jesus did with every demon He cast out, and through His work of the Cross. Christians are God’s warriors against evil and those who rebel against Him, just as the Israelites were as His chosen people.
God does not give us what our rebellion deserves, unless we stubbornly choose to reject Him. He did not turn His back when Adam and Eve fell to the influence of the evil one. Instead, He appeared asking Adam, “Where art thou?” (Genesis 3:9). God knew exactly where Adam was physically, but He also knew Adam had been lost spiritually. This same heart of God is revealed again when Jesus says in Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
We begin as lost sheep, wandering the earth in the natural condition described in Titus 3:3. But God, in His mercy, reaches out to each and every one of us, calling us by name. And for those who truly answer His call, He restores, He renews, and He brings us back into fellowship with Himself. Not because He is obligated to do so, but because He has watched His perfect creation rebel against Him and go on to bring down His weaker creation. But through Christ Jesus—we the fallen—are raised from the natural to the spiritual, from being dead in sin to eternal life.
Scriptures That Reveal the Journey From Spiritual Blindness to Spiritual Enlightenment
1 Corinthians 2:14
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”
Ephesians 4:18
“Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”
Galatians 5:16
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
Colossians 3:10
“Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.”
Galatians 5:22-23
“The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
A Thankful Prayer for Spiritual Awakening
Father God in Heaven, Your love, Your mercy, and Your grace have redeemed me, even though I was born fallen and in sin against You. Unable on my own to align my spirit with Yours, You reached out Your hand and called me by name. Your convictions were never to shame me or blame me, but to lead my spirit to the truth of who I am in Christ Jesus, and away from the fleshly nature that separated me from You from birth. I am eternally thankful for Your love, Your mercy, and Your grace. By the sacrifice and example of Your sinless Son, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I give thanks and pray in His holy name. Amen.
Trinitarian Benediction
As the world tries to keep you in darkness, may you hear God when He calls you to Himself.
May you grow to fully embrace your identity in Christ Jesus.
And may the Holy Spirit sow the seeds in you that bear His fruit.