Theme
Desire
Wanting, which Scripture treats as neither automatically sinful nor automatically safe
What the text teaches
Desire in Scripture is simply wanting, and its worth depends on what is wanted. Psalm 37:4 tells the reader to delight in the LORD and speaks of God giving the desires of the heart, so desire itself is not treated as the enemy.
Genesis 3:6 shows desire at the turn: the tree is seen as good for food, pleasing to the eye and desirable for wisdom, and then the fruit is taken. The wanting is described before the act, and the act is still described as her own.
James 1:14 to 15 gives the sequence: desire draws a person away, then conceives and brings forth sin, and sin brings forth death. Galatians 5:16 to 17 sets the desire of the flesh against the Spirit, and tells believers to walk by the Spirit rather than to pretend the pull is absent.
First in Scripture
Genesis 3:6. The first desire Scripture records in detail is a desire for something God had forbidden, described in three ways before anything is taken.
Verses to carry with you
- Genesis 3:6. Good for food, pleasant to the eyes, desirable for wisdom.
- James 1:14-15. Desire draws away, conceives, and brings forth sin.
- Psalm 37:4. Delight in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
- Galatians 5:16-17. Walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfil the desire of the flesh.
- Luke 22:15. Jesus says he desired earnestly to eat this Passover, so the word itself is not negative.
The original language
ἐπιθυμία
The same word is used for wrongful craving in James 1:14 and for a good longing in Luke 22:15, where Jesus says he has earnestly desired to eat the Passover. The object decides the meaning.
Through the whole Bible
Desire is described carefully before the first disobedience, and again before the first murder.
The tenth commandment addresses wanting itself, not only the act that follows it.
The Psalms speak of desire being shaped and satisfied in God rather than removed.
James traces the path from desire to death, and Paul sets the answer as walking by the Spirit.
Where this appears across the Bible
Audela traces desire through 8 chapters in 7 books, from Genesis to 1 John. One of them has a full chapter study here.
Old Testament
The first desire Scripture records in detail is a desire for something God had forbidden, described in three ways before anything is taken.
Desire named, and responsibility kept.
Coveting is forbidden, which places wanting under command.
Delight in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
New Testament
Jesus says he desired earnestly to eat this Passover, so the word itself is not negative.
Walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfil the desire of the flesh.
Desire draws away, conceives, and brings forth sin.
Three kinds of desire named as belonging to the world, echoing Genesis 3:6.
Cross references
- Exodus 20:17. Coveting is forbidden, which places wanting under command.
- Genesis 4:7. Desire named, and responsibility kept.
- James 1:14-15. The sequence stated.
- 1 John 2:16. Three kinds of desire named as belonging to the world, echoing Genesis 3:6.
- Galatians 5:24. Those who belong to Christ are said to have crucified the flesh with its desires.
How it points to Christ
Luke 22:15 shows the desire of Christ set on obedience and on his people at the table before his death.
Galatians 5:16 to 25 does not answer wrong desire by suppression alone; it answers it with the Spirit and with fruit the Spirit produces.
Often misunderstood
Luke 22:15 uses the same word family of Jesus, and Psalm 37:4 speaks of God giving the desires of the heart. Scripture judges desire by what is wanted, not by the strength of the wanting.
Genesis 4:7 records God telling Cain that sin's desire is for him and that he is to rule over it, so Scripture assumes desire can be felt and not obeyed.
Related people, places, events and themes
Related chapters
Genesis 3, James 1, Galatians 5
Study this further in Audela
Sources and evidence
Where readers have differed
Scripture does not give a rule for measuring when a desire has become sin in the heart. It gives the sequence in James 1 and the command in Genesis 4:7, and leaves the searching of the heart to God, as in Psalm 139:23 to 24. Debated
Explore the passage
These are questions the text can actually answer. Take one, go back to the passage with it, and read until Scripture answers rather than until you have an explanation you like. Each question names where this study, or another passage, does the answering.
What this reveals about God
Start here, because every passage of Scripture is first about God before it is about us. Read for what He does, what He says, and what He is called.
What does this word in Scripture teach about God?
Underline every verb God is the subject of. What He does tells you who He is.
What does this word in Scripture reveal about God's character?
Look for the words the text itself uses of Him: holy, merciful, faithful, jealous, patient. Take the text's own vocabulary rather than your own.
What this reveals about us
Scripture is honest about people. Read for what it says of human need, human failure, and the kind of response it calls for.
What does this word in Scripture teach about humanity?
Watch what the people in the text want, fear, and trust. Scripture rarely flatters them.
Where this arrives in Christ
Jesus said the Scriptures testify of Him. Follow the line the Bible itself draws rather than inventing one.
What does this word in Scripture reveal about Jesus Christ?
Look for what the New Testament does with this text. A connection Scripture makes is a connection you can stand on.
What does this word in Scripture reveal about salvation?
Ask who does the saving, who is saved, from what, and by what means. Let the text answer each part.
The world behind the words
The first readers knew things we have to learn. Recovering what they knew is study, not speculation.
How would the original audience have understood this word in Scripture?
Ask what they had already been told, what they were living through, and what this would have cost them to believe.
What do these words carry in the original: ἐπιθυμία?
Take the word to its root, its first appearance, and its range of use. Then let the context choose the meaning.
How this connects to the rest of Scripture
Scripture is its own best commentary. The clearest answers usually come from another passage rather than from a scholar.
Which Old and New Testament passages help explain this word in Scripture?
Prefer passages that quote or clearly echo this text. Those links are the Bible's own, not ours.
What biblical themes are developed in this word in Scripture, and where do they begin?
Trace one theme backwards to where Scripture first raises it, then forwards to where it lands.
Questions Audela will not answer
Where Scripture does not answer a question, Audela says so plainly rather than filling the silence. An honest “the Bible does not tell us” is more faithful than a confident guess, and it keeps the reader’s trust in God’s Word rather than in our reasoning.
The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever.
- Ask instead: What does the passage say God did, and what does that reveal about His character?
- Ask instead: What has God told us about His purpose here, in this text or elsewhere in Scripture?
- Ask instead: What does Scripture say about how God acts, and where does it say it?
- Ask instead: What happened, and what does the rest of Scripture make of it?
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Where this is taught in full
These are the deepest studies Audela has written that stand on this concept. Start with the chapter study if you want the passage itself, or the topic study if you want the theme traced across the whole Bible.
Studies standing on the same passages
How this connects across Audela
Scripture teaches one story, so Audela is one library. These are the pages standing on the same passages, themes, doctrines and people as this one.
Same passage
Same chapter
- Genesis 22: The Mountain Where God Revealed the GospelBoth stand in Genesis 3, at different points in the chapter.
- John 15: The Vine, the Branches, and the Friends of GodBoth stand in Galatians 5, at different points in the chapter.
- Does Romans 8:28 mean everything that happens to me is good?Both stand in James 1, at different points in the chapter.
- Does the Bible answer Cain's question, Am I my brother's keeper?Both stand in Genesis 4, at different points in the chapter.
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