What is The Definition of Lust?
Lust is strong and uncontrolled desire to have or apprehend something. Fleshly lust is the seed that if we yield to it and are drawn away by it, causes us to sin.
Can A Man Be Shirtless or Is It Sinful?
Table of Contents
More Definitions of The Word Lust
- A working Lust definition is a very strong sexual desire.
- Lust means a longing desire to possess or enjoy someone or something
- Lust means an unlawful Desire for Carnal or Fleshly pleasure
- A good meaning of lust is an unrestrained or excessive desire for someone or something
- Lust cannot be quenched by more lust or sinful intense desire.
- Lust means both a desire for the wrong thing and a wrong desire for an otherwise good thing.
- What does lust mean biblically? Lust means desire that is a sinful longing which leads to the falling away from God.
- Lust means having a strong desire that is a sexual desire that dishonors its object and disregards God.
- Lust is an overmastering desire that may lead to illicit sexual intercourse, adultery, pornography use, illicit sexual gratification and passion. Scripture tells us to flee from it!
Biblical Scholars on Lust/Lustful desires
| Scholar (Time Period) | Paraphrase | Scriptural Reference |
|---|---|---|
| John Stott (1921–2011) | Lust is a desire that distorts God’s design for human sexuality and objectifies others. | Matthew 5:28 |
| N. T. Wright (b. 1948) | Lust represents a failure to honor God with our bodies and minds, turning desire into idolatry. | 1 Thessalonians 4:3–5 |
| D. A. Carson (b. 1946) | Lust is an inward corruption that undermines true righteousness. | James 1:14–15 |
| Wayne Grudem (b. 1948) | Lust is sinful craving that seeks personal gratification rather than God’s glory. | Galatians 5:16–17 |
| John Piper (b. 1946) | Lust arises from craving satisfaction outside of God’s intended order. | Matthew 5:28 |
| R. C. Sproul (1939–2017) | Lust is the mind’s rebellion against God’s moral boundaries. | Romans 1:24–25 |
| Michael Horton (b. 1964) | Lust is the perversion of God-given desire, seeking pleasure apart from holiness. | 1 Corinthians 6:18–20 |
| Timothy Keller (b. 1950) | Lust is a hunger that ultimately cannot satisfy because it replaces God with created things. | Psalm 73:25 |
| Andreas Köstenberger (b. 1957) | Lust is a craving that reduces people to objects of self-indulgence. | Matthew 5:28 |
| Craig Blomberg (b. 1955) | Lust is a heart issue more than an act, showing a lack of reverence for God’s will. | Mark 7:21–23 |
| Ben Witherington III (b. 1951) | Lust originates in selfishness and erodes love toward God and neighbor. | James 1:14 |
| Peter Adam (b. 1946) | Lust is the soul’s rebellion, twisting natural desire into idolatry. | Romans 13:13 |
| Gordon Fee (b. 1934) | Lust reveals the corruption of the human heart in contrast to God’s holiness. | Galatians 5:19–21 |
| Richard Hays (b. 1948) | Lust misuses God-given passions, turning them into instruments of sin. | 1 Thessalonians 4:5 |
| J. I. Packer (1926–2020) | Lust is the mind’s disordered craving that distances us from God. | Matthew 5:28 |
| Bruce Ware (b. 1954) | Lust seeks gratification rather than the flourishing God intends. | Proverbs 6:25 |
| Darrell Bock (b. 1953) | Lust shows the heart’s orientation toward self, not God. | James 1:14 |
| Kevin Vanhoozer (b. 1957) | Lust reduces the image of God in others to mere tools for desire. | Genesis 1:27 |
| Leon Morris (1914–2006) | Lust is the inner readiness to sin, revealing the lawlessness of the heart. | Matthew 5:28 |
| Thomas Schreiner (b. 1954) | Lust is a sinful craving that contrasts with sanctification. | 1 Thessalonians 4:3 |
| Simon Kistemaker (1921–2017) | Lust is the uncontrolled appetite of the flesh opposed to God’s will. | Galatians 5:16–17 |
| John MacArthur (b. 1939) | Lust is deliberate feeding of sinful desire against God’s standards. | James 1:15 |
| William Lane (1931–1999) | Lust is an inward moral failure that precedes external sin. | Mark 7:21–23 |
| Robert Mounce (1921–2019) | Lust is an expression of human corruption at the heart level. | Romans 1:24–25 |
| F. F. Bruce (1910–1990) | Lust is the misuse of desire that alienates us from God’s purposes. | James 1:14 |
| Richard Gaffin (b. 1936) | Lust represents a breach of covenantal obedience in thought and action. | Matthew 5:28 |
| Douglas Moo (b. 1946) | Lust is the distortion of natural desire by sin. | James 1:15 |
| John Goldingay (b. 1943) | Lust is a craving that substitutes created things for God. | Psalm 106:15 |
| Anthony Thiselton (b. 1942) | Lust is a cognitive and moral failure in the ordering of desire. | Matthew 5:28 |
| Gordon Wenham (b. 1943) | Lust violates God’s design for sexual ethics. | Genesis 39:7–12 |
| Tremper Longman III (b. 1952) | Lust is the pursuit of self-gratification that dishonors God. | Proverbs 6:25 |
| Daniel Wallace (b. 1952) | Lust is more than behavior—it’s the ethical orientation of the heart. | James 1:14 |
| Robert Yarbrough (b. 1955) | Lust defiles both mind and body, separating them from God’s glory. | 1 Corinthians 6:18 |
| George Knight III (b. 1941) | Lust is the expression of moral weakness in desire. | Matthew 5:28 |
| Richard Bauckham (b. 1946) | Lust exemplifies the inversion of God-given love toward self-serving ends. | James 1:14–15 |
| Stanley Porter (b. 1956) | Lust is a misuse of desire that disrupts God’s order. | Galatians 5:19 |
| J. Ramsey Michaels (1931–2010) | Lust is inward consent to sin through craving. | Matthew 5:28 |
| John Nolland (b. 1946) | Lust is the mental prelude to moral corruption. | Mark 7:21–23 |
| Gerald Hawthorne (1925–2010) | Lust represents uncontrolled appetite contrary to God’s law. | Galatians 5:19 |
| R. Kent Hughes (1938–2007) | Lust is a heart-driven desire that turns beauty into possession. | 1 Thessalonians 4:5 |
| Richard Longenecker (b. 1939) | Lust is an internalized sin that objectifies others. | Matthew 5:28 |
| F. F. Segovia (b. 1952) | Lust is the misalignment of human longing with God’s intent. | James 1:14 |
| Craig Keener (b. 1960) | Lust involves deliberate indulgence of sinful imagination. | Matthew 5:28 |
| Robert Gundry (b. 1932) | Lust is the mental embrace of prohibited desire. | Matthew 5:28 |
| Daniel Akin (b. 1957) | Lust reflects a heart-focused rebellion rather than mere physical acts. | James 1:14–15 |
| Michael Bird (b. 1974) | Lust is the self-seeking appropriation of what God has not given. | Matthew 5:28 |
| Ben Witherington II (b. 1951) | Lust distorts relational love into self-gratifying desire. | Galatians 5:19–21 |
| Thomas Schreiner (b. 1954) | Lust is a craving of the flesh that resists the Spirit. | Galatians 5:16–17 |
| Darrell Bock (b. 1953) | Lust is an internal sin that precedes external expression. | James 1:15 |
| N. T. Wright (b. 1948) | Lust illustrates the human tendency to replace God with objects of desire. | Romans 1:24–25 |
Lust Synonyms
- craving
- desire
- excitement
- fervor
- greed
- hunger
- libido
- longing
- sensuality
- thirst
Scriptures That Define Lust Or Evil Desire
- Colossians 3:5 - Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
- 2 Timothy 2:22 - Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
- 1 Corinthians 6:13 - Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
Want More Scripture Passages on Lust or Inordinate, Uncontrolled Great Desire?
- 1 Peter 2:11 - Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
- James 1:14 - But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
More lust definitions from the Bible:
- Matthew 5:28 - But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
- Galatians 5:16 - This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
- 1 Corinthians 6:18 - Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
Lust defined in the Bible:
- 1 John 2:16 - For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:3 - For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
Biblical lust is defined in the following Scriptures:
- Romans 8:6 - For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
- Job 31:1 - I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
- Hebrews 13:4 - Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Sinful Lust is any desire outside of the will of God. Can A Man Be Shirtless in Public?
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