In Jeremiah we read,
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked
Jeremiah 17:9a
Is that universal in meaning or application?
Is that to be understood as the state of every man and all men in existence?
No.
How do we know that?
Let's read the context. Just 2 verses prior, we read,
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD.
Jeremiah 17:7
And, with that is added the consequence of such a blessed position:
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river,
and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.
Jeremiah 17:8
It is then, after that mention of the blessed man, that we encounter our primary verse and note, a question is also added,
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
Jeremiah 17:9
Then, the answer to that very question is given us,
I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Jeremiah 17:10
Simple question:
Is there any need to search and test - at all - if all hearts are of the same kind, the same category, the same type, that is to say, if every heart and all hearts are "desperately wicked and deceitful"?
Of course not.
There simply is no need to search out and discover what is within a heart if all hearts are deceitful and wicked.
Isn't that so?
Yes.
This very chapter of Jeremiah shows us Jeremiah's own heart state:
As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd who follows You, nor have I desired the woeful day; You know what came out of my lips; it was right there before You.
Jeremiah 17:16
However, the whole chapter begins with the mention of Israel's wickedness and ends with how they were defiling the Sabbath. Yet, right there God still gives to them a conditional promise (Jeremiah 17:19-27).
To look at Jeremiah 17:9(a) and have no sight of the righteous in the midst is to be like Elijah who said to God,
I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.
1 Kings 19:14
The Lord then replied to Elijah and made sure he heard this,
Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.
1 Kings 19:18
God then sent him to appoint Elisha (1 Kings 19:16), another good man.
So, what are we to make of Jeremiah 17:9?
Yes, a great many are wicked and deceitful, but the very context informs us that not all are like that.
It cannot be used as a verse to say, "See, all men are depraved, fallen and lost" (that is to say, from their own inception and beginning). That, would be part and parcel to the original sin idea that arose in the late 4th century/early 5th century and was written about in the later works of Augustine of Hippo.
Here is what God said to one of Adam's sons who went on to become the very first murderer,
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.
Genesis 4:7
Cain had not done it yet. He had not yet done the deed of murder. There was still present in him the capacity to return, to repent, to seek to do the right thing.
For as Jesus said,
For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
Matthew 13:12
No one is without something within them. Or else, it would be impossible for "what he has will be taken away from him" to ever happen. Jesus knew the wicked Pharisees could repent. This is why he taught in parables whilst in their presence. It is because they could repent (Mark 4:12), but only those truly seeking truth and seeking righteousness are able to hear. For those who seek are those of whom Jesus just said "whoever has, to him more will be given".
Jesus said,
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Matthew 5:48
So let us also see men as God does. He sees them as having the capacity to repent, like Cain could have. But, indeed as Jesus also said, let us be wise as serpents and harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16), but the truth remains not all are desperately wicked and deceitful.
See also,
DO YOU (STILL) BELIEVE IN ORIGINAL SIN?
ARE WE BORN SEPARATED FROM GOD ACCORDING TO ROMANS 5?
WHAT IS CALVINISM?
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