What is lust in the Bible?

"Desire" and "lust" are really the same word, as can be seen from many passages... It is the thing longed for that gives the feeling its character. If the object of the craving is good, according to God, then it is a holy desire... When the object is evil, then the desire for it is "lust." So the apostle uses the word when he speaks of the "lusts of our flesh" (Ephesians 2:3). There is an important distinction to note. "Lust," as James teaches, has its origin in ourselves (chapter 1:14), but holy "desire" is the fruit of the working of the Spirit of God in the believer.

Notice what the Spirit of God says about lust. What is lust? It is a principle of the flesh that desires to have for itself; it does not matter what it is. It is the desire to possess independent of God, and that independent will in the creature is the root and essence of sin.

The lust of the flesh is the desire of having — the desire to get hold of the things that serve the flesh. The lust of the eyes is the desire of seeing, whether with the eyes of the head or with those of the mind, all the things that serve one's pleasures. It would cover a person's restless intellectual cravings as well as the continual hunt for spectacular pleasures. The pride of life is the desire of being — the longing to be somebody, or to be something that feeds pride of heart. This is the most deep-seated evil of the three, and often the least suspected.

Poor world! Its make-up is after all only twofold: lust and pride. Lust is seeking what I do not possess; pride is self-exaltation because of what I do possess. These principles form and drive the world — away from God.

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:27-28). Where is the law set aside here? No, He upheld it. The law was content to forbid the actual act; the Lord went further, and forbade not only the outward act but the inward desire.

When we sin the tendency is to lay a great deal of the blame on our circumstances, or at least on things outside us, when, if we are honest before God, we have no one and nothing to blame but ourselves... it will help us to judge and refuse the lusts of our hearts, and so sin will be nipped in the bud. Lust is the mother of sin. If it works, it brings forth sin, and sin carried to completion brings forth death.

Now we are reminded that we can only escape the lusts of the flesh by walking in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is here to glorify Christ; the flesh seeks every opportunity to feed its vanity by exalting self. It is plain, then, that the flesh is opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit to the flesh. If we walk in the Spirit — thinking, speaking and acting in the Spirit — we shall be delivered from doing the things that would be natural to us as fallen men.

Let the energetic, strong child of God take warning: "the world is passing away along with its desires." It is only a temporary, shining bubble, ready to burst. How empty is the delusion of seeking satisfaction in any measure from what is of the world. "But whoever does the will of God abides forever." The will of God is the principle of eternal permanence and value.