When God created man on the sixth day, He surveyed all that He had made and declared it “very good.” Scripture teaches that man was created in the image of God, but according to John Wesley, the 18th-century holiness preacher, humanity lost its moral image when it chose self-love over love for God. In his sermon The End of Christ’s Coming, Wesley states: “And in that day, yea, that moment, he died! The life of God was extinguished in his soul. The glory departed from him. He lost the whole moral image of God—righteousness and true holiness.” This understanding of humanity’s spiritual fall echoes Genesis 6:5, which says, “The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.”
The world believes that man is basically good. Even some Christian theologians occasionally make this misguided claim. In Grace, Faith, and Holiness, H. Ray Dunning asserts that humanity is “essentially good but existentially estranged.” However, if this were true, it would mean that human beings still possess some inherent goodness that only needs to be restored through reconciliation with God. But this view overlooks the fact that mankind lost any true sense of goodness when the relationship with God was severed in the Fall. The problem is not simply estrangement, but the complete loss of moral goodness, righteousness, and holiness. It is this fallen state—our inability to reflect God’s goodness—that separates us from Him. Just as darkness is the absence of light, evil is the absence of goodness, and only the blood of Christ can restore the light of God’s goodness in us once again (Hebrews 9:22–28; Ephesians 5:8).
Dunning argues that if mankind is not essentially good, then “in conversion, man would cease to be man since that which is essentially evil cannot become good without ceasing to be what it was and becoming something else.” This claim is fundamentally flawed. Evil is not the essence of man but rather the condition of the soul in a fallen state. Paul affirms this when he writes to the church in Rome: “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” (Romans 7:18–19). If mankind were essentially good, how could it be true that “no one does good, not a single one” (Romans 3:12)? Wouldn’t a truly good person’s actions reflect that goodness? Richard S. Taylor challenges Dunning on this point in Exploring Christian Holiness, Vol. 3, stating: “Man without holiness may be maimed, but he is still man. Therefore, while holiness is natural to human nature, it is not inseparable from human nature. It is not an attribute of manness per se.” Mankind was originally created holy and good, but holiness and goodness were lost in the Fall.
What is goodness? Is it a moral quality, a natural quality, or a dominion-related quality? According to John Wesley, these are the three ways in which humanity originally reflected the image of God before the Fall. The word “good” serves a versatile function in language. When we say that vegetables are good for your health, goodness refers to something being suitable for a particular purpose. When saying that ice cream is good, it means that it is pleasing to the taste or enjoyable. When we say that a person is good at their craft, goodness indicates the ability to perform skillfully and reliably. Finally, when we describe someone as a good person, goodness takes on a moral definition, meaning the person is known to be kind, fair, and trustworthy.
In Galatians 5:22, goodness is identified as one of the fruits of the Spirit. In this context, it refers to acting on behalf of others in a right, just, humble, and self-sacrificing manner. In other words, it is holiness and righteousness in action. However, our lives cannot produce the fruits of the Spirit unless we are living in the Spirit. This form of goodness is not something we, as fallen humans, possess in our natural state; rather, it is the result of the transformation that occurs in sanctification through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who restores the moral image of God in us.
Any goodness in a moral sense was completely lost in humanity’s rebellion against God. Even in a natural sense, goodness has been lost because mankind is no longer able to fulfill his intended purpose of fellowship with God. In a dominion sense, goodness is lost in that mankind can no longer govern creation effectively, thus failing in the divinely ordained task. Romans 8:19-22 explains how creation itself is subject to God’s curse of death and decay because of mankind’s sin, and it “groans” for the Day of the Lord, when mankind will be fully transformed by God, freeing both us and creation from the curse of death. We are like King Saul, who was appointed to rule over Israel but failed at the task set before him because of his selfishness and pride.
There are aspects of God’s image that are maintained in fallen man, such as the capacity for rationality, creativity, and meaningful relationships. As image-bearers, even in a severely marred sense, humanity is valued and declared by God to have inherent dignity (Genesis 9:6). Despite our brokenness, God still loves and cares for us. Psalm 139:14 explains how we are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” but Romans 5:12-19 reveals that sin has corrupted us through and through. Even our bodies are corrupted by sin, as demonstrated by our sickness and death (Romans 8:10). We have taken God’s masterful creation and smashed it beyond recognition. Only the Creator can remake us into “new creations” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
As far as I can see, it is not true that fallen man is “essentially good” in any capacity. Man can be restored to goodness, but it requires an act of God. Jesus Himself made this abundantly clear when He said, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). Goodness is lost to fallen man and is only restored through justification by faith in Christ, followed by the sanctification that comes afterward. Only then is the image of God restored in us.