Can I be totally free from lust?





LUST: The word was originally a neutral term describing any strong desire; hence its use in early translations of Gn. 3:16; Jn. 1:13; Nu. 14:8; Heb. 10:6. In its modern restricted sense of sexual passion it cannot adequately render many familiar contexts in AV.

The Heb. nep̱eš expresses craving or desire in Ex. 15:9 and Ps. 78:18, and carries the promise of satisfaction in Pr. 10:24. Gk. epithymia expresses any strong desire, the context or a qualifying adjective determining its nature, whether good or evil. Hence it is used of the intensely pure desire of Christ, Lk. 22:15, and of Paul’s desire to be with Christ, Phil. 1:23, and of his longing to see his converts, 1 Thes. 2:17. Yet in 1 Pet. 4:3 it stands among a list of Gentile vices, and the adjectives ‘worldly’, ‘evil’, ‘youthful’ and ‘deceitful’ are attached to it in Tit. 2:12; Col. 3:5; 2 Tim. 2:22; and Eph. 4:22 respectively. The restricted reference to sexual passion is found in Eph. 2:3; 1 Jn. 2:16; 1 Pet. 2:11 (cf. LXX and Jos., Ant.). 

The strong desire of the Spirit is set over against that of the flesh in Gal. 5:17. Other cognate words are pathos, ‘passion’ (1 Thes. 4:5); orexis, ‘strong desire’ (Rom. 1:27), and hēdonē, ‘pleasure’ (Jas. 4:3). The word ‘lusty’ when used in Jdg. 3:29 (AV); Is. 59:10 (RV); Ps. 73:4 (Prayer Book) carries no derogatory tone, and simply means able-bodied or vigorous.


Tongue, D. H. (1996). Lust. In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, & D. J. Wiseman (Eds.), New Bible dictionary (3rd ed., p. 706). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

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