The Unregenerate Man Defined

Adam was created in Gods image, after His likeness (Genesis 1:26-27). That which God created, including Adam, was "very good". (Genesis 1:31). When God created Adam, He "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Genesis 2:7). When God placed Adam within the garden of Eden, He "commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17). When Adam transgressed this commandment, Adam became a dieing soul and was no longer in Gods image or after His likeness. He was no longer "very good". He had become carnal in nature.

This is most evident in the record of Seths birth (Genesis 5:3). Adam "begat a son in his own likeness, after his image". Adam did not pass the image and likeness of God on to Seth, instead he passed his fallen, carnal, dieing soul, to Seth, and to every human concieved since that time. This is further supported by Paul when he states, "as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12).

Paul teaches that "the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). The carnal nature is not, and can never be, subject to the commandments of God.

The unregenerate are rarely spoken of in scripture. They are often an understood type. A few places in scripture where they are mentioned are:

Galatians 4:1 Now I say, [That] the heir {regeneration}, as long as he is a child {unconverted}, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

Romans 7:2-4 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to [her] husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed {regeneration} from the law of [her] husband. So then if, while [her] husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law {regeneration}; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ {regeneration}; that ye should be married to another {conversion}, [even] to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.


In the following, the unregenerate are not mentioned, but are understood, since all humans are not buried with Christ.

Romans 6:2-4, 5-6 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin {regeneration}, live any longer therein {unconverted}? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ {regeneration} were baptized into his death {unconverted}? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death {regeneration - unconverted}: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life {conversion}. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [him] {regeneration}, that the body of sin might be destroyed {conversion}, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin {regeneration}.

Before a man can be subject to the commandments of God, a change must occur. That which happened to Adam, must be reversed. The first step is to return to the garden of Eden, so that we might put forth our hand and take of the Tree of Life.

For the elect of God, this first step occurs at regeneration.