LUST. (Heb. 1. נֶ֫פֶשׁ, H5883. 2. שְׁרִרוּת, H9244. 3. תַּאֲבָה, H9291, 4. חֶ֫מֶד, H2774. 5. אַוָּה, H205; Gr. 1. ἐπιθυμία, G2123. 2. ἡδονή, G2454. 3. ὄρεξις, G3979. 4. ἐπιποθέω, G2160. 5. πάθος, G4079). Meanings of the various Heb. and Gr. words sometimes rendered “lust” in Eng. trs. range from a “strong desire” in a good sense to “inordinate passion” in a bad sense. The Eng. word has become more confined to the bad connotation of craving, esp. sexual passion; in its Biblical use it moved from a neutral term to its later sinful emphasis found also in the contemporary Eng. usage.

In the OT נֶ֫פֶשׁ, H5883, the soul, is used as the seat of the appetites and is sometimes rendered “lust.” This would include such natural wants as the hunger of the physical body: “...they tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved” (...“by asking meat for their lust” KJV, Ps 78:18). Other passages, however, denote an evil lust against which warning is given (e.g. Prov 6:25).

In the NT ἐπιθυμία, G2123, is the most used designation for lust. In the ordinary classical usage as well as a few times in the Scriptures, the word is employed with a neutral meaning; i.e. the lust is neither good nor bad (e.g. Mark 4:19; Rev 18:14). In some passages the usage of the desire in the context is good (e.g. Luke 22:15; Phil 1:23; 1 Thess 2:17). In the majority of the cases, however, and with a growing consistency among the later NT writings, the term is used in a bad sense of a desire for something forbidden (e.g. sexual desire, 1 Pet 4:3; worldly, Titus 2:12; cravings of flesh, Gal 5:16).

The consequences of evil lust are not only privation of good, but also enslavement, suffering, and death. See Sex.