Question: "What does it mean to be

ungodly? What is ungodliness?"

Answer: The Bible talks of the ungodly as those who are separated from God.
Ungodliness is the condition of being polluted with sin. To be ungodly is to act in a
way that is contrary to the nature of God, to actively oppose God in disobedience, or
to have an irreverent disregard for God. The Bible often speaks of the flesh in
reference to things that emanate from our sinful natures. The acts of the flesh and
the desires of the world fall under the category of ungodliness.

Second Peter 3:7 says that the ungodly will face judgment. Revelation 20:14
15 says, Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is
the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was
thrown into the lake of fire. Ultimately, those who reject Godthe ungodlywill be
separated from Him forever.

Jude refers to false teachers as ungodly. His description contains these

characteristics of ungodliness: they pervert the grace of God into a license for
immorality, and they deny Jesus Christ as the only Sovereign and Lord (Jude 1:4).
Later, Jude mentions the ungodly acts of the wicked and defiant words that the
ungodly speak against God (verse 15). The ungodly are also characterized as
grumblers and faultfinders who selfishly follow their own evil desires, boast and
flatter (verse 16). The ungodly scoff at the truth of God and attempt to divide
churches (verses 1819).

Amazingly, Jesus sacrificed Himself for the ungodly. Romans 5:6 and 8 says, You
see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
. . . God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ
died for us. God justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5), clothing them with the
righteousness of Christ and enabling them to live a life worthy of the Lord and please
him in every way (Colossians 1:10).

Our sanctification is progressive. That is, even though we are saved and justified in
Christ, we sometimes still act in ungodly ways. We are still in the process of being
transformed into His image (Romans 8:2930; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Philippians 1:6).
We are declared righteous before God but are still being made holy in practical
terms. In short, we still sin. Scripture says we should confess our sin and trust Gods
forgiveness (1 John 1:89). Nothing can separate us from Gods love for us in Christ
(Romans 8:3139). We are no longer numbered among the ungodly, even though
we still fight our fleshly urges and sometimes act in ungodly ways.

Generally speaking, the ungodly are those who do not know God through Jesus
Christ. They have rejected Gods Son and remain in their sins. Those who are in
Christ have their sins forgiven and are becoming more godly. Believers naturally
seek to remove all ungodliness from their lives (1 John 3:9).