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RenewingMinds
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THE BELIEVER'S SIN NATURE
While all of Scripture (Genesis to Revelation) sets forth the solemn truths of mankind's fallen condition, it is through the epistles of the Apostle Paul's that we receive the most detailed explanation and understanding regarding sin, as well as the believer's so-called "sin nature." To start, we need to grasp the context.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (soul). Genesis 2:7 (NKJV)
The first man, Adam, was made a psycho-physical (mind/body) fusion of sentient consciousness and specialized biological anthropoid. As for the immaterial portion, man's mind was patterned as an image or likeness of the Divine Creator relative to: intellect, emotions, will, sociality (togetherness), and spirituality.
In the Fall, Adam's life became radically corrupted--morally speaking. His life morphed from one of obedience toward the Creator to one of rebellion (sin) against God. Latent in his state of rebellion/sin was the "inclination of the thoughts of his heart being evil all the time" (Genesis 6:5).
Because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God; for neither indeed can it be... Romans 8:7 (Darby)
Subsequently, Adam's life, the animating force within him, was passed to his sons and daughters, and in turn to every individual who has ever lived.
And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot [a son] in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. Genesis 5:3 (NKJV)
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned... Romans 5:12 (NKJV)
In short, our "sin nature" is the "fallen" life from Adam, the life we receive at conception in the womb, our congenital inheritance from the first Parent. Its bent or nature is that of "sin"--all that is unlike the character of God. Three common definitions are inadequate because their limited sin to a) violation of divine law, b) finiteness, or c) selfishness.
With the "new birth" comes new life, the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is the old life gone or changed? No. The born-again Christian has two sources of life within, each inherently different. Christian sanctification, the experience of progressively becoming more "like" Christ, is the process of the new life emerging and the old life from Adam, progressively being held "inoperative" through faith in our co-crucifixion with Christ (Romans 6:6). Romans chapter 7 chronicles the Apostle Paul's struggle of inappropriately living under law, with two sources of life, with two diametrically-opposed natures. His experience was designed to teach him (and us) an important lesson. Law gives strength to the Adamic life, and for the new life (life from Christ), law is unnecessary.
Common Misunderstandings
Q. Does the believer have two personalities?
An. No. Mankind is composed of body, soul, and spirit (animation). The soul is the 'seat' of our unique individual personality, incorporating intellect, emotions, and volition. The new birth takes place in the realm of spirit, not soul. Christian author Dr. Norman Douty (1899-1993) said it best:
When we say that Christ's life has come into us to displace ours, what do we mean? We do not mean that this life of the Lord Jesus has come in to displace our personality as such. I mean the poison which permeates our personality, the poison of SIN which has degraded and defiled and distorted our humanity.
It is not that this NEW LIFE of the Lord Jesus comes in to take the place of our personality, to take the place of our faculties [intellect, emotions, volition] created by God, but He comes in to take the place of the sinful life [inherited from the first Adam-Genesis 5:3] which is operating in our personality and employing our faculties. The vessel [body and soul] is the same, but the contents are different--the same vessel, the same person, the same faculties, but the contents different. No longer this sinful element, but the very holy nature of the Lord Jesus Christ filling, interpenetrating, permeating.
Our Father is not seeking to abolish us as human beings [as in pantheism] and have the Lord Jesus replace us. He is seeking to restore us as human personalities so that we may be the vehicle through which Christ will express Himself. Therefore you find that whenever God gets hold of a man [or woman], instead of abolishing the personality, He makes it what he intended us to be.
Redemption is the recovery of the man, not the destruction of the man. And when the Lord Jesus in us is brought to the place He is aiming for, there will not be an atom [figurative speaking] of the old life [which flows from the first Adam] left, but the MAN will be left--glorified in union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Q. Does having two natures automatically make the Christian "schizophrenic."
An. Absolutely not. First, I believe your use of the psychological term is inaccurate relative to the subject at hand. Schizophrenia is defined as "a psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with the environment, by noticeable deterioration in the level of functioning in everyday life, and by disintegration of personality expressed as disorder of feeling and thought--as in hallucinations and delusions." None of this is true of the born-again believer. Paul's discussion, in Romans 7:7-25, is of the internal conflict he is having over his own behavior. Having inappropriately placed himself "under law" as a rule of life, he discovered that a "law of sin," associated with the life he inherited from Adam, is empowered to violate both his conscience and his volition. No so-called 'free will' here!
...I am carnal, sold [as a slave] under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. Romans 7:14,15 (NKJV)
Some modern-day, psychiatric professionals might rightfully consider the Apostle Paul's internal struggle some form of pathology ("something abnormal" - Merriam-Webster); however, so did the Apostle Paul! With a heightened sense of moral conscience, Paul did not consider his experience a permanent or acceptable condition--i.e., status quo for the Christian life; rather, he sought and found deliverance!
O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:24,25 (NKJV)
For a more detailed explanation, study THE ADAMIC NATURES, OUR HISTORY IN THE FIRST ADAM, and OUR HISTORY IN THE LAST ADAM.
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