Part 6 – Conflict Deniers

This Article is part of a multi-part Study Series called The Two Natures in the Believer.

If as some say the Sin-nature went out at salvation when Christ’s Spirit came into our spirit; why then does Paul exhort us to not “yield” (Rom. 6:13) to the “Sin (Sin-nature)and to resist “the lust (desires) of the flesh” by “walking in the Spirit” (cf., Gal 5:16-18, 25)? To the Ephesians Paul says, you’ve “been taught… the truth… 22so that ye put off concerning the former conversation (manner of) the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;” (Eph. 4:21-22); and to “mortify” the deeds of sinful flesh (Col. 3:5).

Yet, some deny the Paul’s plain words concerning the fact of “Sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3) of believers. In Romans 7 Paul describes the experience of Himself and every believer. Can the deniers of the conflict between the Sin nature and the Christ-nature say Paul’s Rom. 7 experience is not their present reality? Can they now consistently do the righteous things that they intend, and that “the law of sin” no longer operates within their body members?

If they say can they’ve been wholly delivered from Sin, then their experience would disagree with Paul’s experience seen here; “The good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” “O wretched man that I am!” (Rom. 7:24). Are those who teach sinless perfection, expulsion, or eradication of Sin-nature, prepared to admit Paul’s experience as their present reality in that,

“the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye (apart from the Spirit) cannot do the things that ye would. (Gal. 5:17)

Then some ask;How are we to be blamed if Paul writes “ye cannot do the things that we would” (Gal. 5:17b).

Actually, Galatians 5:17 was not written to teach us our helplessness, but rather our utter depravity when we live apart from depending upon the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.” The Lord permits the frustration of this conflict so we would come to recognize the truth of our absolute depravity in ourselves and our need to rely upon “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:2, cf. Jn. 3:8) to make us free from “the Law of Sin and death.” Faith is the key…we must learn to trust in Him to guide us and the power of His overcoming life within us.

The fact is that we as yet unrenewed souls, are inherently bad due to the promptings of the Sin-nature still resident in the “flesh,” as expressed via our unrenewed minds. We don’t consistently succeed in the genuine righteous things. So, “the flesh” wages a relentless “mind war” within us to prevent us from doing righteousness consistently.

We need to know and trust in our real status “in Christ and live in the truth of who we are, being free from the power of the “Sin-nature,” and free from condemnation… even when we do sin. (Rom. 4:8). Every believer has been made “free from sin (Sin’s power)” by grace (Rom. 6:14, 17-18), so we need not and should not,yield unto” Sin’s prompting (cf. Rom. 6:12-13).

The believer is free from the law (the old regulating power) of sin and death(Rom. 8:2b). Christ “delivered us from the power of darkness” (Col. 2:13) when He;

1.) bore the death penalty for our sins at the cross, and

2.) had us to die “to Sin,” in Him at the cross of Calvary (Rom. 6:2-3).

Yet, no believer is free from the PRESENCE of what Paul calls “the law (operation) of sinthat is “in the flesh.” We are free from the power of the Sin-nature, but not Sin’s ever-present effort to prompt us to do wrong. We are free from Sin’s dominion when we stand in the liberty afforded us by His and our death by the cross. Spend some time to chew on and digest these verses below.

7he that is dead is freed from sin.

14sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are NOT under the law, but under grace...

16Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

17ye WERE the servants of sin, BUT ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine (truth) which was delivered you.18 Being then made free from sin (free from Sin’s dominion), ye became the servants of righteousness.” (Rom. 6:7, 14, 16-18)

So, if we would be truly spiritual we must learn how to deal with the Sin-nature in a Scriptural way. We must know the truth that our “Old Man IS crucified with Christ” (Rom 6:6a), counted as having died with Christ. But when we try to be righteous through self-effort we are resurrecting the “Old Man,” which makes us powerless toward “Sin,” thus will fail. We must believe, having “faith in the operation of God” that occurred of the cross, when we were circumcised spiritually. By our death with Christ, our sinful flesh nature was cut-off from having power over us.

  • We must clearly recognize Sin’s presence remains in “the flesh.”
  • But, we must believe the truth that we are no longer under sin’s dominion or any religious “Law” (Rom. 6:14).

Praise God that one day we’ll enjoy the fruit and culmination “the mystery” of God’s secreted eternal plan. We will then be liberated from these corruptible Sin-laden bodies that we currently live in.

“… I (Paul) shew you a mystery (I reveal a secret); We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we (the living) shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible (flesh body) must put on incorruption, and this mortal (flesh body) must put on immortality.(1 Cor. 15:51-53)