You do not have a sin Nature! - guest post by Kevin

My comments in bold.

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My good friend sent me something he wrote, which appears at the end after my commentary. 

His assertion is that we no longer have a sinful nature. I would not disagree with him in the sense that we are new creations in Christ, and our very nature is transformed from death to life. But I wonder if it's more a matter of semantics, since it is clear we yet have a propensity to hearken to the sinful nature. 

By semantics I mean, do we "have" a sinful nature, or do we "hang on" to the sinful nature? Or, does the sinful nature hang around us?

There is the spiritual reality that we are completely new: 

2Co. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Ro. 6:6-8 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

 But we still tend to live in the Old Man:

1Co. 5:7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast — as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

 Paul also writes:

Ro. 7:20-23 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

The enmity between the sinful nature and the new creation is real; the Old Man attempts to continue to lie to us and steal our true identity from us.

Paul has a lot more to say about the sinful nature:

Ro. 8:1-14 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, (The law, by which we are condemned, no longer has an affect on us.) 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. (Rather than being a slave to sin, we are completely free in Christ.) And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (The law which requires death no longer can condemn us.) 5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; (Though our sinful nature is dead, it still can be embraced.) but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 

6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. 9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. (There is an issue of control. The demarcation point is whether or not The Holy Spirit lives in us. It seems from this that though we are no longer controlled by the sinful nature, it can still influence us. Or perhaps more accurately, we can still be attentive to it.)

10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (The Holy Spirit gives life.)

12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation — but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. (The sinful nature still is present in some fashion. It has influence, or can hold sway in some way, even though we are alive by the Holy Spirit.) 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, (Our command is to put to death sin in our lives.) 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Again, The demarcation point is whether or not The Holy Spirit live in us. If we do not have the Spirit we are dead.)

 Paul wants us to bear a different kind of fruit than what grows according to the sinful nature:

Ga. 6:7-8 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

 Using the imagery of a farmer sowing seed, we either cultivate the righteousness God intends for us, or we cultivate the things of death from the sinful nature.

Paul uses imagery that suggests our sinful nature, as well as our new creation, is something we can put on and take off like an article of clothing:

Ro. 13:13-14 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Ep. 4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Col. 3:9-10 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

I mentioned at the outset that I wondered if it was a matter of semantics. By that I mean, when we talk about the sinful nature, is it a matter of no longer having one and therefore forsaking it; or is it a matter of the sinful nature still being a part of us, whispering in our ears? It seems the net result is the same either way. 

There is the present reality, and that is, if we have the Holy Spirit alive in us, the sinful nature is dead. Period. We should abandon it. Separate our minds from it. It's our former identity. It's not us anymore. We should recognize when we incline our ears to it and be quick to repent. 

Yet it still affects us. We can become beholden to it. It impedes our walk. It is contrary to the Spirit:

Ga. 5:25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

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Here's what my friend wrote: 

Colosians 2:6-14 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

Say for instance you had a habit (thinking pattern) of reaching for a glass of water when you were thirsty and all of a sudden your arm was cut off. You would have the brain wired neuron connections that you would still automatically reach for the cup of water even though your arm was not there.

Another example when learning how to drive a standard car where you have to shift gears with your arm. As you learn to drive you are developing skills to drive until it becomes 2nd nature to you where you don’t have to think about it at all it is now your trained response. Then all of a sudden your arm was cut off would you still have the 2nd nature to drive a car but without the arm to do it?

I know there are other places single sentences (verse) in the bible that say you do have a sinful nature and we can discuss each one culturally and contextually if you want to have lunch sometime.

Repenting, Renewing, Transforming, … Neuroplasticity?

So what exactly is a new life in Christ and how do we get there?

Ephesians 4:21-24 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

Colossians 3:1-10 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

We are called to turn away from sin and embrace a new way of living. We are called to train our minds to think differently. We are called to take off our old self and put on our new self.

Dr. Caroline Leaf, a christian cognitive neuroscientist explains Neuroplasticity. (https://drleaf.com/) Neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity and neural plasticity, is the ability of the brain to change throughout an individual's life, e.g., brain activity associated with a given function can be transferred to a different location, the proportion of grey matter can change, and synapses may strengthen or weaken over time.

She explains that our brains physically have the power to melt neurons (brain cells) with chemicals and replace them with new neurons. At one point in our lives we were controlled by sin nature and have built responses over time of anger, jealousy, being offended, etc. When we start to live a life for christ whom has circumcised our sin nature we began a born again experience where we begin to grow into our new identity. You have a new nature and we can be transformed on earth in this present life where Jesus has come to give us Joy and abundant Life by physically rewiring your brain and its responses, habits, with meditation and being led by the spirit.

Mature Sons have become LOVE.

The word “Son” in three Greek words

Teknon (infant), Teknion (adolescent) , and huios (mature son).

Romans 8:14-17 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are (huios-mature) Sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons (teknon), by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children (teknon) of God, and if children (teknon), then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

The bible draws a distinction between immature sons and mature sons. When we believe in Jesus we all become sons of God but not all of us are mature sons. Part of the maturing process is taking off the thinking patterns and responses of our old nature and putting on our new nature. Here is another example from the prodigal son story.

Luke 15:11-32

Romans 8:11-31 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons (hious). The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.“Not long after that, the younger son (hious) got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son (hious); make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son (hious), threw his arms around him and kissed him.“The son (hious) said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son (hious).’“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son (hious) of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.“Meanwhile, the older son (hious) was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son (hious) of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’“ ‘My son (teknon-infant),’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

In the Fathers house all are welcome and each of them needed love. When a son becomes angry and focused on rule following he is called an infant or immature son (lead by external means). Now I am not talking about there are no consequences to behavior but the rules wont mature people this is why the law couldn’t produce righteousness in peoples lives(Gal 3:21). The ministry of condemnation which points at peoples and calls them sinners can not transform their lives (Rom 5:20). The law can help protect them while they are immature in the shadow type (Col 2:17). But it is not the substance of Jesus whom we have died, were buried and raised with him as a new creation (Rom 6:4). Jesus was the first born among many into this new reality (Rom 8:29). This new reality begins to transform us from the inside out (led by the spirit). He has given us a new ministry of Reconciliation “God was in Jesus reconciling the world to himself and now God is in you doing the same thing (2 Cor 5:19). Christ in you is your new nature! (Eph 2:6) So let’s take off our old self and put on our new self.

Some common signs of old nature we need to take captive and make it obedient to Christ whose inside of us.

Anger, (which can manifest as silent treatment, passivity)

Fear (which can masquerade as control, or paralysis),

Jealousy (which can masquerade as putting down others)

Greed (thinking about what you can get out of our church vs what you can give)

Idolotary (putting yourself or others on pedestal, identifying as anything but Christ )

Comparing yourself to other people instead of viewing yourself as a son/daughter

False Humility (anything that self identifies as lower then a son/daughter of God)

Blame, Shame, offended, etc…