YOUR TWO NATURES

“Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;

Living with Jesus, a new life divine;

Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,

Moment by moment. O Lord, I am Thine.”

-D. W. Whittle

 

Everyone who has been born again has within himself two natures. The new birth made you a partaker of the Divine nature (2 Pet. 1:3, 4.) However, you will find before you have gone very for in your Christian life your old sinful cravings are not gone. That old sinful nature is still within you, and it will take every opportunity you give it to assert itself. Each of these. Two natures are striving to be master; hence there will be a conflict in your life until one gains the victory (Gal. 5:16-17). It is not possible for both to remain and be a peace with each other. Until one is put to death there is bound to be warfare (Rom. 7:22-24).

In this battle, as in all others in the Christian life, faith will be your victory. The Lord Jesus came to save us now, in this life, from the dominion and power of sin in our lives, and to make us more than conquerors (Rom. 8:37). When you were baptized into Christ you became identified with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:3-4). Thus, your old sinful nature has been crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6). From henceforth you are to reckon yourself as “dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 6:11) The flesh is henceforth to be kept in the place of death (Col.3:5) with no provision made to fulfil its lusts (Rom. 13:14). You cannot eradicate this sinful nature (1 John 1:8), but you can keep it inoperative. You have no further obligation to it.

“So then, brethren, we are debtors, not in the flesh, to live after the flesh; for if ye live after the flesh, we must die; but if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” (Rom. 8:12-13)

The new nature implanted by God in your heart is entirely holy and pure. If given the control I your life, it will take your hands, your feet, your mind, and every member of your body and transform them into instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6:13-19).