The third thing to be known is the fact that the believer has two natures: one which he has received through Adam, called in Scripture the flesh, or sin, and the other which he has received through the new birth from God. These two are utterly antagonistic. Thus John says, speaking of the latter, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:99Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (1 John 3:9)). And Paul, speaking of the former, writes, as we have seen, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.” It is impossible to conceive of two more directly opposite statements; and now we find that the soul who is passing through the experience detailed in Romans 7 learns to distinguish between these two contrasted natures. We thus read, “Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me” (vs. 20). That is, he has learned to identify himself with the new nature: hence he says, “No more I” (comp. Gal. 2:20,20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20) where Christ becomes the “I” of the apostle); and at the same time he regards the flesh, his old nature, as nothing but sin; and he traces back to it, all the evil from which he has been suffering. This nature, though within (and will always remain there as long as the believer is upon earth), he now treats as an enemy, as one who always seeks to hinder his doing the good, and to compel him to do the evil. He thus proceeds: “I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man [and hence he desired to do good]; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (vss. 21-23).
Not only, therefore, is he helpless in the struggle against the enemy — indwelling sin, but he is worsted in the conflict, and overmastered; he is completely in the grasp and power of his foe. Still he has now learned that “sin,” the flesh, is his foe, and that he delights in the law of God after the inward man. And this, beloved reader, is a happy discovery; for the want of which, many godly souls in all ages have been kept groaning, in bondage, and writing bitter things against themselves, deeming that such was a necessary experience all the days of their lives. If you read, for example, the published diaries of some of the most devoted servants of the Lord, you will find that they are mainly made up of self-analysis and self-condemnation, springing from occupation with self instead of with Christ, in the vain effort to eradicate the evil found within their own hearts; and often leading to the question, If we are children of God why is it thus with us? Ah! they had misread, as many continue to misread, Romans 7; and hence, while they had their seasons of enjoyment of the presence and favor of God, they only alternate with times of darkest gloom and depression.
It is a blessed gain, therefore, when we know we have the two natures, and when we learn to distinguish between them; and it is still more blessed when we are brought, through our conflicts and struggles, as far as we ourselves are concerned, into hopeless captivity to the law of sin which is in our members. It is a painful but necessary experience, because thereby we are taught to have done with ourselves. The end of all flesh, so to speak, is come before us, as it had long before with God; and we know now, that vain is the help of man (self), that we are completely without resource, and, alas! at the mercy of our inward foe.