The Two Natures
Our last paper was to show how perfectly and eternally all that was against the believer is cleared away forever, so that he can stand without fear before a righteous God, and enter the very presence of a thrice holy God. We saw that in Romans the scene was laid in God’s judgment hall, in Hebrews it was in the sanctuary, and that while in the former, the death of Christ perfectly took away every penalty attaching to sin, in the latter, the same death eternally took away its defilement; the summing up in the one case being that the sinner who had “come short,” now rejoices in hope of God’s glory; in the other, the one who was “afar off,” now has boldness to enter the holiest. But if any think that these magnificent truths exhaust the value of the death of Christ for the sinner, they are greatly mistaken.
Sins Taken Away, Life Given
So far, we have only touched upon what it takes away from us – our sins, death, and the judgment of God. On the other hand, it gives us something, for out of death we get life everlasting. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We receive it when we are born again. When a person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, the entrance of the Word of God, for the first time into his soul, in the power of the Spirit, produces a new life, in Scriptural language he is born again “of water (see 1 Peter 1:2323Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1 Peter 1:23)) and of the Spirit.”
The New Nature Has No Sin Connected With It
This new nature is holy, it bears the character of God, and the child of God, viewed according to that nature, cannot sin (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)), because he is born of God. It is this new nature that makes us desire “the glory of God,” that makes us love God’s presence; otherwise, although I might no longer be shut out, I should not care to enter in. It is this life alone that enables us to glorify God in this world. Had we nothing but the old sinful nature, we should still produce nothing but sins, for just as the new is holy, so the old is sinful and enmity against God; those who live in it, cannot please Him (Rom. 8).
Sin and Sins
The question of sins, as we have seen, is dealt with in Romans 3- 5, and we are shown to be justified in perfect righteousness. But in what follows from the middle of Romans 5 to the end of Romans 8, the question is not one of sins but of sin (or the old nature). Hence the subject is no longer justification; for the old nature is not justified, but condemned and put to death, nor do we now read of God’s righteousness, for it is no longer a question of justifying the sinner, but of his old nature being crucified with Christ. The righteousness therefore, that we do read of (Rom. 6:13,16,1913Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (Romans 6:13)
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? (Romans 6:16)
19I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. (Romans 6:19)) is the practical righteousness of the new nature, not God’s, but mine. Now the old man is said to be crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:66Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Romans 6:6)). I am also said to be crucified with Christ, (Gal. 2:2020I 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)), for the old man was I, it was myself. All my thoughts, words and deeds flowed from this tainted source; they might please man, but could not please God. Our old man, was judged and condemned at the cross of Christ. Tried by every test for 4,000 years, he was found to be nothing but sin, and in raising Christ from the dead on the morning of the first day of the week, God began a new race in the second Man, and set aside the first forever. The cross of Christ is the end of the old man, and if I am to have a standing before God, it is by no cultivation or improvement of self (the Old Testament is the history of the fruitlessness of this), but in the possession of a new life, a new nature.
Sin Still in Us
But although God has done with my old nature, I have not. All that we have spoken of is a question of faith, I still feel the old evil thoughts within my heart, and shall until I leave this world. “If we say we have no sin (no old nature in us) we deceive ourselves” (1 John 1). Inasmuch as I have died to it, (Rom. 6:22God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (Romans 6:2)) that is, have done with it at the cross of Christ, and am to have (practically) no more dealings with it, I am to treat it as it is in God’s sight, in short I am “to reckon myself dead unto sin.” I am not to yield any member of my body to its service.
My Personality Changed
In saying all this we find that there are three things connected with this subject – my personality, and the old and new natures; therefore we get the I (the old man) or the I (the new man), or I apart from either. We get the three all in one verse, Romans 7:2020Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. (Romans 7:20), a most interesting passage, for it shows the “I” (or the man himself) discovering that he is no longer connected with the old man but the new. Let us paraphrase it thus. “Now if I (the old nature) do that I (the new nature) would not, it is no longer I (myself, the man) that do it, but sin (as a foreign body) that dwelleth in me.” So also we read in Galatians 2:2020I 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), “I (the old man) am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I (the new man) live, yet not (personal) I, but Christ (who) liveth in me: that is, the new nature is inseparably associated with Christ” who is our life.
“Is It Right?” and “Is It Wrong?”
The changing of the “I” from the old to the new man is most important. It does not always take place practically in our conversion. On the contrary, do we not often hear young believers say, “I want to go to the show, etc., but it would not be right now,” or “I should like to have a dress like so-and-so, or as much money as some one else”? Now here the I is plainly the old nature, for the new does not care for shows, neither does it covet: only there is also the sense of the new life. It is not necessarily that I do the wrong things, but that I look on myself as the same person, only with a new nature within me. Now let us look at a man when the “I” has changed places. “I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better,” says Paul. Or take the case of a young Christian who could truly say, “I would rather not go to the show, it would give me no pleasure.” Now in both these the I is the new nature, for the old does not desire to be with Christ, and it does love shows.
I Am a New Creature
It will be readily seen from considering the above, that a thousand things that were snares and temptations, when I was still allied with the old nature, are no longer so when I am living practically in the power of the new, for I am a new creature in Christ Jesus, though I still have indwelling sin.
We have gone over this subject again and again, because of its great importance. It is a wonderful step for the young believer when practically he finds that his thoughts, his feelings, his pleasures are changed, not that he does this or that, because it is right merely, but because he delights in it “after the inward man.”
The only way to attain to this truly happy Christian state, is by daily being occupied with Christ, daily seeking to please Him, and always looking on myself as a Christian, never allowing such a thought as, “Well, of course, I should like it, but now I am a Christian.” No, if I am a Christian, what would like it, is not myself but sin that dwelleth in me. You must own that you have still evil thoughts and passions, but always look on these as intruders, not as yourself.
(To be continued.)