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NASB | 1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 John 1:8 If we say we have no sin [refusing to admit that we are sinners], we delude ourselves and the truth is not in us. [His word does not live in our hearts.] |
Subject: Is sinless perfection possible on earth? |
Bible Note: Greetings Edb! If I am following you correctly, you are asking do we have one or two natures as Christians. Allow me to re-post a couple of posts that I wrote awhile back that deal with this issue. _______________ There are three passages, all by Paul, that use the phrase 'old man': Rom. 6:6, Col. 3:9, and Eph. 4:22. Rom. 6:6 - “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin;” Col. 3:9 - “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,” Eph. 4:22 - “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,” What happens to the 'old man' in a believer? Anthony Hoekema writes (in Five Views of Sanctification by Zondervan Publishing House, 1987): “On the question of the relation between these two selves, Reformed theologians differ. Most of them, particularly those who taught and wrote some years ago, hold that the old self and the new self are distinguishable aspects of the believer. Before conversion believers have an old self; at the time of conversion, however, they put on the new self – but without totally losing the old self. The Christian, on this view, is understood to be partly a new self and partly an old self – something like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. At times the old self is in control, but at other times the new self is in the saddle; the struggle of life, according to this view, is the struggle between these aspects of the believer's being.” (pg. 78). Does Scripture support the notion that believers have two natures at the same time? To answer this question, let us consider several points: What is the 'old man'?, and what does Scripture says about the 'old man'? 1) What is the old man? There is nothing in Scripture to indicate that the 'old man' is our sin nature. Again, Hoekema writes: “What does Paul mean here by the 'old self'? Murray suggests that this expression designates 'the person in his unity as dominated by the flesh and sin.' In other words, Paul is here talking about a totality: the total person enslaved by sin,' what we all are by nature. That 'person enslaved by sin,' he is saying, was crucified with Christ. When Christ died on the cross, He dealt a deathblow to the old self we once were. Given the meaning of 'crucified,' Romans 6:6 states with unmistakable clarity that we are no longer the old selves we once were.” (pg. 79). This is an important point. There is nothing to indicate in any of the three verses dealing with the 'old man' that we, as Christians, are both 'old man' and 'new man' at the same time. In the first place, Rom. 6:6 tells us that the 'old man' has been crucified with Christ. The result of crucifixion is death. Yet, according to the traditional reformed view, the 'old nature' is still alive and kicking. Here is how one proponent (Herman Bavanick) of this view describes the relationship between the 'old man' and the 'new man' (as quoted by Hoekema): “The struggle (in the Christian life)...is between the inner man of the heart, which has been created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness, and the old man who, though driven out of the center, still wants to maintain his existence, and who fights all the more fiercely the more territory he loses...This is the struggle between two people in the same person...In every deliberation and deed of the believer, therefore, good and evil are as it were mingled together;...in all his thoughts and actions something of the old and something of the new man is present.” (pg. 78). Notice how far short this description falls from what Scripture actually says. Scripture doesn't say that the 'old man' has been 'driven out of the center', or that the 'old man' is fighting fiercely as he loses more territory. It says that he has been crucified. I will address the second question in my next post! Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |