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NASB | 1 John 3:9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 John 3:9 No one who is born of God [deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin, because God's seed [His principle of life, the essence of His righteous character] remains [permanently] in him [who is born again--who is reborn from above--spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose]; and he [who is born again] cannot habitually [live a life characterized by] sin, because he is born of God and longs to please Him. |
Subject: Why this is not taught? |
Bible Note: Greetings Mark! Great topic by the way! :-) Just to clarify, I believe that Romans 7 refers to an unregenerate Jew, who wants to please God but can't! :-) Now, on to Col. 3:5. This verse doesn't use the word for 'nature'; rather it uses a word for 'body parts or members'. As I looked up how Paul used this same word in other his other books, it became clear that the 'members' can be offered to either righteous or unrighteous, but they themselves are not evil. Here are some of the other verses: 1) Rom. 6:13 - "Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness." 2) Rom. 6:19 - " I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness." 3) Rom. 7:5 - "For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death." 4) Rom. 7:23 - "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." So, with the possible exception of Rom. 7:23 (depending upon your view of Rom. 7), Paul uses 'members' here as a neutural that can be given to either righteousness or unrighteousness. However, in Col. 3:5, Paul does not seem to be using the word to refer to 'body parts'. Rather, the 'members of the earth' that he mentions seem to be the actual list of vice that follows. So, 'fornication', 'uncleaniness', ect.. appear to be the things that are to be put to death. In fact, the reason that they can put these things to death is because of their new nature. Col. 3:9-10 says, "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." So, I would say that Col. 3:5 doesn't hint at the presence of two natures in a Christian. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |