A BELIEVER’S NATURE

[regibassman57]

What is a born again believer’s nature? Do we have “two” nature?

In this world there are two spiritual natures those in Christ Jesus know of. They are the “Sinful Nature” and the “Righteous Nature.”

Jam 3:12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? Either a vine, figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh?

When a person is born into this world, they are born into a nature with a carnal mind that is at enmity with their creator (Rom.8:7; Isa. 59:2). An unbeliever is blinded to the Righteous Nature of Jesus Christ and His knowledge, which gives understanding of His life, through faith, and the ability to know who they are in His sight. The recapturing of the knowledge of who Jesus is can only be learned and understood through God Spiritually enlightening our minds through the study of His word (Eph. 1:17, 18; 2Tim. 2:15).

Man is born into the nature of sin, through the wrong action of Adam which caused a spiritual disconnect with God. A man must be born again to have a relationship with God in order for him to truly understand a life of Righteousness (Rom. 5:12; Joh 14:6).

To be born again is to be “delivered out” of the old sinful nature and be translated into God's Righteous nature by faith (Col. 1:13; Rom. 11:24). God’s word teaches us, “we must be born again,” if we desire to have life (Joh 3:7).

Once a man becomes born again, they do not have a dual nature. This is because they “have died” to the old man in this world and have put on Christ’s nature “by faith” (Rom. 8:10; 6:4; Col. 2:20; 3:3; 2:20). Faith is the key to a successful life in this world in Christ, while walking in a corrupt environment. We as believers are not, spiritually, looking at our failures in the carnal sense, but we are looking at what God says about our failures through his Grace; we are calling those things which appear not to be, as they are (Rom. 4:17). If God said a believer is righteous, that’s who we are. The nature of Righteousness and the nature of sin are not all-embracing.

Believers do not live their life (in thought) according to their feelings about things they experience, but they live life by what God’s word says at that moment. This is because “the Just shall live by faith” (Gal. 3:11).

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Just because a believer lives in this world physically, in God’s sight, they are not of it spiritually (Joh. 17:14-17). God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (Joh. 4:24). However, while in this world we are learning to sanctify ourselves from the temptations and hate that Satan aggressively overwhelms us with at times, that we might present ourselves to God as Holy vessels (Eph. 4:22-24). What we feel is not who we are!

 

[Ivar]

@regibassman57

I would expect and hope that I have one nature and that I agree with the Spirit and am counted part of Abraham's bosom. My nature is a representation of my actions and their agreement.

1Jn 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
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If I do well my nature is acceptable; however if i not do well :crying:

Gen 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

 

[regibassman57]

Ivar,
You are either born again or you're not. If you're born again your life is "hid" in Christ.

Col 3:3 For "YOU" (Ivar) are "DEAD" (to this world by faith) and "YOUR LIFE" is "hid with Christ in God."

Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Ivar, you cannot live a dual nature in God's sight.

 

[regibassman57]

Ivar,
We have to remember, The Lord sees us through the eyes of faith (Rom.4:17).
God has declared us innocent (Righteous) in His sight when we became born again.
Believers are innocent (Righteous) until the day of Judgment when their works shall be made manifest (1Cor. 4:5 Rev. 22:12).

Ivar, What are believers innocent from?

 

[Dave M]

Galatians 5:17
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

"Does a Christian have two natures?"

Answer: The first problem that comes up with this question is one of semantics. For example, many prefer "sin nature," others prefer "sinful nature," and still others prefer the ambiguous "flesh." Whatever the specific names used for the warring parties, what is relevant is that an ongoing battle rages within the Christian.

The second problem is the actual definition of "nature." How this significant word is defined determines how one sees the distinction between the “old man” and the “new man” and its relevant outworking in the life of the Christian. One way to view "nature" is to understand it as a "capacity" within a believer. Thus, the old man is interpreted as the former way of life, that of an unbeliever. In this sense, the Christian has two competing capacities within him—the old capacity to sin and the new capacity to resist sinning. The unbeliever has no such competition within; he does not have the capacity for godliness because he has only the sin nature. That’s not to say he cannot do “good works,” but his motivation for those works is always tainted by his sinfulness. In addition, he cannot resist sinning because he doesn’t have the capacity to not sin.

The believer, on the other hand, has the capacity for godliness because the Spirit of God lives within him or her. He still has the capacity for sin as well, but he now has the ability to resist sin and, more importantly, the desire to resist and to live godly. When Christ was crucified, the old man was crucified with Him, resulting in the Christian's no longer being a slave to sin (Romans 6:6). We “have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:18).

At the moment of conversion, the Christian receives a new nature. It is instantaneous. Sanctification, on the other hand, is the process by which God develops our new nature, enabling us to grow into more holiness through time. This is a continuous process with many victories and defeats as the new nature battles with the “tent” in which it resides—the old man, old nature, flesh.

In Romans 7, Paul explains the battle that rages continually in even the most spiritually mature people. He laments that he does what he doesn’t want to do and, in fact, does the evil he detests. He says that is the result of “sin living in me” (Romans 7:20). He delights in God’s law according to his “inner being,” but he sees 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” (v. 23). Here is the classic example of the two entities, whatever terms they may carry. The point is that the battle is real, and it is one Christians will wage throughout their lives.

This is why believers are encouraged to put to death the deeds of the body (Romans 8:13), to put to death that which makes a Christian sin (Colossians 3:5), and to put aside other sins such as anger, wrath, malice, etc. (Colossians 3:8). All this to say that the Christian has two natures—the old and the new—but the new nature needs continual renewing (Colossians 3:10). This renewing, of course, is a lifetime process for the Christian. Even though the battle against sin is constant, we are no longer under the control of sin (Romans 6:6). The believer is truly a “new creation” in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), and it is Christ who will ultimately “rescue [us] from this body of death. Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24–25).

Does a Christian have two natures?

 

[Ivar]

Ivar,
We have to remember, The Lord sees us through the eyes of faith (Rom.4:17).
God has declared us innocent (Righteous) in His sight when we became born again.
Believers are innocent (Righteous) until the day of Judgment when their works shall be made manifest (1Cor. 4:5 Rev. 22:12).

Ivar, What are believers innocent from?

@regibassman57
Only a judge of authority can say and execute the ruling.

@Dave M
In the body cells have one nature and if that nature is compromised then those cells are considered cancerous and cast out.
"I don't say this to agree or disagree with your post above. It is simply what came to mind as I glossed over it."

 

[regibassman57]

The question would be then, Dave, are you in the flesh as a believer? A battle constitutes a war of opposite opponents; which side are you on? Can you be on both sides in Christ? Can you serve two masters?

2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, “he is a new creature”: “old things are passed away”; behold, “all things are become new.”

By faith in Christ are you the old man or the new?

The question would be, are you and other believers fighting against flesh and blood? (Eph. 6:12)

Does an unbeliever have temptations because of their addictions and go to therapy and receive help to defeat certain addictions? Is this a competition within that unbeliever fighting to gain his sanity that seems to elude him?

Do inmates that are locked up have the capacity to say no to the crime they’ve committed after being paroled? I know you said unbelievers can do good, but you’re also saying they do not have the capacity for godliness.

Rom 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have “not the law,” “do by nature the things contained in the law,” these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

Rom 2:15 Which “show the work of the law written in their hearts,” their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.

How can you be liberated from something and continue in it?

What is a believer innocent/Righteous of in this process?

Does Paul say it is not him(Romans 7:20)? If Paul said it is not him warring against himself then he is not saying he has another nature; neither is he saying he is divided in himself. Paul said it is sin that he is warring against. Who is sin that Paul sees in himself?

Gen 4:7 If thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? and if thou do not well, “SIN” lies at the door. And unto thee shall be “HIS” desire, and thou shall rule over “HIM”.

Who is the “him” being spoken of here? Who then was Paul warring against?