This message is a follow-on to our previous message entitled: Do Christians have a sinful nature? (Indwelling Sin). Last week we proved from scripture that God has completely removed our sinful nature when we were born again (if you haven’t read this message we recommend you read it first by clicking here: http://www.newcovenantgrace.com/christians-sinful-nature-indwelling-sin/.

God COMPLETELY changed us when we came into salvation, we are brand spanking new! [2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new]. Is our body gone? No. Is our mind gone? No. But this verse says something “old” has passed away! It is our old spirit man, the sinful nature (indwelling sin) that was completely removed, and replaced with a righteous, born again spirit that was created perfect in the image of Christ. [Eph 4:24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness]. Also see Eph 3:10 (below).

Now the question poses: If God completely removed our sinful nature, why then do we still make mistakes? Why do we still do things that seem contrary to this Godly nature that was birthed in us? The answer is 2 fold:
1) Because of our unrenewed minds (this week’s message)
2) Because of external temptations / distractions (next week’s message)

When we were born into this world (with a fallen, sinful nature that is enmity with God), we live according to this nature, fulfilling its lusts. When this sinful nature (also called the “old man” in the Bible) told us to commit sin, we did it. We had no desire to please God, and as a result our minds were trained to obey the desires of this sinful nature, with our body simply running after what our mind told it to do. The sinful nature can be seen as the “control room”, the driving force behind our decision making. And the mind (soul) was then trained and became accustomed to operating in whichever mannerisms and habits the old sinful nature exercised over it. Our minds were therefore trained and programmed in sin, lustfulness, self preservation and unbelief and we learned all sorts of bad habits.

Then at salvation, when our sinful nature was completely removed (when we were born again), God gave us a completely new, fully righteous spirit man on the inside, created 100% in the image of Christ, with all of Christ’s righteousness and virtue. [Eph 3:10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him]. Now suddenly our mind (soul) realizes there is a new “control room” on the inside, but it appears as though this new “control room” operates in an entirely different way than the old one. And that’s why it sometimes feels as though there is a war raging inside of us, with the mind battling against our new man, the born again spirit. For years and years the mind (soul) has been trained in a certain way, and now the “new man” has to train the mind to operate in a different way.

Last week we spoke about the Greek word “sarx” (which means “flesh”) that has different meanings in different contexts. Let’s look at its context in the following scripture:

[Gal 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (sarx). 17 For the flesh (sarx) lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh (sarx); and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh (sarx) are evident, which are: adultery, 20 fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 21 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 22 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries].

Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians, who were born again believers. Thus they did not have a sinful nature anymore. Bearing in mind what we have discussed above, it can clearly be seen that that in this context, the word “flesh” (sarx) simply means the unrenewed mind (it can NOT mean “sinful nature” since we proved last week that Christians don’t have a sinful nature anymore). Paul was saying that all these lusts were simply works (fruit) of the believers’ unrenewed minds. An unrenewed mind is wired to operate as though we still have an old sinful nature.

And then Paul contrasts this by listing the very well known fruit of the spirit (the new man, born again inner spirit): [Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control]. These are also called the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but actually our born again spirit and the Holy Spirit are joined together, so these can also be seen as the fruit of our born again spirit. [1 Cor 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him]. When we do these good things, they are only a FRUIT of the 100% righteous new spirit man that is inside of us, we don’t do them to try and please God or to be more holy, because we are already 100% holy on the inside!!

Therefore it can clearly be seen that our (unrenewed) mind is at war with our born again spirit, and this is simply one of the reasons why we read the Bible, go to church, pray, worship, etc: To renew our minds. NOT to earn God’s acceptance, because God is already pleased with us. How can He NOT be if we were created in the very image of His Son Jesus?

This concludes the first reason why Christians still sin (even though we don’t have a sinful nature anymore), namely because of an unrenewed mind. Next week we’ll deal with the second reason: External temptations.

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe