You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

Copyright 2013 by Phil Drysdale

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First Edition: September 2013

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

About Phil

Who I Am What I Do

You probably downloaded this book Speak in churches,

because you are in some way familiar conferences and ministry
with who I am. However on the off- schools
chance that you dont know who I am or Write books and articles
what my ministry is about, let me online
introduce myself. Create free audio & video
resources
Hi, Im Phil, I am happily married to Pastor pastors
Sarah, the woman of my dreams and, at Help people work through
the time of writing this book, we live in pastoral & theological issues
Dublin, Ireland. I am known for helping in their lives
people rethink how they relate to God,
who they are in Christ and Christianity
as a whole. I challenge people to
evaluate what they believe for
themselves and to not just accept
everything they have been brought up
to believe.

My primary message is about the grace

of God - His goodness, our perfection in
Him and all that that means.

The tagline of my ministry is:

Revealing Christ in You, the Hope of
Glory

My heart is that you would be

challenged in your beliefs through both
this book and my ministry. We dont
have to agree on everything. Lets face Social Media
it, life would be so boring if we did! But I
do hope that we can find mutual ground One of the best ways for us to
in our relationship with Jesus and allow get to know each other is to
the Holy Spirit to lead us into all Truth connect with me on:
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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

The importance of context

Romans 7 is a great chapter but not so much for so many people who
refuse to read it in the context of the rest of Romans and the Epistles.

It is constantly brought up when I say we have no sinful nature. People cant

seem to read it in any other light, so today Im going to try point to Romans
7s context and ask that you take a fresh look at verses 14-25 with me today
in the greater context of the scriptures.

First lets look at what Paul thought of His sinful nature, I think the Bible is
clear enough of what Paul thought, but many seem to disagree, lets start in
the immediate context of Romans 7 by looking at the prior chapter.

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

RIP sinful nature

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Romans 6:1&2

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death? Romans 6:3

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that,
just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too
might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of
sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved
to sin. Romans 6:6

For one who has died has been set free from sin. Romans 6:7

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with
him. Romans 6:8

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in
Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but
under grace. Romans 6:14

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become
obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were
committed, Romans 6:17

and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of
righteousness. Romans 6:18

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of
God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. Romans
6:22

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

Thats just a brief example of the context, but He starts in Romans 4

explaining the old nature of man and building up the argument that the old
man is dead and you are a completely new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) In
fact he uses euphemisms for death 42 times in chapters 4-8. Its not a topic
he vaguely touches upon, it is rather the very centre of the message!

My favorite way Paul chooses to explain just how much sinful nature is not a
part of you is in Colossians 2:11 its really so graphic its hilarious.

He states that the sinful nature has been circumcised. Wow. Thanks Paul for
such a poetic image. The point being you dont see many circumcised men
with their foreskin taped back on! Sorry, now its me painting the gross
picture.

So from Romans 6 Paul clearly states that we are dead to sin and it should
be impossible for us to sin (v2), we are slaves to righteousness (v18).

So why do we struggle?

There are lots of great resources on my website

touching on this - I recommend these to start with.

Why Do I Sin?

The Gift of Righteousness

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

By grace through faith

Our actions flow from our beliefs.

Grace flows from Faith.

that is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on
grace and be guaranteed to all his offspringnot only to the adherent of the
law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of
us all, Romans 4:16

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in
which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:2

For by grace you have been saved through faith. Ephesians 2:8

Paul talks about the importance of our minds later on again in Ephesians
4:20-24:

But that is not the way you learned Christ! assuming that you have heard
about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your
old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through
deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put
on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and
holiness.

He here stated that by renewing our minds we put off the old self and put on
the new self sounds something like Romans 12:2:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of

your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is
good and acceptable and perfect.

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

Its not just Paul!

But what do other New Testament authors have to say about this?

Peter says it in this way in 1 Peter 1:13-15

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded,

set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation
of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of
your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in
all your conduct

He says that it is ignorance that causes us to fall into our past passions the
NKJV says it like this not conforming yourselves to former lusts in your
ignorance

Even James talks about our faith creating good works. He states again and
again in chapter 2 that it is faith that leads to good works.

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

True spiritual warfare

This is the reason that Paul constantly tells us to take our thoughts captive
and renew our minds!

In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 he says:

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine
power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty
opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought
captive to obey Christ,

Wow sounds like Paul is going to war against his mind! How many demons
or sinful natures does he mention going to war against here? This is a very
famous passage of Paul telling the Corinthians how to clean up their actions
and yet he doesnt tell them to war against their flesh or spiritual attack,
rather against their thoughts!

Anyway, lets not get derailed by the multitudes of scriptures which talk of the
sin nature having died and the war only being in our mind, lets look at
Romans 7.

For more on spiritual warfare check out these articles:

The Truth About Spiritual Warfare

4 Keys to Guarantee Victory in Spiritual Warfare

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

Romans 7:1-6 The law died

and we are married to grace

Paul continues to build his argument about us being free from sinful nature
for the first half of the chapter!

First of all lets remember as he starts Romans 7 he states very clearly:

Verse 1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know
the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?

He is talking about how the law is over man as long as he lives. And then
uses an analogy of how we are married to the law, but as soon as the law
died we were free to marry grace. We would in fact be cheating on grace if
we were to go back to the law.

Verse 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he

lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.

Verse 4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through
the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been
raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

Lets read on Im going to break this up with thoughts so you can follow it

Verse 5 For while we were living in the flesh,

Its clear Paul thinks we no longer are!

Verse 5 continued our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at

work in our members to bear fruit for death.

Law is the catalyst added to a sinful nature to create sinful actions (1

Corinthians 15:56)

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

Verse 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which
held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the
old way of the written code.

So even here at the beginning of chapter 7 Paul is still telling us we are free
from the law which would lead to sin. We dont live under the law any more
but rather in the Spirit which causes Godly fruit.

Romans 7:7-13 The law was good for

one thing

Paul then goes on what seems to be a derailment in v7-13 to make sure we

all know he is saying the law is not bad and that it had a purpose, but that
purpose was to expose sin and had no power to stop it in any way. Hes
saying very clearly that while the law is good, perfect and holy it cannot
make someone good, perfect or holy! He then continues to talk about the
law being good but bringing death in verses 14.

What we dont see in most non-literal translations is the first word of verse
14, FOR, its key however because it links the past tense passage to the
present tense passage, these are not two separate thoughts!

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

Romans 7:14-25 Here it goes...

With all that building to the controversial v14-25 lets read the whole batch
now in the context of the rest of the scripture:

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do
the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that
it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For
I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the
desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the
good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do
what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For
I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members
another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive
to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who
will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus
Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with
my flesh I serve the law of sin. Romans 7:14-25

First of all lets stand in awe at how short this passage is, this passage, which
has single-handedly been used to argue that man still has a sinful nature. Its
crazy that so many throughout history have hung so much on the reading of
this one short passage out of context.

Secondly, lets look at what history has done with the passage, before St.
Augustine in the fifth century the Christian body was unanimous that Romans
7:14-25 was referring to a pre-Christian experience. Im going to say that
again to be sure you got it for more than 300 years after the New
Testament was penned NOBODY thought it was the Christian experience to
struggle with sinful nature and they rather thought this passage referred to a
pre-Christian experience. After Augustine stated that it was in fact the
highest stage of Christian experience (whatever he meant by that) it was
held as common opinion that it was a present Christian reality for around a
thousand years. Whilst a few contested it throughout those thousand years it
was not until the 1600s that it was again really challenged on a significant

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

level when Jacob Hermansz, more commonly known as Jacobus Arminius

asked how it could possibly be the case in the context of the rest of Pauls
writings. Since then there has been strong followings of both sides of the
argument.

Its also interesting to note that Augustine personally documents in all his
writings he has a massive struggle with sexual sin among other sins. All it
takes for bad doctrine to creep into the church is for one man of prominence
to have a bad idea that lines up with some bad theology.

So how do I choose to read this passage?

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

Interpretation The options

There are three primary options that are the main trains of thought in todays
church.

1) It is either Paul talking of past experience as a Pharisee under the law,

knowing he shouldnt and trying not to sin but seeing the law waking in his
sinful nature the desire to sin.

or

2) It is Paul, an ex-Pharisee, a man who is trying to renew his mind not to be

a slave to the law talking about what happens when he gives in to that desire
and goes back to trying to do things in his own effort. He empowers the law
to breed sin because he is not resting in the truth that he has been set free
from the law.

or

3) Paul is struggling with a sinful nature and is asking God to save him from
his wretched sinful nature.

Option number 3 in my opinion just seems incredibly weak when read with
the rest of Romans and the rest of scripture.

The first two to me would suitably fit the passage in its immediate context of
just Romans 7:14-25 and in the greater context of Romans and the whole
New Testament. I personally think whichever of the first two you believe is
kind of irrelevant though. In my opinion the context of this chapter doesnt
seem to be about a sinful nature at all but rather about the law. Its probably
a mixture of both option 1 and 2 as it speaks into both situations equally
whichever you choose.

However first I want to tackle one issue that will exist for many, especially
those who dont like option 1.

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

Its in present tense!

To help those of you who are struggling with the matter of the tense I refer
to page 185 of A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament by H.E.
Dana and Julius Mantey in which it explains how the present tense can be
used as what it calls, historical present. It states that in historical present,
The present tense is thus employed when a past event is viewed with
vividness of a present occurrence. Now whether or not it is the case in
Romans 7:14-25 is still up for interpretation, but please dont think it isnt a
good solid argument just because of the texts present tense.

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

Its not about sinful nature at all

but rather, its about the law

The issue Paul is arguing here works either for a non-believer or a believer
because this is not an issue of the nature of man, be it sinful or righteous.
Rather its a statement of the problem man has, either way, when they
choose to go back to the law. Hes stating when I try to do what is right I
end up messing up, and when I try to avoid what is wrong I end up doing it
anyway. Whats he saying? When I try to live by the law, I fall short!

The passage is about the truth that whether you love Jesus or not if you try
to go it alone and make it about your right or wrong actions you will fail in
your self-righteous attempts.

Even after you are saved and set free from a sinful nature and set free from
the law, if you go back to the law it will cause sin to spring forth in your life
and ultimately death.

Its clearly not about a struggle with sinful nature itself. How can I state that?
Because Paul killed that thing 42 times over the space of the previous 3 and
a half chapters! Its a statement of the state of man under the law and a cry
for help for someone to redeem him from this constant need to walk under
the law. Who will redeem him from this curse? Jesus. Now Paul no longer
walks according to the law which brings sin and death but according to the
Spirit which brings freedom.

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

Lets read on Chapter 8

Verse 1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to
the Spirit.

Whats Paul saying here? We dont walk according to the flesh i.e.
according to our actions based upon what we can do, but according to the
Spirit, based upon what HE can do.

Verse 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free
from the law of sin and death.

He is stating that the law of the Spirit is what sets us free from the law that
brings sin and death. The law of the Spirit is walking in tune with the voice
of the Holy Spirit. The law of sin and death is living based upon what is right
and wrong by our own efforts.

Verse 3&4 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the
flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on
account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement
of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but
according to the Spirit.

So again, we couldnt do this on our own, our own efforts to perform the law
were weak and failed. We must rely on His ability to work good works
through us.

Now I really want you to get this last bit here

Verse 5-8 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the
things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the
Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life
and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not
subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the
flesh cannot please God.

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

This sums up Romans 7 perfectly if you are going to focus on your own
flesh, your own abilities to do right and wrong you will always fail. You can
not please God and will in fact end up at enmity with God God hates self-
righteousness and only desires you to enjoy being a vessel of His
righteousness. Why? Because self-righteousness hurts us more than we
could ever know.

For more info on the law and self-righteousness Id

encourage you to read the article below which goes
into this topic in much more depth:

Whats the role of the law in the new covenant?

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

Conclusion Gnosticism is alive and

well in the church today
Im sure this wont have convinced many who disagree with me, but at least if
it hasnt I pray that it at least clarifies where I am coming from and that you
can see Im not just making up my argument. Id honestly be really interested
to see someone exegetically teach the presence of a sinful nature in the
believer as well as I can the absence of it and Im no Bible teacher! Its just
too obvious when you read through Romans in context.

The idea that we still have a sinful nature, that only our spirit is whole while
our body and soul are still sinful is actually a Gnostic teaching. Its really
interesting when you read historically how much the first church fathers
attacked this. In fact you dont even need to leave the Bible to the first church
fathers John and Paul attacked this Gnostic teaching all the time in their
writings! What is more interesting is how we allowed such a heresy to come
into the church and not only that but allow it to become a generally accepted
teaching!

I cant help but see this as being a classic case of people reading their
experience into scripture. Because we struggle with sin we build a Biblical
argument that agrees with us struggling, rather than look to the Bible to see
what we should do to free ourselves from the struggle. Namely, believe the
struggle is over.

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 You Do Not Have a Sinful Nature!

Thank You So Much!

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