The Sinful Nature

An old writter by the name of G.K. Chesterton said that Sin is probably one of the only things about religion that can be proven, and to an extent I agree with that.

I mean, turn on the news. Murder, rape, wars, violence, dictators. It's all around us.

And then sometimes all you need to do is look at yourself. Unless you're completly in denial I can garuntee tht at some point you've hated some of the things you do, thought you were selfish or mean, or just in general thought there was something no good inside of you.

This is what the apostle Paul says about it (Romans 7:14-24):
"For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?"

Paul says this in a kinda complicated way that my friend gave me an easy explanation for. He said think of girls.

He said think of the girl you like, and how you want to talk to her, but you don't. You can't seem to get yourself to because you're scared. Even though you really want to talk to her, you can't.

Something in you wants to do it, wants to do good, but you can't seem to. You always seem to do the wrong thing.

You lie. You get angry.

Sin is all around us.

Paul ends his rant about not doing what he wants with a question: "Who will rescue me from this body of death?"

He answers it "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord." He say's Jesus saves him from the sin within himself. That has to do with Jesus forgiving all our sins and with our sinful nature dieing.

First, Jesus paid the price for our sins. He forgave us all of them (read the blog entry just below this one)

But with our sinful nature it's something else.

If you've ever taken care of a young child, you know they can sometimes be pretty testy. They don't listen. It's part of Human nature, sinful nature. We're all born with it and we got it passed down to us from our father, who got it from his, and so on all the way back to Adam.

But when are baptized, we die with Christ. We become dead to our sinful nature. And then we are raised with Christ, becomeing alive to the Spirit; We're given a new nature that obeys God.
This nature wants to obey God, wants to do what is right, wants to love God. It's about being someone different, not just merely doing different things.

You no longer have to sin. You don't have to obey the sinful nature because you are dead to it. The bible says we were slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to righteousness. "If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come."

We've been made to bear good fruit, to do what is right.

More To Come.
Jon