The Christians’ sinful nature does not disappear at conversion.
Our sinful nature must be dealt with daily.

By Ken Raggio

What happens to our sinful nature when we are born again?

The Word says, "Old things are passed away..." (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Is our sinful nature taken away from us, leaving no tendencies at all to do wrong? Hardly!

The blood of Jesus is applied to our former sins, thereby washing and cleansing the sin away. Guilt, condemnation, and the sentence of death are taken away when we dutifully follow the Lord in His death, burial and resurrection. (That is fulfilled by repentance, water baptism in His name, and being filled with His spirit.) But...

Our carnal nature is still with us.

Paul said, "I die daily," (1 Corinthians 15:41). The human will and desires perpetually return. They are present and must be reckoned with frequently. "I am crucified with Christ..." (Galatians 2:20). The members of the body, and their deeds, must be repeatedly mortified (killed, or at least, subdued). Why? Because our carnal mind is as alive as the rest of our bodies, and it is exceedingly hostile against God and godliness.

Everything about the carnal mind serves the members of the body.

When the stomach needs food, the carnal mind utilizes the eyes, hands and feet to find and get food. Every desire of the body appeals to the carnal mind for satisfaction. Meanwhile, God's Spirit contends with each man to deny the fleshly lusts. Eternal purposes must be accomplished instead of temporal desires.

The memories of all the sins we have ever committed are stored somewhere in our brains. In the unconverted man, sins are freely revived, and mentally relived or physically reenacted. But the disciple of Jesus Christ actively resists the re-occurrence of sinful tendencies by overcoming evil with good (see Romans 12:21).

Overcome Evil with Good

The sinful nature is still ever-present, but because we activate the Word of God, and the Spirit of God in our everyday living, the sins of the carnal nature are not allowed to resurface. Thankfully, it is not the sin that begins to work that brings forth death, but it is the sin that is finished. We must act quickly to abort every attempt of the flesh to reassert itself, giving no place to the devil, and taking the mind of Christ as our entire mindset.

All the works of the flesh - adulteries, fornications, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like, (Galatians 5:19), are non-existent in Heaven.

Jesus' prayer was "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven." None of the works of the flesh are named among the holy angels. And none of them should be named among the saints.

Sinlessness is a daily exercise.

SEE ALSO: DON'T LET THE LIGHTS GO OUT

SEE ALSO: HOLINESS: A PLACE APART FROM FORBIDDEN THINGS

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