To fully appreciate 2 Peter 1.12 and other truths about the new man Vs. the old man, you have to also understand the truth man is a 3 part being. This truth is refuted by many and will likely be refuted and debated when I say it here...that does not negate that the Bible proves that every person is a 3 part being, just as God in his image is a 3 part being...This debate is usually because many do not understand the true difference, between, spirit, soul , heart, body, a flesh of a man..
Man is first and foremost a spirit, that has mind, will, emotions, passions[Soul] and lives in a Body suit[Flesh]
The new man/old man is your Spirit...at conversion your spirit is made perfect as it was originally intended to be. This is because along with the free gift of salvation we are also given the free gift of positional righteousness...this means the old man cursed by Adam is now completely reborn as the new man in the second Adam...The old man is not your flesh. The new man spirit is now born again and reconciled back to God through the work of Jesus Christ....
The problem is that our soul[mind, will, emotions, passions] have not been renewed like you spirit....so we must renew our minds to God's word.....the flesh/body will follow whoever is in charge of it....the spirit or the mind....
If the man is born again but has no renewed mind and that mind looks at a woman and lusts after her, the flesh/body will carry it out in the form of adultery or fornication....if the man is born again and has a renewed mind and that mind looks at a woman and the spirit takes the lustful thoughts into captivity and to the obedience in Christ, the body is killed/crucified to lust, fornication and adultery because the mind has been renewed and is following the spirit, not the flesh/body
As we spiritually mature as 2 Peter 1.12 tells us we will not stumble....stumble means SIN.....
This is a very hard truth for people to get, because of poor teaching that we constantly fight 2 natures and have 2 natures.....if you have 2 old dogs fighting in you...you need to GET SAVED....the Bible does not teach we have 2 natures....we have one and that is the divine nature we are born again with in our spirit at conversion...but we must renew the mind, which will help crucify the flesh and its passions...
I am not attmpeting to cause division or single anyone particular person out with my next statement, but it has to be said...
The reason why people are taught they have 2 natures is because of false and very poor teaching of the Romans 1-8...especially with Romans 7....Many miss something about most of Romans, it was written to the Jews and Chapter 7 is all about being freed from the law...Romans 2 says gentiles were not under any law...so how people can teach that gentiles have 2 natures fighting in them in Chapter 7, when it was written to Jews under the law is beyond me....Romans 7 is foundational for gentiles to show us we have a better covenant....and that we do not wrestle as the Jews did with the old man man of sin on them...which was the law...The key verse of Romans 7 is Vs 6.
[SUP]6 [/SUP]But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
Others will claim Paul called himself a chief sinner in the present tense, and that justifies them to call themselves sinners saved by grace...but that is also wrong....
The old man and the flesh are not the same...the old man[condemned spirit] was buried with Christ and then raised into newness of life[new spirit] just as Romans 6 tells us it was...
Man is first and foremost a spirit, that has mind, will, emotions, passions[Soul] and lives in a Body suit[Flesh]
The new man/old man is your Spirit...at conversion your spirit is made perfect as it was originally intended to be. This is because along with the free gift of salvation we are also given the free gift of positional righteousness...this means the old man cursed by Adam is now completely reborn as the new man in the second Adam...The old man is not your flesh. The new man spirit is now born again and reconciled back to God through the work of Jesus Christ....
The problem is that our soul[mind, will, emotions, passions] have not been renewed like you spirit....so we must renew our minds to God's word.....the flesh/body will follow whoever is in charge of it....the spirit or the mind....
If the man is born again but has no renewed mind and that mind looks at a woman and lusts after her, the flesh/body will carry it out in the form of adultery or fornication....if the man is born again and has a renewed mind and that mind looks at a woman and the spirit takes the lustful thoughts into captivity and to the obedience in Christ, the body is killed/crucified to lust, fornication and adultery because the mind has been renewed and is following the spirit, not the flesh/body
As we spiritually mature as 2 Peter 1.12 tells us we will not stumble....stumble means SIN.....
This is a very hard truth for people to get, because of poor teaching that we constantly fight 2 natures and have 2 natures.....if you have 2 old dogs fighting in you...you need to GET SAVED....the Bible does not teach we have 2 natures....we have one and that is the divine nature we are born again with in our spirit at conversion...but we must renew the mind, which will help crucify the flesh and its passions...
I am not attmpeting to cause division or single anyone particular person out with my next statement, but it has to be said...
The reason why people are taught they have 2 natures is because of false and very poor teaching of the Romans 1-8...especially with Romans 7....Many miss something about most of Romans, it was written to the Jews and Chapter 7 is all about being freed from the law...Romans 2 says gentiles were not under any law...so how people can teach that gentiles have 2 natures fighting in them in Chapter 7, when it was written to Jews under the law is beyond me....Romans 7 is foundational for gentiles to show us we have a better covenant....and that we do not wrestle as the Jews did with the old man man of sin on them...which was the law...The key verse of Romans 7 is Vs 6.
[SUP]6 [/SUP]But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
Others will claim Paul called himself a chief sinner in the present tense, and that justifies them to call themselves sinners saved by grace...but that is also wrong....
The old man and the flesh are not the same...the old man[condemned spirit] was buried with Christ and then raised into newness of life[new spirit] just as Romans 6 tells us it was...
Nothing seems to sink in for some reason.
Anyway can I just ask are we Spirt, Soul and Body!