Nature

           The definition of human nature is the general psychological characteristics, feelings and behavioral traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans. What does the Bible tells us about our human nature? Our human nature is to sin and this causes harm to our relationship with God. Our self-nature is destructive, just look at the world around us and we can see the proof. We are controlled by our sinful nature and we alone can never defeat our nature to sin. Romans 8:3, The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. Romans 7:5, When we are controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. Jeremiah 17:9, The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Romans 8:8, Those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. Our sinful nature always wants to do evil. How can we fight against our sinful nature?  

            When we love this world more than God, our sinful nature will drive our decisions. All the sins of the world, lusts, addiction, greed, adultery, sodomy, gluttony, anger, pride, lack of self-control, focusing on status, etc., will be in control of our lives. I John 2:15-17, Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only cravings for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. How do we please God? By obeying His commandments. The first step is accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Romans 10:9, If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised from the dead, you will be saved. The next step is John 3:5-7, Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ Accepting Jesus and Baptism will cause a rebirth. 2 Corinthians 5:17, anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun. Our sinful nature can be washed away with acceptance and baptism, allowing the Spirit to drive our nature.  

            There is a battle between our spirit and the flesh, which is our human nature. We must live by the Spirit’s power and guidance. Galatians 5:16-25, So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces the kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Only way we can defeat our human nature is by living in the Spirit of God. It will only direct you towards Godly desires and can help warn us against the devil’s evil intentions.  

            We must continually read, pray, fast, learn and desire God to have the Spirit within us. You must let God into your heart so His Spirit can lead you. We are a slave to the Spirit, rather than being a slave to sin. Romans 6:16-18, Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin and you have become slaves to righteous living. We who believe know that sin leads to death and hell. We can’t live a righteous life without the Spirit in us. This world is being attacked by Satan and his forces, against every righteous doctrine of Christ currently. He is deceiving, twisting and lying to the world under the disguise of being like Christ. The world doesn’t even recognize it because they are still a slave to sin. 2 Corinthians 4:4-5, Satan who is the god of this world, has blinded minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’s sake. We are servants to the world to glorify Christ to change their sinful nature before it is too late.  

The Holy Spirit is the key to this war between the flesh and spirit. When baptized we are also born of the Spirit. It is the comforter and power that can help us overcome the bondage of sin. I Corinthians 2:9-16, No eye has seen, no ear has heard and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him? But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ. When you imitate Christ (previous post) and have the Holy Spirit inside you, guiding you, sin is defeated. Our sinful nature will always lose to the Holy Spirit. Reading the Bible for yourself will give an opening for the Spirit to show you God’s Truths. Without knowing God’s Word the world can easily deceive you. The Spirit will never lead you astray and will never contradict the Word of God because it is from God.  

There are consequences of our sinful nature and be watchful who you listen too, follow or teach false doctrine yourself. In 2 Peter 2, Peter speaks about false teachers and they can lead you to a sinful nature rather than to God. God does not show any partiality and He even did not spare the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness where they are being held until the day of judgement. Verse 10-15, He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire and who despise authority. These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings without so much as trembling. But the angels, who are far greater in power and strength, do not dare to bring from the Lord a charge of blasphemy against those supernatural beings. These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand and like animals, they will be destroyed. Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals. They commit adultery with their eyes and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people to sin and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse. Verse 18-19, They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. God will punish those who lead His children astray and it is because they don’t have the Spirit guiding them. When you know what the Bible says and allow the Spirit inside your heart, it will never lead you to false doctrine or false teachers. It will show you the truth and if someone is speaking God’s truth.  

When we become a new person our old life is gone and sin’s power is broken. We become controlled by the Spirit and it seeks out God’s purpose in your life. Romans 6:6-9, We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. We can defeat sin in our lives because we are more concerned with things of the Spirit and God. Romans 8:5-14, Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children (Children of God previous post) of God. If we live according to our sinful nature we will surely die but with the power of the Spirit our nature can be changed and sin defeated.   

If you want spiritual peace in your life and eternal life, seek what the Spirit seeks, which is God! Ephesians 4:21-24, Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy. Colossians 3:9-11, Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature and be renewed as your learn to know your Creator and be like him. In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters and he lives in all of us. You have a choice whether to be a slave to your sinful nature or allow the Spirit to drive your life. Desire and crave for the Spirit of God because it will lead you to eternal life. Colossians 3:5, So put to death sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshipping the things of this world. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. We don’t want to be around when God’s wrath comes upon those who have publicly denied His Truths. The Spirit of God is waiting for you and it will transform your sinful nature into God’s nature!