LIE: Our sinful nature persists, even as Christians

Lie:      Our sinful nature persists, even as Christians.

Truth: We are saints who have sin.

This is a stark divide. Who are we — saints or sinners? We can’t possibly be both, can we? To get right to the heart of the matter, the real question is: do we have an un-eradicable sinful nature carried over essentially unchanged from our state of unbelief? In other words, are we as Christians still essentially, in our hearts, sinful by nature? Can we get our theology straight on this?

To begin to answer that question let’s first make one thing clear. Christians still sin. Listen to John’s words:

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. — I John 1:8–10

John’s warning cautions us to be careful how we think of ourselves and not deny the presence of sin in us: “we have sin.” That should not be a surprise to any of us. The presence of sin is not in question, but the conundrum is, where does this sin come from? and why do we still have it?

Some claim that they are sinners (saved by grace thankfully). Far from denying they have no sin, these believers in Christ say that, at their core, they are sinners.  Meaning, they have a sinful nature. The NIV translation of the Bible supports this concept, translating the Greek word sarx (traditionally translated ‘flesh’) as ‘sinful nature.’

Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature [sarx]. — Romans 13:14

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature [sarx] a slave to the law of sin. — Romans 7:25

This is an unfortunate mistranslation (corrected since the 2011 edition) that, because of the NIV’s popularity, has caused much confusion. The Greek word translated ‘sinful nature’ simply means ‘flesh,’ that is, ‘meat.’ Paul uses it as the location of sin. He is actually very specific about this.

But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. . . .  Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. . . . But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. — Romans 7:17, 20, 23

Paul denies that it is him — that is the core of his being — that is sinful. Rather sin dwells in his body, in his ‘members,’ that is the members of his body — his hands, feet, eyes and ears. As Christians, sin is located in the members of our bodies. This may seem like a strange concept, but if you think about it, it makes sense.

The simplest way to understand this is to think about how habits form and function. Our bodies are very good at creating habits. We have hundreds of these habits that our bodies ‘remember’ and perform for us. Things like: writing, reading, brushing our teeth, playing an instrument, pouring from a pitcher, turning a page, going down stairs, or driving a car.

All these we perform largely without thinking; our bodies do them for us. This is a wonderful feature of our creation. But Paul’s point is that sin also becomes an automatic, habitual activity too. This is flesh — simply allowing these ‘bad habits’ to form and stay active. But Paul in many places tells us to put off, crucify or mortify this behavior:

 . . . that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,  and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. — Ephesians 4:22–24

And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. — Galatians 5:24

But it is not our nature. Peter rather tells us that we have become partakers of the divine nature.

 . . . by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. — 2 Peter 1:4

This is good news: we are not schizophrenic, having two natures. We have one new nature, but we do still have sin that our bodies and brains can remember. To use another metaphor, that ‘wiring’ persists because we have not yet received our resurrection bodies, and sin’s wiring can still be powered up at any time, that is, if we don’t focus on the things of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience — the fruit of the Spirit.

The real danger here is that, if we only identify ourselves with a sinful nature, we will more likely excuse sin and claim that ‘we can’t help it,’ that we’re just poor helpless sinners at the mercy of our sin. That may seem to be the case, but we must resist that and walk in truth.

See the introduction to this category: Lies about sin.