DHK
you posted this-
Now you say
First you deny the spirit,,,now it came back...it is hard to follow this maze.
Perhaps grammar school might be in order for you?
God is a Spirit (John 4:24)
You are not like God; having ONLY as spirit, are you? You also have flesh.
James tells us what happens when the spirit is separated from the flesh:
James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
--The spirit departs from the body. The body is buried and is turned back into dust from whence it came. It is simply a pile of chemicals. There is nothing intrinsically good or evil about the flesh. Some cultures eat it. Does that mean they are eating the "old nature" Icon?
What happens in a blood transfusion? Any theological implications for you?
An organ implant? A heart transplant? Dialysis? Bone marrow transplant? In all of the above examples (and so many more), is the flesh (old nature) transplanted into another person. What about a living kidney from a living person donated to another living person?
Flesh is flesh; meat is meat.
Paul did not make that clear.....you inserted it[eisegesis]....he did not mention nature at all yet you claim he made it quite clear???
2Cor.5:1ff speaks about a body. It is referred to as a tabernacle which is temporary. Someday we will shed it. Then we will stand before God and be accountable
for the works done in our body whether good or bad.
The body is simply chemicals turned into dust. What is in the body is the Old Nature that caused you to do evil.
what he did make clear however was;
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
The new nature is responsible to use the means God has given to mortify sin....failure to obey will result in sin. No one believes in sinless perfection.
You, and many others, have no idea of the meaning of that verse. You have taken it out of context. Are you teachable? Let's find out what it really means:
2 Corinthians 5:15 And
that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
--Christ died for all.
Those who believe in Christ; those who are saved; they can no longer live selfishly (unto themselves). They must live for Christ (which also means living for others). Remember that one of the problems of this church was its selfishness and divisiveness.
16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we
him no more.
--The church was divided into a number of cliques: the rich with rich, the poor with the poor, etc. This was evident in 1Cor.11 in the love feast held right before the Lord's Table. Some were drunk and gluttonous, and some had no food at all.
Paul writes here "Henceforth we know no man after the flesh."
From this time forward (from salvation onward), we don't know each other after the flesh. IOW, it doesn't matter what you were before salvation: rich or poor, what caste you may have been, banker or pauper, fat or thin, etc. The past is gone.
We do not know each other after the flesh any longer.
Paul says, we did or may have known Christ after the flesh. Paul did. In 1Cor.15 there were over 500 witnesses still alive. But they didn't know him that way any longer. More importantly, Paul may have known him "in the flesh" before he was saved. Now he knew him "in the Spirit" after he was saved.
No matter who they were: Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, they were all one in Christ now.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man
be in Christ,
he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
--Thus the meaning of this verse in this context is:
Those that are "in Christ" (believers) are new creatures. Their past lives are over in the eyes of the other believers around them. Whether they were a Jew or a Gentile, or rich or poor doesn't matter any longer. Those are the old things that are passed away.
All things are become new. All in the congregation look upon you as an equal. We are one in Christ. This is the true meaning of this verse when you take it in context.
All too often the context is ignored.
No...that would never cross my mind...such an evil suggestion
Who did sin? The old nature or the new nature? Which one?
this is an excuse and a cop-out
It is your cop-out. Answer the above questions.
you insert nature here...Paul does not.
Old nature, Old man, etc. They are all synonyms for the same thing.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Good verses. Do you understand them?