I'm sorry to have taken so long to come back on this post, but this reply will take a little more time than I've had until now.
I'm sorry, but the Bible doesn't say anything about "a relic of the old nature". That's your concoction.
I think you'll find it does.
Let's examine the converted Paul and see what he said?
Rom 7:18 For I (Paul) know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh (Greek: Sarx*); for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I do the very thing that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
21 I find then the principle that sin is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
* Strong's Greek: "human nature"
The Greek word
sarx has the natural meaning of 'flesh' (ie. bodily flesh). It is true that is often refers to sinful human nature, especially in Paul, and especially when contrasted with
pneuma, 'Spirit.' But that is not by any means its invariable meaning (eg. Romans 2:28; 9:3; 1 Corinthians 3:3; 15:39; Galatians 6:13; Philippians 1:21-24; 1 John 4:2; Jude 8. Not at all an exhaustive list).
Now let us consider Romans 8:5-9.
'For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded [Gk.
sarx]
is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal [Gk.
sarx]
mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.' Clearly here, 'flesh' means sinful human nature. To be 'flesh' is death; it is enmity against God; those who are 'in the flesh' cannot please God. And if the Holy Spirit indwells someone, which is surely the definition of a Christian, that person is not 'in the flesh' in that sense.
Your problem is that you have too high a view of human nature and too low a view of the power of God in salvation, which is the same power that raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.. The Christian is not 'in the flesh' in the sense of being under his old sinful nature. He is, as we have seen in 2 Corinthians 5:17, a new creature, a new creation. The old sinful nature is gone. He does not have an improved heart, but a new one (Ezekiel 36:26; John 3:6). He has had a new birth, being born of the Spirit, and as we see in Romans 8, the Holy Spirit does not share premises with sinful human nature.
So let's look again at Romans 7:18-25, for Paul will not contradict himself. We will briefly note that the Greek word translated 'carnal' in Romans 7:14 is
sarkikos, not
sarx:
For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practise. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law [not in me but]
in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is [not in me but]
in my members. O writched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord!''
There are those who take the view that Paul is talking about himself before he was saved, but I do not agree with that. Paul is talking about the life of a Christian, one who, as he has just said in Chapter 8, is no longer 'in the flesh' in the sense of fallen human nature.
Therefore, when he says that nothing good dwells 'in his flesh,' he
cannot mean his fallen human nature because as a Christian he doesn't have one. He is talking about his physical body. The real Paul- his 'inner man' (cf. Ephesians 3:16)- delights in the righteous (moral) law of God and desires above all things to keep it. But there is something in his 'members' (Gk.
melos; 'limb,' 'part of body.' cf. James 3:5) which is dragging him down into sin.
We see the same thing in Galatians 5:16-17 and in Colossians 3:5.
'Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness.......etc.' This sinful something, which is not in us but in our mortal bodies has to be stamped out.
So the Christian has died to sin (Romans 6:2; Colossians 3:3). If Paul sins, he can say,
'If I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it.' So who is doing it, Paul?
'But sin that dwells in me' [ie. not in the inner me, but in my members, my mortal body]. So to the Christian, sin is an alien thing; something he hates, but still exercises a malign influence upon him. Now let me ask the Christians on this forum: is that not something we feel? That we delight in God's righteous laws and long to keep them, but there is this thing that is dragging us down into sin? It is not our sinful nature, because in our nature (the 'inner man') we delight in God's laws, but it is a relic of that old nature and praise God, when we finally shed this old body, we shall rise to meet the Lord in a new resurrection body and be finished with sin forever.
