Anthony Pritchard
Well-Known Member
The Two Natures
"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other..." (Galatians 5:17)
One of the great realities of the Christian life is that the believer possesses two opposing natures.
When a man is born again, he does not cease to inhabit mortal flesh. Though the old nature has been judged at Calvary, it continues to war against the new man created in Christ.
The Apostle Paul described this struggle plainly. The flesh desires one thing, and the Spirit desires another. The conflict is not evidence that salvation has failed. The conflict is evidence that spiritual life exists.
The lost man may experience guilt, fear, or regret, but he possesses only one nature. The saved man possesses two. Within him is the corruptible flesh inherited from Adam and the new nature received through the new birth.
This explains much of the Christian experience.
The believer delights in the law of God, yet finds another law working in his members. He desires holiness, yet battles temptation. He loves righteousness, yet must continually reckon the flesh dead and yield himself unto God.
The old nature never improves. It cannot be educated, reformed, or sanctified. Scripture does not command us to improve the flesh, but to walk in the Spirit.
Likewise, the new nature does not sin. That which is born of God possesses new desires, new affections, and a new direction. It loves Christ because it has been made alive by Christ.
The Christian life is therefore not a struggle between two equal powers. The outcome has already been settled. The old man belongs to a dying order. The new man belongs to eternity.
One day the conflict will cease. The believer shall put off corruption, mortality shall be swallowed up of life, and the flesh will trouble him no more.
Until then, every child of God knows the reality of these words:
"So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." (Romans 7:25)
The presence of the struggle is not proof that God has abandoned His people.
Rather, it is often proof that He has made them His own.
~Tony
© A.K. Pritchard 2026 - Free to use with proper attribution.
"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other..." (Galatians 5:17)
One of the great realities of the Christian life is that the believer possesses two opposing natures.
When a man is born again, he does not cease to inhabit mortal flesh. Though the old nature has been judged at Calvary, it continues to war against the new man created in Christ.
The Apostle Paul described this struggle plainly. The flesh desires one thing, and the Spirit desires another. The conflict is not evidence that salvation has failed. The conflict is evidence that spiritual life exists.
The lost man may experience guilt, fear, or regret, but he possesses only one nature. The saved man possesses two. Within him is the corruptible flesh inherited from Adam and the new nature received through the new birth.
This explains much of the Christian experience.
The believer delights in the law of God, yet finds another law working in his members. He desires holiness, yet battles temptation. He loves righteousness, yet must continually reckon the flesh dead and yield himself unto God.
The old nature never improves. It cannot be educated, reformed, or sanctified. Scripture does not command us to improve the flesh, but to walk in the Spirit.
Likewise, the new nature does not sin. That which is born of God possesses new desires, new affections, and a new direction. It loves Christ because it has been made alive by Christ.
The Christian life is therefore not a struggle between two equal powers. The outcome has already been settled. The old man belongs to a dying order. The new man belongs to eternity.
One day the conflict will cease. The believer shall put off corruption, mortality shall be swallowed up of life, and the flesh will trouble him no more.
Until then, every child of God knows the reality of these words:
"So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." (Romans 7:25)
The presence of the struggle is not proof that God has abandoned His people.
Rather, it is often proof that He has made them His own.
~Tony
© A.K. Pritchard 2026 - Free to use with proper attribution.