What is a “Sinful Nature”?

The Bible says we are born with a nature to sin–an inward motivation to sin. We don’t learn to sin; rather, it comes natural to us since birth. When we come into this world, our spirits are dead and we must be born again (John 3:3-7).

Today, under the New Covenant, there are only two states of existence: the natural and the spiritual. This is how Paul describes those two states by comparing Adam and Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:47-49,

The first man was of the earth, made of dust;
The second Man is the Lord from heaven.

As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust;
And as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly.

And as we have borne the image of the man of dust,
We shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

To move from the natural (state of Adam) to the spiritual (state of Christ), you must be born again. Once you are born again, your flesh has been crucified. According to Galatians 2:20, it is no longer you who live, but Christ in you.

The Sin Nature is Dead in Christ

Once you have put your faith in Christ and are born again, your sin nature is dead. You have died to your sinful nature and are now alive “in Christ”. You are now a new creation:

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17, emphasis mine).

Your old self, your old nature has “passed away.” All things “have become new.” It’s a finished work!

You no longer have a sinful nature. You have the nature of Christ inside of you.

Sinful Nature versus Flesh

Today’s modern teaching of the “sinful nature” is based on some recent translations of the Bible. Modern translations like the New International Version (NIV) and New Living Translation (NLT) use the term “sinful nature” throughout the New Testament. However, it’s more of an interpretation than a translation. In both the King James Version (KJV) and New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible, there is no use of “sinful nature”. It’s only in newer translations.

So, what is this word being used for “sinful nature”?

The Greek word that NIV and NLT translate “sinful nature” is the word sarx. It is defined as “the flesh, the meat of an animal, the body (as opposed to the soul or spirit)”.

The KJV and NKJV version simply translate sarx as “flesh”. It’s your body, the natural part of you that experiences this reality through the five senses–taste, touch, smell, hear and see. The flesh is very different than the sinful nature.

Take Romans 7:18 for example and read both the NIV and the NKJV:

• “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out” (Romans 7:18, NIV).
• “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” (Romans 7:18, NKJV).

Why is this important? Your flesh is this tangible part of you where sin resides. Sin lives in your flesh. But, if you believe that sin in your soul and spirit, that your nature is to sin, then your identity is all about sin management. But, if you can believe that your nature is good, that you are a child of God, then there is hope to live a victorious life. You can conquer the flesh, because Christ did.

But, I still sin.

So do I. As long as you are alive, your flesh will be prone to sin. But, God has somehow uniquely separated your soul and spirit from your body when you become a believer. Your body is dead to sin. Romans 8:10 says,  ”If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” In Christ, God considers your body dead because of sin. So, we are encouraged to do the same: “Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11).

We no longer have a sinful nature. It has been crucified and buried with Christ. Our new nature is the nature of Christ. He lives inside of us. If we can truly understand and believe that Christ lives in us and that we have a new nature in him, then it will empower us to walk in freedom. With the nature of Christ in us, we can overcome fear, anxiety and panic attacks.

Prayer: Father, show me that I am a new creation in Christ, that my old sinful nature has been crucified, dead and buried. I am alive in you.

Here’s how Paul, the Apostle, described his own experience with sin: “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate” (Romans 7:15). When we are sin-conscious, all we see is our mistakes, our failures, our shortcomings.

The Garden of Eden is a great example of what happens when we move from being God-conscious to sin-conscious. Before they sinned, Adam and Eve enjoyed an incredible relationship with God. They walked together in the cool of day and spent time together. Their fellowship was invigorating and full of life! There was no awareness of sin. There was no right or wrong. No rules. There was no knowledge of good or evil. There was just fellowship with God.

Then sin happened. Immediately, humanity was aware of sin. They had become sin-conscious: they were hyper aware of their failures, mistakes and shortcomings. So, when God showed up, they hid themselves. Adam said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10).

The immediate response to sin is shame. When shame sets in, we hide ourselves from God and we become afraid. We often experience fear because we pull away from God due to sin and shame. I don’t believe God ever pulls away from us. He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). It’s always us pulling away from him. Like Adam, we hide ourselves from him because of shame. And in the same way, God is continually pursuing us because of he loves us so much.

From the day Adam and Eve sinned, all of humanity has lived sin-conscious, defining ourselves by following rules, doing what is right and not doing what is wrong. Today, many, many people live sin-conscious. But, that’s not how God wants us to live.

When Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life and then died for our sins, he made a way for us to be sinless in God’s eyes. In Christ, we are no longer sinners. In Christ, we are perfect, holy and righteous. In Christ, we have moved from being sinners to being saints.

“But, I still sin.”

Yes, so do I. As long as we live in these physical, mortal bodies, we will experience sin. If you continue reading in Romans 7, Paul talks about this war in our members (our bodies) that wages on continually (v. 23). But, our flesh (our body) is not who we are. We are spirit and soul. The real you is not defined by the physicalness of your body. ”Your real life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).

Sin has very real consequences in this life. If you murder, there are consequences. If you steal, there are consequences. If you treat your body poorly, there are consequences. Sin will affect your physical life.  But, sin should not define you because in Christ, God does not see your sin.

Honestly, we have it backwards.

We think that because of sin God is not pleased with us, so we try harder not to sin and clean up our lives. If we can stop sinning for awhile, then we can go to God with our needs. We wait to be clean in our own eyes before we approach God. But, that’s backwards.

God says, “You are clean and holy in Christ right now. Come to me as you are and let me help you with those areas of weakness.” Strength to stop sinning does not come from us trying harder. It comes from spending time with God and allowing him to help us.

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:17).

Prayer: Father, reveal to me that my sins are gone, washed away and that I am holy and perfect in your eyes.

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18).

I’ve always found this verse a bit cryptic and even condemning at times. The last part made me feel less loved: “…he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” I knew I loved God, and I knew he loved me, but I concluded (wrongly) that because I feared, I must have done something to push him away.

As I continue to grow in my walk with God, I’m learning everyday just how amazing and powerful grace is. So much of our thinking about God is just plain wrong. Here are three reasons why I believe our understanding of grace is inaccurate:

Wrong Education

As children, we’re often taught (directly and indirectly) that life is all about performance. Do good, and you’re rewarded. Do bad, and you’re punished. We’re constantly bombarded in the area of performance. Parents discipline their kids for bad behavior and reward good behavior. In school, students are graded on their performance. In the workplace, hard work and good decisions lead to promotion. Poor work and bad decisions lead to a dead-end job and possibly being fired. Our culture is one based on performance.

Sadly, most churches today just don’t teach the depth of God’s grace and what Christ has really done for us. Most messages from the pulpit mix grace with a list of “oughts and nots.” And, when we fail to “do good”, then God’s grace steps in brings us back to God. But, that’s not what the Bible says. As we dig deeper into grace and what it really means in our lives, we’ll learn that grace is a gift freely given and we can do nothing to earn it.

Wrong Conclusions

Way too often, we ask God for something, but when the answers don’t come, we quickly conclude that God has a different plan for our lives. Or, we conclude that our sin is hindering God’s working power in the situation. We pray for healing and it doesn’t come. So, we conclude that healing ended with the last book of the Bible. Or, we conclude that sin in our lives is keeping God from wanting to heal us. We pray for freedom from fear, but when the next panic attack hits, we start concluding that it’s our fault.

If I just had more faith…
If I could just overcome this weakness…
If I could just get past this hurt…
If I could just stop sinning…

My hope for this series on grace is to challenge these wrong conclusions. As you grow in your understanding of God’s grace, peace will flood your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We Have an Enemy

We can’t forget that there is an unseen enemy who is out to thwart our understanding of grace. The more he can confuse and disrupt our grasp of grace, the more he can keep us in bondage. John 10:10 says that the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. I know first hand just how much fear steals my joy, kills my dreams and destroys my peace.

We should not fear the enemy. Jesus has disarmed him (Colossians 2:15) and has given us authority over Satan and his demons (Luke 10:19).

This week, I encourage you to start thinking about grace. What does it mean to you? How do you define it? How does it apply to your life? Hopefully, we can answer those questions in the weeks ahead.

Prayer: Father, help me understand more clearly what I believe about grace. Holy Spirit, teach me about grace and how to apply it to my life.

Russ Pond - 1973

It has been awhile since I’ve shared my own personal experience with fear, anxiety and panic attacks. Even as I read my story on the Season of Peace website, I realize it’s actually quite old and needs to be updated. So much has happened in my life since then.

Most notable, however, is how much my perspective has changed on freedom. Most of my experience with fear has been spent coping, covering and numbing the pain. It has only been in the past year or so that I’ve actually begun pursuing true freedom–the kind of freedom where coping, covering and numbing are no longer needed.

My story starts decades ago, when I was a child lying in bed at nights experiencing this overwhelming sense of fear and dread. I would lie in bed trying to go to sleep, my mind wandering anxiously from thought to thought. Then, one night, I had this thought about dying and being trapped in a lifeless body unable to move, staring into darkness for all eternity. This terrifying thought would trigger waves of panic in me. I would often jump out of bed and run to mom, screaming at the top of my lungs. The fear was incredible intense.

In the 70′s, there was no name for this “condition” that we now refer to as panic attacks. I spent countless hours in the doctor’s office trying to describe this indescribable feeling. They would often diagnose me with stress, prescribe some tranquilizers and send me on my way. I was just 16 years old when they started medicating me for this unknown “stress” condition.

I pushed through high school with sporadic outbreaks of panic. I would sit in class like any other day and all of sudden, my body would go numb and my heart would start racing. Fear would hit me hard, but I wouldn’t move. I didn’t want anyone to know what was going on. It was incredibly terrifying.

When I started college, I discovered a form of self-medication: alcohol. It was cheap, effective and readily available. The problem is that alcohol created these incredibly-anxious, morning-after experiences. One hungover morning, while driving to San Antonio for a job, I was hit with the most terrifying panic attack I had ever experienced. My mind was racing uncontrollably and I thought I was losing my mind. I kept thinking to myself that I was going crazy. This is what going insane must feel like.

After a few terrifying hours of complete panic, I was able to get back home and try to sort through all these confusing thoughts. Still, I had no answer for these crippling, terrifying episodes of fear. A few years later, when the attacks started to increase, I met with a psychiatrist in Austin. After one visit, he pulled out this big, black book and had me read a section titled “Chronic Panic and Anxiety Disorder”. I read through that description and was totally shocked. All of sudden, this “condition” had a name. And not only that, there were others struggling with this disorder. I sensed a bit of relief that day.

I moved to Dallas after graduating college to go to work full time. Even though I now had a name for this condition, the anxiety and panic attacks continued. In 1991, at my wits end, I started looking for a church. I was very curious about faith and if anyone could help me find healing, I knew God could. I found a church in November of 1991. Shortly after attending a few times, the pastor began sharing his own experience with panic attacks. It was amazing to find someone who had experienced what I had experienced, and he was willing to work with me.

Over the years, the attacks would come and go. There were seasons of good and season of bad. But in 2000, I decided to get off all medication and focus on fitness and nutrition. That kicked off an amazing season of peace in my life.

The year of 2000 was also the start of a new mindset for me in this battle against fear. I decided not to give into fear any more. If fear said, don’t go there, I would go there. If fear said you shouldn’t do that, I would do that. With God’s strength, I faced every fear. And even if I was afraid, I would do it afraid. It was an amazing season of victory after victory. And soon, the panic attacks stopped. It was incredible!

Last year, however, something odd happened. The fear and panic came back with a vengeance in September of 2010. Out of nowhere, I was hit with wave after wave of panic one weekend. I wasn’t out of shape or eating poorly. Quite the opposite–I had been training for my first, half Ironman triathlon. I was in the best shape of my life. Something else was going on, but even now, I can’t pinpoint what triggered it.

It was also last year that I began this incredible quest for true freedom. I wanted a deep, soul-cleansing, stronghold-breaking freedom. So, I started reading freedom books like Think Differently, Live Differently, Free Yourself, Be Yourself, Escaping the Matrix and Seeing is Believing. Books like these and videos like these were incredibly life changing. I’m still growing and experiencing incredible depths of freedom to this day. I haven’t experienced a panic attack since that terrifying weekend last September. I’m still hit with the occasional “sense of fear” and “dumps of adrenaline”, but no full-blown panic attacks. I’ve also come to recognize just how much stress plays a role in panic attacks and fear.

My understanding of freedom continues to grow each and every day. If you’re struggling with fear, anxiety and panic attacks, know this: God is fighting for you and he wants to help you experience complete freedom. And, he has given us freedom through Christ. I encourage you to dig into some of these resources and learn about God’s plan for freedom in your life.

Prayer: Father, open up my heart to your plan for freedom. Show me more about how to get completely free from the fear, anxiety and panic attacks.

I want to share some encouraging words to help you through these dark seasons of fear that can be so crippling and disheartening.

Don’t Believe the Lies

The enemy will constantly lie to you. He is the father of lies (John 8:44). We’ve got to renew our minds from the lies and deception that the enemy uses to create fear. You need to recognize the lies. Do any of these sound familiar:

1. I can never change.
2. God has given up on me.
3. There is no hope.
4. I’m too much of a sinner.
5. I’ll never be free from this.
6. I’m just not strong enough.

All of these are lies. Most likely, they are rooted in years of wrong thinking. The lies were unknowingly spoken over us by parents, family, friends and other influential people in our lives. While they may feel true in our lives, they are not!

Through the truth of scriptures, we must counter those lies with God’s truth:

1. We can renew our minds and be changed (Romans 12:2).
2. God is for us (Romans 8:31).
3. We can overflow with hope (Romans 15:13).
4. All of our sins are paid for and wiped away (Psalm 32:1).
5. Who the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36).
6. You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength (Philippians 4:13)

Let God Speak to You

The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” (Psalms 32:8).

God desires to speak into your life through his tender, loving, divine whispers. Take some time to learn how to hear God’s voice. It may feel foreign to you, but God desires to speak to you. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice.” (John 10:27).

The problem is that we often don’t take time to listen. Or, the busyness and distractions of the day make it difficult to be still and tune in our spirits to God’s Spirit. But, we must listen. “Faith comes by hearing,” (Romans 10:17) so we must take time to listen so that our faith can grow.

Trust Him

When I look back at my life and think through all those years that I struggled with crippling anxiety, panic attacks and fear, it all came down to trust. I believed that I was in charge of my own life. I was responsible for my own peace, my own safety, my own future. The weight of my life was on me.

I can tell you from experience that this is not a good way to live life. The more I learn to trust God and rest in his love for me, the more peace and rest I experience. The more I surrender control to him, the less I have to strive.

Here are some areas that I have learned to trust God more:

• I trust that all of my sins–past, present and future–are forgiven (1 John 1:9).
• I trust that my etermal destination is heaven (1 John 5:13).
• I trust that God will provide all my needs (Philippians 4:19).
• I trust that God will protect me and keep me safe (Psalm 91).
• I trust that he is always with me, even until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

This week, I encourage you to stop believing the lies, let God speak to you and then trust him. Even when we are faithless, he is faithful (2 Timothy 2:13).

Prayer: Father, help me break through this hopelessness. Speak to me heart and show me how much you love me.