Gospel

Why Christians Have One Nature, Not Two

by J.W. Phillips
01/04/25
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Why Christians Have One Nature, Not Two

The image we have of ourselves is a powerful determinant for our future. The choices we make, the dreams we pursue, the life we live, are going to be confined to the framing of that image.

If you see you as you, you'll be you. That’s not just a tease or a tautology. What you see is largely what you'll be. 

Know this: We are not a compilation of all that has flowed into our lives from the past to the present. Though our remembered experiences may seem to say otherwise, we are who God says we are—a brand-new creation, and only that.

II Corinthians 5:17 declares, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (KJV).

Notice: not a new creation plus something else—just a new creation!

The old is completely gone! There is no hyphenated humanity. There is no bifurcated being. We are new nature and nothing but new nature.

The Scripture never says that we have two natures. To the contrary, it very specifically says that our old man was crucified (Romans 6:6), that we “were by nature the children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3); but that the old has passed away (II Corinthians 5:17).

Adam sinned into existence what God never created. But what Adam produced was so bad off, reform was out of the question, repair was deemed impossible; only death would do!

Making this very point, Charles Spurgeon wrote: “A man in Christ is not the old man purified, nor the old man improved, nor the old man in a better humor, nor the old man with additions and subtractions, nor the old man dressed in gorgeous robes.”¹

None of that! According to Spurgeon, because the old man couldn’t be mended he had to be ended!

But, due to the fact that contrary forces within have a long track record of militating against us, it’s easy for us to believe that we have two natures.

We don't.

A popular illustration often used to depict our two-nature conflict is that of two dogs. According to this illustration, we have a good dog and a bad dog; and whichever one we feed the most is going to be the most active. But if we see ourselves in this way—the possessor of two natures, one good and one bad—then we will live that way!

But if we believe this theory, this “half and half” identity stuff is going to cause us a lot of problems. The two tributaries, one pure and the other polluted, will ceaselessly intermingle.

Romans 6:6 says, “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him ....”—that is, with Jesus.

Usually when we see a “knowing this” in the Bible, what follows most people don’t know; and, unfortunately, this verse isn’t any exception!

Many Christians today assume that they have an old man and a new man. But this view runs exactly counter to what Romans says.

Watchman Nee observed: “God sets us free from the dominion of sin, not by strengthening our old man but by crucifying him; not by helping him to do anything, but by removing him from the scene of action.”

To be a Christian is to have that old man, in you since birth, totally dead and forever gone.

J.I. Packer writes, “A widespread but misleading line of teaching tells us that Christians have two natures: an old one and a new one.”²

Unwilling to subscribe to the false notion Packer referred to, John MacArthur stated, “If you are a Christian, it’s a serious misunderstanding to think of yourself as having both an old and new nature. We do not have a dual personality!”³

Theologian John Murray stated the obvious: It is “no more feasible to call the believer a new man and an old man, than it is to call him a regenerate man and an unregenerate ….”⁴

When Scripture says, “You are dead,” that denotes finality, not process. The idea of progressive dying and progressive resurrection is nothing but unscriptural double-talk.

In Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ book, Romans, the New Man, we are forthrightly instructed to: “Understand that the ‘old man’ is not there. The only way to stop living as if he were still there is to realize that he is not there ... If we but saw this as we should, we would really begin to live as Christians in this world.”⁵

Besides, if the old man is still in us, how could the Bible speak of him as being buried, as clearly it does? Furthermore, if he’s not dead now, at what point would his demise occur—at the time of our physical death?

Many people might think this is what occurs. However, this speculation was effectively addressed by David Needham, who cogently reminded us: “There is not a single word anywhere implying that at death the believer is finally separated from his 'old man' or his 'old self'. Not a single word. Why? Because that happened when you were saved, not just positionally but actually.⁶

Regrettably, this issue gets confused by certain translations of Scripture that seem to be telling believers that even now they are to be putting off their old man.

Grammatically and exegetically, it can be argued that the infinitive “to put off” in Ephesians 4:22 is one of result.⁷ Martyn Lloyd-Jones contended, “What we have to put off is the ‘conversation’ or mode of behavior of the old man, rather than the old man himself.”⁸

The import of the Apostle’s words, as Colossians 3:9 clearly states, is that we’re to act as if the old man is gone—because it is! H.C.G. Moule argued that the believer “has stepped out of the old position and has entered into the new.”⁹

The putting off in Ephesians 4 is one of memory, habit, and the imprinting of past programming. We are not to allow the residue of past programming, the source of which is now gone, to weasel back into our lives.

Let’s be clear: This discussion of one nature versus two natures isn’t just the fussiness of airhead academia—much more is at stake here! Carelessness on this issue brings casualties!

A belief in two natures is a belief that severely reduces God’s real remedy for sin. If convinced we have two natures, we will have all the explanation we need for ongoing sin in our life—and may then yield to what is wrongly considered inevitable.

Sin is not inevitable!

Romans 6:12 says, do not let sin reign. Romans 6:14 declares that sin shall have no dominion over you. None!

Thoughts for meditation:

• Have you been thinking you have two natures?


• Have you been thinking that your identity includes all you've thought, said, or done on earth?


• Have you been thinking that sin will regularly gain victories in your life?


• Does the new nature seem more of a concept to you than reality?

If your answers are yes, yes, yes, and yes, then for your life to change dramatically, all those answers need to be changed.

I suspect you and the Lord have much to talk about right now.

Learning becomes life, and doctrine becomes deeds, at which point the truth sets you free. And this is what now needs to happen.

Agree with God on these points, and you will be set free. Hold on to your current thinking, then you won't be.

Notes:
1. Charles H. Spurgeon, Christ’s Glorious Achievements, (Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1975), p.70.
2. J.I. Packer, Rediscovering Holiness (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications, 1992), p.83.
3. John MacArthur, “The Good-Natured Believer,” Masterpiece (March–April 1990), p.18.
4. John Murray, Principles of Conduct (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1957), p.218.
5. David C. Needham, Birthright, (Portland, Multnomah, 1979), p.246.
6. Robert Letham’s insight on this point is eloquently expressed: “Union with Christ in his burial is the most triumphant affirmation imaginable. Whatever the process leading up to it, however sad or horrible the ordeal, once we have died the forces of sin and decay are over.” (Union with Christ, p.123).
7. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans, Exposition of Chapter 6, The New Man, (Edinburgh, UK, The Banner of Truth Trust, 2008), p.82.
8. H.C.G. Moule, Ephesians Studies, (Fort Washington, PA., Christian Literature Crusade, 1975), p.225.
9. David C. Needham, Birthright, p.79.