Dual Natures
Coming from denominational influences our tendency is to forget who and where we are in Christ. We keep returning our focus to the flesh and our sin. This is a symptom of religious withdrawal. There is only one cure. Christ. Paul wrote about the struggle between our old man and our new man in Romans chapter seven. He concludes with the cry of: O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Then he gives us the answer:
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Rom 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Many of us are recovering from various denominational injuries and bewitchments. The traps and deceits were dizzying and exhausting. It takes a while to begin to understand how free freedom really is. Religion’s indoctrination is cleverly designed to keep you from knowing who and where you are in Christ. Theology leads you away from Christ and toward the wisdom of man.
First we must understand that the revelation of the church and for the church (that is the body of Christ) was given to Paul. It had not been given to the disciples during Jesus’ ministry here on earth and it certainly wasn’t given to the disciples while they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. It was given to Paul. He didn’t learn it from the other disciples or “figure it out” through study of the Hebrew scriptures of his time. He received the gospel of grace directly from the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s experience was with the blinding light of the eternal King, not the suffering Jewish Messiah moving toward the sacrificial alter. The other disciples received the gospel of the Kingdom of God to the house of Israel. Jesus taught about the then present earthly kingdom and the future end time earthly kingdom of Israel. The gospel of the mystery as Paul calls it is the good news of the body of Christ which is the church. There is confusion because we have ascribed a special meaning to the word “gospel.” Gospel simply means “the good news.”
If you are a reader of the New Testament I would challenge you to take a large paper clip and clump the writing of Paul together. Clip from Acts chapter nine through the letter of Philemon. It is a small portion of the entire bible. Now, without using the clipped section, try to find any mention of the basic church concepts of reconciliation, justification, redemption, or sanctification. Especially try to find propitiation. You will not find them because the revelation of the body of Christ and our union with Christ is no where else taught.
The body of Christ is not mentioned anywhere but in Paul’s revelation. The bible tells us that the Gospel of the mystery was not known before it was given to Paul. No one knew about it. The other disciples were very slow to accept the “new” gospel that Paul preached. In fact, Paul had to go to Jerusalem to instruct them in the new gospel because he was the only one that it was given to.
Just as God chose Moses to be the revealer of the Ten Commandments and the law time period, so He chose Paul as the revelator of the body of Christ and the gospel of grace by faith. You will not find the word “cross” in the epistles of James, Peter or John for they were still walking in the gospel of the kingdom and living under the law.
You may think that this is an insignificant detail. You may think it really doesn’t make much difference. But, ignorance of the difference between the two gospels is the root of confusion and abuse in the many denominational groups. There are three distinct branches of churchism that underlies the stream of lies being taught and the resulting law based performance based religion.
The gospel according to Paul declares in Romans 5:12 that it was by one man that sin entered into the world and that through Adam sin and death passed upon ALL of human kind. God chose Adam to be the head of the fleshly physical human family. In like stead Jesus Christ is the head of the newly created Spiritual family the body of Christ or the church. The church’s source is in heaven. Each and every member of the body of Christ (that is those with Christ in them) will return to the eternal source and live in heaven in the glorious presence of God in Christ.
Paul’s gospel is for the church and is a new creation where there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female but we are all one in Christ. It has no tie to the law or traditions of religion. Jesus said that he would set us free indeed. Paul wrote for us to stand fast in that freedom.
If you have ever read the seventh chapter of Romans you know that we have dual natures: The old man of the flesh and the opposing new spiritual man. The two natures are opposed to one another.
Our adamic life or nature is condemned to death and died with Christ. It has not been forgiven, but was condemned to death and crucified with Christ. But the second Adam, the risen Christ Jesus provides the forgiven, redeemed, and holy spiritual life or nature for “Christ liveth IN me.”
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Our new spiritual nature is a new creation. It is not the old man changed or improved but a new creation by God.
2Co 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.
Our dual natures are why we can be here in our fleshly bodies and at the same time our spiritual man is sitting at the right hand of God in heaven in Christ.
Eph 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
As we come to terms with what God has done for us in Christ and begin to renew our minds to the rightly divided word it is helpful to understand the basis of error that we have come out of. An omission of the gospel of the mystery as presented by Paul and a misunderstanding of the new nature and the grace of God leads to very dramatic errors. The abusive leadership styles and false authority can be directly linked back to these three misunderstandings. Very briefly; I am going to list the main branches of church religious philosophy that have minimized the teaching of Paul and instead majored on the Old Testament and Synoptic gospels. All three are based upon “one naturism” that is, the erroneous idea that we only have one nature.
The first is known in the theological world as Wesleyan based doctrine. Wesleyan’s believe that spiritual life is imparted from one person to another and only those who have received an impartation that can be traced back to the original apostles are saved. I’m sure you have heard of “apostolic churches.” The clergy claim to have been passed the original anointing of the original apostles. The old time Pentecostal movement was built upon this premise. They believe that when the spirit is passed on to you it regenerates the old adamic nature and begins the process of making your flesh holy. The holiness doctrine that teaches you can become progressively holy and at some point you can get holy enough to earn the “second blessing.”
Conversely if you misbehave you lose you holiness and consequently your impartation. About one third of the world denominations can trace there beliefs and traditions to John Wesley’s doctrinal teaching that did not respect the Pauline mystery gospel.
The second basic church philosophy is Armenianism. This theology teaches that the Holy Ghost possesses us and begins to correct, purify and refine your urges, temper and will. It takes over and controls you. The catholic and related churches are of the Armenian persuasion. There are levels and kinds of possession. The church is in charge of your salvation and they must intercede for you because God is too holy to bother with common sinners like us.
The third “one nature” theology is the so called “Covenant” or Kingdom theology. They do not recognize the difference between the Body of Christ and the Kingdom of Israel. They believe the adamic nature dies and is gone the moment the spirit is received. Getting saved should make everything perfect. Sin and sickness then is always due to the influence of Satan and his demons: Hence the need for constant and persistent deliverance and generational curse ministry.
They believe the fleshly body is the new regenerated spiritual man and are dedicated to building a physical army to take the kingdom “of God” by force. There is a strong emphasis on new revelation that may supersede the bible. This is the basis of the Prophetic movement and denominations like the Vineyard. This philosophy is growing and is overtaking many of charismatic churches.
Many churches today are a mix of the above three philosophies. All three of these theologies equate the church with the kingdom of Israel and reject the idea that there are different time periods in the bible. They believe they are still under the law. The concepts of grace, being born of God’s seed and Christ in you the hope of glory are not understood in the same way that Paul teaches them. Everything goes back to works and the fruits of the flesh are on display. Those who have been influenced by these theologies have no idea who and where they are in Christ. Their position and power has been hidden from them and their authority stolen.
When Christ Jesus the head of the heavenly creation (the church) ascended to the right hand of His Father, He took us with him. The father, having recreated us in His Son, raised us up and made us to sit in heavenly places with Him. And there we sit: In Christ, in heaven. Always! We are always in the presence of God. Nothing can separate us because we are in Christ. No one! Yes! No one is holier than us: No one has a better anointing than us. No one! If you are born of God’s seed and are a member of the body of Christ, you are here in heaven with me. No one is holier than you. No! Not one! We are a new creation.
Meanwhile, back here on earth living in this fleshly body with the continuing effects of Adam we wait for the return of Christ because at that glorious moment we will take on a spiritual Body free from adamic influence just like Jesus. Paul tells us:
Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We recon our fleshly selves to be dead to sin, but we are alive in Christ and we have Christ in us. For those of us who believe, Paul’s gospel produces a new realm of existence: It’s not that the old man received embellishments or advantages as in a law based religion. Christ lives in us. We are a new creation, sons and daughters of God. Our old man has been sentenced to death, and was crucified with Christ. The crucifixion paid the full ransom, the propitiation and we are free. We are free from theological bondage; free from the power of sin. As Romans 8:1-2 concludes:
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Stand fast in the freedom wherewith Christ has set you free.
Neil
