The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 1301-R, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 20."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  ©1982. All Rights Reserved.

Questioner

After we become born again, and we’re still in the flesh, is the sin that’s still on us, is it like in the wake, following behind us?

Answer

What you’re asking is, If I’m regenerated and if I’m a new creation, and God has fitted me for eternity, and He has planted the life of God in my soul, that life has to be perfect, right? Because God cannot give me imperfect life; He cannot give me imperfect regeneration; He cannot give me imperfect righteousness. So that if I am righteous at all, I am righteous period, and that is true. That’s why Romans 7 is the key; Paul says, “It is not I that sin; it is sin that is in me. It is not that new creation; it is the sin that is in me.” Now what is that sin in me? It is my humanness, so that when that new I sheds that humanness, its perfection is then manifest, see? Now that’s the only way you can explain it. Now it’s hard because you can’t cut you into those clear pieces.

You’ve all heard people say, "Well, you’re body, soul and spirit." And then you ask the person who believes that, what’s the difference between soul and spirit, and they can’t tell you. Or else they’ll say some things are our emotions, and some things are our minds, but if you’ve ever been able to make a cut between what is your clear thinking and what is your emotion feeling, you can’t. So you are a being; you have wholeness as a being. And so you do righteous things, and that’s the nature of God working in you. You do unrighteous things; that is the sin that is in you. Paul simply makes a distinction for the sake of theology. And he says that you are a perfect new creation, but sin that is in you, in your humanness still manifests itself. Now you don’t want to get to the point where you get a dichotomy going, where you say, "Well that’s not me; that’s just my sin," so that’s what’s known as philosophical dualism. And the people who teach that therefore say that when you sin, don’t worry about it; it’s only your sin. What are you going to do? It’s your sin; it’s going to sin, right? That’s really true. People say, don’t worry about sin because that's your old nature. So if your old nature is your old nature, it’s going to be your old nature; let it do what it wants. Now I don’t think that. I think you’re one new nature; you have one new person. You don’t have two natures; you have one nature. You live in Christ; Christ lives in you. But there’s sin in your humanness, and until you shed your humanness, you can never see the full manifestation of that righteousness.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur's Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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