Every morning one of the guys down the hall in the dorm at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary which I attended would wake us up shouting, “Another day for work and play!” I can still hear him!
Well, he’s right! But I suspect today will be mostly work—and very little play (except as I write blogs).
At the WCF (Westminster Confession of Faith) training class last night we covered three sections, one of which was on Sanctification. During the discussion, we had the occasion to consider a modern unbiblical view in which the believer is said to have two natures—one all good; the other all bad, thus making the individual schizophrenic!
This flawed view is best refuted by the little Moody Colportage book, God’s Way of Holiness, by Horatius Bonar (get it at all costs!). In his chapter on Roman Seven, he lists any number of reasons why the view is absurd. For instance;
- What happens to the “old nature” at death? Does it go to hell?
- Which nature grows—The old one can’t; the new one doesn’t need to.
- Which was redeemed? One didn’t need it; the other obviously coudn’t be.
And so on . . .
Now, to give a better idea of sanctification, I handed out a picture (my own marvelous art work) that looked like this:
At top the words “Two Orientations.” Then the same man appears twice, once above the caption, “Old,” and once above the caption “New.” The man in his old, unconverted state is holding up a mirror that blocks his view of God (represented simply by the word “God.” ) His orientation is self (hence, the mirror).
The same man in the new, converted state is oriented toward God (no mirror is between them), but he has the mirror sticking out of his back pocket-which he might use from time to time to obscure his orientation toward God by looking at himself and his interests instead. One other difference is that he has a Bible tucked under one arm. This, used by the Spirit, helps him keep the right orientation.
Hope this helps you to understand the true view of the new man in Christ.