The Monday Muse: Two Natures

In my last post I referred to Romans 7:14-8:4 where Paul discusses the war between two natures. As Christians, we have been born again and given a new nature that replaces the old nature. The process of replacing the old nature doesn’t happen all at once though. Paul makes this point clear when he describes the battle that takes place between the old nature of the flesh and the new nature of the mind. God has given us a new nature on the inside that will then manifest itself on the outside. Yet the new nature is enclosed within a sin-cursed flesh. Where the flesh and its desires held the place of prominence in an individual’s life, the new nature in Christ has become the driving force for the life of a believer. But the old nature won’t go down without a fight. So the two natures engage in a battle for supremacy in the life of a believer.

It has been debated as to whether or not Paul is speaking about a regenerate (saved) or unregenerate (unsaved) individual. Paul seems to refer to his own life since he uses the first person so often (though someone might make the argument that it is a hypothetical example being used to express a concrete truth). But let us assume that Paul is speaking of himself. Is he referring to pre-conversion or post-conversion Paul? Better yet…here’s our question for the week.

In Romans 7:14-8:4, Paul speaks of the conflict between the old and new nature. Is Paul referring to a person prior to conversion (from the perspective of the gospel), a person transitioning toward faith in Christ, or a person who is already a believer?