October 21, 2009 THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW NATURES by Cornelius R. Stam Printer Friendly Version Concerning the conflict continually going on between the old and new natures in the believer, St. Paul says: "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would" (Gal. 5:17). Regarding this conflict in his own personal experience, he writes: "For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: "But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members" (Rom. 7:19,22,23). It has been taught by some that we need not experience this continual strife between the old nature and the new. They say: "Get out of the 7th of Romans into the 8th." We would remind such that the Apostle Paul wrote Romans 7 and Romans 8 at the same sitting; that in the original language the letter goes right on without interruption -- without even a chapter division. Thus the same apostle who exclaims: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1) refers in the same letter, only a few sentences before, and in the present tense, to "the law of sin which is in my members," and freely acknowledges the present operation of that law in his members, as we have seen above. How then shall we get out of the 7th of Romans into the 8th? Paul experienced both at the same time, and so do we, for while we are free from the condemnation of sin, sin itself nevertheless continues to work within us, and we must constantly "mortify the deeds of the body" (Rom. 8:13). To the Reader: Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface: "It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles." We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.