In one of my favorite movies, The
Princess Bride, the hero is Westley. In his exploit to rescue his
true love, Buttercup, he is captured and tortured by the infamous, Prince
Humperdink. Then he dies...or so it seems. But when he is taken to
Miracle Max, he says an amazing thing. "He is mostly
dead."
It is a humorous scene which
illustrates the way many Christians think about their old nature, that is,
their identity in Adam. They believe that it is not really dead but
mostly dead. Yet, the complete Gospel tells us the real story.
Romans 6:4 says, "Therefore
we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was
raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in
newness of life."
We were spiritually immersed
into Christ the moment we believed in Him. At that very moment, God put
the old nature to death and put him in the tomb with Jesus and LEFT HIM
THERE. He is not "mostly dead". He is "dead,
dead." He will not be resurrected from the grave to bother us
again. He, no longer exists. Just make sure you don't
confuse the old nature with the flesh. They are not the same. We
still have the flesh.
We have one nature, our new
creation identity in Christ. 1 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away,
and look, new things have come." (HCSB) We don't have an
internal civil war between two natures. We only have the new
nature. This is who you really are, no matter what the flesh does or
whether you feel like it or behave like it.
Believe it! This is the
Gospel!
If you want to learn more, come
to one of our Grace Life Conferences or order the cd and syllabus by calling us
at 704-522-9026. Or, to really go in depth, come to our verse by verse
study of Romans 5-8.
Live Free In Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder www.GraceLifeInternational.com
All Content Copyright © 2014 Mark Maulding but sharing is encouraged!
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