Heresy: “You can serve God and your old human nature” (Part 1)

This is a really tempting one. The bible talks about us having to “put to death” our old human nature and all its desires. That sounds painful. That is painful. Our old human nature puts up a strong fight. Our old human nature will do almost anything to survive. So the possibility of a “Christianity” that allows our old human nature to run our lives is going to be very, very appealing. Appealing though it certainly is, the Bible says plainly and often that it is also a “Christianity” that will certainly land you in hell.

Let us take this one a step at a time. First: dying to our old self.

This book began with the baptismal promises which included renouncing “the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh”. These are just a concise statement of what the Bible teaches from one end to the other. Here are just a few New Testament passages.

Jesus said in Matthew 16 “²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save their life^[f]will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.²⁶ What good will it be for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? Or what can you give in exchange for your soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward everyone according to what they have done.”

Romans chapters 6, 7 and 8 are devoted to this theme and I encourage you to read the whole of it. Here are just two slices.

Romans 6.11 “¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him.”

Romans 8.12 “ ¹² Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.¹³ For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

Galatians 5 is another whole section dealing with this theme. Here are a few verses: “¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ¹⁷ For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever^[c] you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

 ¹⁹ The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

2 Peter 2 is yet another chapter worth careful study. Here are some verses: “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. ² Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. ³ In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories.”

¹⁸ For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.¹⁹ They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” ²⁰ If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. ²¹ It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.

These are strong and frightening words. Notice that Peter sees that the power of these heresies is that they appeal to the lustful desires of sinful human nature. I will end this part with Jesus’ warning about the ultimate fate of those who follow these false teachings:

Matthew 7.21 “²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ .”

Next time: what are some modern versions of this false teaching?