“Stevenson gives us Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but St. Paul in a single mighty paragraph at the end of the seventh chapter of the Epistle of Romans lays bare once and for all the conflict of the two natures within man and anticipates some of the deepest insights of modern psychology.” (The Pattern of God’s Truth, p. 67-68)
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Matthew 12:25 “And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:”
Mark 3:25 “And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”
Luke 11:17 “But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.”
These verses seem to describe Paul and Hyde as understood by your comments. Does the human truly have two natures or does the human simply have the human nature? In I Corinthians 15:39 the Bible says, “All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.” This verse declares one flesh (nature?) of man, one nature of birds, etc. Could it be considered that there is one nature of man? It is human nature. That nature can be found under one of two conditions, either fallen or saved. It cannot be both at once, but must be one or the other. Humans are not dual-natured. What nature did Adam and Eve have before the fall? They had the human nature – not in a fallen condition. But in their human nature, with its unfallen condition, they had the capacity to sin. Adam and Eve were not gods, neither were they angels; they were humans. With their human nature in its unfallen condition, their nature was to follow God. After they sinned against God, the condition of their nature was now fallen and had to be redeemed. Until their nature was redeemed, it was not natural for them to follow God. When one – with the fallen condition of his human nature – is redeemed, the condition of his nature is changed – made new. See II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
It is now natural for one to follow God, yet still having human nature as Adam and Eve had before the fall. Once redeemed, humans still have the capacity to sin because of humanity, that is: being neither gods nor angels. The new conditon of their nature is to follow God. Salvation produces the inability to ever again have the condition of a fallen nature. If it were not this way, then every time a person sinned, he would become as Adam and Eve, once again fallen in the condition of nature, and need to be re-saved again and again. God’s marvelous plan of salvation causes us never to be able to fall again and thus having the condition of our nature contrary to God. There is one nature, the human nature, having one of two conditions, fallen or saved. In considering Romans 7:14-25, Paul had been saved approximately 20 years when that was written. Romans 10:2-4 says, “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” These verses are a commentary concerning Saul of Romans 7:14-25
It was not natural for Paul to go against God or Christ; it was his nature to follow Christ. Possibly more accurately stated, we could say, Saul (Hyde) and Paul. This demonstates the two conditions of the human nature.
Dr. Paul / Mr. Saul