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“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His ‘seed’ remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1Jn 3:9).
“His seed” is not the Lord Jesus, who would never be styled as such, but rather in His title. Nor is it the Holy Spirit, who also is always named such. It is something that is “created.” It is the “new man,” the holy nature born from the “divine nature” of Christ—created by Christ—which can never decrease! This is what is termed “created in righteousness and true holiness,” and “who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” (Eph 4:24; Col 3:10).
In which assigns believers as “partakers of the divine nature” (2Pe 1:4). Not making one divine, but only “partakers” or recipients, in which the believer, along with the sin nature has been given a holy nature, which “cannot sin.” Thus Christians alone possess a dichotomy of contrasting natures, with the old man always coming short in the outcome; natural man with the single sin nature; and the Lord Jesus with a single nature—the Divine Nature! The crux is that of not wanting to sin intentionally, as Paul said, “The evil I do not want to do . . . Now if I do what I do not want to do” (Ro 19, 20). Paul even goes as far as to say, “But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwelleth in me” (Ro 7:17, 20). Of course, he is not disclaiming ownership of the sin, because the old man yet abides within. He is just revealing a fact.
Hence the dichotomy of the Christian is thus reveled by Paul saying he is sinning with the old nature or old man, like any believer; but he in his new man or new nature “serves God” (Ro 7:25). The reason why he can say “it is no longer I who do it,” is due to the position that he is “not in the flesh” (Ro 8:9), i.e. not “willfully” pursuing evil nor desiring it (Heb 10:26; Num 15:30).
John Gill: “the new man”; “for this is a creation work, and so not man's, but God's; and is made not after the image of the first man, no not as innocent, and much less as fallen; but after the image of Christ, to which the elect of God are predestinated to be conformed, and which is stamped in regeneration; and more and more appears by every transforming view of Christ, and will be perfected in heaven, when they “shall see Him as He is” (1Jo 3:2), and be perfectly like Him, who is not only the pattern, but the Creator of it, even the Author and Finisher of faith.”
“His seed” is not the Lord Jesus, who would never be styled as such, but rather in His title. Nor is it the Holy Spirit, who also is always named such. It is something that is “created.” It is the “new man,” the holy nature born from the “divine nature” of Christ—created by Christ—which can never decrease! This is what is termed “created in righteousness and true holiness,” and “who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” (Eph 4:24; Col 3:10).
In which assigns believers as “partakers of the divine nature” (2Pe 1:4). Not making one divine, but only “partakers” or recipients, in which the believer, along with the sin nature has been given a holy nature, which “cannot sin.” Thus Christians alone possess a dichotomy of contrasting natures, with the old man always coming short in the outcome; natural man with the single sin nature; and the Lord Jesus with a single nature—the Divine Nature! The crux is that of not wanting to sin intentionally, as Paul said, “The evil I do not want to do . . . Now if I do what I do not want to do” (Ro 19, 20). Paul even goes as far as to say, “But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwelleth in me” (Ro 7:17, 20). Of course, he is not disclaiming ownership of the sin, because the old man yet abides within. He is just revealing a fact.
Hence the dichotomy of the Christian is thus reveled by Paul saying he is sinning with the old nature or old man, like any believer; but he in his new man or new nature “serves God” (Ro 7:25). The reason why he can say “it is no longer I who do it,” is due to the position that he is “not in the flesh” (Ro 8:9), i.e. not “willfully” pursuing evil nor desiring it (Heb 10:26; Num 15:30).
John Gill: “the new man”; “for this is a creation work, and so not man's, but God's; and is made not after the image of the first man, no not as innocent, and much less as fallen; but after the image of Christ, to which the elect of God are predestinated to be conformed, and which is stamped in regeneration; and more and more appears by every transforming view of Christ, and will be perfected in heaven, when they “shall see Him as He is” (1Jo 3:2), and be perfectly like Him, who is not only the pattern, but the Creator of it, even the Author and Finisher of faith.”
