Old Man – Old Sin Nature

This discussion will be the first in a series of articles describing the Old Man and some of the issues connected to the biblical concept. This article will provide basic definitions of necessary terms related to the Old Man (OM). We will talk about the Old Sin Nature (OSN), the Old Man (OM), OM beliefs and logic and OM behavior and actions. These definitions will help us build a foundation on which we can look at the applications called for in the bible.

Old Sin Nature (OSN)
The OSN is the selfish nature or natural tendency of fallen man. In order to understand our fallen nature, we have to revisit the Garden of Eden, look at our original nature, see how Adam corrupted his nature through sin and then passed the corruption down to all of the human race.

Original Nature
God created Adam and Eve perfect, with perfect natures. I believe their original nature caused them to put God first, as the center of their world, loving Him most and serving Him as a natural response. They naturally were in flow with God and His plan with no struggle or anything to struggle against. They lived this way for a time, we are not told how long until there was a change in Eve.

Original Sin
Eve apparently became bored with the garden, with her position in the chain of command and even with her husband. She grew dissatisfied with her place in God’s order and began to spend more and more time with her new friend, the serpent. We know the story of how satan seduced her to believe his lies and how Adam chose his love for her over his love for God. They sinned by eating the fruit and when they sinned they lost everything God had given them. They lost their righteous standing with God and He was forced to condemn them forever. They lost the garden and God was forced to curse them and the earth with thorns and thistles. Finally, they lost their perfect natures and sin corrupted their natures so that their natural tendency was to be selfish, to put self first and to sin as a way of life.

Selfish Self as the Center
After they sinned, the presence of sin itself in their bodies corrupted them. They became selfish, self centered and naturally put themselves first ahead of anyone else. It was every man for himself and everyone else was there to serve their needs, even God. Their nature now was to put their self in God’s place, on the throne of their own hearts. Their sin caused them to naturally follow the same path that Lucifer had taken, to want to be like God, to want to take God’s place. The sin nature, passed down to their children and other generations caused mankind to be totally corrupted as discussed in Gen 6.

Genesis 6:5 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

Every motive of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil all the time. The sin nature caused the hearts of the whole human race to process nothing but sin and evil. This desperate condition was the result of the OSN being inherited by the whole human race.

OSN Inherited from Adam
Adam and Eve’s sin created the OSN that was passed down to their children through the body. The OSN is inherited genetically from father to the child in the mother’s womb.

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.

The one man is Adam who allowed sin to enter the world of man through his own original sin. The man is the carrier of the OSN which is passed to the fetus in the womb through his sperm. Every baby, male and female inherits the OSN when the male sperm fertilizes the woman’s egg and is born with the OSN fully operational. It was this fact of the male carrying the OSN that necessitated the virgin birth. Through bypassing the male’s role in conception, Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb and then born without inheriting the OSN from Adam. Since He had no earthly father, Jesus didn’t have an OSN, making Him perfect in His birth. His sinless life made Him the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world.

OSN Influence
The OSN is corruption that resulted from sin that was allowed to enter into the physical body of the human race and has had an influence on all of us. The OSN causes our thoughts to be corrupted, therefore our emotions to be corrupted and we all build a system of believing, thinking, feeling and acting that is totally disoriented from God’s person and ways. In the next article we will discuss the person the bible calls the Old Man, who is the personification of our old way of life.