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How Jesus Destroys the Carnal Nature

How Jesus Destroys the Carnal Nature

I received an email from a kind Christian gentleman who values the penal/legal model of salvation and questions the healing model that Come and Reason presents. I thought it might be helpful to share a portion of his email that expresses his concerns and my response:


Dr. Tim:

By your own definitions, man’s sinfulness or condition of sin is exactly man’s carnal nature, which you know well cannot be cured, healed, or restored. Our carnal nature will not be taken to heaven. It will either be replaced for believers at the Second Advent, or destroyed with its possessor in the second death. Our carnal nature will always oppose God and His will. There is no Healing Model to present as an atonement model.

As long as you tell your Sabbath School class members that Christ died for our sinfulness, they will admit that it is plausible. I challenge you to tell your class members that Christ died to heal our carnal nature and see what response you get.

Incidentally, you like to refer to another model of the atonement as “imposed law.” Is this fair? The term, “imposed law,” is not appropriate at all, because the God we worship never imposes Himself on anyone, or imposes anything on anyone.


Yes, I understand that “sinfulness” and the “carnal nature” are the same. Sinfulness is a condition that, because of Adam’s sin, we are born with and did not choose (Psalm 51:5). Thus, we are born terminal, not legally guilty. Every human being born since Adam is born with a condition that we did not choose; therefore, we individually are not in some “legal” situation of our making—we are in a sin-sick situation of our birth. This carnal condition is what causes acts of sin and results in death (James 1:15; Galatians 6:8). The acts of sin are symptoms of the condition, not the cause of the condition.

The plan of salvation is God’s intervention to eradicate the death condition and replace it with God’s eternal-life condition (Romans 6:23). This requires that God’s law (which is the law that life is built to operate upon) be written upon our hearts and minds (Hebrews 8:10). But we are unable to do this. This is what Christ came to do for us, to be the remedy to our condition, to eradicate (not merely heal) the carnal nature and replace the carnal nature with a righteous sinless nature that He, as a human, developed for us. This state of restoration to mature righteousness is known in the Bible as being perfect. Adam and Eve in Eden were sinless but not perfect. Jesus became our Savior when He destroyed the carnal nature and developed a perfect, sinless, and righteous human nature (Hebrews 5:9). Thus, Jesus heals humanity, not the carnal nature. At Gethsemane and the cross, Jesus chose righteousness, God’s law of love, and rejected selfishness and, thus, crucified the humanity that He inherited through Mary (Galatians 4:4), the part that “tempted him in every way like us” (Hebrews 4:15). But the part of His humanity that He received from the Holy Spirit was not destroyed at the cross; thus, He rose again on the third day as the same Jesus—same in character, identity, individuality, but with a purified and perfected humanity free of the carnal nature that tempts (Acts 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:14).

This is what He accomplished. And those who enter into a faith relationship with Jesus “die” to the old man, the carnal nature, and receive via the Holy Spirit a new heart and right spirit (Ezekiel 11:19). We receive a new nature—we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). As Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). As Scripture teaches, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Note, the Bible does not teach that “I have been declared to be crucified with Christ,” or “that it is declared that Christ lives in me,” or “that it is accounted that we become partakers of the divine nature,” or that “Christ became sin for us so that we could be declared the righteousness of God.” No, we actually are transformed and changed; our hearts are no longer controlled by the old carnal nature, and we get a new nature—we “become the righteousness of God!”

This is beautifully expressed in the book Christ’s Object Lessons when describing the metaphor of being clothed with the robe of Christ’s righteousness:

“By His perfect obedience He has made it possible for every human being to obey God’s commandments. When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we live His life. This is what it means to be clothed with the garment of His righteousness. Then as the Lord looks upon us He sees, not the fig-leaf garment, not the nakedness and deformity of sin, but His own robe of righteousness, which is perfect obedience to the law of Jehovah” (p. 311).

This is the reality—actual heart/mind transformation and renewal to love what God loves and to live in harmony with the principles of God’s kingdom.

The penal/legal view is a fraud and a lie that teaches people that they are legally declared to be righteous when they remain unrighteous. It prevents people from experiencing the true healing of heart and mind that God has provided through Christ. The legal view of salvation is part of the wine of Babylon that we are to reject and for which the three angels’ messages call people out of when it calls us back to worship God as Creator. This requires that we reject human imposed-law constructs and understand that God’s laws are the design protocols upon which reality operates and, therefore, salvation is the action of God to heal, fix, recreate, restore human beings back to righteousness, which requires restoring His living law of love within us. This is the reality: All legal/penal theologies are based on Satan’s view of God’s law and keep people trapped in a hopeless system.

Regarding “imposed law,” it is a term that differentiates the design laws upon which the Creator builds reality and life (laws of gravity and physics; laws of health; law of love, liberty, truth; the moral laws; etc.) from the arbitrary laws that sinful beings make—rules that are legislated or enacted that require external enforcement by a ruling authority. God’s government never uses imposed laws or compelling power; His laws are not like human laws. Thus, the imposed-law terminology is quite accurate, and the imposed-law idea is an infection from Satan that is at the heart of the penal/legal theologies. I urge you to reject the idea that God’s law functions like human law and to begin worshiping Him as Creator—recognizing that all His laws are design laws and that the entire penal/legal construct is a fraud.

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S. G., TX, USA

 

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The blessings of clarity and understanding you and your class inspire me to take from the word of God have impressed upon me so greatly the true, loving character of our Creator. I have found amazing freedom and joy through building a stronger, more intentional relationship with Him. What is new is that this is now a relationship built on love, reverence and respect rather than fear and obligation, and as such my eyes have been slammed OPEN as I am continually impressed by the manifestations of God’s true character in His provisions for fallen man.

T.E.H., Salt Lake City, UT, USA

 

Testimony 34

I was introduced to Come and Reason Ministries by accident, via a passing comment made in a bible study class we were visiting. I checked this website out and my life was changed. The understanding of the truth of God’s character, and how we apply it, is so right. The tricky part is consistently applying which “lens” to look through. As I began to understand, I started sharing the basics of this understanding with a discussion group I was leading and, suddenly, a lot of things started to make sense that never used to. At the same time, I enjoyed an amazing opportunity. I was able to conduct a full bible study at WORK! What an amazing experience! It is such a joy to share the truth about God and to share how it all fits in the war between God and Satan. So many people benefit when we have a correct understanding about how God works and who He really is! Thank you for this transformational understanding. Keep up the good work! God Bless you!

Tony P., CA, USA

 

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I really enjoy with you the view of a gracious God. Thank you for sharing the work you are allowing the Lord to do in you.

L., Queensland, Australia

 

Testimony 66

I am incredibly grateful for the transformative impact you’ve had on my life, and words cannot fully express my appreciation. Over the years, I have been an avid listener and follower of C&R and extend my heartfelt thanks for creating the C&R mobile app. It has allowed me to immerse myself in your lessons repeatedly, enabling me to grasp the profound significance about the Character of God, Design Law, the protocols for life, the reasons behind the current chaos, and Christ’s mission to restore everything. They have deeply touched me. Having studied with various churches, I came away with the perception that God is no different from the deities of ancient Greek or Roman mythology—demanding sacrifices and taking pleasure in bloodshed. Thanks to your transformative teachings, I have experienced a profound awakening to the true nature of God and the immense power of His love. It is truly a remarkable and liberating sensation to finally grasp the truth and embrace the empowering nature of God’s laws. My self-perception has become brighter and more infused with love. My journey of growth continues on a daily basis.

Chris P., Lake Mary, FL, USA

 

Testimony 30

God lead me to your book “The God-Shaped Brain” while I was searching for another book about the brain and then to your interview about your book on HeartWise Ministries [where] I found out about [Come And Reason Ministries]. I’m now devouring the webcasts of your Bible studies. I have been so greatly blessed and I thank God so much for your courage to speak the Truth in love no matter what. Listening to you contrast the two opposing systems (laws) and digging deep to unearth the hidden treasures in the Bible makes me so incredibly happy and I feel very blessed to be part of your Bible Study Group although I live far away. I am just so excited that there is a group of people that is spreading the Truth about the character of God and it saddens me how few realize what our Father in Heaven is really like.

Kessy B., Australia

 

Testimony 43

Two years ago I stumbled upon your book, “Could It Be This Simple,” and then found “The God-Shaped Brain” videos on YouTube, your bible study class, and the ‘Come And Reason’ mobile app. I shared your book with a friend and after nine months of showing love, patience, and kindness this person has been changed by the love of God, too. The same love that healed me, I now express to other women in tangible ways, such as to a Baptist woman with high anxiety and childhood trauma. She was extremely happy and relieved when I shared about the so-called “judgment of God” and burning in hell. She had no desire to serve a God that was so harsh. I have repeated the phrase dozens of times to her. “What we believe has power over us, but we have power over what we believe…”

This message that you are sharing has changed my life. I will continue to serve other women and bring this message of God’s healing love to their lives by sharing your books, YouTube videos, and The Remedy Bible app. Keep up the good work. Don’t be discouraged. God is doing a mighty work in and through this ministry!

Jill L., Midwest, USA

 

Testimony 47

I can’t even begin to thank you and your ministry enough for introducing me to the Truth about a loving and merciful God! I have my daughter and her in-laws to thank for sharing with me “The God-Shaped Brain” as well as your website. I listen to the Bible study class lessons on my daily walk. May God continue to bless your thirst-quenching ministry!

Liz H., Port Angeles, WA, USA

 

 

Testimony 51

I Love This Ministry!!!!!!! I see first hand how this message is desperately needed, how erroneous beliefs about God and His Character negatively affect humanity at every level. I thank God for your ministry, as I was searching on my own and was discovering some of your same beliefs and was blown away when I found your ministry. I know you hear it all the time, but it is truly life changing. May God continue to reveal His Will to you and Bless you!

Eric S., Sanford, FL, USA

 

Testimony 52

Your unique way in spreading the truth is what we all need today. Most of us don’t recognize the contamination coming from all the lies and selfishness in the world. Because of our fear of death, we forgot how to live. Lies left and right. I was losing hope and faith, because of so many ideas that are always contradicting each other – so many questions answered by other, more complicated, questions – until I found your channel on YouTube.

You did not just give me answers, you also taught me how to answer new questions that arise in my mind. Now I see things differently. I see God’s mercy, grace, and Love everywhere, in spite of all the chaos that we all have done as humans. I don’t fear death anymore. Accepting the Truth and Love about God is truly a genuine Freedom from all the confusions, sufferings, selfishness, pain, and death.

I just wanted to say, thank you, sooooo much for revealing the real Remedy for our infected life. I have a new hope and now see the world in a different perspective!

Wheinny P., University Place, WA, USA

 

Testimony 45

I have been confused for years about what [christianity] calls [its] most disgusting teaching. It has never made much sense to me and for that reason has been evermore empty. I have listened to your class off and on and have struggled determining what is truth, because of the resistance design law encounters in the church. So, I thank God for your ministry. What you teach makes sense. It’s logical and backed up by the power of love. I have never seen that in Christ until now. I am astounded by the insight that is found when we look at God’s ministry through design law. All strength to this message, as I believe it to be the power of God.

Brendon S.

 

Testimony 50

After coming into contact with Come And Reason Ministries, I can finally say that many of my unanswered questions have fallen into place. I discovered that my view of God’s Law was “imposed laws and rules” with “imposed punishments” and that this was the major culprit of my many unanswered questions. Thanks be to God for using you and those around you to help us who have struggled with this “infection” of thought. I have now rejected the “imposed law” concept to fully embrace “Design Law”… to look thru “Design Law,” instead of “imposed law,” is a relief.

Viliami L., Australia

 

Testimony 64

I’ve been reading the bible and walking with Jesus since I was around 16. I’m 42 now. I’ve mostly been alone in my walk although I went to several churches in different denominations. For the past 3 years God has been showing me His character of agape. It’s been a blessing and changed how I view God and my walk with Jesus. About a year ago I came across the power of love and the principles of design law. These teachings changed how I read scripture and have been such a beautiful blessing. I’m very excited and grateful for these truths. We share these truths of agape, design law and the reality of the principles of the two trees in the garden of Eden with people on Facebook and YouTube. People all over are learning to trust God and His agape design law which makes life possible. Thank you for everything you shared with me. May God continue to bless your ministry and lives.

Bradley M., Hinsdale, NY, USA

 

Testimony 10

I personally download and listen to each of Come And Reason Ministries Bible study class lessons and PDF study notes to use when teaching my class. Really appreciate the class especially when Dr. Jennings is teaching. Thank God there are persons like him doing His work and traveling to share His beliefs.

B. L.M., North Plains, OR, USA

 

Testimony 53

I was so blessed by a friend who gave me your book, “The God Shaped Brain,” while I was sitting in church asking God to please help me learn more about Him and help me not to be so confused and scared. That was about 2 years ago. Your books have helped me to love God even more. I’m not confused or scared anymore! I have listened to all of your bible study classes and feel like I know the wonderful people that attend every week. Thank you for all that you’re doing in spreading the true message about God and His law of love. God bless you and your whole class.

Elssy P., Modesto, CA, USA