There are, as it were, two conflicting natures at war within us, the flesh against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh (Gal 5:7; Rom. 7:15–23). Doing right is possible to the Christian, but it will not come easily. There can be no laidback attitude if one is to resist the devil, the world, and the flesh.

9.4  When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, He freeth him from his natural bondage under sin;1 and, by His grace alone, enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good;2 yet so, as that by reason of his remaining corruption, he doth not perfectly, nor only, will that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil.3

1 Col. 1:13; Jn 8:34, 36; 2 Phil. 2:13; Rom 6:18, 22;  3 Gal 5:17; Rom 7:15, 18–19, 21, 23.

Westminster Confession of Faith 9.4

In the previous paragraph, we confessed how, in the state of sin, we are all by nature “dead in trespasses and sins.” Thankfully, that is not the end of the story. By God’s free gift of salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have been translated into the state of grace by our regeneration or conversion, which the Bible describes as a spiritual resurrection—being truly set free from our previous bondage to sin and made alive again to serve God in righteousness (John 8:34, 36; Rom. 6: 13, 18, 22).

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