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What is the sin nature?

Answered by Gene Cunningham, Basic Training Bible Ministries · from The Basics, Lesson 3–1: The Race—The Christian Life

The sin nature is inherent sin - the nature every human being inherits from his parents. It is one of three kinds of sin every man must deal with, alongside imputed sin, which is the sin of Adam placed to the account of every one of his offspring, and personal sin.

Sin natures, like fingerprints, are absolutely unique, though they share the same structure. Every sin nature is composed of areas of weakness, areas of strength, areas of lust, and basic trends. In the areas of our weakness each of us is drawn to particular kinds of sins - some to mental attitude sins, some to sins of the tongue, some to overt sins.

The sin nature is not removed at salvation. It will not be taken away until we die physically. What changes is that the believer is made spiritually alive and placed in Christ, so that we now have the ability to choose every moment whether we will serve the old sin nature or the new nature.

Also asked: How is the sin nature different from the sin that we commit personally? · What is the inherent inclination to sin that all humans inherit from their parents? · Is the sin nature that we are born with ever removed when we become Christians?

Source: The Basics The Basics, Unit 1 - The Old Sin Nature (pp. 3, 5, 121) · Read this lesson in the book →

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AdamSalvationSin natureSin of Adamkinds of Sin

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