Let us first define ‘nature’ as our active axiom – that is, the ultimate good towards which we strive in acting. There are then two types of nature:
-Absolute Referent: The unconditional striving towards the good of something external.
-Relative Referent: The striving towards the good of the self.
The relative referent is the defining feature of humanity: there is no action conceivable that is not done to further one’s expectation of personal good, whatever that might be. We therefore generally call the relative referent Human Nature. There is no political leader which can make an appeal to an absolute referent of a collective good without appealing to the relative referent in some way or another – whether out of a sense of duty, for safety and solidarity, or an appeal to mean materialism. There is no charity which can convince people of the absolute importance of the external worth of their cause: they must always either make their audience morally uncomfortable enough to act to alleviate their consciences, or convince them that their cause will have some sort of personal effect on them, tangibly or not.
We know, however, that the absolute good – that is, God – is an absolute referent. Yet natural man has only the relative referent. God Himself is the absolute good, so his own nature is unified: his relative and absolute referents are the same. We as humans do not have that same luxury: our relative referent is to ourselves, and that is as immutable a part of being human as being good is immutable to the nature of God.
How then may we be saved? Man, when he is endowed with the Holy Spirit, suddenly acquires a new nature – a new referent, an absolute one. Yet this nature is still alien to him – he does not cease to be human upon this endowment. This absolute referent is powerless except so far as it can appeal to what makes him human – that is, his relative referent.
This appeal by the new nature to our old nature is what we commonly think of as the battle between the flesh and the spirit, as described in Romans 8. Yet this passage does not describe a battle between the two as if the outcome would be uncertain: the relative referent, the human nature, always wins. People will always strive for their own good, for this is what it is to be human. The purpose of the absolute referent is not to vanquish the relative referent: the spirit does not abolish the flesh; it sanctifies it. The relative referent is unwavering in its ends – the good of the self. But it is not unwavering in its definitions. The new nature convinces the old nature that God really is the highest good of the self.
Human nature is limited by its knowledge and belief, and chooses its means accordingly. If one believes that raw physical hedonism is the highest good of the self, then one will pursue a lifestyle according to that belief. If a charismatic leader convinces a population that their highest good is in service of their country, then they will fall in line accordingly. The purpose of the Holy Spirit, which is itself the new referent, is to perfect our belief according to reality – to show us that our highest good really is in God. When we sin it is not because our human nature triumphed over our spiritual nature; it is because our human nature failed to be convinced by the Holy Spirit, and simply acted accordingly.
In this sense, every believer has both a divine and a human nature – an absolute and a relative referent. The power of the absolute referent is contingent upon the knowledge believed by the human nature. It is in this same sense that we can say Jesus Christ had a fully human and a fully divine nature: he was fully human and therefore strived towards his own good. Yet his human nature was fully convinced of the surpassing worth of God – and so there was no conflict. Even the crucifixion was done “for the joy set before him” (Hebrews 12:2): there was a perfect alignment of his own perceived good and the glory of God. This is likewise the final goal of the sanctification of every believer. We will never become fully convinced of the worth of God here on earth: the joy of Heaven is not that our human nature is vanquished, it is that it is redeemed and perfected. We achieve our own highest good by striving for the glory of the highest good. It is the mercy of God to allow for this alignment of these two referents: we are not saved by becoming less human, but in the perfection of our humanity.
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