Recently I posted some thoughts on the natural man, and separately considering the position of King David from the Old Testament of The Holy Bible. I now believe these two to be the same topic.
The first I shared was about the idea of putting off the natural man. My focus on the ideas yielded a basic view in three short statements:
The first I see as the natural man. The second I see as one who is repentant and working on becoming more Christ-like. The third I see as reaching a Godly, Christ-like, or celestial character.
The second area has been more of a combined discussion with my wife. As we read in the Old Testament about kings who followed David and Solomon, they were often compared to David in terms of their standing with Jehovah. Specifically, those who did not follow Jehovah were said to be not like unto David whose heart was right with God all his life. In the earlier post I noted the issue of his committing adultery with Bathsheba. Later he tried to cover it up by having her husband, Uriah, return home and be with her. When Uriah refused to cooperate, David had him sent to where he would be killed in battle. So how could the scripture later claim his heart was with God all the days of his life?
The context of the Old Testament scriptures with such a comparative statement are about the keeping of the Mosaic Law while later kings did not. Many even allowed or participated in the worship of other gods, including Solomon. So it is likely Jehovah refers to this aspect of David’s character. He did marry Bathsheba and it is through her line that both Solomon and later Jesus was born. D&C 132:39 affirms the following:
39 David’s wives and concubines were given unto him of me, by the hand of Nathan, my servant, and others of the prophets who had the keys of this power; and in none of these things did he sin against me save in the case of Uriah and his wife; and, therefore he hath fallen from his exaltation, and received his portion; and he shall not inherit them out of the world, for I gave them unto another, saith the Lord.
So he was not forgiven, or did not fully repent of those sins. Yet he may have been repentant, even if beyond forgiveness in the combination of adultery and shedding of innocent blood. He may have been repentant, but in terms of the question of whether his lifetime of following the law was sufficient to overcome these two grievous sins the answer is no. It would appear David was not repentant sufficiently to receive the full cleansing power of the atonement.
Back then to the question of putting off the natural man. In my mind, I had often wondered in the past that in order to achieve this goal one had to reach the third saying, to become fully Christ-like. Lately I think maybe the answer is to move along the continuum. At one end of the continuum is the absolute of the natural man. At the other the absolute of being Godly. We all likely fall somewhere along the gradation line between the two extremes. I’ve come to believe that if we have moved along the continuum to any degree away from the natural man and toward being Christ-like then we have put off the natural man. At that point, so long as we are repentant and move along the line we are cleansed and perfected through the sacrifice of the Savior. It is not our change that cleanses us, or makes us Godly, but rather it is the power of the atonement that gets us to the celestial. Since we never can be perfected without the atonement, then we are cleansed and perfected throughout our lives.
I’m comfortable that repenting is the same as putting off the natural man. We don’t have to reach perfection all at once, but over time as we rely on, have faith in, the power of Jesus Christ. Reaching the goal of losing the natural man and becoming Christ-like in this way does not seem overwhelming or impossible. In fact, the gospel, in this way, becomes its namesake good news.
The first I shared was about the idea of putting off the natural man. My focus on the ideas yielded a basic view in three short statements:
- I do my will because it is my will.
- I do His will because it is His will.
- I do His will because it is my will.
The first I see as the natural man. The second I see as one who is repentant and working on becoming more Christ-like. The third I see as reaching a Godly, Christ-like, or celestial character.
The second area has been more of a combined discussion with my wife. As we read in the Old Testament about kings who followed David and Solomon, they were often compared to David in terms of their standing with Jehovah. Specifically, those who did not follow Jehovah were said to be not like unto David whose heart was right with God all his life. In the earlier post I noted the issue of his committing adultery with Bathsheba. Later he tried to cover it up by having her husband, Uriah, return home and be with her. When Uriah refused to cooperate, David had him sent to where he would be killed in battle. So how could the scripture later claim his heart was with God all the days of his life?
The context of the Old Testament scriptures with such a comparative statement are about the keeping of the Mosaic Law while later kings did not. Many even allowed or participated in the worship of other gods, including Solomon. So it is likely Jehovah refers to this aspect of David’s character. He did marry Bathsheba and it is through her line that both Solomon and later Jesus was born. D&C 132:39 affirms the following:
39 David’s wives and concubines were given unto him of me, by the hand of Nathan, my servant, and others of the prophets who had the keys of this power; and in none of these things did he sin against me save in the case of Uriah and his wife; and, therefore he hath fallen from his exaltation, and received his portion; and he shall not inherit them out of the world, for I gave them unto another, saith the Lord.
So he was not forgiven, or did not fully repent of those sins. Yet he may have been repentant, even if beyond forgiveness in the combination of adultery and shedding of innocent blood. He may have been repentant, but in terms of the question of whether his lifetime of following the law was sufficient to overcome these two grievous sins the answer is no. It would appear David was not repentant sufficiently to receive the full cleansing power of the atonement.
Back then to the question of putting off the natural man. In my mind, I had often wondered in the past that in order to achieve this goal one had to reach the third saying, to become fully Christ-like. Lately I think maybe the answer is to move along the continuum. At one end of the continuum is the absolute of the natural man. At the other the absolute of being Godly. We all likely fall somewhere along the gradation line between the two extremes. I’ve come to believe that if we have moved along the continuum to any degree away from the natural man and toward being Christ-like then we have put off the natural man. At that point, so long as we are repentant and move along the line we are cleansed and perfected through the sacrifice of the Savior. It is not our change that cleanses us, or makes us Godly, but rather it is the power of the atonement that gets us to the celestial. Since we never can be perfected without the atonement, then we are cleansed and perfected throughout our lives.
I’m comfortable that repenting is the same as putting off the natural man. We don’t have to reach perfection all at once, but over time as we rely on, have faith in, the power of Jesus Christ. Reaching the goal of losing the natural man and becoming Christ-like in this way does not seem overwhelming or impossible. In fact, the gospel, in this way, becomes its namesake good news.
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