Satan's Involvement in Our Depravity

In his book The Cross and Sanctification T. A. Hegre brings out and exposes Satan's involvement in our depravity:

". . . in Christ's parable of the vine and the branches (John 15) . . . The very fact that Jesus calls himself the true Vine implies that there is a false vine, which, of course, is Satan. All men are drawing their life either from the true or the false vine--either from Jesus Christ or from Satan.

"The fall of our first parents is also illustrated clearly in the parable of Isaiah 5:1-7. This passage, referring primarily to Israel, also gives a true picture of fallen man.

A song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: and he digged it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, . . . judge, . . . betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?'

"This very fruitful hill could represent the Garden of Eden. Conditions there were so absolutely ideal that God could truly say, 'What could have been done there to my vineyard that I have not done in it?' Yet our first parents did not bring forth sweet grapes as expected but only wild grapes. The quality of their fruit is described in Deuteronomy 32:32, 33: 'Their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: their wine is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of asps.'

"Let us then see exactly what happened to man at the Fall. First, he turned away from God; second, he turned to another, even Satan. But, likewise, on Calvary Jesus Christ did two things: first, He destroyed the power of the false vine (Satan) and made it possible for anyone 'in Satan' to renounce his allegiance and relationship to Satan; second, in His suffering and death He opened up His own heart and made it possible for anyone who would renounce the devil and his claims to be grafted into Him, the True Vine.

"Man is so constituted that he can not exist alone but must be related to either Satan or Christ. Though originally his human nature was indwelt by God, by his Fall he forfeited this divine indwelling. In its place he received the life of the enemy of our souls, Satan; for by nature, says God, we were the children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). 'Ye are of your father the devil,' said Jesus, 'and the lusts of your father it is your will to do' (John 8:44).

"Because we all partake of the nature of one of these two vines, we all bring forth fruit according to that nature, for 'do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit . . . . By their fruits ye shall know them' (Matt. 7:16-20). But it is not possible for a branch to remove itself from the devil's vine and be placed into the True Vine, Christ. Every natural branch taken from one tree and grafted into another must have the help of the gardener's hand. Even so, all spiritual grafting must be done by another's hand. Salvation, then, is a work of God, a free gift through the redemption of Jesus Christ our Saviour. To be saved really means that a man is willing to forsake the false vine (with Satan as his father) and be grafted into the True Vine (with God as his Father). To be a Christian is not only to know and believe something. To be a Christian is a definite experience wherein one renounces his own life and then trusts in Christ and His finished work. For anyone who is willing thus to renounce the devil and all sin and who chooses to be grafted into Christ, the Holy Spirit will perform the necessary grafting, delivering him out of the false vine, Satan, and grafting him into the True Vine, Christ.

"In Nature, when grafting takes place, the branch always bears fruit according to the tree from which it has been taken. But in spiritual experience, by going through the Cross a miracle takes place, and the branch begins to bear fruit according to the stock into which it is placed. We therefore see the absolute necessity of a real experience of crucifixion, else one will continue to bear the old fruit of the self-life. This explains the carnality in the church. So many have gone around the Cross instead of through the Cross in a real death to the self-life.

"At the Fall, divine life went out and satanic life came in; in redemption, satanic life goes out and divine life comes in, for through God's precious and exceeding great promises we become 'partakers of divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust' (2 Pet. 1:4).

"Yet, even with Christ indwelling him, the born-again soul still has his own personal human nature with its appetites and desires. But we never have two natures--that is, two personal natures. All the way through, we have our human nature related either to the devil or to God. Thus, all who are grafted into Christ, whether babes or mature souls, partake of Christ's nature, for 'he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit' (2 Cor. 6:17).

"However, full consciousness of what is ours (by virtue of our having been delivered from the false vine and having been grafted into the True Vine) does not dawn upon us all at once. Then too, just after the transfer from the false to the True Vine, there may be sour sap (termed the self-life) still in the branch. But as surely as the branch grafted into the vine draws its sap from the new source, so surely will the upsurge of the life of Christ drive out all the sour sap that may have been in the branch. A full consciousness of what we have in Christ, a complete reliance on Him, and a receiving of the upsurge of the new life--all these will bring about the crisis of sanctification. And sanctification is not only a proper relationship to Christ but identification with Him in a full and complete union. The result will be that 'made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification' (Rom. 6:22).

"We must not identify sinful nature with the body, nor think of it as something separate from ourselves. Rather, we must realize that our sinful nature is our human nature in wrong relationship to the devil, and thus polluted. With this wrong relationship broken and a right relationship with Christ fully restored, the sinful nature is changed (metamorphosed) and becomes pure . . . .

"Some will ask, 'Does this mean that we can not sin any more? If a Christian does not have a sinful nature, what could there be in him to tempt? The answer is that our Lord had no sinful nature and He too was tempted (though He did not sin). As we have said previously, of course we can be tempted and of course we can sin. Adam, fresh from the hands of God, had no sinful nature, yet was tempted (and sinned). We are tempted through our natural appetites, not through a sinful nature. Our appetites are not sinful in themselves, for they have been given to us by God; but unless they are controlled by the Holy Spirit, they will become sinful. Just as a branch, even while grafted into a true vine needs the constant care of a gardener, so must we be cared for, guarded, guided by the Holy Spirit. We must deny any desire or craving for something not consistent with the Vine in which we abide. That the old man is not only crucified but dead and buried is positionally true for every Christian (Rom. 6:6). But it we are to realize this blessing in experience, we must individually appropriate it through faith and through surrender of self to the death of the Cross.

"There is, however, an evident duality in man. This is not a duality of two natures within one person, but rather it is a duality of flesh and spirit. When God made the angels, He made them spirits without bodies (physical bodies). When He made animals, He made them bodies without spirits. But when He made man, He made him both body and spirit--flesh and spirit. This is what the Apostle speaks of in both Romans 7 and Galatians 5. The issue, not settled in Romans 7, brings forth Paul's statement of frustration. The best that I myself can do is given for us in Romans 7:25: 'So then I of myself with the mind, indeed, serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.' The best that God can do is given in Romans 8. Galatians 5 gives the proper solution and there the Apostle says, 'They that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof' (Gal. 5:24).

"Therefore the issue is whether or not to walk according to the flesh or the Spirit. The Apostle Paul says that they that are of Christ Jesus have settled this matter, and have deposed the flesh as a ruling agent, choosing to walk according to the Spirit. Thus there need not be a constant battle. It can be a settled matter.

"The word flesh, strictly speaking, is not always identified as something bad. Christ, 'in the days of his flesh, . . . offered up prayers' (Heb. 5:7). Certainly in His case, the flesh had no bad connotation. The flesh is the physical life--human nature with the appetites and passions. The word flesh is used in a bad sense only when it has usurped the place of the Spirit and is in control of the life. This wrong position of control must come to an end, must yield to the Spirit, and must come under the sweet influence of the Vine and Husbandman. Christ, who 'pleased not himself,' (Rom. 15:3) now tells us to follow in His steps. He says to us that we ought to deny self, take up our cross daily, and follow Him. Therefore, to live with a mine of corruption within (as many wrongly think is necessary), with a continual consciousness of sin, is wrong. With the flesh properly related to the Spirit (as servant and not master), we can abide in Christ moment by moment--cleansed by Christ's blood, and thus made pure and holy.

"And so, once again let us remind ourselves that the central truth of Scripture is full union with Christ. Everything leads us up to this truth. Christ desires that we become fully conscious of what it means to be completely united to Him, and yielded to His sweet nature and influences. If, after we have become united to Christ, we yield to sin (though we need not), it should be only a momentary thing, instantly confessed, and forgiven and cleansed. A Christian does not live in sin; the will to sin is gone. But 'if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.' 'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'"