John Brine Dissected: In continuing the thoughts raised in my previous post concerning the question of two natures in the believer, I found myself returning to the writings of John Brine. He is often regarded as one of the clearer and more careful proponents of this position, and rightly so. With that in mind, I want to take a paragraph from one of his works, one that expresses this view with some careful precision, and examine it more closely. John Brine, 1703-1765, was a mid-18th-century Particular Baptist minister in London, known for his careful doctrinal preaching and extensive engagement with the theological controversies of his day. Whatever conclusions one reaches, it is important to recognize him as a man sincerely seeking to guard the truth of the gospel.
Here are his thoughts: “We are persuaded, that the Apostle Paul in the 7 chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, Romans 7, represents his own real Character, as a Christian; but we deny, that he there treats of external Acts, either of Sin or Holiness. He only discourses of the inward Disposition and Acts of his Mind, as he found himself to be the Subject of a Law of Sin, and a Law of Holiness: Or of the unregenerate and the regenerate part in his Soul; and of the contrary Actings of these opposite Principles within himself. We contend, that according to the unregenerate Part, he was carnal and sold under Sin, and that according to the regenerate part, he was spiritual, holy, and free from Sin. That the depraved Part never consented to Good, and that the spiritual Part never concurred in the sinful Motions of his Heart; which things are perfectly consistent with his holy Zeal, for the Honour of God, with his strict, humble, and spiritual Conversation, in the Church of God, and in the World.” John Brine: Sermon and Tracts.
Before attempting to look at what John Brine is saying, it’s important to pause and recognize what he is trying to protect, and why it mattered so deeply to him. Brine was not playing theological games, nor was he careless with Scripture. As far as I can tell from his faithfulness and devotion to scripture, is that he was laboring to safeguard truths he held dear, that life born of God is real and distinct, and to read Romans 7 in a way that did not weaken what Scripture says about that life, while explaining the believer’s struggle in a way that did not diminish either grace or godliness. Any reading of Romans 7 that weakens “holiness” or excuses sin would rightly be rejected. So the issue is not whether Brine cared deeply about truth, but whether Scripture itself speaks in the same way he does when addressing this struggle.
To explain the struggle Paul describes, Brine separates Paul inwardly into an unregenerate part and a regenerate part, two opposing principles said to be at work within the same person. From that moment on, Romans 7 is read as the interaction of two internal agents, one that only sins and one that only obeys. This framework allows Brine to say that Paul is carnal according to one part, and spiritual and free from sin according to another. It is a careful and consistent system. The question that must be asked, however, is a simple one, is this how Paul himself speaks?
When Paul describes this struggle, and as I noted in my previous post, there is a noticeable simplicity to his language. He does not alternate between identities, nor does he assign failure to one internal part while reserving obedience for another. He never describes one part as untouched by sin while another alone accounts for his failure. Neither does Paul narrate Romans 7 as an observer describing the actions of two opposing agents within himself. He speaks as a man personally involved in an agonizing struggle with sin. He does not say, “one part of me does this while another does that.” He says, “what I hate, that I do,” and “when I would do good, evil is present with me.” His speech remains personal and undivided. “I am carnal, sold under sin.” And finally, his cry reaches its height in the words, “O wretched man that I am.” The “I” remains intact throughout. Paul never steps outside himself to explain the struggle from a distance; he bears it fully and lets it drive him to his need for deliverance.
Even the often-quoted line, “it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me,” is not offered as a way of separating Paul from his own actions, as he immediately anchors that statement in his actual condition: “in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.” Rather than using sin’s indwelling as an excuse, he owns the condition honestly, without shifting obedience to one part of himself and failure to another. He never says, “this was not truly me.” The “I” remains singular throughout. Paul explains the struggle in a way that allows the believer’s weakness to be fully seen, while directing all hope outside of himself. His resolution is not found in identifying which part is acting, but in asking a far more basic question: “Who shall deliver me?”
Brine’s interpretation works because it must work. Once Paul is divided into two internal agents, every difficulty is neatly accounted for. One part sins, the other does not. One part is carnal, the other holy. He must insist that the regenerate part never sins and the unregenerate part never obeys, because once those lines are crossed, his system collapses. But Paul never resolves the struggle that way. He does not tidy it up. He leaves himself fully implicated and fully dependent. Where Brine resolves the tension by internal division, Paul resolves it by external deliverance. The answer is not found in identifying which part is acting, but in the person to whom the cry is directed: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” In the end, holiness is not protected by dividing the man, but by anchoring righteousness wholly in Christ. I Corinthians 1:30.
What is at stake here is not whether believers experience real conflict, but how that conflict is explained and where it ultimately drives the soul for relief. No one is questioning the reality of inward struggle, nor denying the deep change that takes place when God brings a sinner into life. Every believer knows something of hating what he once loved and loving what he once despised. The question is not whether that change is real, but whether Scripture itself explains the conflict by dividing the believer inwardly, or by laying the believer bare as one still marked by weakness, corruption, and death, and directing his hope wholly to Christ. No one is out to dismantle anyone’s experience, or denying the reality of the struggle, but asking whether Paul’s own words teach the believer to look inward for explanation, or outward to Christ for deliverance when the conflict intensifies.
Romans 8 opens as the answer to that cry. The relief Paul points to is not an inward victory, but life in Christ. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” He moves away from self-analysis almost at once, and toward assurance grounded in Christ’s finished work. The struggle has not vanished, but the believer now lives under a settled verdict and a living hope that does not rise or fall with how well that struggle is handled. His hope is not found in managing himself or shifting blame within, but in deliverance. From there, Scripture consistently turns the believer away from himself and toward Christ, in whom death has already been stripped of its power. II Timothy 1:10.
None of this is written to criticize those who have found help in speaking of two natures, nor to deny the depth of the believer’s inward conflict, nor to question the sincerity of those who have spoken differently about it, including John Brine himself. It is simply an effort to listen to how the apostle speaks, and to allow Scripture’s own language to govern where the troubled conscience is directed. The struggle Paul describes is real, painful, and familiar to every believer, but its answer is never found within us. It is found in Christ alone. However we describe the conflict, Scripture consistently turns our gaze away from ourselves and toward Him who has settled our standing, borne our sin, and brought life out of death. There, and only there, the believer finds rest. “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:3-4. MPJ