There was a discussion recently on a Christian forum I participate in in which one person took the view that living the Christian life is a continual struggle with a desire to sin and do wrong things. Even before that discussion, I wrote a tract called "TOTALLY CHANGED" which may be read in its
entirety on http://followersofjesuschrist.org/totallychngd.html

I am a firm believer in 2 Cor. 5:17. I believe that when you BELIEVE the
gospel message, the Holy Spirit will bring "pricked heart" conviction and
that will bring REPENTANCE and repentance includes the death of the old
sinful nature which we then BURY with Jesus Christ in BAPTISM. thereafter we
arise with Jesus Christ to walk in newness of life. We undergo a
metamorphosis.

What the Apostle Paus was saying about "...oh wretched man that I am..."
must be understood, not as a stand-alone verse, but in the setting and context in
which it was written. When we "get saved" as per the Baptist/Assemblies of
God "only believe" formula,  weare led to think we are born again or fully metamorphosed at the point of our believing.  We are led to think we can fly and sip nectar, when we still have the nature and need to crawl on branches and chew leaves. But when we truly die to our sin nature in sincere
repentance, bury that nature in scriptural baptism as the New Testament so clearly teaches, we arise with Jesus Christ to walk in newness of life with old things passed away and all things having
become new.

If you, as a "Christian" are still having a serious struggle with your old sin
nature, check out how thoroughly you have slain your old nature through sincere
and wholehearted repentance. Living WHOLEHEARTEDLY for Jesus is EASY, but
living easy for Jesus is hard! The old nature HAS to die and be buried.  The
new has to take its place.  The metamorphosis must be allowed to fully take place. There can be no shortcut. If you try to cut a butterfly or moth out of its cocoon before it has struggled to emerge, its wings never develop so it can fly!

I become very alarmed when I see believers defending a lifestyle of being
tortured and tormented with the old sinful nature after they have been "born
again" and I cannot help but wonder if they have ever been truly "born again". Their old nature is still showing. It is one thing to have a head knowlege of facts and another to experience
first-hand an event or a change.

Dave Smith used Romans 7:24, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me
from the body of this death?"
The setting of this verse is verse 23: "But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law
of sinwhich is in my members."

While many carnally minded persons (I do not here use the word "believers"
nor "Christians", for these words connote the new man in Christ Jesus)use the
5th chapter of Romans as an excuse to sin that Grace may abound because they
want to sin and do so continually, much more of the book of Romans is taken
up with explaining that while indeed grace does abound and we are saved by
the grace and mercy of God, the Apostle Paul is in NO WAY condoning living in
sin! Actually, when taken as a whole, the book of Romans is one of the
strongest of books on HOLINESS and the new nature in Christ. Not only is 6:1
very strong, but also 8:2:  "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Paul further
explains: "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and forsin,
condemned sin in the flesh: 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be
fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." This is
all confirmation of 2 Cor. 5:17. We are transformed, metamorphosed into new
creatures in Christ Jesus.

The butterfly may well indeed remember the "old days" of crawling on the
twigs and chewing on leaves, even with fond remembrance, but that is no
longer his nature. There might indeed be times when his wings are tired and
he remembers resting motionless on the twig. He can still do so, but with a
whole new grip AND balance, and can instantly lift off and fly away at will.
He is no longer a slave to the "old nature".

No, my dear Bro. Dave, far more New Testament scripture backs a new life in
Christ Jesus that is not just a rote obedience to the law which results in a
daily struggle with the nature to sin. We are to be "...free from the law of
sin and death..."
 

To argue that we do not slay our sinful man nature in repentance and bury him
in baptism with Christ we effectively make "...Christ the minister of sin..."
which is totally contrary to all New Covenant or New Testament teaching. "But
if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are found [to be
practicing] sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God FORBID.
2:18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a
transgressor. 2:19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might
live unto God. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."
(Galatians 2:17-21).

Note also Romans 6:14: "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are
not under the law, but under grace."

" Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the
transgression of the law." (1 John 3:4).

The above are hardly a scratching of the surface of the immense weight of New
Testament scripture that teaches that the new life in Jesus Christ is NOT a
continual daily struggle with sin, but avictorious overcoming because our
nature has been transformed, metamorphosed to a life "in Christ."