What two forces are working within a believer according to Paul?
According to Paul, the two forces are the old Adamic nature and the new nature. The old Adam is reckoned dead by God but remains in experience, while the new nature is energized by the Holy Spirit. These two forces oppose each other within the believer.
Les teaches that when Saul of Tarsus was confronted by the ascended Jesus on the road to Damascus, he died and was crucified in the Old Adam, immediately becoming a new man, a new creation. Paul’s whole thrust is that believers now have two forces working within them: God reckons Old Adam absolutely dead, but in experience he is still there. Les says he minds the attacks of Satan less than the attacks of his Old Adam, because Old Adam pops thoughts into our minds, catches us in moments of weakness, and constantly confronts us to go the direction of the old Adamic nature. Opposite that is the new nature energized by the Holy Spirit.
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.