Why can God declare believers justified when old Adam is dead?
When a person believes the Gospel, the old Adamic sin nature is crucified, put to death in the realm of the Spirit, and reckoned as crucified. In God’s eyes, old Adam is therefore dead and gone. Because that old nature is dead, God can declare the believer justified, just as if they had never sinned.
Les teaches that the believer has two natures. The old sin nature, the old Adam we are born with, had to be crucified and literally put to death in the realm of the Spirit. This is accomplished by God when we believe the Gospel, and Christ reckons it as crucified. Immediately God places opposite that old Adamic nature a new divine nature, which cannot sin. When believers sin, it is because old Adam has taken control for a moment. Yet in God’s eyes, so far as God is concerned, old Adam is dead. That is why He can declare us justified—we are just as if we had never sinned because old Adam is dead and gone in God’s reckoning.