So do sheep occasionally do “dog” things? Or cease from their former dog nature?
If you are talking about the Sin Nature of the flesh, compared to Born Again human spiritual NATURE birthed into us by the Holy Spirit; YES the Sin Nature does occasionally raises it UGLY HEAD; YES IT DOES. Look at 1 John 2:4 for a second, BUT REMEMBER THE GREEK HAS SIX PRIMARY VERB TENSES, WHERE ENGLISH ONLY HAS THREE.
1 John 2:4 (NASB)
4 The one who says,
"I have come to know Him," and
does not keep His commandments,
is a liar, and the truth is not in him;
That does not describe sinlessness, but a Lifestyle of
Striving to KEEP HIS commandments. It is in the Greek Present Tense, implying an ongoing Lifestyle of doing that VERB.
Just like Paul explained:
Philippians 3:12-15 (ESV)
12
Not that I have already obtained this
or am already perfect, but
I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
13 Brothers,
I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and
straining forward to what lies ahead,
14
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
15
Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
HERE READ IT FOR YOURSELF:
Romans 7:15-25 (HCSB)
15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good.
17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me.
18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.
19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.
20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me.
21 So I discover this principle: When I want to do what is good, evil is with me.
22 For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God’s law.
23 But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.
The Body Certainly is not PERFECT, and the
human spirit while it is on the ROAD to Maturity, and Has Many of HIS QUALITIES, but will not BE PERFECTLY SINLESS, until we get SINLESSNESS in the GLORIFIED BODY at the Resurrection.
Revelation 3:2-3 (KJV)
2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
You see that word REPENT, it would not be there if WE Humans could be PERFECT meaning SINLESS. IT MEANS SPIRITUALLY MATURE.
2 Timothy 3:17 (KJV)
17 That the man of God may
be perfect {spiritually mature}, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
QUOTE:
PERFECT
To be whole or complete; also referred to as “mature.”
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.
End QUOTE.