An excellent question! I will be more than happy to share my thoughts on this matter. As always, be noble like those at Berea.
I think the best way to approach this is to start at the beginning. Man was created in the likeness and image of God. Man was in a state of - for lack of better term - purity. Man, did not heed the word of the Lord and fell from this purity into a new state - call it corrupted. However, even in his "new" corrupted state, man still carried the likeness and image of God. For example, the abilities to love, create, nurture and obey were not lost, they just became much harder to accomplish. If you look at the temptation of Eve you can see the real battle was about what is truth ("Did God say...") and who would be supreme. ("you will be like God..") In essence, our desire for preeminence was accelerated after the fall. We see this in Cain and Able and all through the Bible.
Then comes Christ, the second Adam who, "did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped". Christ invites us to live as He did in this manner and even promises the Helper to aid us. If we are in Christ, we are a new creation. The fullness of God's Spirit dwells within us. The Spirit prays for us and teaches us what we should say. Let's call this a state of "grace". Just as we carried the image of God into our "corrupted" state, we still carry the corrupted flesh into our new state of grace. This is why Paul cries out, "Wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death!" Paul was in a state of "grace" at the time he wrote those words. These different spirits are holdovers of the corrupt flesh we inherited from Adam. They are the remnants of our own desire to be "like God", to place ourselves on the throne of our lives.
The book of James states that we our tempted by our own desire - again the flesh warring with the spirit. The Bible goes so far as to say that without God's Spirit it is impossible for a man to say, "Jesus is Lord." (1st Corinthians 12:3) What a wonderful new creation we become through Christ. That which was not possible becomes possible.
Let me illustrate this through scripture. Through faith and obedience Peter walked on water, but when his flesh considered the waves and storm he began to sink. Christ came to his aid and admonished Peter for taking his eyes off of Him. This is my way of understanding this. I hope it gives you food for thought as you study this out yourself.
Take care,
Daniel
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