BTW, do you agree that the "mind and character" that you say need transformation was clearly referred to by EGW as "nature"? Therefore, if someone chooses to think of "nature" in this way, they are solidly standing on SOP ground.

cosmos, creation, macrocosm, universe, world, breed, cast, description, feather, ilk, kind, lot, manner, mold, order, sort, species, stamp, stripe, type, variety, persuasion, character, complexion, disposition, makeup, personality, being, essence, essentiality, quintessence, substance, texture, complexion, disposition, humor, temper, temperament

He took upon His sinless nature our sinful nature, that He might know how to succor those that are tempted. (MM 181)

The nature of God, whose law had been transgressed, and the nature of Adam, the transgressor, meet in Jesus--the Son of God, and the Son of man.(7 SDABC 926)

A little thought will be sufficient to show anybody that if Christ took upon Himself the likeness of man in order that He might redeem man, it must have been sinful man that He was made like, for it is sinful man that He came to redeem. Death could have no power over a sinless man, as Adam was in Eden, and it could not have had any power over Christ, if the Lord had not laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Moreover, the fact that Christ took upon Himself the flesh, not of a sinless being, but of a sinful man, that is, that the flesh which He assumed had all the weaknesses and sinful tendencies to which fallen human nature is subject, is shown by the statement that He "was made of the seed of David according to the flesh." David had all the passions of human nature. He says of himself, "Behold I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Ps. 51:5.

The problem: We are selfish by nature.
The solution: We must partake of the divine nature.

When the First Adam fell, selfishness took the place of love. When the Second Adam came, He showed us what it looks like when love is in its rightful place in our hearts. That, in a nutshell, is the Gospel of redemption from that which enslaves us. Anything outside of that is not worth spending much time on.

When the Second Adam came, He showed us what it looks like when love is in its rightful place in our hearts.

No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is truly God and is closest to the Father, has shown us what God is like. (John 1:18, CEV)

Human Nature
In order to better understand our sinful condition, we need to review basic human nature. “The nature of man is in opposition to the divine will, depraved, deformed, and wholly unlike the character of God expressed in his law.” (ST 6-9-1890) “The nature of man is threefold [encompassing] the physical, intellectual, and moral powers.” (FE 57) “It is the privilege of every believer in Christ to possess Christ’s nature, a nature far above that which Adam forfeited by transgression.” (UL 18) Human nature is a composite of our five prominent faculties: will, mind, body, flesh, and character. We need to keep the following definitions in mind as we explore the various aspects of human nature throughout this book.

1. The Will
The will is our power of choice. It orchestrates all other aspects of human nature. Our will is under the influence and control of Satan until we surrender it to the influence and control of Christ. For instance, the will decides whether our mind is slave or master of our sinful flesh. It also determines whether we develop old man (sinful) or new man (sinless) traits of character.

The will is the governing power in the nature of man. If the will is set right, all the rest of the being will come under its sway. The will is not the taste or the inclination, but it is the choice, the deciding power, the kingly power, which works in the children of men unto obedience to God or to disobedience. (TE 113)

Every child should understand the true force of the will. He should be led to see how great is the responsibility involved in this gift. The will is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or choice. Every human being possessed of reason has power to choose the right. In every experience of life, God’s word to us is, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” Joshua 24:15. Everyone may place his will on the side of the will of God, may choose to obey Him, and by thus linking himself with divine agencies, he may stand where nothing can force him to do evil. In every youth, every child, lies the power, by the help of God, to form a character of integrity and to live a life of usefulness. (ED 289)

You need to drink daily at the fountain of truth, that you may understand the secret of pleasure and joy in the Lord. But you must remember that your will is the spring of all your actions. This will, that forms so important a factor in the character of man, was at the Fall given into the control of Satan; and he has ever since been working in man to will and to do of his own pleasure, but to the utter ruin and misery of man.
But the infinite sacrifice of God in giving Jesus, His beloved Son, to become a sacrifice for sin, enables Him to say, without violating one principle of His government: “Yield yourself up to Me; give Me that will; take it from the control of Satan, and I will take possession of it; then I can work in you to will and to do of My good pleasure.” When He gives you the mind of Christ, your will becomes as His will, and your character is transformed to be like Christ’s character. (5T 515)

Our will is to be yielded to Him, that we may receive it again, purified and refined, and so linked in sympathy with the Divine that He can pour through us the tides of His love and power. (MB 62) When we place our will in unison with the will of God, the holy obedience that was exemplified in the life of Christ will be seen in our lives. (OHC 107)

2. The Mind
The mind consists, among other things, of the higher powers of intellect, reason, and conscience. Intellect deals with facts and figures, whereas reason processes causes and effects. Conscience involves knowing the moral difference between right and wrong. The faculties of the mind do not tempt us to sin.

The Spirit of God does not create new faculties in the converted man, but works a decided change in the employment of those faculties. When mind and heart and soul are changed, man is not given a new conscience, but his will is submitted to a conscience renewed, a conscience whose dormant sensibilities are aroused by the working of the Holy Spirit. (OHC 104)

New faculties are not supplied, but a thorough change is made in the employment of those faculties. The natural inclinations are softened and subdued. New thoughts, new feelings, new motives are implanted. But while every faculty is regenerated, man does not lose his identity. (TDG 186)

The appetites and passions must be held in subjection to the higher powers of the mind. (CC 271) Those who overcome will follow the example of Christ by bringing bodily appetites and passions under the control of enlightened conscience and reason. (CON 74)

Man, through yielding to Satan’s temptations to indulge intemperance, brings the higher faculties in subjection to the animal appetites and passions, and when these gain the ascendancy, man, who was created a little lower than the angels, with faculties susceptible of the highest cultivation, surrenders to the control of Satan. And he gains easy access to those who are in bondage to appetite. Through intemperance, some sacrifice one half, and others two thirds, of their physical, mental, and moral powers, and become playthings for the enemy.

Those who would have clear minds to discern Satan’s devices, must have their physical appetites under the control of reason and conscience. The moral and vigorous action of the higher powers of the mind are essential to the perfection of Christian character, and the strength or the weakness of the mind has very much to do with our usefulness in this world, and with our final salvation. (TE 146)

The appetites and passions, clamoring for indulgence, trample reason and conscience underfoot. This is the cruel work of Satan, and he is constantly putting forth the most determined efforts to strengthen the chains by which he has bound his victims. Those who have been all their lives indulging wrong habits do not always realize the necessity of a change.

Let the conscience be aroused and much is gained. Nothing but the grace of God can convict and convert the heart; here alone can the slaves of custom obtain power to break the shackles which bind them. The self-indulgent must be led to see and feel that a great moral renovation is necessary if they would meet the claims of the divine law; the soul-temple has been defiled, and God calls upon them to arouse and strive with all their might to win back the God-given manhood which has been sacrificed through sinful indulgence. (AG 100)

3. The Body
The body is our internal organs. It is where our appetites and passions reside and originate. Appetite has to do with food and drink, whereas passion is the seat of our emotions. As our body reacts to internal and external stimuli it produces innocent and legitimate needs, which are communicated as electrical impulses.

Our foes are within and without. We are assailed by temptations which are numerous and deceiving, the more perilous because not always clearly discerned. Often Satan conquers us by our natural inclinations and appetites. These were divinely appointed, and when given to man, were pure and holy. It was God’s design that reason should rule the appetites, and that they should minister to our happiness. And when they are regulated and controlled by a sanctified reason, they are holiness unto the Lord.

But men’s natural appetites have been perverted by indulgence. Through unholy gratification they have become “fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” Unless the Christian watches unto prayer, he gives loose reign to habits which should be overcome. Unless he feels the need of constant watching, ceaseless vigilance, his inclinations, abused and misguided, will be the means of his backsliding from God. (14 MR 294, 295)

You are of that age when the will, the appetite, and the passions clamor for indulgence. God has implanted these in your nature for high and holy purposes. It is not necessary that they should become a curse to you by being debased. They will become this only when you refuse to submit to the control of reason and conscience. (3T 84)

Christ came to bring to man moral power that he may be victorious in overcoming temptations on the point of appetite, and break the chain of the slavery of habit and indulgence of perverted appetite and stand forth in moral power as a man, and the record of heaven accredits him in its books as a man in the sight of God. (TE 264)

4. The Flesh
The flesh intercepts the innocent and legitimate needs produced by our body and converts them into unholy thoughts and feelings. For example, “I’m hungry”, is translated as, “Eat this and that”, without reference to truth or temperance. Our flesh has, as it were, a mind and voice of its own, which we must learn to disown as the voice of Satan. It generates and communicates unholy thoughts and feelings, and will continue to do so until Jesus returns and replaces it with a sinless body and flesh. “Human nature is ever struggling for expression, ready for contest ...” (MB 15) “The voice and passions must be crucified.” (TSB 98)

Possessing sinful flesh, however, is not a sin. Sinning is a matter of choice and character. We do not become accountable for our inherited sinful propensities until we desire them or act them out. The sinful thoughts and feelings produced by fallen flesh are nothing more than perverted legitimate needs that must be brought under the control of a sanctified mind and will.

The lower passions have their seat in the body and work through it. The words “flesh” or “fleshly” or “carnal lusts” embrace the lower, corrupt nature; the flesh of itself cannot act contrary to the will of God. We are commanded to crucify the flesh, with the affections and lusts. How shall we do it? Shall we inflict pain on the body? No; but put to death the temptation to sin. The corrupt thought is to be expelled. Every thought is to be brought into captivity to Jesus Christ. All animal propensities are to be subjected to the higher powers of the soul. The love of God must reign supreme; Christ must occupy an undivided throne. Our bodies are to be regarded as His purchased possession. The members of the body are to become the instruments of righteousness. (AH 127)

The bodies of human beings, made for the dwelling place of God, had become the habitation of demons. The senses, the nerves, the passions, the organs of men, were worked by supernatural agencies in the indulgence of the vilest lust. The very stamp of demons was impressed upon the countenances of men. Human faces reflected the expression of the legions of evil with which they were possessed. (DA 36)

5. The Character
The character is composed of habitual thoughts, feelings, motives, words, and behavior. We develop specific traits of character as we repeatedly react and respond to the various influences of God and Satan. Apart from Christ, before we are born again, all we can do is develop sinful traits of character. We are not born with character. Sinful character is the result of hard work, the product of sinning over and over again, a compilation of hundreds and thousands of sins. To cultivate sinless traits of character we must be born again and partake of the divine nature. In judgment, it is character that ultimately determines our eternal destiny.

If the thoughts are wrong the feelings will be wrong, and the thoughts and feelings combined make up the moral character. (5T 310) The ideal of Christian character is Christlikeness. As the Son of man was perfect in His life, so His followers are to be perfect in their life. (FLB 44)

A change will be seen in the character, the habits, the pursuits. The contrast will be clear and decided between what they have been and what they are. The character is revealed, not by occasional good deeds and occasional misdeeds, but by the tendency of the habitual words and acts. (SC 57) Any one act, either good or evil, does not form the character; but thoughts and feelings indulged prepare the way for acts and deeds of the same kind. It is . . . by a repetition of acts that habits are established and character confirmed. (CG 199) It is not through one act that the character is formed, but by a repetition of acts that habits are established and character confirmed. (ST 4-30-1894)

Character does not come by chance. It is not determined by one outburst of temper, one step in the wrong direction. It is the repetition of the act that causes it to become habit, and molds the character either for good or for evil. (CG 164) A well-balanced character is formed by single acts well performed. One defect, cultivated instead of being overcome, makes the man imperfect, and closes against him the gate of the Holy City. (FLB 44) Mental ability and genius are not character, for these are often possessed by those who have the very opposite of a good character. Reputation is not character. True character is a quality of the soul, revealing itself in the conduct. (CG 161)

I've heard it, more times than I care to recount. However, it is based on faulty logic, whether promoted by antimonians or disparaged by postlapsarians. And the constant wrangling between the two groups shows that they both do not realize what the problem is, and where the solution lies.

The problem: We are selfish by nature.
The solution: We must partake of the divine nature.

When the First Adam fell, selfishness took the place of love. When the Second Adam came, He showed us what it looks like when love is in its rightful place in our hearts. That, in a nutshell, is the Gospel of redemption from that which enslaves us. Anything outside of that is not worth spending much time on.

Jesus never experienced rebirth. None could accurately say to Him, "You must be born again." His first birth was good enough. And you acknowledge this in your last post.

Even so, I do not believe that He had to become what He wanted to save. If He did, then we would have to throw out quite a bit of Scripture, such as "in Him there is no sin."

Jesus Christ took both our sinful nature and our sins; this combination allowed him to experience sin as deeply as we do. More deeply, even, since He bore the sins of all. This is a point that Jones made in detail in his 1895 GCB sermons.

His burden of guilt was so great because of man's transgression of his Father's law, that human nature was inadequate to bear it. {ST, August 14, 1879 par. 11}

The Scripture says "He who knew no sin became sin for us," so there's no need to throw anything out!

"What He has not assumed, He has not healed."