Becoming a New Creature in Christ

"Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him" (Col. 3:9,10). I have some things to say here today about the 'old man' and the 'new man,' and the things that pertain to each of them. The apostle Paul tells us here that as believers in Christ we have become a 'new man,' and that we have "put off the old man with his deeds." So let's look first of all at what constitutes our being a 'new man:' "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Cor. 5:17). The same apostle makes it clear in this verse that we are "a new creature," or 'new man' if you will, IF we are "in Christ." Now we know that the way to get into Christ is by faith, but let's look at it just a bit closer and see by what means of faith we do get into Christ: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (I Cor. 12:13). So it is when our faith in Jesus produces our being baptized BY Jesus with the holy Ghost, that we actually get into Christ, or his body as it were. This is also what Paul was speaking of in the following verses: "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27). So as I said, we become the children of God by faith in Jesus, WHEN we are baptized with the holy Ghost. 'Putting on Christ' in fact shows us clearly that it is the Spirit baptism that the apostle is speaking of here, because we are also told, "Now the Lord IS that Spirit" (II Cor. 3:17). He said the same thing in slightly different words in another place: "But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Cor. 6:17). We are told that the Spirit baptism put us into the death and the resurrection of the Lord, who became the representation of the 'new man' when he rose from the dead (Rom. 6:3,4; Col. 2:12).

In all reality, our 'new man' is comprised of our spirit being joined to God's Spirit, and we are then 'in Christ,' and have "put on Christ," even as we have read. This also means that the 'old man' is the unregenerate before we were baptized with the holy Ghost with the accompanying sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance;" like it was when Jesus first began baptizing with the Spirit (Acts 2:4). Since we know what the 'old man' and the 'new man' are, the next thing to do is understand the things that pertain to each. First of all the 'old man' is actually Adam, from whom we have all descended, and the 'new man' is actually Jesus; from whom all believers have descended. The scripture shows us that there have basically been only two men in the earth since its creation: "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit... The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven" (I Cor. 15:45,47). This means that everyone on earth is reckoned with one of these two men. Another verse from the same chapter gives us a bit more insight into the matter: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (I Cor. 15:22). Before Jesus came, everyone on earth had Adam as their father, but now we can have Jesus as our father if we believe and are in him. So we as the old man were all literally "in Adam," meaning we have all come from his body. That is why we are born in sin, and are destined to die. But if by faith in Jesus we are born AGAIN, then we are literally in HIS body; and that makes us partakers of the things that pertain to him, like holiness and eternal life. Okay, so it becomes evident that death, and things like sickness and other defective things in the human race, are all the result of our being in Adam; who sinned against God and became defective and out of order thereby. And as I've already stated, the sinful nature we were born with comes from Adam, and in fact is the chief element of all that is deective with mankind. These are all things that our OLD MAN inherited from our common earthly father.

When we are baptized by Jesus into HIS body, we then inherit NEW things from him! Those new things are first and foremost holiness, which is to say the capacity of being without sin. The Spirit washes away our sins when we are immersed in it, and from that point on we have access to that same washing to KEEP us from sin, or to renew us in holiness if we do fall short (I Cor. 6:11; Tit. 3:5; I Jn. 1:9). As cited in a verse above, we all died 'in Adam,' but we are 'made alive in Christ.' So in Adam is the certainty of death, but in Christ is the certainty of eternal life for those who keep themselves in true and literal holiness until the end of their lives (Rev. 20:6; Heb. 12:14; Mat. 5:8). Reason being that Jesus is 'alive forevermore,' and we are partakers of what he is because we are literally in him (Rev. 1:18). Not only so, but Jesus is not sick at all, and that means that "by his stripes we were [and are] healed" (I Pet. 2:24). Sickness and physical affliction is not part of the new man, because the new man is in unison with the one 'God-Man' in existence, that being "the man Christ Jesus" (I Tim. 2:5). There is all manner of deliverance from all manner of oppression, available to the new man; because Christ is not bound by any of the oppression of mankind, and we are part of him. Our old identity was Adam, and none else; and our new identity is Christ, and none else. For us to accept the things that pertain to the old man, is the same as our not believing what God has made us in Christ. It's that simple. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "old things have passed away, and behold; all things are become new," for those who are "in Christ." That is a verse that we really need to remind ourselves of until we are thoroughly acquainted with, and convinced of the reality of it. We should have peace in all things because Jesus is "the Prince of Peace" ((Isa. 9:6). We CAN have all of these things by the same faith that has put us into Christ to begin with.

Jesus has become our heavenly father, and his will is for us to accept what he has made us in himself. He suffered and died so that we could be partakers of himself, and it is a waste for us to accept anything otherwise. It is never his will for us to be in sin, sick, oppressed, or any other thing that is disorderly and defective from the new man he has made us. There are in fact many other miraculous things that he will do for us beside holiness, healing, and deliverance; if we will believe him for it. There is nothing wrong with believing that God wants to do good things for us that we are not able to do on our own, even if those things are not absolute necessities. For example the beloved apostle assured us that the Lord does not wish for us to live in poverty or any other downtrodden mode: "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth" (III Jn. 1:2). Jesus told us the same: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Mat. 6:33). Too long have we accepted too many things as "just being the way it is," when we can move beyond these limitations into the miraculous avenue of the eternal, which Christ has provided for us in this covenant. Anything that pertains to him pertains to us because we are literally in his body. We are an actual part of him, as the apostle Paul said: "For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones" (Eph. 5:30). There is nothing that you or I do in our lives that our whole body is not a partaker of. Every part of our body goes along for the ride whenever another part of our body is operating. Jesus IS the operation of his own body, and we are part of that body! Like really. Jesus is not in a situation where he is lacking anything, and he doesn't want us to be lacking anything either. As the scripture states: "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philip. 4:19).

We all know that we have plenty of need, and God knows that as well. And as the cited verse states, "God WILL supply all [our] need... by Christ Jesus." Reason being is that we are part of his Son, and thereby we are part of the Father as well. Jesus said it in perfect detail in his prayer for all who would believe: "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one" (Jn. 17:21-23). Again, we are new by being 'in him,' which also puts us in the Father. Jesus suffered and died at Calvary so that we could literally be woven into the very substance of his being, and the being of the Father as well. That substance is in fact the holy Ghost, which is 'the glory' he spoke of here, as the following reference verses show us (Rom. 6:3,4; I Pet. 3:18). Though we have not yet attained unto immortality, which is to say our body being glorified with that same 'glory;' yet we have been made partakers presently of the things that pertain to eternal life, and the things that are contrary to sin and death. It's simple: Adam was the father of sin and death to us, and Jesus is the father of eternal life to us. As Paul cited: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2). So the truth of the matter is that we will live in the things that pertain to the father that we show that we have chosen to us, by how we conduct our lives. If we are living closer to Adam, we will reap the fruits of Adam, and if we are living closer to Christ; then we will reap the fruits of Christ. The bottom line here is that we need to let the following verse weigh on our hearts and minds so that we are certain that we are living for the right father, and that we attain unto the desired end: "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" (Rom. 8:6). I believe that's enough for now. God bless.