The Old Man And The New Man In Christ.

 

The old man is a description of the person born in sin and dead in the spirit. There is no hope for the old man and his destination is hell. The old man is under the power of sin. Sinfulness is a condition of fallen man who has no access to God. Sin cut man off from God. In this sinful state, man, who was originally made in the image of God, tries to make a substitute for God in his own image. This is just a false god made to appease the demons that now control him. Many sacrifices are made to these images of god. Man is deluded into thinking he can obtain salvation through his works and being a good person. There is no salvation on this fallen path.

 

The new man is the born-again spirit of man through salvation obtained by believing in the finished work of Christ on the Cross. Man's spirit comes alive as he identifies with the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ. He becomes a new creation just as Adam was in the garden of Eden. He now has access to God the Father and can commune with Him. His spirit has been redeemed but his soul is to be transformed as it is still open to sin (Rom 12:2). Sin is still operative in this fallen world till it is delivered when Jesus returns. The regenerated man therefore can be influenced by sin but sin has no power over him. This is called positional salvation. 

 

Now there is a process that man has to go through to be sanctified in his soul ( mind, emotions and will). This is a process of walking in the Spirit and becoming like Jesus. This process is a battle with the forces that now are opposed to the new creation. The battle is with the devil, the world and the flesh that are opposed to the spirit.  Surrendering to God and His will is the only way to stand against these forces. Many are blind to this battle. They continue in the state of positional salvation but conform with the world and are mostly not different from the world in behaviour and attitudes. There is no relationship with God and He is distant. The Holy Spirit needs to be welcomed and given first place in order for us to have a living relationship with the Father. This is known as relationship salvation. God wants a relationship with us just as Jesus did with His Father. He only did what He saw and heard His Father doing. We too are called to have a relationship with the Father.

 

We need to move from a positional state to a relationship. This is achieved by being filled with the Holy Spirit to overflowing. Come and be revived and walk in communion with the Father for eternity.