- We are either righteous or unrighteous;
- We are either saved or not saved;
- We either believe or not believe;
When I study the Bible, I find that there is no limbo in God’s mind. He loves or He hates (Isaiah 61:8, Amos 5:15). He creates or He destroys (Jeremiah 18:7ff). There is no middle ground. One cannot be more or less believing, or kind of saved, or sort of righteous. God’s religion forces us to make a decision and act, understanding that the consequences of either path we choose are clear (Matthew 7:13-14, Deuteronomy 30:19-20). In this lesson I want to explore some of the differences between the Old Self and the New Self, as described by the very One who takes us from one to the other.
A Scriptural Starting Point to Self Identity
“That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
Yet, am I not still a “sinner”?
In spite of the fact that they have been transformed by the saving grace of Jesus Christ, I still hear many Christians who candidly call themselves sinners. “I have spent years cultivating my self-image as a sinner. I thought it was both biblical and humble. A gentle friend brought other Scripture to my attention. He reminded me that I was a ‘new creation’ (2 Corinthians 5:17). I knew that already, but I told him I can still say I’m a sinner. My friend said that was confusing, and not particularly doing me any good. He said the Old Man, crucified with Christ when I was baptized into Christ’s death, would like me to think I am him” (Seu). It seems self-defeating to say things like, “Well, we are all just sinners, anyway”. The idea I find in the Bible is that I am a saint, and that I should be bold (Hebrews 10:35ff) and confident about the fact that I have been made holy and blameless before Christ (Ephesians 1:3-4). While we may sin at times, (1 John 1:8-10) it is important to remember something: the Old Man sinned as a lifestyle, the New Man sins as a rarity. The Bible only describes Christians as sinners when they are habitually living unfaithfully (James 4:8).
Some Basic Differences
There is no better place to see how the old and new selves are manifested than in Galatians 5:19-23, in which the works of the flesh and spirit are described. Notice, first of all, that all of these attitudes and lifestyles are in contrast to one another. I cannot live by both spirit and flesh. “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God…” (Romans 8:5-8).
| Old Self | New Self |
|---|---|
| Sexually immoral | True Love |
| Idolatrous | Faithful |
| Enmity/Strife/Outbursts | Joyful/Peaceful/Kind |
| Dissensions | Unity |
| Envying | Contentement |
| Drunkenness/Carousing | Meek and Self-Controlled |
| Bends the truth | Honest to the core |
| Misuses anger | Uses anger as a motivator |
| Naïve about sin | Wise about avoiding evil |
| Cheater/taker | A giver |
| Tears people down | Builds others up |
| Abusive | Constructive |
| Discouraging | Encouraging |
| Bitter | Kind |
| Pessimistic | Optimistic |
| Self Pity | Grateful |
| Regrets | Thankful |
| Closed/guarded | Open/approachable |
| Keeps track of wrongs | Tracks blessings |
What the “Old Man” would like us to believe…
“The Old Man – crucified but still kicking, profits by our confusion regarding our identity. If we are still identifying ourselves with the old sinner we were – if we fail to grasp the depth of the new union we enjoy with Christ – we will be robbed of the empowerment God means us to have as beneficiaries of that union. Your identity makes all the difference in what kind of day you have, and what measure of spiritual victory you will enjoy today” (Seu).
“You really haven’t changed that much” – The Old Man will attempt to tell us that while it looks like we have improved ourselves, we are only fooling everybody, or that deep down inside we are still basically the same as before we put on Christ (Galatians 3:27). Instead of getting discouraged, we need to look objectively at how far we have come, or how meaningfully others have changed in the past (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). The Gospel does work, and we prove it every day when we win some small battle for our faith. The Old Man wants you to think that they are unimportant, but every minor victory only confirms that the blood of Jesus Christ pulses through our spiritual veins. Every sin we defeat, every habit we break, every angry word that we bridle – they may be paltry to some, but to God they are leaps and bounds!
“But wasn’t it fun?” – Maybe the Old Man wants you to think that your pre-Christian days were filled with greater fun than what you experience now. Yet Ephesians 4:22 hardly makes that life sound fun (rather, it is “corrupted”). The Old Self may have seemed more fun, but what it actually was, was immature. As you become more spiritually mature, you train your senses to discern good and evil (Hebrews 5:14), recognizing that sometimes “fun” is just a thin veneer for misery.
“You will not be happy without me!” – “His greatest power over us now is in the strength of his bluff. But the old man has no authority over us than we cede to him” (Seu). It may be tempting to think that if we abandon all of our sinful habits and practices, that our happiness will be impaired, like taking the ball out of a football game, or the water out of a pool. Do not be fooled, though! Not only was the Old Self not that much fun, he also brought on us a lot of heartache. “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another”(Titus 3:3). The Old Self was not a buddy, but a moocher. He had an insatiable appetite, and happiness is impossible when you are linked with a person with unquenchable desires.
“I gave you an exciting personality” – This is just the old myth that things like alcohol have a positive effect on our personalities (make us funnier, more confident, etc.). The real truth, though, is that the Old Man was never really us. He wants us to think that our identity is defined by him, and that Christianity is the foreign object in our mind’s eye. Yet, I find that it is sin that is the foreign object! Purity is actually our original state (Romans 7:7-11). Our sinful passions acted corrosively to our souls (Romans 7:5). Notice alsoColossians 3:10 and Romans 12:2, in which Christianity is described as a “renewal” – that is, the restoration of something to its original, perfect state. The Old Self tries to convince us that being a Christian is not who we really are. He makes the plea that “You have changed, man! What happened to you?” What happened was that we had our eyes opened to our true nature; a nature that had been shrouded and neglected because of sin’s blinding effect. We found our identity.
