Out with the Old Self, In With The New

Eph 4:22-23

Paul has reminded the Ephesians, and us that our walk, how we conduct ourselves is critical to our health as Christians

you were taught that you (should) put off the old person.  This is an exhortation to not only be New Creations in status before God, but in thought, word and deed as well.  It is similar to Rom 12:1-3 Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.  So, Paul is exhorting us, begging us to follow his instruction, saying “you were taught that you have put off the old person.”—to be the person that God has created you to be, not the distortion of yourself, the shadow of yourself that you became when you dedicated yourself to following your own sinful desires and lusts. 

that you have laid aside the old person according to the former lifestyle

 The Greek verb apotithemi means “to put away, to store,” or even “to place in custody”, so it means here that we have separated that old self from who we are now, laying that old life aside, so that we can be the person that God has created us to be. 

who is being corrupted in accordance with the desires coming from deceit

 The old lifestyle, the old person that we used to be being phtheiro meaning “to destroy, ruin”.   In a moral sense it conveys the idea “to corrupt, ruin, decay.” That’s what happens if we try to live back in our old habits, and act like we used to before we were saved.  2 Peter 2:20 2 Peter 2:20  For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.  1 Cor 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

People use the phrase “carnal Christian”, as if it’s a choice of type of Christian to be.  It comes from the King James Version of 1 Corinthians 3:1-3: “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” Does it sound like Paul is endorsing it as a viable option?   No, he is condemning the life of the flesh.  The Christians in Corinth were living an immature, carnal, non-Christian lifestyle. The so-called carnal Christians of today live similar lifestyles, characterized by envy, strife, and division.  The word “carnal” is from a Greek word that means “worldly” or “fleshly.” In other words, carnality involves worldliness and a giving in to fleshly appetites, sliding in to old habits.  We talked last week about the fact that in a true Christian’s life, there will accumulate evidence that they are truly saved.  These things include a desire to do the will of God.  Matthew 7:21-23 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’   There will be increasing qualities of maturity. 2 Peter 1:5-9 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they do not make you useless nor unproductive in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For the one who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

As we learned in 1st John, there will be that Agape, self-sacrificing, unconditional love for others 1st John 4:7-8 7 Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  There will be a desire to confess that they follow Jesus in front of people Matthew 10:32-33 32 “Therefore, everyone who confesses Me before people, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before people, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.  And, there will be a desire to walk in the light, along with Jesus.   1 John 1:5-7 God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.  If faith is real, there should be growing evidence of works in accordance with God’s will in your life, no works over time suggests no real faith, or as James said “Faith without works, is dead, and “I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18).  The goal of every Christian is to grow in the Lord: 2 Peter 3:18  18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Sanctification is something that continues throughout our Christian life. Our Christian life involves continual growth in sanctification.  Sanctification Has a Definite Beginning at Regeneration (when we are saved).  Paul tells the Romans not to let sin “reign in your mortal body,” and he also says, “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God” (Rom. 6:12–13). To be dead to the ruling power of sin means that we as Christians have power to overcome the temptations of sin. Sin will no longer be our master, as once it was before we became Christians. We are progressively becoming more and more like Christ as we go on in the Christian life. Once we die and go to be with the Lord, then our sanctification is completed, since our souls are set free from the presence of sin and are made perfect.

but you are being renewed by the spirit in your mind

This renewing is a continual process throughout our lives.   καινός is used to describe the new person whereas in the parallel passage in Col 3:10-11 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created it— 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, and free, but Christ is all, and in all.  When we are saved, we don’t receive the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:12). This human spirit is revived and bears witness to the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:16). The spirit of a person is being transformed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor 3:18). The inner person is being renewed daily.  2 Cor 4:16  16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

Only the Spirit of God can ultimately change our lives. Our spirit is being constantly renewed. It receives the truth and will of God and appropriates it in our lives. This renewing will transform our lives.

SUNDAY SERVICE TIMES
Worship Service 10:00am
Children's Classes 10:00am
Prayer Time 9:00am