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The Scripture says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creator; the old has gone. When Jesus Christ comes to us he says, “It is time for something new.” He does not say that it is time to shed certain practices from your life or to add religion to your life. It is time for a totally new beginning, new life, new hope, new strength and a new vision. It is time to be made a new creation.
It is worth rehearsing this theme again because the soundest men have disagreed over this point.
The old man is not the same as the ‘flesh’ or the sinful nature. Old man is what we were before we became born again and saved by God's grace, while the ‘flesh’ is the sin that remains in every Christian and will do so until we get to glory. In fact, we have to battle with the flesh, and daily put to death the sin that is still in our members. That is a crucial truth, but it is not the truth about the old man and the new man. The Christian’s old man has ceased to be. He died. It is not that today he is in the process of being crucified in a long lingering way. He has been co-crucified with Christ and so he is dead, and he no longer exists.
Paul next calls believers to consciously strive towards a more Christ-like life. Paul speaks elsewhere regarding the “old self”. The “old self” is the “old way” of life practiced by Christians prior to their conversion. According to Paul, this “old self” has two characteristics.
First, it belongs to that previous state, not the current status as a child of God. A believer is not to be associated with the same sinful practices he or she lived for prior to knowing Christ.
Second, the old self is marked by evil brought on by misplaced, deceptive urges. As prior verses indicated, unbelievers not only give themselves up to sin, they seem eager to go deeper and further into sin. This is not only damaging to their relationship with God, it's damaging to their lives and physical bodies (Romans 1:27).
Sin is deceptive, making us think that what’s actually harmful is what's best for us. The word for “corruption” here is “phtheiromenon”, which carries the idea of rotting, wasting, rusting, or being defiled. Such things are ruined and useless, with no value to themselves or others. In contrast, believers are called to serve others as useful servants of Christ. These themes are repeated often in the New Testament, both by Paul and others. Believers are instructed to let “no corrupting talk” leave their mouths (Ephesians 4:29). False teachers are described as corrupted (2 Timothy 3:8). Believers have escaped the “corruption that is in the world” (2 Peter 1:4). Instead, believers are called to walk in a manner worthy of the calling of God (Ephesians 4:1), being salt and light which attracts others to glorify God (Matthew 5:13–16).
So too the Christian has once replaced the old man with the new. The old man has been laid aside like a dirty garment, and we will not put him on again. The old nature is daily contending with the new spirit man. Nevertheless, God divine favor will not permit us overcome by the deplorable and immoral nature of our old man again. The new man is secure chastity, holiness, purity and righteousness. The new man has a distaste to immorality, sinfulness and wickedness. You cannot shake off the sin that besets self so easily, it goes on troubling self, but self has a radical aversion to old nature. Moreover, the new man fights against the sin that remains and that sin fights against him. There is a new struggle in the new man, which can be no total victory before we see Jesus. There is no secret that any person, any motivation or any agreement in the entire world possesses of total eradication before the event of the second coming. But, in the new man which is in every Christian a new dislike and a struggle against sin which was not present in the old man.
Our behaviors and lifestyles must be a direct reflection of that brand–new nature. If we’re living according to our earthly nature, it means that we’re following the innermost sinful desires that are bursting forth out of that nature. Since we’re given a new nature through Christ in order to overcome the old one, so the desires that come out of us must be in compliance with that brand–new nature.
It should become the foundation upon which our lives are built. The life we’re currently living as Christians must authenticate the main reason we came to Christ in the first place, which is to forsake the old life that leads to death in order to transition to the new one that leads to eternal life found only in Christ.
Because if we’re not living a new life, then there’s actually no reason for us to have come to Him. In this case, it would be better had we stayed in our old ways of life since we’re doing both Christ and ourselves a great disservice. If there’s no change at all after coming to Christ, it’s unmistakably clear that Christ wasn’t needed at all.
So, God wants that new identity that we have to dominate our lives. Jesus has rolled back that sinful propensity we had by breaking the power of sin that used to govern our lives. Our whole self ruled by the flesh was put off by the circumcision we’ve received from Christ (Colossians 2:11).
And we’re given the Holy Spirit in order to empower us to bring that sinful nature which is waging war against our soul under subjection. That sinful nature has to lose its initial control and influence on our lives. A totally new person with a brand–new disposition and longings centered upon pleasing and glorifying God should come out of ourselves.
From, this moment, you can walk in totally victory knowing that you are a new creature in Christ and old things have passed away and behold all things in your life from this moment on can and will become new. You have been redeemed and transformed through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, who is now your Lord and Savior. Walk in victory today, my brothers and sisters in Christ, for you have been redeemed!