Becoming a new creation is one thing. But living as a new creation is another. It’s not hard for someone to become a new creation in Christ. All that’s necessary is for him to repent of his sins and genuinely place his faith in Christ’s redemptive work on the cross.
But after that life-changing experience, we retain freedom of choice as to how we will live. Though the Holy Spirit liberates us to live for Christ, He does not make us do so.
In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul the apostle writes, “Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24, KJV). To instruct believers to “put on the new man” is to say that believers have to choose to live as the new person they have already become.
This is a vital key to victorious Christian living. Some Christians mistakenly believe that living as a new creation is incidental to having been born again. But that suggests that if a person who has truly been born again does not live as if he has been born again, he must not have had such an experience. That, however, does not have to be the case.
I am saying that some people indeed have repented of their sins, have placed their faith in Christ, but have failed to actively put on the new man as Paul writes. In other words, we have what we need to fully live for Christ after we accept Him as our Savior. We receive all things that pertain to life and godliness. But we must choose to walk accordingly.
How You “Put on the New Man”
So, how do we know when we have put on the new man? According to the verse above, the new man is created in righteousness and true holiness. Do you get what this verse is saying? When we became born again, God imparted to us a new spirit rooted in righteousness and true holiness–in His likeness! Hence, the evidence that we have put on the new man is that we are walking in the character of a godly kind.
But consider these words penned by Paul the apostle in his letter to the Corinthians: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17, KJV).
If all things have become new, that means nothing old remains. This in turn suggests that we don’t have to put on the new man because the new man is all that’s left. In other words, the new man is the default, since all things have become new.
So, how do we reconcile the two aforementioned verses?
When Paul says all things have become new, he is only talking about the spiritual dimension of our being. Physically, we are still clothed in sinful, self-gratifying flesh. Hence, we put on the new man by choosing to walk by the Spirit instead of living by our flesh.
You Have What It Takes
Every one of us in Christ is a new creation. Every one of us has the wherewithal to live as Paul was inspired to instruct the church at Ephesus. This is true even when you may feel otherwise. Perhaps, some of the moral struggles you had before you accepted Christ still seem just as real afterward. The difference is that now you can overcome them–if you choose to live as the new creation you have become.
Copyright © 2023 by Frank King. All rights reserved.