The Old Man and the New

Romans 7:24

 

The inward warfare raging in our hearts, that which so painfully disturbs the peace and joy of God’s saints in this world, arises from the fact that every regenerate person lives in this body of flesh with two natures. Most people have been taught, and believe, that in regeneration the old man is changed, spiritually renewed; but the Scriptures teach that a new man is formed in the heaven born soul, making the regenerate “a new creature” in Christ.

 

            From the moment of his heavenly birth, until he enters into glory, the believer lives with two natures, flesh and spirit, the old man and the new man, that which is born of flesh and that which is born of the Spirit. The old man is in no way changed. That which is new in him is the new man, by which he has become a partaker of the divine nature.

 

            That the heaven-born soul is two men cannot be disputed. Who would say, “The old man is the new man and the new man is the old man”? That would be to confound the language of Holy Scripture and make it unintelligible. The new birth is not a reforming of the old man, but the creation of the new man. And with the creation of the new man in us, a violent warfare breaks out between flesh and spirit. That sad fact is verified in the daily experience of all who have “tasted that the Lord is gracious.” All confess with Paul, “That which I do, I allow not; for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I

 

            Yes, in every child of God two distinct natures inhabit the same tenement. The “old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.” His genealogy we trace back to his father, the “first Adam,” from whom he receives his corrupt nature. The “new man,” which after God is “created in righteousness and true holiness,” derives his being from Christ, his “everlasting Father,” the last Adam. Just as the old man is what he is by virtue of his union with Adam, the new man is what he is by virtue of his union with Christ. As by natural generation we receive the nature of “the old man,” by spiritual regeneration we are “made partakers of the divine nature

 

            Every child of faith can say with Job, “the root of the matter is found in me.” The Root of the matter is “Christ in you, the Hope of glory.” And “if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches,” “for as he is so are we in this world.” Nothing pure or holy is attached to the “old man.” But even the mind and conscience of flesh is defiled. Yet, nothing impure or unholy is attached to the “new man,” to that which is born of God, for “unto the pure all things are pure” (Titus 1:15). “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God

 

            God calls his children “the holy people,” because they really are holy, “for his seed remaineth in them.” “Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” Until then, we must continue, like the Shulamite, “as it were the company of two armies.”

 

 

 

Don Fortner

 

 

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