When your spirit is raised from the dead and you are born again it is very important to feed your spirit. Your spirit needs to grow up and mature so that your spirit will reign in your life instead of your flesh. For years the flesh has reigned as king in your life. You were a slave of your flesh and you lived in the bondage of sin and death. Therefore, as is written in Ephesians 4:22, it’s time to put off the old man with his deeds; your flesh with all its lusts and desires and to穿上新人, who is created after the image of God and is born of the Holy Spirit and lives after the Spirit in obedience to God. What does it mean to put off the old man? How do you put off the old man according to the Bible?
老頭是誰?
In a previous blog post ‘The old man’ was discussed and what Jesus said about the old man and his nature, 作品, and lifestyle. The old man is a carnal person, who lives after the flesh; 靈魂, and body and is led by his senses, 情緒, 感情, carnal thoughts, intellect, 私慾, 慾望, ETC.
The spirit of the old man is dead. Since the spirit in the old man is dead, the old man is unspiritual, sense ruled and led by his carnal mind. Therefore the old man can’t see the Kingdom of God nor comprehend the spiritual things of the Kingdom of God (另請閱讀: How can you see the Kingdom of God?).
Because the old man can’t see the Kingdom of God and can’t comprehend the things of the Kingdom of God, they are foolish to him.
When you accept Jesus as your Saviour and悔改 and make Him Lord over your life, you have made a choice to lay down your flesh in which sin and death reign.
No one forced you to. You have made the choice to say farewell to your life as a sinner, with all its sins and iniquities. Therefore you shall no longer live the way, you lived before your conversion, but you will start a whole new life in Jesus Christ; a life after the Spirit and not after the flesh anymore.
The baptism
Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: 就像基督藉著天父的榮耀從死裡復活一樣, 即使如此我們也應該走在新的生活中. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, 我們也要效法祂的復活: 知道這一點, that our old man is crucified with Him, 使罪身被毀滅, 從今以後我們不應該為罪惡服務. 因為死人已脫離罪孽 (羅馬書 6:4-7).
When you are baptized in water, you symbolically lay down your former life; the old man with all his sins and iniquities.
You can’t become新的創造 before the old creation has died (另請閱讀: Can you live the resurrection life without dying?)
Through baptism, you lay down your old life (your flesh) 在耶穌基督里, and in Him by the power of the Holy Spirit, 新人 (your spirit) is raised from the dead.
在精神領域, 你已經成為一個新的創造物. What took place in the spiritual world will become visible in the natural realm (the visible realm).
這意味著, that your life and your walk and talk will change. Your speech and works shall line up with the confession of your repentance and you shall walk as the new creation after the Word and the Spirit.
In order to walk after the Word, you have to get to know the Word. Because you can’t walk after the Word if you don’t know the Word.
This means that you have to renew your mind with the Word of God. When you renew your old carnal mind that thinks like the world with the Word of God and you obey the Word and become a doer of the Word, then you shall grow up into a mature son of God, who knows the will of the Father.
As a mature son of God, you shall walk as the new creation after the will of the Father on earth and you shall represent, preach and bring the Kingdom of God to the people on earth (另請閱讀: The earth mourns and waits for the manifestation of the sons of God’).
What does it mean to put off the old man?
“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (以弗所書 4:22)
當你成為新造的人時 (new man), it’s time to put off the old man; the former man, who had the nature of the devil and walked after the flesh in obedience to the lusts and desires of the flesh, and to put on the new man, who is created after the image of God and has the nature of God.
The word ‘put off’ is translated from the Greek word ‘apotithēmi’ which means o.a. cast off, lay apart, lay aside, lay down, put away, put off.
You will put off the old man like you put off pieces of garments. This is not something that God has to do, but that you have to do.
How long it takes to put off the old man depends upon you. The more you hate your former carnal life as a sinner and its sins, the quicker you will stop doing the works of the old man.
What are the works of the old man?
因此，要克制你們在地球上的成員; 淫亂, 不潔, 過度的感情, 惡欲, 和貪婪, 這是偶像崇拜: 為此，上帝的憤怒臨到悖逆之子身上: In the which you also walked some time, when you lived in them. But now you also put off all these; 憤怒, 憤怒, malice, 褻瀆, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him (歌羅西書 3:5-10)
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, 淫亂, 不潔, 淫蕩, Idolatry, 巫術, 仇恨, variance, emulations, 憤怒, 衝突, seditions, 異端, Envyings, 謀殺, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God (加拉太書 5:19-21)
The works of the old man are clearly defined in these verses. These works do not belong in the life of a born again believers, who have become a new creation. These works are not the works of the new man.
Therefore you must put off these works. 因為聖言說, 那些, who do these things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
The carnal works of the old man
The carnal works, which every born again believer must put off are:
- Adultery* (voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not his or her spouse)
- 淫亂 (淫亂, including adultery and incest, unmarried sex, 同性戀, 比喻地 idolatry)
- Uncleanness (impurity, physically or morally: -不潔, ritually impure)
- Inordinate affection (properly suffering, (inordinate) affection, 情慾)
- Evil concupiscence (bad/evil/wicked desire or lust)
- Covetousness (idolatry) (fraudulence, extortion:-covetous practices, greediness, having a craving for possession)
- Anger (violent passion, 憤怒, indignation, vengeance)
- Wrath (fierceness, indignation)
- Malice (邪惡的, naughtiness, 邪惡)
- Blasphemy (vilification (especially against God), 欄杆, evil speaking)
- Filthy communication out of your mouth (vile conversation)
- Lying (utter an untruth or attempt to deceive by falsehood, falsely, 說謊)
- Lasciviousness (filled with or showing sexual desire)
- Idolatry (worship of idols, immoderate attachment or devotion to something)
- Witchcraft (use of sorcery or magic, use of spells and the invocation of spirits, communication with the devil or with a familiar, an irresistible influence or fascination)
- Hatred (prejudiced hostility or animosity, a reason for opposition, enmity)
- Variance (of uncertain affinity; a quarrel, contention, debate, 衝突)
- Emulations (嫉妒, fervent mind, indignation, jealousy, zeal)
- Strife (an act of contention, exertion or contention for superiority)
- Seditions (division, incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority, rebel against the authority of a state)
- Heresies (sect, belief or opinion contrary orthodox religious doctrine (especially Christianity),a belief or opinion that does not agree with the official belief or opinion of a particular religion)
- Envyings (jealousy, the feeling of wanting to have what someone else has, A feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions)
- Murders (slaughter, to kill, to spoil or ruin, to defeat an opponent very badly)
- Drunkenness(intoxication, the state of being drunk)
- Revellings (rioting, a carousal, enjoy oneself in a lively and noisy way, especially with drinking and dancing)
How do you put off the old man?
You put off the old man and its works by changing your life (lifestyle, 習慣). Stop feeding your flesh; your old way of thinking, 習慣, behavior, 情緒, 感情, 私慾, 慾望, ETC. and stop obeying them. Don’t be led by them and don’t give into them. 反而, feed your spirit with the Word of God and obey the Word and the Spirit, and be led by Them.
When you feed your spirit with the Word of God, pray and speak in other tongues, you shall build yourself in your most holy faith.
During the process of putting off the old man, fasting plays an important role. Because when you fast you ‘kill’ the flesh (另請閱讀: What is the meaning of fasting?).
When you feed your spirit and 更新你的想法 與神的話語, you shall get to know the will of God and think like the new creation. Because of the fact that you think like the new creation, you will also speak and act as the new creation.
You shall穿上新人 and walk as the new man; the new creation after the will of God.
The new creation is risen with Christ and is seated in Him in the heavenly places. 所以, the new creation will seek the things which are above and not upon this earth (以弗所書 2:5-6, 歌羅西書 3:1).
When you feed your spirit with the Word, pray, and speak in tongues, your spirit shall mature and shall become stronger than your flesh.
Your flesh, which has always reigned as king in your life shall scream and try everything to draw your attention, so that you will give into the cravings, 私慾, and desires of your flesh.
But as long as you follow the Word and say and do what the Word says and don’t listen to your flesh and don’t give in and keep feeding your spirit, then your spirit shall reign together with the Word and the Holy Spirit as King in your life.
It’s important to put off the old man. Because only when you put off the old man, you shall not be led and dominated by your senses, 肉體的心思, and your carnal way of thinking, 慾望, 私慾, 情緒, 感情, ETC. You shall no longer be a slave of your flesh with its sinful nature and not be controlled by the kingdom of darkness. But you shall reign in Jesus Christ from the Kingdom of God over your flesh and over sin.
“成為地球之鹽”
*來源: Oxford dictionary, Merriam Webster dictionary
