In Ephesians 4:24, Paul wrote about putting on the new man. Because if you have become a new creation; the new man, by faith and regeneration in Christ, you should also walk as the new man. What does the Bible say about the new man? What does it mean to put on the new man and how do you put on the new man according to the Bible?
Who is the new man?
The new man is created in Jesus Christ. Your fallen position and the peace with God are restored (healed) in Christ. By the blood of Jesus Christ, you have been redeemed, sanctified, and reconciled with the Father. You have been made holy and righteous and therefore you are no longer a sinner (Read also: Do you always remain a sinner?).
Now that you are no longer a sinner, you will no longer walk as a sinner and do the works of a sinner. This means, that you will not habitually walk in sin anymore.
By the hearing of the gospel of Christ, you have found the Truth; Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God and Savior of mankind (Read also: The Author of eternal salvation).
You have repented of your former walk and the way you lived, which was full of sins and iniquities.
Through baptism, you have laid down and buried the old man (the old you), who carried the death, and you are risen in newness of life. By the power of the Holy Spirit, your spirit is raised from the dead and has become alive, and through baptism with the Holy Spirit, you received the Holy Spirit and He shall abide in you.
Through the baptism in water and the baptism with the Holy Spirit, you have become a new creation; the new man, who no longer belongs to the darkness but the Kingdom of God, where Jesus Christ is King and reigns. The new creation no longer carries death (through the flesh), but life (through the Spirit).
But does the new man, who is born in the spirit, become visible in the natural realm?
Being born again in the spiritual realm
In the Heavenly Places, a new birth in the spirit has taken place. You have become a new creation; the new man, who is born of water and Spirit.
Now, it’s time that this spiritual transformation, which has taken place in the spiritual realm, will also become visible in the natural realm (Read also: The eighth day, the day of the new creation).
The new man is born on this earth,
and not after death
You don’t become the new man after you die, as so many Christians believe. You become the new man during your life on this earth. Only when you become the new man during your life on this earth, you will carry the life of God inside of you and enter the Kingdom of God, and inherit eternal life.
The new man is new and not old. So if you have become the new man, you shall no longer walk as the old man.
You shall no longer do those things, which you did before you repented and before you gave your life to Christ. Because you have laid down your old life, with its sinful habits.
The old man, who was ruled and controlled by the sinful nature; the flesh (senses, carnal thoughts, feelings, emotions, lusts, desires, etc.) doesn’t exist anymore. You have exchanged the old man for the new man.
A new life has begun; a life after the Spirit and not after the flesh.
But… you will always have a free will. This means that you will always have the ability to return to your old life and pick up your old habits (sins), and walk after the flesh (Read also: Once saved always saved?).
What is the basis of repentance?
The basis of your repentance plays an important role in the way of sanctification; the transformation to spiritually mature as a son of God (this applies to both males and females) and becoming like Jesus. Because on which basis have you repented and decided to follow Jesus? (Read also: What is repentance?)
Why did you repent? Did you repent,
- Out of fear of going to hell?
- Out of obligation, because your whole family are Christians and go to church
- Because your spouse believes?
- Out of guilt?
- The experience in the church?
- Because you are lonely and by going to church you don’t feel so lonely anymore
- Because you want to get married and seek a spouse?
- Because you need physical healing?
- Because you want to have a prosperous, wealthy, and successful life?
- … (you fill out the blanks)
If you have turned to Christ and have repented based on one of these reasons, then you will never fully become the new man and spiritually mature and walk as the new man on earth. Why not? Because you don’t hate your ‘self’ yet; the old man with his sinful nature and sins.
You are not conscious of your sinful state and the necessity of the new birth, to be delivered from the power of darkness and your sinful nature, which reigns in everyone’s life until a person becomes born again in Christ.
You don’t see the necessity to repent of your former life and become born again. You don’t see the necessity to change your lifestyle and lay down your sinful nature and its habits.
But you consider your behaviour and habits as normal and consider yourself a good person. You don’t hate your sins. As a matter of fact, you still love your sins and the world. You love your sins and the world more than you love Jesus, because you persevere in sin.
The Holy Spirit convicts of sin
The right basis of repentance is when the Holy Spirit confronts you with your evil sinful nature and state. When the Holy Spirit convicts you of your sins and your unrighteous state and reveals to you the way God sees you as a sinner, who lives separated from God in darkness.
When you are confronted with your sinful nature and evil walk as a sinner, and you become aware of your sins, and consider the great love of God and of Jesus Christ and His redemptive work, only then will you be able to truly repent, and lay down your life and your habits and follow Jesus (Read also: Following Jesus will cost you everything).
Only then, you shall truly repent and change. You shall put off the old man with his evil nature of the devil, and put on the new man, who is created after the image of God and has God’s nature.
How do you put on the new man?
The new creation has come to life through the Word and the Holy Spirit and shall live by the Word and the Spirit. It is therefore important to get to know the Word of God and read the Bible in the Holy Spirit and apply His words in your life.
To ‘put on’ is an action and is not passive. This means that you have to do it. You have to put on the new man. There’s no one else, who can do that for you.
Someone may help you and guide you, but you have to open the Word by yourself, study and apply the Word in your life, and become a doer of the Word (Read also: The hearers vs the doers).
When you apply the words of God in your life, you shall put on the new man.
Only through the Word and by walking after the Spirit, you grow up in the sonship of God and become a mature son of God (this applies to both males and females) like Jesus. Remember, Jesus is your Example, Jesus showed you how to walk as a Son of God, when He walked on this earth in the flesh after the Spirit.
The Bible is the manual and the mirror of the new man
The Bible, which is the Word of God is the manual and also a mirror of the new man. As the new creation, the new man, you reflect the Word. What stops and retains the sanctification process; the transformation of the new man? Your mind (Read also: What is the purpose of the Bible?).
The Holy Spirit lives in you (the new man), but is often retained by your mind by your old way of thinking, which is the way the world thinks. That’s why it is necessary to renew your mind with the Word of God. There is no other way. You have to get to know the Word, because only then you will get to know Jesus. Because He is the Word and through the Word, you will get to know the Father and His will.
Imagine, how sour it will be when that day comes, that you stand before the throne of God, and Jesus tells you “I don’t know you, go away your worker of iniquity” (Luke 13:27)
Get to know Jesus
Therefore take the Word and get to know Him and have a relationship with Jesus. He is the Image of the new creation and we should become like Him. We are His Body and He is our Head. We can’t function without Jesus. Without Jesus we are dead. Because a body without a head is not able to live.
Take the Word and take His words, so that your mind will be renewed by the Word and will line up with the Word so that you will think the way He thinks. Your mind shall line up with His will and therefore you shall do His commandments (Read also: Are God’s thoughts our thoughts?).
You shall know, why He has given these commandments. Because you have gained knowledge and insights through His Word in the spiritual realm, where you are seated in Christ Jesus.
What does the Bible say about the new man?
- The new man is created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:24)
- The new man is seated in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)
- The new man has access to the Kingdom of God (Galatians 6:15, John 3:4)
- The new man is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him (Colossians 3:10)
What are the works of the new man?
In the letters to the saints in Ephesians and Colossians, Paul wrote about the new creation; the new man, and the works of the new man. By the way, the works of the new man converge with the fruit of the Spirit.
The new man:
- Loves God above all (Mark 12:30)
- Loves his neighbor as himself (Mark 12:31)
- Walks in the truth and speaks the truth (Ephesians 4:25)
- Doesn’t stay angry (Ephesians 4:26)
- Doesn’t give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:27)
- Doesn’t steal, and defraud not, but labors, so that he may also give to him that needed (Ephesians 4:28)
- Speaks properly and doesn’t communicate in a corruptive way (blasphemies, dirty words, perverse sexual remarks/jokes, dissoluteness, etc.(Ephesians 4:29, 5:4))
- Speaks that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers (Ephesians 4:29)
- Is filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18)
- Doesn’t grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30)
- Is kind to one another (Ephesians 4:32)
- Is tender-hearted (Ephesians 4:32)
- Forgives, like God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you (Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:13)
- Forbears one another (Colossians 3:13)
- Follows God, Jesus (walk in His will and keep His commandments (Ephesians 5:1))
- Walks in love, a self-sacrificial love (God’s righteous love, and not false love (Ephesians 5:2, Colossians 3:14)
- Walks in cleanness (purity), and not in uncleanness, fornication, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking, or jesting (Ephesians 5:3)
- Walks as a child of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth (Ephesians 5:8)
- Proves what is acceptable unto the Lord (Ephesians 5:8)
- Has no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them (Ephesians 8:11)
- Walks as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15-16)
- Knows and understands what the will of the Lord is (Ephesians 5:17)
- Is not drunk with wine (or other alcoholic beverages), wherein is excess (Ephesians 5:18)
- Is peaceful, because the new man has the peace of God that rules in his heart (Colossians 3:15)
- Is grateful and give thanks (Colossians 3:15)
The new man, who is holy and beloved, puts on:
- Bowles of mercies (Colossians 3:12)
- kindness (Colossians 3:12)
- Humbleness of mind (Colossians 3:12)
- Meekness (Colossians 3:12)
- Long-suffering (Colossians 3:12)
- Charity (Colossians 3:14)
The works of the new man are the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which the new man bears. Therefore, put on the new man, be a doer of the Word, and walk after the Spirit in the will of God.
‘Be the salt of the earth’
