KEY SCRIPTURE: Romans 6:6 “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin”.

Apostle Paul, through the power of the Holy Spirit, taught many things that were new to the body of Christ then. Among these things was the exposition of the old man.

Who or what is the old man? The Bible gives several descriptions for this term called the ‘Old Man’ Romans 7:24 it is called the body of this death. It is also called the body of sin in Romans 6:6. Colossians 2:11 describes it as the body or the sins of the flesh.

Comparing these descriptions of the old man we can describe it as the sinful or Adamic nature inherited from our first parents Adam and Eve(Rom 5:12). The death of our Lord Jesus,  completely destroyed this nature. Col.2:11, reports it this way, “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ”:

Our being, before our new birth in Christ, was the old man. Within this nature is the law of sin and death. Romans 8:2” For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”. This nature was hell-bound as well as fully Satan-dominated.

The main point I would want us to see is that, through the Lord’s death, this nature of sin has been put away, crucified, or destroyed. It no longer lives in us, this makes it clear that the Christian does not have two natures (i.e. the nature of sin and the nature of righteousness). In another sense, we do not have the old man and the new man living together in the body of the child of God.

I am very much aware that several bible teachers hold to the view that, the Christian has a dual nature. That is the old man and the new man living together. I think the scriptures speak for itself. One may ask why Christians sin. What we must know is that the old man or body of sin is a supernatural power that rules us, while we have the appetites of the body, which is natural and must be controlled. The appetites of the body are not evil. It is when we fail to control them, that makes them evil. Jesus did not crucify the appetite but crucified the body of sin or the old man. We must now put to death( control) these appetites described in Col 3:5 as our members.

When Apostle Paul said in Gal 2:20, “that I am crucified with Christ yet I live but not I . The life that I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of Him who loved me and gave Himself for me”. He was just affirming that the old man was crucified and that it does not live in Him again.

Dear child of God, let it be fully settled in your mind that, the Christian does not have two natures. If it was so, then the Lord Jesus’ death on the cross would not have been complete to save us.

CONFESSION

My Lord Jesus did a perfect work to completely save me. I do not have two natures. I live victoriously every day.

THOUGHT: ACKNOWLEDGING THE DEMISE OF THE OLD MAN, MAKES VICTORY OVER SIN MORE SIMPLE.

FURTHER STUDIES

Colossians 2:11 “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ”:

Romans 8:3  “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:”.