If we were crucified and have become literal new creations, then the ONLY self we have now is the new one. The flesh and all of its activity is not us, and it must not be confused as though it is. The former self has been removed and replaced. We may now trust ourselves.
We've got to! It's a high act of faith when we trust that God did what He says He did. Learning who we have become and living in faith that God is right about us is the most exhilarating way of life there is.
We're not bad anymore! We have a bad thing, the flesh, but we're not the flesh.
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You are so right...seems like it shouldn't be so complicated, but often seems it is...at least for some...for me...ah, the life of mystery and trust. Love it!
ReplyDeleteLove, love, love this! It goes along exactly with what I've been meditating on and studying this week. I love that perspective of KNOWING that we are a new creation, NOT the old, and we are FREE to live in the new way, not slave to a life we have already put off.
ReplyDeletePlease don't ever stop posting this - I can't hear it enough! And I always seem to come across this quote from you when I need to hear it most. Hmmmmm...
ReplyDeleteRalph, how true that is, and what an awesome truth it is. To finally know that my heart is now good has been a liberating truth for me.
ReplyDeleteThe guy's question still remains unanswered: "“If the ‘old self’ is dead, why would one have to ‘die to self?’” How can you say, “As a Christian, I don’t have to” when, as a Christian, you’re told to?
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's semantics (die to self vs. deny self), but Jesus told his disciples: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” How does that work?
Thanks for your question, anonymous. It's an important one.
ReplyDeleteJesus came to fulfill the law by living a perfect life, to receive the sins of everyone in the world as His own and die for sin in our place (with believers in Him at the cross and resurrection), to give us a new self (one Spirit born), and to give us life, which we didn’t have. Overall, He came to end one covenant and begin another. Had He done that when he told His disciples to take up their cross and follow Him? No, not yet.
No one had a new self yet, no one had been made a new creation, and the new covenant had not yet come into being.
Jesus also said, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 5:20) At the time Jesus said it, everyone was hopeless (and probably felt it!) because no one had righteousness that surpassed that of the Pharisees. However, after Jesus died and rose, creating the new covenant (the covenant we have now in Christ), believers received His righteousness as their own (1 Cor 1:30).
Christians no longer have a self that must be denied; that former self was removed. A significant point of growing in faith is now to reckon that old self as dead or gone. The self we have now is created in Christ, shares in God’s nature (2 Peter 1:3,4), and is holy and blameless.
This is why Paul wrote: “Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. (Rom 6:13)
Any picking up of our cross now is not a restriction, it’s not to keep us from doing bad, it’s a point of faith in what God did for us and to us, and who we have become—the actual sons of God.
I hope this helps.
Then do you think that, after resurrecting, Jesus went back to his disciples & told them that they didn't needed to deny themselves any more?
ReplyDelete^ Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteSpecifically? Not as far as we know. But you must know that He didn't tell them specifically that He was giving them His righteousness as their own, either. But, thanks to Romans and Galatians and Hebrews, etc., we know Jesus was.
The gospel is better contained in the epistles or letters of the N.T. than it is in what we've come to call the gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Many people have grown accustomed to being motivated by "denying themselves" because it seems to give them something to do. However, we live in what has already been done!
Consider the following:
Colossians 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
The self that needed to die did, and the new self has arrived. Hooray!
I hope this helps.
It just seems to me that you write off a lot of what Jesus said simply because he said it before he died and rose again. That doesn't seem right.
ReplyDeleteWell, perhaps you're right.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't believe I've written off anything that He said; in fact, I believe I have accounted for it. Jesus prepared people to receive the gift of salvation and of righteousness and of Himself, and I believe that is best revealed in the letters to the church--post resurrection.
This blog isn't here to change people's minds, but to give a good and fair accounting of the truth. We can certainly disagree on this matter, and go on growing in Christ.
Let's do it.