PT-2 "Delivered from the Old Self" (Eph. 4:22)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/2/2019 11:40 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  PT-2 Delivered from the Old Self

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Ephesians 4:22

 

            Message of the verses:  “22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,”

 

            I mentioned in our last SD that this was kind of knew territory for me, that is the things that John MacArthur has written about this section of Scripture.  It has always been my belief that I am the one who had to take off the old self and then put on the new self, but it seems that this was done when I became a believer according to John MacArthur and he, as always, makes a convincing argument.  Let us continue to look at some of the things that he has written in this section to help us understand what he is talking about.

 

            Now affirming the truth of these four aspects of conversion is the basis for the exhortation in the Colossian passage that we looked at yesterday, we will see that Paul is describing salvation to the Colossians in the very same way as he does to the Ephesians.  However in Ephesians he does not refer specifically to the believers union in the death and in the resurrection of Christ, he does allude to that reality when saying that the one who believes is “in Him.”  The reference that Paul refers to when talking about both the old self and the new self in both of the passages are obviously parallel.

 

            We can see more evidence to help further prove this in Paul’s writing to the Romans in chapter six where he describes the nature of salvation, with the emphasis on once again verbs:  “we…died to sin” (v. 2);  all of us…have been baptized into Christ Jesus” (v. 3); “have been buried with Him…into death” (V. 4); “we have become united with Him in…His death” (v. 5); “our old self was crucified with Him” (v. 6); “our body of sin might be done away with” (v. 6); “he who has died” (v. 7); and “we have died with Christ” (v.8).  John MacArthur writes that “eight of those nine verbs are aorist in the Greek, looking back at an already accomplished event.  One is the perfect tense (v. 5), seeing the result of that past event.  Again, Paul gives his exhortation on the basis of this description of the complete transformation of the believer at conversion (cf. Rom 6:12-23).

 

            “The inescapable conclusion from what Paul says in Romans and Colossians is that salvation is a spiritual union with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection that can also be described as the death of the ‘old self’ and the resurrection of the ‘new self,’ who now walks in ‘newness of life.’  This union and new identity clearly means that salvation is transformation.  It is not the addition of a new self to an old self.  In Christ, the old self no longer exists (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17).  That is what the Ephesians heard and were taught according to the truth in Jesus (4:21).  The old self is the unconverted nature, described as ‘being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit.’  The ‘old self’ of the unbeliever not only is corrupt but is increasingly ‘being corrupted’ (present passive), because it is the tool for evil desire which is controlled by ‘deceit’ (cf. 2:1-3).  The gospel invitation is to lay the ‘old self’ aside in repentance from sin that includes not just sorrow about sin but a turning from sin to God.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I heard the story of a native Indian who became a believer in Jesus Christ and after a while the man who led him to the Lord asked him how he was doing in his walk with the Lord.  The Indian told him that there was a fight going on inside of him between two dogs, a white one and a black one.  The man asked him which one won and the Indian replied “the one I say sicken him to.”  Whether it is the flesh, which I am leaning towards to, or the old nature, there is a battle that seems to always go on inside of me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to learn humility in my walk with the Lord.

 

Today’s quotation is from St. John Chrysostom who says “The Holy Scriptures were not given to us that we should enclose them in books, but that we should engrave them upon our hearts.”

 

5/2/2019 12:16 PM