SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/5/2019
10:45 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 “Become
the New Self”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
4:23-24
Message of the verses: “23 and that you be
renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the
likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the
truth.”
Let
us begin by looking at the words righteousness and holiness as seen in verse
24. Righteousness relates to our fellow men
and reflects the second part of the Ten Commandments. The first part speaks of God while the second
part speaks of our neighbors similar to the two things that Jesus spoke of in
the gospels when He said that we are to love God and love our neighbor. I have also equated this with the cross as
the vertical post goes up towards God and the horizontal represents our
neighbors. John MacArthur writes “Holiness’
(hostiotes, sacred observance of the
duties to God) relates to God and reflects the first table (Ex. 20:3-11). The believer, then, possess a new nature, a
new self, a holy and righteous inner person fit for the presence of God. This is the believer’s truest self.”
So
as we look at these two words we can see that both righteousness and holiness
is this new self that Paul refuses to admit that any sin comes from that new
creation in God’s image. MacArthur goes
on to say that “Thus his [Paul’s] language in Romans 6-7 is explicit in placing
the reality of sin other than in the new self.
He says, ‘Do not let sin reign in your mortal body’ (6:12), and, ‘Do not
go on presenting the members of your body to sin’ (6:13).”
I
certainly have to agree with John MacArthur as he is saying that our new self,
given from God at salvation does not sin, but, and here is the rub, it is
either the old self, (and I don’t think it is), or the flesh (and I think this
is it who causes us to sin). In Romans
chapter seven Paul uses the word flesh four times and in verse 17and 18 he writes
“17 So now, no longer am I
the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing
good dwells in me, that
is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the
good is not.” Let us also look at
verses 20-23, with the emphasis on verses 20 and 23 “20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not
want, I am no longer the
one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 21 I find then the principle
that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully
concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body,
waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my
members.”
MacArthur
writes “In those texts Paul acknowledges that being a new self in the image of
God does not eliminate sin. It is still
present in the flesh, the body, the unredeemed humanness that includes the
whole human person’s thinking and behavior.
But he will not allow that new inner man to be given responsibility for
sin. The new ‘I’ loves and longs for the
holiness and righteousness for which it was crested.”
Let
us look now at Paul’s summary which is the dichotomy as he writes the following
in Romans 7:24-25 “24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the
body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then,
on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the
other, with my flesh the law of sin.”
This struggle that is going on inside of every believer prompts the
anticipation for “the redemption of the body” which is described in Romans 8:23
“23 And not only this, but also we
ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan
within ourselves, waiting
eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” “20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which
also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble
state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power
that He has even to subject all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:20-21).
John
MacArthur concludes this section with a preview of what comes next in
Ephesians: “The remaining portions of
the epistle contain exhortations to the believer to bring his body into obedience
to the will of God.”
Scripture that goes with yesterday’s
quotation: “The eyes of the Lord are in
every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3).
5/5/2019 11:16 PM
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