Part 7
The New Man
When we studied the ‘old man’, we discovered that ‘he’ had been crucified on the cross of Calvary. We believe this by faith. It is also by faith we believe in the ‘new man’, for as Christ was raised from the dead, so are we raised with Him.
“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4.
Christians are new people who serve in “newness of the Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter”. Romans 7:6. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
Paul counsels believers to be renewed in the spirit of the mind and to “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 4:23.24.
As they have “put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man”, they are renewed “in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” Colossians 3:9.10.
Putting on the ‘new man’ means surrender to Christ, and being obedient to the Word of God. It means living as He did in thought, word and deed. Christ is sitting for His portrait in every disciple.
“Jesus took upon Himself man’s nature, that He might leave a pattern for humanity, complete, perfect. He proposes to make us like Himself, true in every purpose, feeling and thought – true in heart, soul and life. This is Christianity. Our fallen nature must be purified, ennobled, consecrated by obedience to the truth.” 46
Although the fallen nature is to be ‘purified, ennobled, consecrated’, it is not simply re-educated as one would learn better habits and a more pleasing lifestyle. Men and women have by their own willpower changed their way of living.
Instead, we must acknowledge by faith that the ‘old man’ is dead, and believe that Christ supplies the power to live a new life. “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me….” Galatians 2:20.
However, the Saviour must use the faculties of the fallen nature to build the ‘new man’. There is no new brain. The temperament is still the same – out-going, adventurous, reserved, studious, analytical, creative, a leader, whatever -- but instead of relying on our own strength, the Christian may say, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Philippians 1:13.
“We fail many times because we do not realize that Christ is with us by His Spirit as truly as when, in the days of His humiliation, He moved visibly upon the earth.
The lapse of time has wrought no change in His parting promise to His apostles as He was taken up from them into heaven: ‘Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world’.” 47
Through the Spirit, Christ was to abide continually in the hearts of His children. Their union with Him was closer than when He was personally with them.
As we commit ourselves to the wise Master Worker, He will bring out the pattern of life and character that will be to His own glory, and He knows how much Spirit is needed to live a righteous life in fallen flesh!
As Christians, we will perform good and obedient deeds, but in themselves, they are not righteous. It is the merit of Christ that will avail in our behalf. Through faith in Him, Christ will make all our imperfect efforts acceptable to God.
Faith enables the believer to claim the merit of Christ by which his polluted works are made acceptable to God.
“The religious services, the prayers, the praise, the penitent confession of sin ascend from true believers as incense to the heavenly sanctuary, but passing through the corrupt channels of humanity, they are so defiled that unless purified by blood, they can never be of value with God. They ascend not in spotless purity, and unless the Intercessor, who is at God’s right hand, presents and purifies all by His righteousness, it is not acceptable to God.
All incense from earthly tabernacles must be moist with the cleansing drops of the blood of Christ. He holds before the Father the censer of His own merits, in which there is no taint of earthly corruption. He gathers into this censer the prayers, the praise, and the confessions of His people and with these He puts His own spotless righteousness. Then, perfumed with the merits of Christ’s propitiation, the incense comes up before God wholly and entirely acceptable… The fragrance of this righteousness ascends like a cloud around the mercy seat.” 48
Everything relating to the Father and the Son above the line is absolute perfection, but below the line, everything relating to the human race is sinful. When Christians claim the righteousness of Christ, they are seen by the Father, through Christ, as righteous and without spot or wrinkle.
God the Father
sees the faithful ones through His Son
Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son
now mediates between the Father and the believer
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Christian believer claims the righteousness of Christ
Christ is the fragrance, the holy incense which makes (our) petitions acceptable to God. “All must be laid upon the fire of Christ’s righteousness to cleanse it from its earthly odor before it rises in a cloud of fragrant incense.” 49
“Christ’s righteousness alone can avail for (man’s) salvation, and this is the gift of God. This is the wedding garment in which you may appear as a welcome guest at the marriage supper of the Lamb.” 50
“And to her (the bride of Christ) was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” Revelation 19:7.8.
When a man or woman surrenders to Christ, their sins are pardoned, the “filthy garments” are removed and transferred to Jesus, the sinner’s representative, substitute and surety. Zechariah 3:3.4.
At the same moment, the Lord imputes the righteousness of Christ to the believer’s account and pronounces him righteous before the universe. This is justification by faith.
“In ourselves we are sinners, but in Christ we are righteous. Having made us righteous through the imputed righteousness of Christ, God pronounces us just, and treats us as just.” 51
Many Christians speak of justification as a declaration of righteousness, a forensic imputation only, but to “be pardoned in the way that Christ pardons, is not only to be forgiven, but to be renewed in the spirit of the mind. The Lord says, ‘A new heart will I give thee’. The image of Christ is to be stamped upon the very mind, heart and soul…. we have the mind of Christ.” 52
“And we find that when Christ covers us with the robe of His own righteousness, He does not furnish a cloak for sin, but takes the sin away. And this shows that the forgiveness of sins is something more than a mere form, something more than a mere entry in the books of record in heaven, to the effect that the sin has been cancelled.
The forgiveness of sins is a reality; it is something tangible, something that vitally affects the individual. It actually clears him from guilt; and if he is cleared from guilt, is justified, made righteous, he has certainly undergone a radical change. He is, indeed, another person, for he obtained this righteousness for the remission of sins in Christ… the full and free forgiveness of sins carries with it that wonderful and miraculous change known as the new birth, for a man cannot become a new creature except by a new birth. This is the same as having a new, or a clean, heart.” 53
So, not only is the righteousness of Christ imputed to the penitent believer, it is also imparted, even as part of the work of justification. “It is the righteousness of Christ, His own unblemished character, that through faith is imparted to all who receive Him as their personal Saviour.” 54
The impartation of the righteousness of Christ is the blending of Christ’s Spirit with humanity; it is the union of the human and the divine; it is the wedding garment. “This robe, woven in the loom of heaven, has in it not one thread of human devising. Christ in His humanity wrought out a perfect character, and this character He offers to impart to us.” 55
The costly, spotless robe…. has been provided for the repenting, believing sinner, and he may say: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord…. for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness….” Isaiah 61:10.
To retain this blood-bought robe, we must remain submitted to Christ, for it is by continual surrender of the will, by continual obedience, that the blessing of justification is retained.
“No one can believe with the heart unto righteousness, and obtain justification by faith, while continuing the practice of those things which the Word of God forbids, or while neglecting any known duty… It is an evidence that a man is not justified by faith when his works do not correspond to his profession… The faith that does not produce good works does not justify the soul.” 56
Our works show if our faith is genuine.
He who becomes a partaker of the divine nature will be in harmony with God’s great standard of righteousness, His holy law. This is the rule by which God measures the actions of men. This will be the test of character in the judgment.
However, we can do nothing, absolutely nothing, to commend ourselves to divine favor. We must not trust at all to ourselves or to our good works; but when as erring, sinful beings we come to Christ, we may find rest in His love.
The provision for a holy character is all in God’s dear Son, for the “soul who sees Jesus by faith, repudiates his own righteousness. He sees himself as incomplete, his repentance insufficient, his strongest faith but feebleness, his most costly sacrifice as meager, and he sinks in humility at the foot of the cross.
But a voice speaks to him from the oracles of God’s Word. In amazement he hears the messages, ‘Ye are complete in Him’. Now all is at rest in his soul. No longer must he strive to find some worthiness in himself, some meritorious deed by which to gain the favor of God.
Beholding the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, he finds the peace of Christ; for pardon is written against his name, and he accepts the Word of God, ‘Ye are complete in Him’.” 57
“When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him, to live His life. This is what is means to be clothed with the garment of His righteousness.” 58
Thus it is that the ‘new man’ lives by faith in the Son of God, not a stagnant life, but advancing from faith to faith, from character to character, and from glory to glory, all the while trusting Christ to complete the work He has begun in him. “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me…” Psalm 138:8. Philippians 1:6.
But we must cooperate with God in the work of overcoming, for self will continue to fight for the mastery. We are to strive, wrestle, agonize, watch, pray, lest we shall be overcome by the wily foe. This work of sanctification is the work of a lifetime; it must go on continually. Those who strive to look for goodness in themselves, will strive in vain, but all who strive in self-surrender and study of the Word will be overcomers.
The human agent must co-operate with God. “The heart is to be worked, subdued, plowed, harrowed, seeded, to bring forth its harvest to God in good works. ‘Ye are God’s building’. You cannot build yourself. There is a Power outside of yourself that must do the building of the church, putting brick upon brick, always co-operating with the faculties and powers given of God to man. The soul temple is to be sacred, holy, pure, and undefiled. There must be a co-partnership in which all the power is of God and all the glory belongs to God. The responsibility rests with us….
The law of the human and the divine action makes the receiver a laborer together with God. It brings man where he can, united with divinity, work the works of God. Humanity touches humanity. Divine power and the human agency combined will be a complete success, for Christ’s righteousness accomplishes everything.” 59
Genuine Christianity is unlike every other religion, for instead of obtaining its righteousness by works, it is purely by faith, a true faith that works by love and purifies the soul.
“Justification is wholly of grace and not procured by any works that fallen man can do… we possess nothing, can offer nothing in value, in work, in faith, which we have not first received of God… If you would gather together everything that is good and holy and noble and lovely in man and then present the subject to the angels of God as acting a part in the salvation of the human soul or in merit, the proposition would be rejected as treason.” 60
There will be no point where we can rest in a satisfied condition, saying, ‘I am sanctified’, or ‘I am saved’.
“No sanctified tongue will be found uttering these words till Christ shall come, and we enter in through the gates into the city of God. Then, with the utmost propriety, we may give glory to God and to the Lamb for eternal deliverance. As long as man is full of weakness – for of himself he cannot save his soul – he should never dare to say, ‘I am saved’.” 61
“By grace are ye saved…. it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8.9.
Every Christian may say, “I am guilty before God; but Jesus is my Advocate. I have transgressed His law. I cannot save myself; but I make the precious blood that was shed on Calvary all my plea. I am lost in Adam, but restored in Christ.
God, who so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son to die, will not leave me to perish while repentant and in contrition of soul. He will not look upon me, for I am unworthy; but He will look upon the face of His Anointed, He will look upon my Substitute and Surety, and listen to the plea of my Advocate, who died for my sin, that I might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
By beholding Him I shall be changed into His image. I cannot change my own character, save by partaking of the grace of Him who is all goodness, righteousness, mercy and truth. But by beholding Him, I shall catch His spirit, and be transformed into His likeness…” 62
Not only will we become like Jesus through beholding Him, but by the indwelling of His own divine Spirit, our characters will become purified, elevated, ennobled and glorified. Praise God, for to have a connection with God and to be a partaker of His divine nature is of priceless value.
Never let us forget that we need the Spirit of God within us in order to reach heaven, and the work of Christ without us in order to give us a title to the immortal inheritance.
Dear Reader, God has provided salvation ‘in His Son’. It is a legal fact, a spiritual reality, but is it a literal experience for you?
Will you make certain it is a reality right now?
Christ our Representative
Christ in You