Two Persons
Two Persons
Salvation has to do with the crucifixion of one person and the building up of another. The adamic nature cannot be reformed. Salvation is the birth and building up of the new man, who is Christ.
When we are born again there are two people in us. One or the other must die! We do not have to crucify ourselves. Our task is to obey Christ and to follow the Spirit of God in all situations.
To abase ourselves is to seek to exalt ourselves. True humility is walking hand in hand with God.
If we would truly live we must truly die in Christ.
The new man who is being formed in us has not inherited a sinful nature. He has been born of God. He is eternal. He is a totally new Creation.
Salvation is the forming of Christ in us. Then the Father and the Son come and dwell in that which has been formed in us.
Crucifixion is the source of eternal life. If we suffer with Him we shall reign with Him.
The Law of Moses has no authority over the new man.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24)
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. (Colossians 3:9-11)
So we see clearly from the two passages above that being a Christian is not a matter of "accepting Christ" and then going to Heaven when we die. Rather it has to do with putting off our first personality and putting on a new personality.
I don't believe we hear this very often, but it appears to be the viewpoint of the Apostle Paul.
We are supposed to be taking off our old self and putting on our new self. This means two persons are involved.
What is the old self like?
Which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires.
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices.
Is it true of my original personality and your original personality that it is corrupted by its deceitful desires and a liar? It is true of my first personality. I do not know about you.
What is true of our new personality?
"New in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."
Did you ever think about people molesting a child; or individuals making themselves impotent by drugs or alcohol; or someone in a rage murdering his wife or best friend; or a person telling a lie about another individual to get her or him in trouble?
How about someone committing adultery with his best friend's wife although his own wife has been faithful for twenty years?
We cannot imagine a human being doing such things. Yet, some otherwise normal people do. Why is this? Because their original adamic nature is subject to lusts that deceive them.
When the individual comes to himself in prison he cannot even picture himself being guilty of such a crime. He always had thought of himself as being a good Christian.
"The new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator."
Paul indicates that we are to have the mind of Christ.
For, "Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:16)
The Apostle John informs us that the new man cannot sin, having been born of God.
No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. (I John 3:9)
I believe the passages I have quoted thus far suggest that we Christians are two people. Our first person is sinful. Our second person is not sinful but is growing into the image of God.
If this is the case, the primary effort of our Christian discipleship should be that of refusing to respond to the desires and actions of our original personality, and nourishing the desires and actions of our new personality. Would you agree with that.
Perhaps this is why we have to be born again to enter the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is the doing of God's will. The first personality cannot do God's will, even by endeavoring to keep the Torah, the Law of Moses. We may be absolutely sincere in our desire to keep the Ten Commandments. But the sin that lives in our adamic personality keeps pushing us to disobey God.
When we are born again, a new person is born in us. The new person has been born of God. The new person therefore has no sin dwelling in it. It delights to do God's will. It desires to do God's will at all times.
If we wish to deceive ourselves, we can say that as long as we are in the world we have to sin but we are "saved by grace." However, the Bible does not agree with this position. The Bible commands us Christians to put off the sinful person that lives in us and to put on the new person who has been born of God.
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. (I Peter 2:1,2)
"Accepting Christ" is not a ticket to Heaven. It might be compared, rather, to the birth of a baby in us. This is what salvation is. We have to do the things that will cause us to grow up in our salvation.
What things? We have to rid ourselves of that which is not in the image of God, and we have to feed continually on the Word of God.
Now, how do we rid ourselves of "all malice," for example. First, we determine that malice belongs in the Lake of Fire, not in the Kingdom of God. Then we have to talk to Jesus about it. "Lord, I have a problem with malice. Help me. Take it out of me. If you assist me and deliver me, I never will think, say, or act maliciously again."
Jesus said we could ask what we will in His Name and it shall be done.
We have asked Jesus to drive the spirit of malice from us.
Do we believe He will answer our prayer? Do we believe He has enough power to free us from malicious behavior. Do we truly desire to be free from malice?
These three attitudes must be true of us in order to be delivered from malice, or any other sin or problem with self-will.
We know He will answer our prayer because He stated that if we ask anything in His name He will do it.
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14:13,14)
Yes or no? True or false?
Does "anything" include malice, do you think?
Do we believe Christ has enough power to remove malice from us?
Have you ever thought much about outer space, about the size of the heavenly bodies; about the distances between them?
According to the Bible, Christ spoke these into existence!
Let me now ask you again: do you believe Christ has enough power to remove the spirit of malice from you?
Now for the critical issue: Do you really want to be free from malice?
If you are wavering, that spirit will not leave. Christ wants to know if you truly want to be free from malice. What do you say?
So to rid ourselves of malice, and all the other sins that dwell in our first personality, we have to truly want to, fiercely want to, be free of this demonic behavior.
Christ has promised to do it. He has enough power to do it. We really want to be delivered from malice. What are we waiting for?
In order to divest ourselves of our original personality and put on the new personality, we must consistently perform the acts that are associated with the Christian discipleship.
We must pray every day. As we grow in Christ we will come to the place where we are praying without ceasing.
We must meditate in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Even though much of what we read may not mean much to us, every once in a while the Spirit of God will add nourishment to our new person.
We must resist the temptation to sin, asking Christ to strengthen us. If we yield to sin, we then must confess it specifically and resolve through the help of Jesus never to do it again. Christ will forgive us, cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and strengthen us in the future.
We must gather with fervent disciples on a consistent basis, if we can find any fervent disciples.
We must give of our means as Christ enables and directs us.
We must seek the gifts of the Spirit so we can assist in the work of the Kingdom.
We must present our body to God at all times that we may understand and do His will.
We must take up our cross of self-denial and follow the Master at all times.
If we do not behave in this manner, we will not grow in Christ, in our salvation. Growing in Christ is that of continually increasing in the ability to distinguish between good and evil, and in the desire and strength to embrace what is good and vigorously renounce and reject that which is evil.
Another dimension of supporting the new personality is found in the parable of the sower. The parable of the sower may be one of the most important parables of the Kingdom of God. Its importance is emphasized by the fact that the parable of the sower is found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means": (Matthew 13:18)
The Seed sown is the living Word of God, that is, Christ.
The first kind of ground is hard, perhaps having been subjected to various religions and philosophies. The Seed does not germinate and is taken away by the demons.
The second kind of ground is rocky, and the ground is shallow. When problems arise, the plant withers, not having a good root system. We pastors sometimes observe people who make a show of "being saved," but then fade away when trouble comes.
There are many circumstances that cause hardness of heart. One is unforgiveness. Another is betrayal by someone you trust. Another is disillusionment when an idolized individual or other person fails the test. Still another is atheistic, worldly teaching and environment.
Enough damage can be done to the human personality that it cannot support the Seed when faced with the demands of true Christian discipleship.
The third kind of ground has other plants in addition to the Seed. These other plants grow up and choke the Seed so no lasting fruit is borne. This is the person who has many interests in addition to Christ, many talents or opportunities he or she is pursuing.
In the fourth kind of ground the Seed germinates, grows up, and bears lasting fruit: some thirtyfold; some sixtyfold; some a hundredfold. These are honest and good hearts, being faithful and true. The fruit is the substance and image of Christ.
One is tempted to apply the three degrees of fruitbearing to the design of the new heaven and earth reign of Christ. There are the victorious saints who bear Christ to the fullness. There are other members of the royal priesthood who are not quite as fruitful.
Then there are the saved people drawn from the nations. They also have a portion of Christ in them.
Notice that three of these kinds of ground bear no lasting fruit.
So it is in the born-again experience. Many individuals claim to be born again. But the new personality that is in the image of God may not be seen in them. They may be religious people and their doctrine may be sound, in terms of Fundamentalist thinking. But they are not in the Kingdom of God as yet because they are not making an effort to overcome sin, and there is no sin in the Kingdom.
The only relationship between Heaven and the Kingdom of God is that Jesus, the King of the Kingdom, came to us from Heaven. He Himself is the Kingdom, we might say. The Kingdom of God is God in Christ in the saints governing the works of God's hands. As I stated, there is no sin in the Kingdom. Sin began in Heaven, but there is no sin in the Kingdom.
Our goal is not to go to Heaven. It is to enter and live in the Kingdom of God.
So our salvation depends on our doing away with our first personality and supporting and nourishing the new personality.
The original law that God established in nature is that a plant brings forth after its kind.
The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:12)
I never heard of a seed, whether of plant or animal, bring forth anything other than the parent from which it came. Did you?
Grass seed brings forth grass. Acorns bring forth oak trees. The seed of people brings forth people.
If the Seed indeed is the Word of God, Christ, then it is going to bring forth Christ. Here is the answer to our desire to be in the image of God. It is not by reforming our first personality, although we are to obey the Scriptures to the best of our ability.
It is as Peter wrote. We are to take heed to the Scriptures until the Morning Star, Christ, rises in us. The "prophetic message" is the Old Testament. There was no New Testament at the time Peter wrote. But I believe it would be common sense to include the New Testament as an integral part of the "prophetic message."
We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (II Peter 1:19)
The old person in us is Adam. The new Person in us is Christ, the Morning Star.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
If Christ is living in us, we are a partaker of the Divine Nature of God.
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (II Peter 1:4)
If we wish to be living by the Divine Nature of Christ, we must make the effort each day to speak to Christ; to keep Him in our thoughts; to ask Him to guide our speech; to consult with Him concerning any plans or actions we are to take. These actions will keep us in the prophetic realm. Then we will have the mind of Christ, and not be deceived by our human mind.
"Pray without ceasing," the Apostle Paul admonished us.
It is my point of view that the body and blood of Christ play an important role in the formation of the new person. I believe that every time we overcome a temptation, or confess a sin and turn away from it, we are fed in the spirit world with the body and blood of Christ. As we lead the life of victory in Christ, His Life increases in us until we are filled with all the fullness of God.
May have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:18,19)
Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. (John 6:57)
We are to live by eating the flesh of Christ and drinking His blood.
How is that for a goal? Those who attain to it will be immortalized in body when the Lord Jesus next appears, and then caught up to meet Him in the air in preparation for their descent with Him to join in the Battle of Armageddon.
When our second personality has been transformed by the fullness of God formed in us, then the Father and the Son will come and dwell in that which has been formed in us. We have become the eternal Tabernacle of God.
Our goal is to have our soul transformed by Christ; a pure spirit that reflects our transformed soul; and a new body that is free from sin and corruption.
Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." (John 14:23)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (II Corinthians 5:17)