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.
Like begets like, flesh begets flesh, and Spirit begets spirit. When we were born of fallen Adam, we were born of the flesh and received a fallen and fleshly nature. When we were born of the Holy Spirit, we received a holy and spiritual nature. When we first believed in Christ, we received a new nature, the nature of Christ. We were born into newness of life and given a regenerated spirit, a new life in Christ. The former nature that we received when we were born into this world, was corrupted by deceitful desires. It was awash with lusts and deception, but we were taught with reference to our former way of life, to lay aside the old man (to put off the old sinful, lustful nature) which was being continuously corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires of our flesh and to be renewed in the spirit of our minds. Because we are no longer a part of the old life in Adam but the new life in Christ, we should no longer exhibit our original corrupt nature but our new, born-again nature, and this is done, by the renewing of our minds. We are in the world, but not of the world and Paul makes this distinction clear in his epistle to the Romans: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” It is the Word of God that renews our minds. It is the holy Bible that washes our minds clean. It is the God-breathed Scriptures that renew our minds, day by day, and enables our new life in Christ to grow and mature. Jesus prayed to the Father just before His crucifixion: “Sanctify them by the truth, Your Word is truth.” It is being immersed in the Word of truth that causes our lives to be gradually transformed, by the Spirit of truth, as our minds are being renewed in Him. Having believed the truth of the gospel of Christ for salvation, an outward demonstration of a holy life should be the result of that inward regeneration through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Having been renewed in the spirit of our mind, the inner fruit of that new life in Christ should, through God’s almighty power, be made manifest by a life that is righteous and holy. The new sinless self is not a patching up of the old corrupt self. The new nature is not an improving of the old sin nature. The old nature was imputed to us through Adam and inherited from our earthly parents. Though Adam was created in the image and likeness of God, all his progeny are begotten in the image and likeness of fallen Adam. The new nature is imputed to us the moment we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Our old self is put to death and our new nature, in the image and likeness of Christ, is given to us through the Spirit. Because we have put on the new self, we have a brand new position in a brand new creation, with a brand new life and a brand new nature. That brand new life was given to us directly from God’s Holy Spirit when we were born-again, and that brand new self, which is in the image and likeness of God, has been created in the righteousness and holiness of God Himself. Let us make the right choices in our lives and seek to live a righteous and holy life as unto the Lord, for we have been commanded to “be holy,” because our Father in heaven is holy.
Spiritual Steve 