It is sometimes hard for us to realize that “the old man” in the Christian “is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,” and to “know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” “The old man” or “the flesh” in a Christian is no different than the flesh in an unsaved person. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” and can never be made otherwise. And while it is blessedly true that “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new,” along with that new nature there is still in us “the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.” But that “old man” has been dealt with in the cross of Christ. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him,” so that now we are told to “reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh,” and “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” |