The acknowledgment of the great truth of the “old man” having been condemned by God in the cross of Christ is most important for our practical Christian life, for it is written: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Rom. 6:6).
What is meant by our “old man”? It is evident that before we had a new life in Christ, we were just simply natural men. The Christian, therefore, only is in question when it is written, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him.” All believers know, mourn over and get miserable at times about the old man.
Now, our old fallen nature is just that of which we once were proud. For example, a man is strong and can fell almost anybody with a blow; he is naturally proud of his ability to exercise this power. But, God gives him new life in Christ, and after that when he is tempted to use his strength as before, the temptation makes him feel miserable. Again, there is a young Christian woman who before conversion was full of vanity; but now having the new life, she says in her heart, “I am ashamed of my folly.” How is this? She is the same person, but God has implanted a new life within her, and she feels it would be a very sad thing to indulge now in that which was once her delight. The true Christian reader knows by experience what the old man is.
The Bible says, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him! Yes, but crucified with Christ. The cross is the great symbol of shame and dishonor. There is nothing more emphatically the mark of sin and disgrace upon the face of the earth than the cross. It is very much the same as with the gallows in England. The law of the land does not take the noblest of the people and declare of him, “He is only fit for the death of the gallows.” This land does not say of him whose whole life is excellent and beautiful, “The due of the vilest is your proper reward.” But the Son of God went down into the lowest place for us. He took upon Him the cross, with all its shame and dishonor. This is beyond human conception, but the Christian knows it is true, yet owns that the mind cannot enter into it. We know the Son of God endured the cross because we deserved it; yes, we ourselves, of whom we were once so proud, our very self, that we once thought so much of, deserved the very worst, the lowest, the most dreadful judgment that could possibly be; and, because He loved us, the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified for us, and God now says, “Our old man is crucified with Him.”
What! Does God indeed say, “Our old man is crucified with Christ”? When we were first born again, we endeavored to improve ourselves. We formed resolutions, we made curbs and restraints, and we went to various lengths in the endeavor to change self. But does God say anything in His gospel about changing our “old man”? No! He has condemned sin in the flesh on the cross; passed His sentence of judgment upon it. “Our old man is crucified with Christ.”
Now, God would not speak of our old man as crucified unless something worthy of death had been done. No law of any country, where there is the sense of right, would condemn a man to death unless he had done something wrong. God is speaking of His own Son being crucified and He judges us as having been worthy of the cross. What then is the lesson? The very self we spent so much care upon, in trying to improve and to change, God says He has judged as worthy of death—nay, He has carried out the sentence in Christ.
What possible peace can this give to the heart? Is it not a doctrine of disappointment and of despair?
The moment we know by the teaching of God the Spirit that “our old man” is as bad as God has described it, our hearts respond, by saying, “I will give up trying to change myself.” We give up the effort, because we believe God, who says, “Our old man is crucified with Christ.” To attempt to make better that which is already condemned is evidently useless. We believe, and therefore give up all hope of changing ourselves, and this is the high road to receiving power from Christ for practical holiness. The acknowledgment hereof is a starting point for our souls in living to God. So long as a child of God is trying to change himself, he will never prosper in his soul, because God says that “self” is crucified with Christ.
God says, “Our old man is crucified with Him [Christ], that the body of sin might be destroyed [or have its power removed], that henceforth we should not serve sin; for he that is dead is freed [or discharged] from sin.” Before we had new life in Christ, we were under the mastership of sin. The strong man indulged in overwhelming his enemy; the vain person indulged in the sin of vanity and delighted in the occupation; they were servants of sin and fulfilled its bidding. But when the man of great strength is dead to sin, his power is gone, for dead men cannot overthrow people. When the vain person is dead to sin, there is no longer self-admiration, for dead people cannot enjoy the mirror! Thus, by being dead with Christ, there is freedom from the power of sin. The old man is crucified with Christ, and, by death with Christ, the believer is discharged from the service of his old master.
Now Scripture expressly states, as a divine fact, that our old man has been crucified with Christ; and the Apostle says, “Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Rom. 6:17). Hence it is not our realization that is to occupy us; for we may, or we may not, realize the truth, but we are to obey from the heart what God bids us to believe.
The path of practical victory starts from the gate of faith in the Word of God.