…to “put on your new nature”? Like Ephesians 4:24 says,
“Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.”
I’m wrestling with this concept right now. I mean it is the main point of Ephesians 4:17-24..or I think it is. Maybe it’s not and it’s just stuck in my brain. So since I am wrestling with it here are some questions I have for you to answer. Please give some input – I could use it about now.
- Is it to “strive” daily to live up to the righteousness that is in us because of Christ – knowing we will fail?
- To be fully devoted to Christ – fully embracing this “new nature” and never failing?
- What is your interpretation of it?
Filed under: doctrine/ teacing/ theology, faith, life, spiritual health , doctrine/ teacing/ theology
Well, it’s safe enough to say that 2) isn’t it – nobody gets to the “never failing” level.
My only beef with 1) is that it makes it sound like it’s our “striving” that makes it so, and I don’t think that’s the case. Does it take effort on our part? Yeah. But the righteousness that has been declared on our behalf only becomes realized by the power of the Spirit in us – not by our own striving.
I think it is to be totally devoted to Christ…striving to live out the righteousness that we now have, knowing that we will fail, but that we are forgiven for those short comings. I believe it is a response to the forgiveness that we have.
I personally would shy away from #2 because we still fail and to me it sounds a little “sinless perfection-like,” and it is evident in scripture that we will still fail, but we are forgiven for those failures.
It is only through the “new nature” that we can become like Christ, so we must put it on to accomplish that which God created us for. If we continue to allow our old nature to rule and reign in our lives then we can never accomplish all that God intended for us.
I hope these few thoughts helps you!
@ cjhubbs – I do agree that the word “strive” is strong. Maybe there is a better word. I do think sometimes the “c”hurch is pretty soft on following Christ – almost to a degree of error on the side of implying “sinning is ok – as long as you are trying.” The problem I have with that is that there are different levels of trying as well as different levels of striving. And maybe it’s just really semantics too.
@ ncarnes – I agree. I do think it is a pushing towards Christ as hard as we can with the realization that when we mess up we are forgiven.
I think we all agree to some aspect in this.
Well, when you put on a shirt in the morning, it’s something deliberate. And generally you choose the shirt based on the anticipated activities of the day. Maybe you don’t think too long or hard about it, but it’s a choice you make and follow through with before you walk out the door.
So I think “putting on” your new nature means the daily, purposeful act of choosing to seek, follow and obey Truth.
In calling us to “put on the true self” it may also be a case of helping us come to terms with “our false self.” That as we recognize the masks and barriers we have put up to protect our selves (that which Manning calls the “impostor”) – we are then able to take off the false self and God is able to reveal to us and we are “freed” to become the true self. That person God made us to be.