An Entirely New Self

[rizen1]

AN ENTIRELY NEW SELF
by Neil Anderson

February 4


Ephesians 5:8
You were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light


Ephesians 5:8 describes the essential change of nature which occurs at salvation. It doesn't say you were in darkness; it says you were darkness. Darkness was your nature, your very essence, as an unbeliever. Nor does it say you are now in the light; it says you are light. God changed your basic nature from darkness to light. The issue in this passage is not improving your nature. Your new nature is already determined. The issue is learning to walk in harmony with your new nature.

Why do you need the nature of Christ within you? So you can be like Christ, not just act like Him. God has not given us the power to imitate Him. He has made us partakers of His nature so that we can actually be like Him. You don't become a Christian by acting like one. We are not on a performance basis with God. He doesn't say, "Here are My standards, now you measure up." He knows you can't solve the problem of an old sinful self by simply improving your behavior. He must change your nature, give you an entirely new self--the life of Christ in you--which is the grace you need to measure up to His standards.

That was the point of His message in the Sermon on the Mount: "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20). The scribes and Pharisees were the religious perfectionists of their day. They had external behavior down to a science, but their hearts were like the insides of a tomb: reeking of death. Jesus is only interested in creating new persons from the inside out by infusing in them a brand-new nature and creating in them a new self. Only after He changes your identity and makes you a partaker of His nature will you be able to change your behavior. Prayer:

Dear Jesus, thank You for rescuing me from the kingdom of darkness and transferring me into Your marvelous light. I choose to walk as a child of light today.

 

[iniesta]

Good to know;proverbs.

 

[Leo Strength]

To the Faithful Growth in the Faith

to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness
2 Peter 1:6

 

[Gideons 300]

AN ENTIRELY NEW SELFby Neil Anderson February 4Ephesians 5:8 You were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light Ephesians 5:8 describes the essential change of nature which occurs at salvation. It doesn't say you were in darkness; it says you were darkness. Darkness was your nature, your very essence, as an unbeliever. Nor does it say you are now in the light; it says you are light. God changed your basic nature from darkness to light. The issue in this passage is not improving your nature. Your new nature is already determined. The issue is learning to walk in harmony with your new nature. Why do you need the nature of Christ within you? So you can be like Christ, not just act like Him. God has not given us the power to imitate Him. He has made us partakers of His nature so that we can actually be like Him. You don't become a Christian by acting like one. We are not on a performance basis with God. He doesn't say, "Here are My standards, now you measure up." He knows you can't solve the problem of an old sinful self by simply improving your behavior. He must change your nature, give you an entirely new self--the life of Christ in you--which is the grace you need to measure up to His standards. That was the point of His message in the Sermon on the Mount: "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20). The scribes and Pharisees were the religious perfectionists of their day. They had external behavior down to a science, but their hearts were like the insides of a tomb: reeking of death. Jesus is only interested in creating new persons from the inside out by infusing in them a brand-new nature and creating in them a new self. Only after He changes your identity and makes you a partaker of His nature will you be able to change your behavior. Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank You for rescuing me from the kingdom of darkness and transferring me into Your marvelous light. I choose to walk as a child of light today.

Neil, great post. One thing you said in particulat struck me. You said he has made us partakers of His nature. There is a catch here, on that. it is not automatic. It is according to our faith. THIS is what the whole "fighting the good fight of faith" is about. Listen to this...

"wherefore are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by THESE we might be partakers of the divine nature."

Most Christians are still laboring under the law to try to be like Jesus, as you said, but grace always works thru faith. This is why Paul tells us to:

"Reckon yourself dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God"

Until we appropriate our new nature freom God's hand and believe that sin no longer has dominion over us, that we are not in the flesh any longer, that we are "free indeed", we just seem to end up wallowing, and getting nowhere. But when a saint chooses to believe God is THAT good that it is His pleasure to GIVE us the kingdom? Now? That saint is in for a level of victory he previously thought impossible.

The promises work! Let us cast off our meagerly efforts that make no one holy and beleve our Lord. He will not fail us!

 

[Boanerges]

2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

 

[rlowe]

Let us be the light in the lighthouse which God reflects to the lost.