The Reign of the "Old Man"
In each of these spheres is a sovereign who purposes to rule with undivided authority.
"That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts" (Ephesians 4:22).
"Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds" (Colossians 3:9).
The sovereign in the old sphere is "the old man." The very core of the flesh is this sinful, corrupt nature, called "the old man," which is a deep-dyed traitor that hates everything that God loves and loves everything that God hates.
The expression "the old man" is used but three times in the Bible: in Ephesians 4:22, Colossians 3:9 and Romans 6:6. It has an equivalent in the "I" of Galatians 2:20, and in the word "sin" of Romans 6. The term commonly used is "self." Through the first Adam's fall "self" usurped the throne of man's personality and has held it in its possession, control and use ever since. Every child is born into the world with KING SELF on the throne, a fact often made evident before he can walk or talk.
The "old man" on the throne determines what the whole life from center to circumference shall be. His evil desires become evil deeds; his unholy aspirations are transmitted into unholy acts; his unrighteous character manifests itself in unrighteous conduct; his ungodly will is expressed in ungodly works. The root "sin" bears fruit in "sins."
Dethronement of the Old Man - Co-Crucifixion with Christ
The vast majority of Christians stop short in their experience of the blessings of salvation with the forgiveness of past sins and with the hope of heaven in the future. But the present is a forty-year wilderness experience full of futile wanderings, never enjoying peace and rest, never arriving in the promised land.
Few people are willing to admit that "the old man" sits upon the throne and rules the whole being with despotic power. Even among Christians there is gross ignorance of and indifference to the subtle, insidious workings of the old "I". If the grosser works of the flesh are absent from the life, the individual rests in a complacent sense of goodness, failing altogether to apprehend how obnoxious to God are the more refined and less openly manifest sins of the spirit. How few are willing to say, "I know that in me dwelleth no good thing."
Let us, then, pause for a moment to take a full-length portrait of this hideous self and see if we are not forced to accept God's estimate of him, and to acquiesce in the method of deliverance from his sovereignty. The foundation of life in the natural man if foursquare: self-will, self-love,self-trust, and self-exaltation; and upon this foundation is reared a superstructure that is one huge capital "I". Self-centeredness, self-assertion,self-conceit,self-indulgence,self-pleasing, self-seeking, self-pity, self-sensitiveness, self-defense, self-sufficiency,self-consciousness,self-righteousness,self-glorying - this is the material out of which the building is fashioned.
Is this delineation of self true or untrue? As we look within our own lives is there one of us who would not have to confess to every one of these hateful manifestations of self at some time in a greater or less degree? We each of us know what a hydra-headed monster that old "I" is. Luther knew it and said, "I am more afraid of my own heart than of the Pope and all his cardinals. I have within me that great Pope SELF."
What, then, shall be done with this bold usurper of God's place? God has declared very plainly what He has already done with him. He has but one place for "the old man", and that is the Cross, and but one plan for the termination of his despotic rule, and that is by his crucifixion with Christ.
"Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him [Christ], that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin" (Romans 6:6).
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
Two facts are clearly stated here; first that the crucifixion of "the old man" is an already accomplished fact, and, second, that it is a co-crucifixion. Notice the tenses: "was crucified" - past, and "have been crucified" - past perfect. The judicial crucifixion of "the old man" took place centuries ago. Whether or not a single soul ever accepted this glorious fact that the entire old creation in Adam was carried to the Cross and there crucified with Christ, it is as gloriously true as the fact that Christ Himself was crucified.
Whether from sins or from self the Cross is God's only place of deliverance. As surely as Christ "bore my sins in His own body on the tree" just so surely was my "old man crucified with Christ" there. If I accept and act upon the one fact by faith, consistently I must accept and act upon the other by faith.
Deliverance from the old sphere "in Adam" and entrance into the new sphere "in Christ" demands the dethronement of self. No house can entertain two masters. If the Lord Jesus is to take the throne and rule over the human personality, then "the old man" must abdicate. That he will never do. So God must deal drastically with him. He is a usurper whom God has condemned and sentenced to death. That sentence was carried out on Calvary's Cross. Now God declares to every person who cries out for deliverance from the tyranny of self, "the old man was crucified with Christ." Do you believe it?
The second fact which these verses make clear, is that it is a co-crucifixion. Our "old man" was crucified with Christ. This declares both the method and the time of the crucifixion. There is often confusion at this point.
~Ruth Paxson~
(continued with # 3)
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