Understanding our identity in Christ helps make it possible for us to live as the new creation that God has made us. But it is only the first step.
What do we do when we find ourselves living as the old self rather than the new self? Consider the following situation:
“I am so frustrated,” John sighed. “I want to do what is right and stop doing the things I know aren’t pleasing to God, but I don’t have enough willpower. It’s like something else just takes over and I do things that I don’t want to do!”
“I know what you mean,” Steven said. “For me, it’s more of a problem of my attitudes. I can’t seem to stop being negative and critical, and sometimes I get so angry that I explode at my students, and then I feel even worse.”
“What can we do about it?” they asked each other. “How can we change?”
Can you relate to how John or Steven feel?
What would you tell them about how to change?
WE STRUGGLE WITH THE OLD SELF
This is a very real struggle that we all face. The apostle Paul described this problem in Romans 7:18-20 and 22-24.
Romans 7:18-20, 22-24
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me . . .
For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Discover: Underline all the terms Paul uses about the bad in him. In a different way mark what he says about the good in him.
Discuss: How would you summarize Paul’s problem?
Discover: Who does Paul say is doing the wrong things? Where in this passage does Paul acknowledge his new identity in Christ?
Reflect: Is there any sin that seems to hold you trapped or hinder you from living as a new creation in Christ?
Even though Paul is a new creation, he still experiences sin’s power in his life. He desires to do good, but does not have the ability to carry it out, so he feels trapped. His flesh and “members” or parts of his mortal body keep acting the way they were before he came to Christ.
Share: Are there ways in which you relate to his frustration?
WE ARE SET FREE THROUGH CHRIST
Discuss: How can sin or guilt keep us from embracing our new identity?
Failing to live as the new creation that God says we are can be discouraging. Some people respond by trying harder or setting up rules to follow, but inevitably end up feeling guilt and shame when they sin. Others may just give up, doubting whether they are saved. Paul shares good news for us all in Romans 7:25 and 8:1.
Romans 7:25, 8:1
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Discover: If we are in Christ Jesus, what does God say about us even if we sin?
Reflect: In what way is this freeing to you?
Another way we are set free is that we are not trapped in our old identity. We can change! Since we are united with Christ, we share in His victory over sin, and sin’s power in our lives is broken. Read Romans 6:6-8.
Romans 6:6-8
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
Discover: What was done to the old self to enable us to live victoriously in Christ?
Reflect: What does this mean for the sin that makes you feel trapped?
Discuss: How can knowing that sin – past, present, or future – no longer has power over you free you to live
differently?
Here is an illustration of what happened:
1. Old sinful self, who is a slave to sin, is joined with Christ in His crucifixion. Christ’s death fully pays for our sin, so sin has no more claim on us.
2. Old sinful self is buried with Christ.
3. New self is raised with Christ. Christ’s victory over death and sin enables us to live free from sin’s power. We can reject sin’s demands.
Reflect: What could make it difficult for us to believe we are dead to sin?
Discuss: If the old self has died, why do we still sin?
In Romans 6:2 Paul asks us to consider: “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” The problem is that we have old habits and we are used to being a slave to sin. When sin urges us, “You want to, you have to do this!” we go along as we always have and give in to sin’s temptation.
Romans 6:2
By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Share: How do you feel when you respond to situations or people with your old self rather than the new self?
WE HAVE A CHOICE ABOUT SIN
The old self did not have a choice; sin was its master. Praise God, the new self has been set free. Since we share in Christ’s victorious power over sin we can choose not to give in to sin’s temptations and commands. See Romans 6:12-13. [NOTE: “Members” are parts of our body that we use as “instruments” or tools to do what is good or bad.]
Romans 6:12-13
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
Reflect: When you give in to the temptation to sin, what are you allowing to have power in your life?
Discover: What choices do we need to make to keep sin from “reigning” or controlling us?
Reflect: When you sin, to what are you giving control of the part of your body that is involved? (For example, when
you say something unkind, what did you allow your tongue to obey?) What is the alternative?
When we are tempted, here is what we can choose:
1. “Do not let sin reign.” Reject sin. It is not your master.
2. “Present yourself to God.” Choose to let God control what you do.
Since we are in Christ and have died to sin, we can refuse to let sin take control again. Instead, we can choose God’s way and give ourselves to Him, relying on His power to defeat sin in us and produce the right response. Choosing to live as the new self is also compared to choosing what you will wear: will you put on old, dirty clothes or the new, clean ones Christ has provided for you? Read Ephesians 4:22-24.
Ephesians 4:22-24
[You were taught in Jesus] to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Discover: How is the new self described?
Reflect: When you are tempted to sin, what “clothing” choice must you make?
Discover: What needs to happen in our minds to help us put on our new self?
Discuss: How does understanding your new identity help you reject sin?
We have long-established habits of responding to people and circumstances with our “old self,” so now we must learn new habits. We do this by “being renewed in the spirit of our minds” as we refocus our lives on the truth of God’s Word.
Keep reminding yourself of who you are in Christ and that you have been re-born to live through God’s power “in the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Focusing on truth helps us see how empty sin’s promises are, and over time they become less desirable.
GOD PROVIDES THE POWER TO LIVE AS A NEW CREATION
We also need to learn to rely on God’s power to resist sin and put on the new self. Romans 8:10-11 tells how God has provided the power we need.
Romans 8:10-11
But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Discover: What is the source of the new life in you?
Reflect: God is powerful enough to have raised Jesus from the dead. His Spirit now lives in you (Ephesians 1:13). Is there anything that keeps you from believing He is powerful enough to enable you to resist sin and walk in the new self?
When you face temptation, thank God that you are alive in Christ and that sin does not have power over you. Then present yourself to God and depend on Him to enable you to resist sin and live in your new identity.
God gave His Spirit to live in us so that we could live as He designed. When we discuss the Holy Spirit and His role in our lives we will discover more about how He is involved in enabling us to walk as the new self.
As we live in our new identity, we will want to tell other people about what God has done in our lives. That is our discussion for next time. But today, what would you like to tell God in response to what He has done for you?
Take a few minutes together in prayer to share your thoughts with God.
GOING FORWARD
Clarify: What thoughts or questions do you have?
Summarize: When you see yourself living as the old self, what can you do?
Action steps: Where do you see the need to apply this in your life?
Share: With whom could you share the steps of putting on the new self?
Reinforce:
As you read these passages, think about what your life will be like as you choose to rely on God to enable you to live in newness of life.
Romans 6:1-14
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Ephesians 4:17-24
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
2 Peter 1:1-9
Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
Romans 8:1-17, 26-39
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him . . .
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Colossians 3:12-17
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
