Freedom in Christ: Introduction

The apostle Paul exclaimed, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” and answered his own question with a joyful prayer, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom.7:24, 25). He was proclaiming the fact that God set us free from this body that is subject to sin and death when he sent His Son for our salvation, and we responded by believing and receiving him. Why then do we still experience struggles such as Paul described in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”?  He wants to obey Jesus, but there is a struggle going on within him.

Paul explains this conflict by the concept of our “old self.”  Writing to new Christians, he says: “… you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” (Eph. 2:1-2) We were all spiritually dead before we believed and received Christ. The sin nature was being formed in ways unique to each of us because our DNA is unique, and the circumstances of our lives growing up were unique. Paul calls this spiritually dead self the “old self.”

The bad news is that we are, in many ways, the same person we were before we received Christ. We have the same biological DNA, many of the same behavior patterns, and the same Social Security number. The good news is that we now have a new spiritual identity. John says that, “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12).  We now have the spiritual DNA of our heavenly Father, but as with any new-born baby we need to grow. Paul, continuing his letter to those new Christians in Ephesus says, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Eph. 4: 22-24). This process of putting on the new self is just getting to know who you really are in Christ and living accordingly. It will be the subject of my next post.