A New Self
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.
Eph 4:20–24
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A New Self
The old Adam in us wants to have his way with our lives. And too often, we allow him free reign. But God has given us a remedy through His Holy Spirit. In Baptism, the old, sinful nature is drowned. Through daily repentance, the Christian battles against its resurfacing. We are given a new self, we are reborn, which happens in Baptism and continues daily. In the Early Church, candidates for Baptism stripped and were baptized naked, after which they were clothed in white. This pictured the removal of the sinful nature and the re-clothing with Christ in Baptism, and the image of God man was originally created in the garden. We are continuously re-created through Baptism in the image of God's righteousness and holiness. This new man now arises and lives not for self but for God and neighbor. As an early church father put it, “In the heart, contrition; in the mouth, confession; in the work, entire humility”
Eph 4:20–24
+
A New Self
The old Adam in us wants to have his way with our lives. And too often, we allow him free reign. But God has given us a remedy through His Holy Spirit. In Baptism, the old, sinful nature is drowned. Through daily repentance, the Christian battles against its resurfacing. We are given a new self, we are reborn, which happens in Baptism and continues daily. In the Early Church, candidates for Baptism stripped and were baptized naked, after which they were clothed in white. This pictured the removal of the sinful nature and the re-clothing with Christ in Baptism, and the image of God man was originally created in the garden. We are continuously re-created through Baptism in the image of God's righteousness and holiness. This new man now arises and lives not for self but for God and neighbor. As an early church father put it, “In the heart, contrition; in the mouth, confession; in the work, entire humility”
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