Lesson 61 September 7, 2003
b. The Duty of the New life; 4:22-24
- the overview
- Particulars overviewed vs:25-32 [flows out of OSN]
Characteristics of :
|
Old Life (put off) |
New Life (Put on) |
|
falsehood |
truth |
|
uncontrolled anger |
controlled anger, R indignation |
|
yielding to Satan |
resisting, giving no opportunity |
|
stealing |
honest labor |
|
unwholesome speaking |
edifying speech |
|
grieving the H/S |
not grieving the H/S |
|
bitterness/wrath/anger/ |
be kind to one another, |
|
clamor/slander/malice |
forgiving one another |
- These 3 verses really revolve around 3 infinitives; action words here are verbals; [ptc's and inf's]
- Notice the sequence:
vs:22 "lay aside" Aorist decisive action
vs:23 "be renewed" Present constant day in day out
vs:24 "put on" Aorist decisive action
- I think it's significant that sandwiched between the decisive act of putting off and the putting on is the constant renewing of the mind, an emphasis on the importance of the growth process needed to live the CWOL.
** Point is this; if your not learning, taking in the Word of God regularly, and being changed in the way you think, in what you believe, you can forget about the way you conduct yourself;
W/O BD, truth, your conduct will be nothing but human good and legalism, you will be responding to some external standard, you will do or not do some things because of a perception that, well, Christians just don't do those things, not because your convinced in your own mind that it is or isn't the right thing to do because that's what the Word of God teaches and it is your desire to honor and please your Savior.
- The third imperatival inf. says, "put on the new man"
"new"
- What are we as believers? New creations? or fabrications? Eph 2:10; 2 Cor 5:17
- This new man is said to have been created in the likeness of God;
- This creation of God is according to 2 essential qualities!
"righteousness and holiness" God is perfect R and holiness;
- Paul summarizes the CWOL in Rom. 13:14 where he commands us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ!
How do we accomplish the putting on? How did we find that Christ dwells within the believer? "through faith" Eph 3:17
- Point is that we are to be in practice what we are positionally as believers.
That's what Paul is trying to get across to us here and he is going to give us the info, the truth we need to know to be able to make the right choices to make this happen.