The New Man

The book of Ephesians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul primarily to gentile believers who had recently accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Paul told them they were now accepted into God's family and redeemed from a life of sin to serve the living God. In chapter four Paul tells these new believers that they are to put off the old man and put on the new man. How do we do this?

The "old man" Paul is talking about is our fleshly nature. That’s the part of us that wants to sin and rebel against God. We are to put off the old man. We do this by making a quality decision to no longer cater to the desires of the fleshly nature. The same way someone would take off an old ragged jacket that no longer serves any useful purpose, we put off the old man, whose identity is in rebelling against God.

Then, we are to put on the new man. How do we do that? By making a quality decision to obey God and whatever His word tells us to do. The same way someone would decide to put on a beautiful new jacket given to us by a friend, we can put on the new man. It starts with a decision to follow God with our whole heart. Our identity is no longer with the old man, but with the new man who is created in Christ Jesus to do good works. It starts with a decision, but the power necessary to maintain this decision has to come from God. We don’t have the power in ourselves to consistently put on the new man, but by surrendering our lives daily to Jesus, His power helps us to put on the new man.

Submit, Then Resist

1 Peter 5:8 refers to the devil as “our adversary,” whom we are to resist, steadfast in the faith.  How does one resist the devil?  James 4:7 says, “Submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”  Some make the mistake of trying to resist the devil without doing the first part of this verse.  It is only by submitting our lives to the Lord that we have power to resist the schemes of the devil.  When we submit to God, we are saying, “God, I choose to obey You and obey Your word.”  Submitting to God is the first step in resisting the devil.

Webster’s dictionary defines “resist” as “to withstand and remain strong against the force of something.”  To remain strong against the forces of the devil takes the power of God.  Human strength will only go so far.  We need God’s power to withstand the devil.  In Luke 10:19 Jesus said, “Behold I give you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.”  Jesus has given His followers authority to use His Name to withstand and remain strong against all the forces of darkness.

Another aspect of resisting the devil is to keep a humble heart.  James 4:6 says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  The devil started out as “the anointed cherub or angel” who became so prideful he thought he could overthrow God.  When we get lifted up in pride, we are following satan (and God resists the proud).  But if we will humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, He will be our help and strength.  If the believer in Jesus will submit to God, and resist evil using Jesus’ name and authority, the devil will surely flee from us.