Old Man/New Man/The Flesh

Romans 11 talks about two trees. One is a wild tree by nature and the other is a good olive tree. And the Bible says, we have been cut off from the wild tree and grafted into the good olive tree (Romans 11:24). We know the wild tree stands for Adam and the good olive tree stands for Christ. The scripture says these two trees are contrary in nature. When we were in the old tree, we had a different style of life, and the Bible describes it as ‘old man’. The distinguishing character of the ‘old man’ is that it wants to sin.

We have another condition in us called, ‘the flesh’. What does it mean to be called ‘the flesh’? It does not mean your skin tissue, as when we refer to a flesh wound. It is also not talking about your physical body as a whole. What it means by the flesh is man's sinful nature. New Testament regularly uses the word flesh to refer to man's fallenness, our natural rebellion against our Maker. This is our nature that we have inherited from the fall of Adam. I came across this definition that I thought defined the flesh well. “[The Flesh] is a compulsive inner force inherited from man’s fall, which expresses itself in general and specific rebellion against God and His righteousness.”

Let’s consider the ‘old man’ to be the gate keeper of the mind. When ‘the flesh’ wants to do things which are enmity with God’s will and rebellion against God’s commandments, the old man permits the mind to act in tune with the desire of the flesh. Bible says in James 1:15 “Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death”. The things of the flesh are the things that are against the will of God, they are things of sin. We are given a list of things of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies.”. So before the conversion, the old man and the flesh walked hand in hand with each other.

When we surrender our life to Christ, the first thing happens is our old man gets crucified with all it’s lust (Romans 6:6). Old man cannot be converted, neither it can be reformed or revived, it can only be replaced. Holy Spirit does a great work in us, that we are raised from our spiritual death (Ephesians 2:1). We were dead in our trespasses and transgressions that lead to the death of our spirit. But when we surrendered our life to Him, our spirit was resurrected from its deadness. Spiritual death is separation from God. The scriptures teach of two sources of spiritual death. The first source is the Fall of Adam, and the second is our own disobedience. Spiritual death can be overcome through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and by obedience to His gospel.

Now we need to define some terms here, because it’s very important. You’ll notice in Colossians 3:9 the term “the old man,” and in verse 10, the term “the new man;” the old man and the new man. Now these have provided a theological discussion that has run through the ages: What is the old man, and what is the new man? Do we still have the old man, or do we just have the new man? Are we a combination of the old man and the new man, and fighting along with each other, trying to give the more acquiescence to the new man? Just exactly how do these things come together in a simple theological sense?

Thomas Goodwin has a beautiful statement. He says this: “There are but two men, there are but two men seen standing before God: Adam and Jesus Christ. And these two men have all other men hanging at their belts.” End quote. These two men have all other men hanging at their belts. You’re either in Adam or you’re in Christ, right? You’re either an old man or a new man. You’re either unsaved or you’re saved. If you have a new man and an old man, then you have a regenerated part and an unregenerated part. In other words, you’re half saved, and half lost. That doesn’t make any sense, does it? Because it says in Colossians 2:10, “In Christ, you are complete.”

Is salvation whole? Is it total? Are you a new creation? Yes. So, you’re not half regenerated and half unregenerated. You’re not a new regenerate man and an old unregenerate man warring against each other. There’s a war in there, but it isn’t between the old creature and the new creature, because you’re just a new creature.