Becoming What We Are

Last time we talked a little bit about the sanctifying work of God in our lives. In other words, God sets us apart for Himself for His special and Holy purposes. We discovered in I Thessalonians 5:23 that every part of our being – body, soul, and spirit are set apart for God.

What’s interesting in the Bible is that we are also told to sanctify ourselves. That is what God told Joshua to tell the people. Another thing that adds somewhat to confusion over this topic is that sometimes the Bible speaks as though the sanctifying work is done and sometimes it tells us to do it.

Look for example at Colossians 3:9,10. “…seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” There you have the statement of accomplished fact. We are supposed to behave in certain ways because we have put off the old self.

However, if you look at Ephesians 4:22. In this verse we are told “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life.” So here we are to do something that Colossians tells us we have already done.

You can see a similar comparison in Galatians 5:24 and Colossians 3:5. In Galatians we have crucified the flesh and in Colossians we are supposed to put to death our members.

For whatever it’s worth, here’s my opinion. When we come to faith in Christ many things take place instantaneously. Among those things is the fact that we are dead, buried and raised with Christ. We also have been made righteous in God’s sight. We have forgiveness of our sins. Old things are passed away and all things have become new. All of that is a positional fact based upon what Christ did for us on the cross. However, not all of this has evidenced itself in the way we live out our lives. Therefore we have a challenge. Because the old self has been crucified with Christ we are to make that real in our life by putting to death those deeds that relate to the old self. Since we have put off the sins of the flesh through our union with Christ, we are to make that real in life by putting off the things that related to that condemned nature.

We’ll talk more about that in the days ahead, but this is the source of victory in our lives. Instead of trying to reach some ideal state in order to be right with God and to please Him, we’ve already been placed in a position of being right with God. There’s no condemnation. Now it’s a matter of working out what we already are.