Join us as we unravel the profound yet often misunderstood concept of the ‘old man’ in Christian theology. By examining Paul’s teachings in Romans, we uncover the distinction between our natural humanity and the spiritual life offered through faith in Christ. This episode challenges common misconceptions and emphasizes the freedom and common sense that comes with understanding the sacrifice of Jesus as our divine representative.
So here we are in Romans chapter 6, and we’re at verse 6, where Paul says, Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Now, this is very interesting. It’s strange as well. And, you know, I’m not sure how I can explain it to you, but I see the book of Romans in a very different way now from how I saw it when I first started teaching this book decades ago. I still saw the gospel in it decades ago, but I see it with a difference now. You see, I thought Paul was simply talking atomistically, shall I say, and that is his own personal experience. And he was simply talking about his having been, let’s see, how does it say, that his old man had been crucified with Christ. What I didn’t understand then, and I do now, I think, is that Paul is talking about the whole of humanity. Paul is talking about humanity in a personal way so that we get it personally, but it applies to all humanity. Well, let’s go on, and then we’ll perhaps see that more. Knowing this… What do we know? That’s what you and I have to ask ourselves as Christians. Because, you see, we live in a fallen world, and we are part of that fallen world. We have a broken-down human nature, a sinful human nature. a nature that is corrupted. And so the inclination of our hearts and our minds is downward. It’s towards sin. It’s towards misery. It’s towards evil, towards other people and to ourselves and before God, because we are in a state of suppression, as Paul says in chapter 1 of Romans verse 18. But now we’ve seen Jesus Christ. Christ has revealed himself to us. God sent his Son to reveal himself to the world and to reveal the Father to the world through his Son. And so something has happened to some of us, not all of us at this point. You see, Paul is talking with two voices. He is reminding us that as one man brought sin and death into the world, Adam, so one man brings righteousness and life to the world, Christ. As one man brings about death to everyone, so one man brings life to everyone. That’s the good news that we’re looking at here, you see. So, in general terms, he’s talking about all the world, but then he gets specific about himself and about Christians who know something. What is it we know? That our old man was crucified with him. Now, what is this old man? Well, it’s our human nature. It’s the whole of us. It is this humanity that is all broken down, that goes in the wrong direction when we want it to go in another direction. This humanity… that would not naturally lift its heart up to God, but naturally go down into the ways of Satan, that humanity of ours, that’s what we are, was crucified with him. Well, you say, that sounds weird, ridiculous. I wasn’t there even. We’re talking about 2,000 years ago at the cross. How could I be crucified with him? And this is where you have to understand the background that Paul is talking about Jesus as a representative for the whole of humanity. Now look, we have recently seen, or today, we have seen the inauguration of a new president. That president represents now the country. Whether we like him or not, that’s not the issue. I’m not being political here. I’m simply saying that a person represents the whole. Many, many times we know this. You may have a favorite football team, and you say, we won. And you say, we? Well, we weren’t on the football field, were we? But we won because our team represented us. This is what it means when we talk about Jesus as being the representative. What Jesus did for the world was to take the judgment of the world upon himself. And that means that you and I, by faith, are no longer under that judgment. It’s as if our natural humanity had already been executed. You see, Jesus’ death was not simply the death of a natural death. Obviously it wasn’t. It was a crucifixion. But it was an execution. It was an execution for crime. We are the criminals. We are the ones who have suppressed the image of God in us, and we have gone our own way and followed idols, and ultimately that means the dehumanization of every human being. That’s what our problem is, and that’s what our old man is. That old man then is now counted as if it had been executed because Jesus, the representative of the human race, the sort of spiritual president of all humanity, was executed on our behalf. Now there are some people who turn this into insanity, because what they do is to say, oh well, there’s an old man and there’s a new man in me, and the old man now is crucified. Well, it’s supposed to be anyway, they say, but I haven’t succeeded in crucifying it yet, but if I keep working at it, I’ll be able to finally kill it off. and they go into all kinds of spiritual insanity. This is what I call religious neurosis. And they try to kill off their old man. And they go on fasts, and they go into rituals, and they go into extensive meditation. And what they’re trying to do is eliminate that old man that exists in them. You can see, can’t you, how absolutely erroneous that is. Paul is not talking about an old man in us, like a part of us, while we have the new man also in us, that other part. He’s not talking about a divided humanity. The old man is our human nature, our humanity. and it is crucified, but not in itself. It is crucified in Christ who represents us before the Father. So this, you see, is Paul identifying by faith with Jesus Christ. This is one of the most amazing and intimate verses you will find anywhere in the Bible. Because this is Paul feeling or knowing that he is so close to Jesus, rather more accurately, Jesus is so close to him that Jesus is identifying with Paul. Now look, you and I need to say, Jesus is identifying with me. I’m not simply identifying with Jesus, because that would be an eternity’s work, and I may not be able to do it in this world totally, and I certainly will not be able to do it to identify totally with him. There are people who try to do this. There are crazy people in the Philippines, for instance, I mentioned this the other day, who actually get on a cross and nail themselves to it during the Easter season. It’s insanity. It is utterly false religion. They try to identify with Jesus. The faith life is that Jesus identifies with me. You say, well, Colin, how could he identify with me? I’m a sinner. But that’s precisely the point. That’s why he died. He died a sinner. And this gives you and me the courage to go forward. We are faced every day with our utter corruption. Well, if you’re in reality, you’re faced with your corruption. If you’re in delusion, you think you’re an angel about to go to heaven if you don’t overshoot. But the truth is, that Jesus has said, I know how messed up you are, Colin, and I am going to identify with you and take all the judgment that you deserve, and I’m going to take it upon myself. And that is how and why Jesus died on the cross. So you and I, on a daily basis, lift up our heart before God and we say, Jesus, thank you so much for identifying with me to the extent that you took my judgment. Thank you that I’m free from judgment, even though I’m a sinner still. You see then, that your old man that is crucified with him, that’s not a psychological reality, because if you think it is that, then you’re going to go into this religious neurosis where you’re trying to spiritually kill yourself. and it is absolutely sick. Don’t try it. But when you, by faith, lift up your heart, and you say, oh Jesus, thank you so much, that the burden of guilt, the sense of judgment that I feel I should take, is not upon me anymore. You took it. And as you speak this way to God, you begin to experience a freedom in your spirit that enables you to move forward with some common sense. You understand what I mean by common sense. Common sense only comes to people of faith because men and women without faith are ridden with guilt and shame. And if you’re ridden with guilt and shame, you can never think in a common sense way. You’re always evaluating the world and how you look before people and how other people look before you with loads of guilt and shame. You’re thinking, how do I look? What do they think of me? Whatever will they think of me if they knew what I do? Or you are evaluating them. They’re no good. They’re stupid. They’re useless. And you’re contemptuous of other people because guilt and shame are floating around in your mind and heart, and you’re evaluating yourself that way, and so you have no common sense at all. But when it comes to faith, we then can look at ourselves and say, I know I’m a sinner, but my Savior Jesus has taken my judgment. And so my old man, the natural humanity that I am in, is finished. It’s condemned, and it has been executed. Now, you notice that Paul uses the word old man. Don’t use the word old in the sense of time. Well, that was my old man a year ago when I was converted, but now I no longer have an old man because I’m converted. No, the old man is simply your natural humanity in one way of looking at it, in one sphere of existence. But you are now resurrected with Christ. And so you have a new humanity. And that humanity is the way you look at things through the eyes of Jesus Christ. So don’t get bowled over by false teaching about, I was this years ago, but now I’m this now. Rather, I’m in myself, an old man, but that’s not reckoned against me anymore because I’m crucified in him. And now I’m in Christ, and I have a new humanity. Thanks for listening today. Colin Cook here. You can hear this program on your smartphone any time of the day or night. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in how it happens with Colin Cook when you get there. Thanks so much for all your support and I’ll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
