Chapter Eighteen "Put On the New Man"

CHAPTER 18

PUT ON THE NEW MAN

We are living in this existence INSIDE OUT thanks to Adam and Eve.  Note, this following text, which  is in Geneses 6:3, is implying this, which I have commented on in other writings, "we BECAME Flesh," is linked to this idea of our being inside out.  As I have said many other times the use of the word flesh isn’t in this case referring to our skin bodies, we already were in a skin body, in the context of this verse in Geneses.  Flesh in that Geneses text can and should be linked to..."And every imagination of their hearts were evil continually."  Remember, the flesh, this living soul, was to be the channel through which our human spirits were to express its self.  At the fall of humanity, the human spirit was cut off, and the living soul, this flesh, began to “act independent” (sin) from God through their now dormant spirit.  You hear this in Paul’s comments, “having BEGUN by the spirit, are you now brought to maturity by the flesh?”  Our origin expression was as I have said, in this order, human spirit, in a body, expressing its self through a living soul of intellect, emotions, and a free will that would surrender always to the intellect, emotions of this human spirit which ALWAYS follows the will of its Father, God.  You understand what John meant in I John 3:9 “Whosever is born of God doeth not commit sin; for His seed (human spirit) remaineth  in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”  (How many times is this single verse misunderstood!).

 Getting passed any idea of the word evil, see it this way.  Every imagination of their thoughts, plans, and opinions had come to exclude any idea of God...His thoughts, purposes, and each did what was consider right in their own mind...God was not being consulted.  That is the nature of true evil.  We are falling into that state again as predicted, “as it was in the days of Noah.”

 Now to my point of this article and what I meant by our being INSIDE OUT.  This is what you might call a paradox; it means: ...”a statement that seems contrary to common sense yet is perhaps true.”  So, for the moment throw out your common sense to which we in the FLESH are used to hearing or seeing, and hear what I have learned, and experienced, in the paragraphs that follow.     

 "Come on Paul, we are INSIDE OUT?"  What do you mean by inside out?"

We are commanded to "Work out something in us, and in doing so, though it would produce  fear and trembling, it would be our deliverance.   The religious text called it working out our “salvation”.  I won't use that word here because it is DEAD, thanks to religion.    What NEW WORD would bring this alive?  (Something I am asking as I type this and now wait for an answer....not from my mind or yours)

Waiting; here is what I got: “Working out that which has been hidden under the mask of what is termed "the Flesh” which is The mask of perception.”

We look in a mirror and make judgments, form opinions and thoughts of what we see.    Beyond our common senses we read that we are being re‑newed day by day, yet what we see contradicts what we read in a biblical text.  We see "the outward man decaying."  Is this outward man decaying?  Yes, we would reply.   Paul (the Apostle) made this observation in the early writings of his experience.  Later on he discovers something greater and changes in this view which he observed with his eyes and common senses.  Hear what he said,

 "Put ON the inward man."

 "What?  How do you put on the inward man?"

 Now understand, we know that there is a coming resurrection where this corruptible will take on incorruption that THE DEAD in Christ will gain.  But did Paul see something that would benefit us here and now, something in the form of longevity of life? 

I have no doubt that Paul did see this.  He had so wanted to know Christ (the anointing) and its power and resurrection ability through what the man Jesus had accomplished, that he taps into it and begins its experience.  The expression of his experience is seen throughout his writings.  Of course there were those in his day and now in our day that totally misunderstood what it was that Paul saw and was experiencing.  We call it religion.  Paul had not wanted to produce just another religion.  He had enough of this just battling the dead letter of Judaism of his day.  Why would he want to have just produced another religion to content with; hundreds of religions with divisions within each.

 So back to the question that I raised, “Can we put on this inward man?”  I want to give you Kenneth Wuest’s Expanded Greek Translation of Paul the Apostles statement in Rom. 12:1-2, then share with you my personal experience of this text…. “I therefore beg of you, please, brethren, through the instrumentality of the aforementioned mercies of God, by a once-for-all presentation to place your bodies at the disposal of God, a sacrifice, a living one, a holy one, well pleasing, your rational, sacred service, (rational, in that this service is performed by the exercise of the mind).  And STOP ASSUMING AN OUTWARD EXPRESSION THAT DOES NOT COME FROM WITHIN YOU and is not representative of what you are IN YOUR INNER BEING, but is patterned after this age; but change your outward expression (Metamorphose) to one that comes from within and representative of your INNER BEING, …(How?)…by the renewing of your mind, resulting in your putting to the test what is the will of God, the good and well-pleasing and complete will, and having found that it meets specifications, place your approval upon it.”

Being 69 years old at the time of this writing, I understand what it meant by the outward man decaying.  I see it in the mirror and find that I fight this image that I see.  I do not want to go with the world’s ideas of dealing with this or accepting it.  I longed for, as Paul the Apostle longed for, the power that God had offered to us through the resurrection of Jesus and to know that power now in my time of deepest need.  One year ago, I had said to my family that I was going to raise the roof on my house.  I was told that I was too old to do such a thing.  I fought this at their disapproval.  One year later, winning this battle, not necessarily against them but against this OUTWARD IMAGE I saw in the mirror, one year later I simply went up on my roof and started removing it; two months later it was completed.  How did I do this?  With the strength of the INWARD MAN and the assistance of my son Eric, who at this time is in the strength of his youth, which one day will dwindle and learn what I demonstrated to him…PUT ON the inward man, once the outward man fails, and the strength of youth is gone.  I can say to those of you who are reading this, that what I teach I practice, and have found that what appeared as a paradox, ”statement that seems contrary to common sense yet is perhaps true,”  IS TRUE.  If I had listened to common sense, it would have not happened and this article would not have been written.  If I have went with the fear and trembling that came with my attempting to PUT ON THE INWARD MAN, the roof would still need to be raised and the truth of Paul’s experience would not have been known by me.   God Bless…Paul