Something Old, Something New! –nc

netchaplain

netchaplain

Our emotions are what we feel but our nature is what causes the type of reactions to the emotions, what we do concerning them. The nature of individuals is the predominant attribute which determines their essence and quality. This is why the addition of the new nature, because the old one doesn't change in that "it is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Rom 8:7).​

The "new man" (Eph 4:24; Col 3:10) is not an entity or person, but a nature, and this is what makes us different from what we where, because it now makes us "partakers of the divine nature" (1 Pet 1:4). The new man, or nature, is what I believe the Spirit uses in our life to be "transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor 3:18). The image God is transforming us into is Christ's image (Rom 8:29). The Spirit's continual application of Christ's crucifixion power to our old nature frees us live more by the new nature than by the old. We still serve sin (Rom 7:25) but not like before, as a slave under a ruler (Rom 6:12, 14).

I believe scripture teaches us that human nature is sinful. I believe since Christ's incarnation was by the Spirit, He could not inherit man's nature, as we do--from Adam. He didn't come to use what He finds but what He brings. The new nature is a creation from God (Eph 4:24; Col 3:10) and I believe that it is through this the Spirit "makes us partakers of the divine nature".
 
This is a great article, can only thank God for my new and stronger nature, So I can be a conquerer in life rather than con.quered by life
 
Thanks again for your complements Pancakes and I really like your ID image!!

It's no longer our life but Christ's life doing the living in us. "I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:20).

We can struggle, kick and be confused but since we're yoked with Christ (Mat 11:29), He ensures our life will parallel His. Its what I call the "Magoo" factor because He will not let us remain cast down. "As He is, so are we in this world" (1John 4:17).
 
If you have a peaceful spirit (peaceful nature), then God's Spirit can witness to your spirit...

Romans 8:16 "it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God".

"His spirit in the inner man".

Even when John the Baptist was preaching, people still used books, etc. for devotion in order to FORCE themselves to have a heavenly lifestyle (they took the kingdom by force)....

Matthew 11:12
"From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force".

.....but Jesus also left God's Spirit to teach us to have the attitude/character/nature that we should WANT to do what is right....

Ephesians 3:16
"his Spirit in the inner man".

...then we can have a clear conscience everyday.....

Hebrews 9:14
"purify your conscience".

The blood of Jesus only cleansed us from "sin" (violations of Mosaic law). Now there is no more "spiritual" sin, JESUS is THE final, genuine, and permanent (everlasting) cleansing.

Spiritually, there is NO SUCH THING as "sin" anymore (the word "sin" has no spiritual value/significance anymore, the word is now only SECULAR and REFERS to 'bad deed'/wrongdoing).

Hebrews 10:2
"If the worshipers had once been cleansed, they would no longer have any consciousness of sin".

The Jews did not have permanent and genuine cleansing (because Jesus hadn't come yet, their cleansing was temporary, it had to be repeated every year),...and it really did not have any soul-redeeming value), but we do have the true cleansing....(and it is FINAL/everlasting)....

Hebrews 10:4
"For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins".

....so, as far as "sin", we are in the clear....PERIOD.

FOR US JESUS WORSHIPPERS, "sin" simply does not exist anymore.......(for all who don't claim/acknowledge Jesus as "savior", of course it does, but they're going to perish anyway).

So now that we need not ever be concerned again with such a thing as "sin", our devotion/worship should depend ONLY on having a deeper, stronger, closer, and more sincere RELATIONSHIP with God (being reconnected with Him intimately) so that OUR nature/spirit is compatible with HIS SPIRIT (a "MATURE" relationship).

The doctrine/teaching about Jesus ("doctrine of Christ"/gospel) has been DONE/FINALIZED/ACCOMPLISHED ("repentance" happened when we came to Christ), now we must move on to MATURITY (and have JESUS as our foundation instead of REPENTANCE as a foundation).

We sometimes might WANT to do things that are good and righteous (depending on our mood, God does not want us to be a hypocrite or doormat), but we should not do good deeds AS PART OF DEVOTION.

.....OUR EFFORTS will not and CANNOT bring us closer to God!....neither should we give ANYBODY special treatment ("SHOW partiality") to ANYONE (including brethren in Christ).....as a means of devotion/worship....(be partial to close family/friend relations as to your preference, but not as devotion)......"For God is not so unjust....." (Hebrews 6:10).

James 2:1
"My brethren, show no partiality".

Since the doctrine of Christ ("Christ and Him crucified") has been DONE/accomplished, we must move on (go "ahead") to a "mature" devotion, not doing righteous deeds (these are done for a "repentance" foundation and are "DEAD works"), nor should our faith be simply believing that GOD EXISTS ("faith TOWARD God",.....we should now have a "faith for faith" (Romans 1:17) and believe that God is loving kind........He is a REWARDER, not a punisher,....(don't resent/fear His reproach, let Him teach you the error of YOUR WAY whenever HE has decided it's necessary).

2 John 1:9
"Any one who goes ahead and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God; he who abides in the doctrine has both the Father and the Son".

....we must still "abide" in it, but not BASE our DEVOTION/WORSHIP on it (limiting our worship relationship).

A mature devotion depends on having a pure heart that can truly FEEL sorrow (the precursor of LOVE.....God is LOVE) instead of a "heart of stone" (the flesh is not innately evil, it's just the human/mortal WEAKNESS).

Ezekiel 11:19
"And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh".

....and with this heart of flesh that can feel the SENTIMENT of sorrow (a person can have many 'EMOTIONS') "living water" will flow from your heart....(like the woman that wiped Jesus's feet with HER living water, Luke 7:44)

John 7:38
"He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water"'.

.....this is the water that the Holy Spirit uses to baptize/consecrate the INNER TEMPLE to the OUTER TEMPLE THIS is the REAL "water baptism" (John 2:21, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19),....MAN does not and cannot do it.....the ONLY baptism ("one lord, one faith, one baptism", Ephesians 4:5).

...so that we "neither thirst" (Revelation 7:16).

...."Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God" (Hebrews 6:1).

......and this we MUST do in order to be a SON OF GOD instead of only a "saint" that has salvation (you do want to experience the "BETTER THINGS that belong to salvation", don't you?).

So, know God as "Abba Father" (NOT "MASTER") so that you can be a SON of His......

Romans 8:15
"For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!".

There is much more to the "depths of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10), but the "solid food" that is for the "mature" will enable you to receive the "anointing" (Hebrews 5:14 and 2 John 1:9).

My verses are from the RSV (the Revised Standard Version is the most accurate and explanatory version). Since you may not have one, I'll show the blueletterbible link.

We must WALK/journey with Jesus on a STREET.

...and for the "saints" who are simply satisfied with salvation alone, the Spirit does not agree with the BLOOD ONLY, but the "spirit AND the blood"

http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=these three agree&t=RSV&sf=5

Acts 9:11 ""Rise and go to the street called Straight" (the JEWS were to aim for the "strait GATE").

All verses are from the RSV.
 
IsraelsONEhusband, greetings and may God's blessings be to you unhindered.

Your zeal for God is encouraging and thank you for your reply. The primary issue of this thread is twofold: it is in reference to "the new man", by which I believe the Spirit works in us to "conform us to Christ's image" (Rom 8:29) and is also in reference to "the old man", which still resides in the Christian and is in constant opposition with the Spirit "so that ye cannot do the things that ye would" (Gal 5:17).

To share with you concerning "the inner man", I would like to begin with Paul's teaching that, "There is a natural (physical) body, and there is a spiritual (our spirit) body" (1 Cor 15:44). I believe this is supported by "though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day" (2 Cor 4:16). The daily renewal within our spirit, which I believe is our inner man, is performed by the Spirit ; "to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man (our spirit)" (Eph 3:16).

Our spirit or inner man, is joined with "the new man", which is not a person but the nature of a Person--Christ, and this is how we are "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet 1:4), by the Spirit through the new nature.
 
......and Greetings to you netchaplain,

The "inner man" of the Athenians caused them to hear Paul's speech with great interest ("We will hear you again about this", though skeptics were present also).

....(starting at verse 20).

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Act&c=17&v=1&t=RSV#1

....(the Areopagus is still there AND has a plaque on it containing Paul's speech,....yes, the speech was much appreciated by the Athenians).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areopagus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areopagus_sermon

No doubt the Athenians grew up on the teachings about 'Socratic truth' and learned to admire the noble qualities of peace, truth, justice, etc. as being of divine origin ("good, and right, and true", Ephesians 5:8.....are very redeeming qualities for the "inner man").

2 Thessalonians 2:6
"because they refused to LOVE the truth AND SO BE SAVED"....but also....all objective truth in the universe is/leads to "JESUS", John 14:6.

......(unfortunately, many believers all throughout history have learned to only LIKE the truth).

Because truth is such an important quality to have/know, God had Pilate 'say' (as a rhetorical question) to Jesus John 18:38 "What is truth?" so that if we look closely, we will notice that the OBJECTIVE truth about Jesus's innocence was declared by the state and that Jesus was sent to the cross because of the SUBJECTIVE "TRUTH" of the rioting crowds that were stirred by the Zealots and the moneychangers.

The Athenians were told by Paul about "that which they [already] worship as unknown" (I could almost envy the adventure of the Athenians hearing that speech.....and also reading the poets of that society).

....(the philosophical teachings of Socrates and God are probably EXTREMELY similar about the "inner man" and "self").

1 Peter 5:10
"will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you".

Unfortunately, the fact that scripture is filled with God's intentions to teach us how to be a better "SELF" and "inner man" (a more 'full' and 'true' human being "restored" as a "living, breathing, soul" to the way Adam was before the fall),...a '7th day creation', NEW CREATION (no connection to "Seventh Day Adventist" beliefs) has been obscured, not just by satan (humanity's scapegoat), but by slothful, iniquitous/shortcoming man himself (God as THE divine humanitarian that wants to "establish" us to have such an identity so as to be able to relate to and identify with "I am who I am".....(even the creator's name is about the "INNER MAN")....in attempting a deeper understanding of who God is to humanity, it would seem that God is....

.......the 'integral counterpart' of all humanity (the "inner man" of humanity).......Did Socrates ever make this claim?. Did an Athenian poet ever suggest such a thing?.....(possibly).

Partisanship, protocol, intellectualism, and vain pride (vanity, Ecclesiastes) have obscured/replaced the real teachings of God all throughout history. Satan has deviously lent himself to all humanity as a scapegoat (not just for our acts of wickedness, but even for our slothful failures/misgivings/shortcomings/"iniquity"), but believers have for centuries EMBRACED their iniquitous fleshly kingdoms INTO THEIR HEART (and God responded "I, The Lord will answer them MYSELF"...'lay off Ezekiel, THEY'RE ALL MINE'....the reason for the "strong delusion").......the strong delusion is not a FUTURE event, there is no such thing as "FUTURE" in ETERNITY.

....so, who is "666"?.....the sixth day creation (man) has always been enthusiastic to learn about the three manifestations of God in a manner that glorifies himself......(666). Paul spoke against "SECTAS PERDITIONIS" (sect of perdition/heresy). The modern secular church is the result/outcome/product of centuries of perditious beliefs (WE ARE the "son of" perdition).

The "mystery" of lawlessness remains a mystery because we don't want to admit that WE are "the lawless" (we refuse to see the truth of God and live the PERFECT "law"....the "LIBERTY" law. James 1:25).

Revelation 13:18 "it is a HUMAN number".....

.......not the number of a 7th day creation that has been restored as a "living, breathing, soul".

Exodus 3:14 and 15
"tell them I am who I am sent you"........His "FOREVER" name (for ETERNITY).

JESUS is the 'bridge to ETERNITY' that humanity always needed.

The new generation of believers must be able to understand what an "inner man" is (will they be able to understand in the electronic world of today?)..

Keep expressing the "inner man" and turn the world upside down....(God expects only that we PLANT the seed and trust/have faith that He will finish the job as He sees fit).

Acts 17:6
"These men who have turned the world upside down"....

......(the 'status quo' resists progress and some will think of you as a 'madman')......

Acts 26:24
"Paul, you are mad; your great learning is turning you mad".

Continue to show the "inner man" to the new generation of believers (the world is unaware of and indifferent to GOD'S will).

Godspeed, net chaplain.
 
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