The Old Man is Dead

Romans 7 reads, "Do you not know the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you may belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not the old way of the written code."

Our old man is dead. When we accept Christ our sinful nature dies, and no longer resides in us. "We were bound by it, but now have been released from it (v. 5-6)." The only way we can be released is through the death of the sinful nature or old man (as seen in the example right before of the woman). Why then, if we no longer have a sinful nature, do we continue to sin?

That's a good question. I have been reading a lot of neuroscience books lately and I made a great connection with Romans 7 and what is going on at the neuronal level. Page 118 of Norman Doidge's book "The Brain That Changes Itself" explains what happens in our brains when experiencing a death of a loved one.

"Often such people cannot move on because they cannot yet grieve; the thought of living without the one they love is too painful to bear. In neuroplastic terms, if the romantic or the widow is to begin a new relationship without baggage, each must first rewire billions of connections in their brains. The work of mourning is piecemeal, Freud noted; though reality tells us our loved one is gone "its orders cannot be obeyed at once." We grieve by calling up one memory at a time, reliving it, and then letting it go. At the brain level we are turning on each of the neural networks that were wired together to form our perception of the person, experiencing the memory with exceptional vividness, then saying good-bye one network at a time. In grief, we learn to live without the one we love, but the reason this lesson is so hard is that we must first unlearn the idea that the person exists and can still be relied upon."

In Romans 12:2, Paul tells us to "be transformed by the renewing of our minds." The renewing of our minds is the rewiring of billions of connections in our brains from who we once were to who we now are In Christ. The reality is the Word of God is clear that our old man is dead, but that reality "cannot be obeyed at once" by our brains. Renewing the mind is a life long process of saying good bye to "old man" connections and hello to "New man in Christ" connections. The first step in this process is to unlearn the idea that our sinful nature or old man exists and can still be relied upon. It is dead, and although many of us may walk around as if it is alive and well, the fact is that In Christ the sinful nature is dead. If you are a believer in Christ you are in Christ. You cannot be a believer and not be In Christ.

We begin our relationship with the Lord with a lot of baggage. Thankfully our Lord is patient. It would do every believer well to start renewing their minds to their reality In Christ, instead of walking around and acting as if nothing has changed. I believe this is the biggest problem in the church right now. We have people we have accepted the Lord and stopped there. They have not rewired or renewed their mind. If our church is like this than why would anybody want to join? We would be no different from the world.

However when we renew our minds to what Jesus provided on the cross we have complete provision for our every need (Jehovah Jireh), we have health and healing (Jehovah Rapha), we have become in right standing with God (Jehovah Tsidkenu), we have complete peace (Jehovah Shalom), we have a Guide in our lives (Jehovah Ra'ah), we have victory (Jehovah Nissi), and we have a God who is always with us (Jehovah Shammah). These things may not manifest all at once, but as we rewire our brains to their truth they will begin to manifest in our lives. The way each one of these is carried out is through LOVE. When LOVE is the main ingredient and all of these benefits are available In Christ, who would not want to come and know both us and our God?

This all must start with each one of us renewing our minds to God's truth. In doing so we will allow more of Him into our lives, and therefore more of Him will leak out of us "in streams of living water" to all those around us.