There is a classic moment in the hit comedy Friends when Joey retaliates against his roommate, Chandler, by putting on all of Chandler’s clothes. Not the most mature thing Joey ever did, but among the funnier things.
If we imagine layers of clothes like this representing our old nature, the new believer has a lot of work to do.
“But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Ephesians 4:20-24
If you’re familiar with Friends, Joey is actually an excellent representation of the person Paul is talking about in Eph. 4:17-19. In the 10 seasons of the show, Joey grew and matured a lot, eventually realizing that his pattern of taking advantage of women was very painful to them – and eventually apologizing to all that he could reach.
Check out a previous post for the helpful work Neil Anderson has done on this subject of the old self / new self. If you don’t understand what you have been saved from (Eph. 2:1-3) you won’t live in line with the new identity Jesus purchased for you (Eph. 2:4-10; 4:1ff).
The new believer is born again in Christ (John 3:3), a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Just as you were born physically in Adam (Rom. 5:12), you must be reborn through faith in Jesus, to receive a new heart (Ezek. 36:26). Look at what happens to your old self, your old nature at the moment you trust in Jesus:
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”
Romans 6:3-6
Step one is understanding and believing the truth of who you are in Christ. “The battle is not to conquer sin; that’s impossible. The battle is to believe the gospel, that Jesus has conquered sin” (Jonathan Dodson, Gospel Centered Discipleship).
Based on that knowledge and faith, you must enter the daily battle to kill the sin that is already dead.
“So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Romans 8:12-13
Kill the flesh – your old self. Put it off. Cast it away.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Hebrews 12:1
The Christian life is not a passive one, but very actively resisting the old, selfish, sinful desires of the flesh, and actively putting on the new desires and behaviors of the Lord Jesus.
Get dressed! We’ve all got layers of our old self to keep putting off and replacing them with new thinking and new acting that goes with the righteous robes Jesus has clothed us in!