Theological term
Old Man / New Man
4 sermons · All terms
The Conduct of the New Man, Part 2
Ephesians 4:29–32 calls believers to put off corrupt speech and bitter dispositions and to put on edifying words and a forgiving heart — not as conditions for salvation, but as conduct that flows necessarily from it. The sermon exposits the structure of Paul's exhortations: a prohibition, a positive exhortation, and a motivation in each subsection. Corrupt speech grieves the Holy Spirit, who has sealed believers for the day of redemption; and bitterness, wrath, clamor, and evil speaking are symptoms of the old man that must be mortified. The sermon closes with the ground of all Christian forgiveness: God in Christ has already forgiven us, and that forgiveness is the cause, not the goal, of our forgiveness toward others.
The Conduct of the New Man, Part 1
Ephesians 4:25–28 grounds the Christian's ethical conduct not in legal compulsion but in the indicative of redemption: the old man has been put off, the mind is being renewed, and the new man has been put on. This sermon works through three prohibited actions — lying, sinful anger, and theft — each examined under its corresponding commandment from the Decalogue (the Ninth, Sixth, and Eighth), with a prohibition, an exhortation, and a motivation for each. The ethical demands of the New Covenant are not a new law but the restoration of the creational law now internalized by the Spirit according to Jeremiah 31:31–34. The hearer is called to put off deceit, guard against nursed anger that gives opportunity to the devil, and replace theft with diligent labor aimed at charitable surplus.
True Doctrine, Proper Conduct Part 2
Colossians 3:12–14 calls believers to put on the virtues that characterize the new man in Christ — not as a program of moral self-improvement, but as the necessary outflow of sovereign election, regeneration, and union with Christ. This sermon works through three things concerning the new man: his identity as the elect, holy, and beloved of God; his character as defined by five virtues (tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, and longsuffering) expressed in community through forbearance and forgiveness; and his supreme obligation, which is love — the bond that gives luster and coherence to all the other graces. The controlling argument is that conformity to Christ begins not with behavioral resolve but with fixing the mind on Christ seated at the right hand of God, so that mortification of sin and putting on of virtue follow as fruit of knowing him.
Conduct Unbecoming a New Man
Colossians 3:5–11 calls believers to put to death sins of the flesh and put off sins of the tongue as conduct unbecoming of the new man in Christ. The sermon works through two parallel sections: the cluster of sexual sins (fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness) rooted in idolatry, and the sins of speech (anger, wrath, malice, slander, filthy language, lying) rooted in corrupt internal dispositions. Throughout, the preacher insists that the motive for mortification is not moralism but gospel indicative — the old man is dead, the new man is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of his Creator. The closing application presses both the unconverted and the baptized: acting like a Christian does not make one a Christian; salvation rests entirely on the finished work of Christ, and only from that ground does holy conduct flow.