{"id":18417,"date":"2025-02-04T04:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/?p=18417"},"modified":"2025-02-20T20:54:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T01:54:11","slug":"excerpt-new-nature-and-old-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/article\/concise\/excerpt-new-nature-and-old-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the New Nature and Old Nature?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Paul can contrast what believers were \u201cin Adam\u201d and what believers are after receiving the gift of salvation in Christ in terms of their \u201cold\u201d and \u201cnew nature\u201d (see<\/em> Adam and Christ).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

1. Terminology<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Romans<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Ephesians and Colossians<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Theological Significance<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

1. Terminology.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Few words are more dangerously ambiguous than \u201cnature.\u201d Because of this there has been considerable misunderstanding of the phrases \u201cold nature\u201d and \u201cnew nature\u201d (see Rom 6:6; Eph 4:22; Col 3:9). Numerous popular explanations of Paul\u2019s doctrine of the Christian life argue, or assume, that the apostle distinguishes with these phrases between two parts or natures of a person. Following this misguided thinking is the debate as to whether the \u201cold nature\u201d is replaced by the \u201cnew nature\u201d at conversion, or whether the \u201cnew nature\u201d is added to the old (see<\/em> Psychology).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interpretation that ho palaios anthr\u014dpos<\/em> and ho kainos anthr\u014dpos<\/em> refer to parts, or natures, of a person is wrong and misleading. These terms rather designate the complete person viewed in relation to the corporate whole to which he or she belongs. Thus these terms are better translated as \u201cold person\u201d and \u201cnew person.\u201d The translation \u201cold self\u201d and \u201cnew self\u201d (NIV, NRSV) is too individualistic, since the idea certainly means the individual Christian (Rom 6:6), but is much more than merely individual. \u201cOld person\u201d and \u201cnew person\u201d are not, then, ontological but relational in orientation. They speak not of a change in nature, but of a change in relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cold person\u201d is not the sin nature which is judged at the cross and to which is added a \u201cnew person.\u201d The \u201cold person\u201d is what believers were \u201cin Adam\u201d (in the old era). The \u201cold\u201d points to everything connected with the fall of humanity and with the subjection to the distress and death of a transitory life, separated from God (see<\/em> Life and Death). Within the context of Paul\u2019s theology, this concept carries with it deep undertones of God\u2019s wrath and the wages of sin. The \u201cnew person\u201d is what believers are \u201cin Christ\u201d (in the new era). Paul directs us to the completely new, to the salvation and healing that believers receive when they are crucified with Christ and raised with him (cf. Rom 6:3\u20136; see<\/em> Dying and Rising with Christ).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Romans.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Romans 6:6 Paul argues that the old person (the individual believer) was crucified with Christ. The reference to the crucifixion is a startling message indicating the vast distance separating Paul\u2019s theology of dying and being raised with Christ from the mysticism of the mystery religions of his day (see Cranfield, 1.309). The \u201cold person\u201d was crucified with Christ in baptism. For in baptism believers received the divinely appointed sign and seal of the fact that by God\u2019s gracious decision the old person was, in God\u2019s sight, crucified with Christ on Golgotha. Paul\u2019s language denotes the unity between baptized believers and the person of Christ himself in his redemptive [p. 629] action (see Beasley-Murray, 134). Yet believers, by putting off the old person, still have to fulfill on the moral level the death that in God\u2019s gracious act and in the symbol of baptism they have already experienced. This is Paul\u2019s emphasis in Ephesians and Colossians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Ephesians and Colossians.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Behind the contrast between the \u201cold person\u201d and the \u201cnew\u201d is the contrast between Adam and Christ (1 Cor 15:45; see Ridderbos, 223\u201331). These phrases indicate the solidarity of people with the heads of the two contrasting eras of salvation history. Paul employs the term with a corporate meaning in Ephesians 2:15 and Colossians 3:10\u201311, showing that Jews and Greeks, the circumcised and the uncircumcised, are united into one new humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Colossians 3:9\u201311 Paul explains that believers have taken off the \u201cold person\u201d with its practices and have put on the \u201cnew.\u201d This does not merely mean that Christ demands a new standard of life from his redeemed people. It means that everything associated with distorted humanity is to be put to death (Col 3:5\u20138) because it has been transformed according to the perfect model, Christ himself (Col 1:15\u201320; 2:6), and therefore there is no excuse for such distorted behavior (Wright, 137\u201338; Melick, 286\u201399).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The metaphor of \u201cputting off\u201d and \u201cputting on\u201d clothes (Col 3:8\u201310; Eph 4:22\u201324) does not simply mean promising to behave differently. Rather it is the gracious action of God\u2019s Spirit moving believers into a different sphere where the new rule of life obtains. Paul may be alluding to the familiar picture of the candidate for baptism, who by exchanging old clothes for new symbolizes the transfer of solidarities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These two pictures of what believers are<\/em> and what they should become<\/em> are not in conflict. Christians have been transferred from the old era of sin and death to the new era of righteousness and life. The powers of the old age must continually be resisted (thus the imperatival infinitives apothesthai<\/em> and endysasthai<\/em> in Eph 4:22\u201324). At the center of the contrast between the old and the new is the eschatological tension between the inauguration of the new age in the life of believers (cf. 2 Cor 5:17) and the consummation of the new age in glory (cf. Rom 8:17, 19\u201323; Beker, 288\u201389; Moo, 392). What believers were in Adam remains no more, but the struggle of life between the inauguration and consummation of the new age continues (see<\/em> Eschatology). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Theological Significance.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Life in the new age for the \u201cnew person\u201d is to be lived out between the polarities of what has been redemptively accomplished by the historical achievement of the death of Christ and what is yet to be fully realized in the consummation of God\u2019s redemptive program. Believers live in this temporal tension between the \u201calready\u201d and the \u201cnot yet,\u201d and between the indicative (what they are<\/em>) and the imperative (what they should become<\/em>). Believers live in this \u201cnot yet\u201d age, but their life pattern and standard of conduct are not to be those of this age, which are essentially human-centered and prideful, but of the age to come. Yet the struggle continues. While living as a \u201cnew person\u201d in the new age, the basis for new life should be remembered. It is through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that the Spirit applies the benefits of the \u201cnew\u201d life to the lives of believers. Life for the \u201cnew humanity\u201d is living out, by the Spirit\u2019s empowerment, what believers are because of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. Barth, Ephesians (AB; Garden City: Doubleday, 1974);
J. Baumgarten, \u201c\u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2 \u03ba\u03c4\u03bb,\u201d EDNT 2.229\u0314\u201332;
G. R. Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1962);
J. Behm, \u201c\u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2 \u03ba\u03c4\u03bb,\u201d TDNT III.447\u201354;
J. C. Beker, Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980);
C. E. B. Cranfield, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (ICC; 2 vols.; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1975);
D. S. Dockery, \u201cAn Outline of Paul\u2019s View of the Spiritual Life,\u201d CTR 3 (1989) 327\u201340;
D. Guthrie, New Testament Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1981);
H. Haarbeck, \u201cOld,\u201d NIDNTT 2.713\u201316; M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991);
R. Melick, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon (NAC; Nashville: Broadman, 1991);
D. J. Moo, Romans 1\u20138 (WEC; Chicago: Moody, 1991);
H. Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975);
P. Tachau, \u2018Einst\u2019 und \u2018Jetzt\u2019 im Neuen Testament (G\u00f6ttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1972);
R. C. Tannehill, Dying and Rising with Christ (Berlin: T\u00f6pelmann, 1967);
N. T. Wright, Colossians and Philemon (TNTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986).<\/p>\n\n\n\n


[Editor\u2019s Note: This entry is from the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters: First Edition<\/em> edited by Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid. Copyright (c) 1993 by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of the U.S.A. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press. www.ivpress.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the 1st<\/sup> edition of this resource is out of print, you may access the 2nd<\/sup> edition here<\/a>.]

<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do we understand what happens when a person goes from the old man to the new man in Christ?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18419,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"How do we understand what happens when a person goes from the old man to the new man in Christ?","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[32,12,1968,38],"tags":[766,600,676,956,823,57,925,599,745,102,235,1280,493,190,189,2005,740,1857,474,122,2006,100],"scripture-reference":[],"post_folder":[],"ppma_author":[2001],"class_list":["post-18417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-concise","category-february-2025","category-theme","tag-adam","tag-adam-eve","tag-already-not-yet","tag-anthropology","tag-christ","tag-christ-as-center","tag-evangelicals","tag-genesis-3","tag-genesis-315","tag-gospel","tag-human-nature","tag-humanity","tag-morality","tag-new-covenant","tag-new-creation","tag-original-goodness","tag-redemption","tag-redemptive-history","tag-sin","tag-theology","tag-work-of-christ","tag-worldview"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Dockery-Excerpt-Article-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-01-13 11:43:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"authors":[{"term_id":2001,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"david-s-dockery","display_name":"David S. Dockery","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/David-S.-Dockery.webp","url2x":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/David-S.-Dockery.webp"},"author_category":"","job_title":"","church_city_state":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","church_site":"","user_url":"","description":"David S. Dockery<\/b> is the President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also serves as distinguished Professor of Theology, Executive Editor of the Southwestern Journal of Theology, and Director of the Dockery Center for Global Evangelical Theology. He is regarded as one of the most recognized leaders and senior statesmen in the world of Christian higher education."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18417"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18678,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18417\/revisions\/18678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18417"},{"taxonomy":"scripture-reference","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/scripture-reference?post=18417"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=18417"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=18417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}