Study Guide

The New Creature

2,871 words, about 14 min read

In all the years that I have studied the Word of God, I have never received anything as fascinating as understanding the mystery of godliness. It is the mystery that was hid in God before the foundations of the world. It is the mystery reserved for the day of the apostles and New Testament prophets. I now see why the angels desired to look into this mystery. It is the most awesome thing imaginable.

Each of us must understand this mystery before we are able to fulfill the righteousness of God in the flesh. Up to now, we have been bombarded with a lot of do’s and don’ts. We have struggled to train the flesh in the ways of God. But now we find that this is not the method for achieving righteousness.

One thing is certain. We must understand the salvation experience if we hope to walk in the commandments given to the Sons of God. It is a fact, however, that the Body of Christ has not been taught the true meaning of the born-again experience. As always, to get a true picture of the matter, we must return to the teachings of the Master as a starting point.

St. John 3:3-8

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Jesus taught the salvation of God as a born-again experience. However, that new birth was to take place in the Holy Ghost. Note verse 6, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

In the salvation experience, the flesh is not reborn; it is simply resurrected after its baptism into Christ’s death. The evidence of this is seen in the fact that death still works in the flesh. Without the subduing power of the Spirit, the flesh would not and indeed could not be subject to the law of God. Even now, for the New Creature to walk in the flesh is death. The human spirit, however, is born-again. It is re-created in the image of Christ.

II Corinthians 5:16-17

16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

I really feel that it is necessary for the Body of Christ to understand its spiritual make-up. The scriptures below merely serve to confirm that the New Creature is a spiritual being, created in the image of God, by God.

To be in Christ is to be reborn into the family of God. We know that God is a Spirit. He is also the Father of spirits, as also says the following passages.

Hebrews 12:9

Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

St. John 4:24

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Jesus said, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Thus, that which is born of the Spirit of God becomes spirit. It also follows that we, now, are the children of God, begotten by the Holy Ghost.

Galatians 4:6

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

The Spirit of Christ has come into our hearts to testify that God is our Father. We are indeed the offspring of God. Now, it is the Spirit of God who makes this declaration within the heart.

Romans 8:16

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Here Paul is more specific. He notes the place of the witness in us. The witness is in our spirit. This is where the gathered knowledge of God is uncontested. Our spirit can bear witness because he is affected by the experience of the new birth.

Romans 9:1

I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,

Romans 2:15

Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness,

According to the scriptures above, the conscience and the spirit are one and the same. The words “conscience” and “spirit” are used interchangeably in the New Covenant. But for the sake of even more clarity I will render Strong’s definitions.

CONSCIENCE:

suneidesis NT:4893, lit., "a knowing with" (sun, "with," oida, "to know"), i. e., "a co-knowledge (with oneself), the witness borne to one's conduct by conscience; that faculty by which we apprehend the will of God, as that which is designed to govern our lives;" hence:

(a) The sense of guiltiness before God; Heb 10:2;

(b) That process of thought which distinguishes what it considers morally good or bad, commending the good, condemning the bad, and so prompting to do the former, and avoid the latter; Rom 2:15 (bearing witness with God's law); 9:1; 1:12; acting in a certain way because "conscience" requires it, Rom 13:5; so as not to cause scruples of "conscience" in another, 1 Cor 10:28-29; not calling a thing in question unnecessarily, as if conscience demanded it, 1 Cor 10:25,27; "commending oneself to every man's conscience," 2 Cor 4:2; cf. 5:11. There may be a "conscience" not strong enough to distinguish clearly between the lawful and the unlawful, 1 Cor 8:7,10,12 (some regard consciousness as the meaning here).

(c) The phrase "conscience toward God," in 1 Peter 2:19, signifies a "conscience" (or perhaps here, a consciousness) so controlled by the apprehension of God's presence, that the person realizes that griefs are to be borne in accordance with His will. Hebrews 9:9 teaches that sacrifices under the Law could not so perfect a person that he could regard himself as free from sin.

Psalm 51:6

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

Proverbs 20:27

The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

Proverbs 20:30

The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.

Jeremiah 31:33

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Romans 7:22

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

II Corinthians 4:16

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Ephesians 3:16-19

16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

I Peter 3:4

But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

These scriptures basically declare the Spirit of God coming to live in the inward parts. But Peter is very clear in stating that the regenerated human spirit is the hidden man of the heart. He is also referred to here as a meek and quiet spirit. But most of all, the hidden man of the heart (soul) is incorruptible. He will never commit sin, nor will He ever agree with sin. He will render judgment, forbidding sin in the body. He will also search the inward parts of the belly, the soul, for iniquity. Once found, He will convict or condemn the thoughts and intents of the heart. In other words, He will accuse or excuse them. In order to live in sin, a Son of God must continuously put away or lay aside his conscience or spirit.

I Corinthians 2:11-16

11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

The mind of the Lord is given to instruct (guide) us. We know the mind of the Lord, because we were born into the Kingdom, having the mind of Christ.

SEALING OF THE SAINTS

II Timothy 2:19

Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

SEAL: NT:4973

a signet (as fencing in or protecting from misappropriation); by implication, the stamp impressed (as a mark of privacy, or genuineness), literally or figuratively:

The seal of God, which the Holy Ghost is our protection from misappropriation, simply means we are not able to take anything that is offensive to God in the place where the seal is applied.

II Corinthians 1:22

Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

The hidden man of the heart has received the seal of God, which is the Holy Ghost.

Ephesians 1:13-14

13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 4:30

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

The Holy Spirit is the seal God placed as a signet upon the inner man, which in physical make-up is the soul and spirit. The seal itself is placed in the spirit or conscience as a matter of distinction. The sealing by the Holy Ghost established the genuineness of the Sons of God. It is evidence of the new birth.

THE SOUL

SOUL:

psuche NT:5590 denotes "the breath, the breath of life," then "the soul," in its various meanings. The NT uses "may be analyzed approximately as follows:

(a) the natural life of the body, Matt 2:20; Luke 12:22; Acts 20:10; Rev 8:9; 12:11; cf. Lev 17:11; 2 Sam 14:7; Est 8:11;

(b) the immaterial, invisible part of man, Matt 10:28; Acts 2:27; cf. 1 Kings 17:21;

(c) the disembodied (or "unclothed" or "naked," 2 Cor 5:3,4) man, Rev 6:9;

(d) the seat of personality, Luke 9:24, explained as "own self," v. 25; 19; 10:39; cf. Isa 53:10 with 1 Tim 2:6;

(e) the seat of the sentient element in man, that by which he perceives, reflects, feels, desires, Matt 11:29; Luke 1:46; 2:35; Acts 14:2,22; cf. Ps 84:2; 139:14; Isa 26:9;

(f) the seat of will and purpose, Matt 22:37; Acts 4:32; Eph 6:6; Phil 1:27; Heb 12:3; cf. Num 21:4; Deut 11:13;

(g) the seat of appetite, Rev 18:14; cf. Ps 107:9; Prov 6:30; Isa 5:14 ("desire"); 29:8;

(h) persons, individuals, Acts 2:41,43; Rom 2:9; James 5:20; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:14; cf. Gen 12:5; 14:21 ("persons"); Lev 4:2 (`any one'); Ezek 27:13; of dead bodies, Num 6:6, lit., "dead soul"; and of animals, Lev 24:18, lit., "soul for soul";

(i) the equivalent of the personal pronoun, used for emphasis and effect:-- 1st person, John 10:24 ("us"); Heb 10:38; cf. Gen 12:13; Num 23:10; Judg 16:30; Ps 120:2 ("me"); 2nd person, 2 Cor 12:15; Heb 13:17; James 1:21; 1 Peter 1:9; 2:25; cf. Lev 17:11; 26:15; 1 Sam 1:26; 3rd person, 1 Peter 4:19; 2 Peter 2:8; cf. Ex 30:12; Job 32:2, Heb. "soul," Sept. "self";

(j) an animate creature, human or other, 1 Cor 15:45; Rev 16:3; cf. Gen 1:24; 2:7,19; (k) "the inward man," the seat of the new life, Luke 21:19 (cf. Matt 10:39); 1 Peter 2:11; 3 John 2.

The language of Hebrews 4:12 suggests the extreme difficulty of distinguishing between the soul and the spirit being alike in their nature and in their activities. Generally speaking the spirit is the higher element and the soul the lower element. The spirit may be recognized as the life principle bestowed on man by God; the soul as the resulting life constituted in the individual; the body being the material organism animated by soul and spirit." Body and soul are the constituents of the man according to Matt 6:25; 10:28; Luke 12:20; Acts 20:10; body and spirit according to Luke 8:55; 1 Cor 5:3; 7:34; James 2:26. In Matt 26:38 the emotions are associated with the soul, in John 13:21 with the spirit; cf. also Ps 42:11 with 1 Kings 21:5. In Ps 35:9 the soul rejoices in God, in Luke 1:47 the spirit." Apparently, then, the relationships may be thus summed up `Soma, body, and pneuma, spirit, may be separated; pneuma and psuche, soul, can only be distinguished."

From “Notes on Thessalonians,” by Hogg and Vine pp. 205-207.

St. Matthew 10:28

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Make a note here that the spirit is incorruptible. Therefore, it is never a candidate for hell. However, Jesus warns that the soul and body could end up in hell.

Ephesians 2:4-6

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

This action includes the soul. The soul is not without the spirit and the spirit is not without the soul. The only separator of the two is the sharpness of the Word of God. The soul and spirit make up the innerman. The spirit is the hidden man of the soul. Just as the natural heart is to the body, so is the spirit to the soul.

The soul is the natural life of the flesh; the spirit is the spiritual life of the soul. But we need to see that this is one being. One, as the body and soul are one human being. As death separates the soul from the body, likewise, death separates the spirit from the soul. Nevertheless, that inward man has received a new Spirit as was foretold by the prophets.

The Spirit of Christ has apprehended the human spirit with its soul. Therefore, the New Creature consists of soul and spirit, which are recreated in righteousness and waiting for the redemption or change of His vile body. Therefore, the writer says,

Galatians 5:25

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

It suffices that we continue to seek to apprehend that by which we have been apprehended.