«　WEEK 4　DAY 1　»

　　Eph. 4:22 That you put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit.

　　Rom. 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves.

　　[The old man (Rom. 6:6) refers] to the natural life in our soul [and] is our very being, which was created by God but became fallen through sin, and it is the same as the “I” in Galatians 2:20. It is not the soul itself but the life of the soul, which has been counted by God as hopeless and has been put on the cross and crucified with Christ. Formerly, our soul acted as an independent person, with the old man as its life and personality; now, since the old man has been crucified, our soul should act only as an organ of Christ and should be under the control of our spirit, having Christ as its life. (Rom. 6:6, footnote 2)

　　Ephesians 4:22 indicates that the old man is all-inclusive…. [In this verse] Paul speaks of putting off, as regards our former manner of life, the old man. The former manner of life includes everything related to us: what we are, what we have, our family life, and our social life. Paul’s meaning here is that we must put off whatever we are, whatever we do, and whatever we have. We are to put off our very way of living.

　　The old man with all it includes is a damage to the church life. Wherever the old man is, there can be no church. This means that what we are, what we have, and what we do make the church life an impossibility.

　　Ordinances, doctrine, and the old man are the three main negative things that damage the church life. If we have ordinances, the church life is gone. If we are occupied with doctrine, it will not be possible to have the proper church life. In addition, if we continue to live according to the old man, the church life will be seriously damaged, even terminated. However, if we have no ordinances or doctrines and if we put off the old man with his former manner of life, we shall have a marvelous church life, a church life that will be a miniature of the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. In such a church life it is impossible to have division.

　　Both Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3 indicate that in order to put on the new man, we first need to put off the old man. Ephesians 4:22 says, “Put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man.” The words manner of life imply a great deal. Before you were saved, you had a certain manner of life. Perhaps you worked five days a week and then in the evenings or on the weekends amused yourself with certain worldly entertainments. To some, the manner of life may be gambling. To others, it may be going to certain places or eating certain foods. These are all part of the manner of life. In every country of the world and among every people there is a characteristic manner of life.

　　If we truly desire to be renewed, we need to put off the former manner of life. By putting off our manner of life, we put off the old man in a practical way. To bury the former manner of life is virtually the same as burying the old man. Therefore, my burden in this message is not simply to encourage you to put off the old man; it is specifically to encourage you to put off your former manner of life.

　　Many of the saints in the Lord’s recovery still hold on to their old manner of life. Do not say that I am legal, conservative, or old-fashioned in telling you to put off your former manner of life. To have this attitude toward what I am saying here is a sign of being caught in the evil current of today’s satanic system. We should not be swept along by the current of this age; instead, we should bury our former manner of life and even hold a funeral for it. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 589-590, 218-219)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 25, 71