My Old Man

But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Ephesians 4:20-34

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Romans 6:5-6

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Colossians 3:5-11

Have you put aside your old man? Or do you still see him sometimes? We understand what these verses are telling us to do: to put away those things that are not Christ-like, those things which are worldly, those things which are sin. And not only that, but we to begin doing those things which are Christ-like, which are spiritual, which are righteous. It should be as though we are an entirely different person from what we once were. Paul writes that Christians were once among the worst of people (I Corinthians 6:9-11), but after choosing to follow Christ, we are changed. Peter writes a similar concept in I Peter 4:3: that we have spent enough time doing the things of the world before we converted.

So are we really living in such a way as to be a new man? Or are we the same old man with some camouflage to make us seem more religious? If we want to live with Christ for eternity, we must put on the new man. Interestingly enough, there is someone else we are supposed to put on, isn't there?

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Galatians 3:27
If we are to put on the new man, and we are to put on Christ...the obvious implication is that the new man must be like Christ. And that before put on the new man, we are not like Christ, but like His enemies, those who oppose Him. There is no middle ground. So are you the old man, or the new man?