Our Old Man Was Crucified

“Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” Rom. 6:6. “Knowing this” Paul says to the saints in Rome. To whom could one write something like this today? Who knows in truth that his old man was crucified with Christ?

Therefore it is my heart’s desire that as many as possible might come to this realization, this understanding, and this experience. Why? Because it is so tremendously effective! When Christ was crucified, our old man was crucified with Him. In actual fact, no one else was physically nailed to the same cross on Calvary. How then could our old man be nailed to the same cross at the same time, before he ever saw the light of day? It is because Jesus truly became the Son of Man, and in so doing, He partook of the same flesh and blood and the same self-will that we have.

He overcame or condemned this self-will; therefore, the Father reckons that our old man was crucified with Him and that we died in and through the body of Christ. Blessed is everyone who has his eyes opened to this! He has found the secret of the gospel, and the key to all victory and all glory!

The crucifixion of our old man, which Jesus accomplished on Calvary, must now be made a reality in each and every one of us. What is meant by our “old man”? Just this: that our mind agrees with and is bound to that which we know to be sin; and our body carries it out. All this can and must be crucified, or put off. Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:8-9. Naturally, we cannot crucify what we have not recognized as sin up to this point. That wouldn’t make any sense. But as soon as we receive light that something is sin, we can and should crucify it—put it off.

Whenever a person consciously sins, that sin comes from the old man. Therefore, putting off the old man completely gives total victory over conscious sin, as far as we have light.