The Old or the New

We have heard it said, “We shall not only die with Christ, but we shall also be buried with him.” Then people like to seize a picture from a graveyard to portray the perfect death. It sounds something like this: if you hit a dead person, he won’t hit you back; revile him, and he won’t answer back. A totally dead man is untouched by such things. He is dead! Dead to all his soul life. The new life is risen in Christ and seated in heavenly places. It is created after God in the righteousness and holiness of truth. The old is in the grave.

Keep these two propositions in your mind, and we will consider them a bit closer. We will see that by teaching that the old life (the flesh and the body of sin) has been laid in the grave and destroyed, vital parts of the Bible are excluded.

The Blood. What are we going to do with the blood? The blood is a means of cleansing. 1 Joh. 1:7. But, considering the above-mentioned doctrine, we can ask: What is to be cleansed by the blood? Is it the new life created after God in the righteousness and holiness of truth? Does that need cleansing? Or is it the old life in the grave? Shall that be sanctified and cleansed? We see that the whole thing is totally meaningless. But don’t they speak and sing about the blood? Yes. Under the blood. They want to have the blood as a preserving power, just like the blood on the door posts. Exod. 12:13. And “because of the blood” they are preserved. But as a cleansing agent it is unnecessary. But if we look more closely, it is also no use as a preserving power. When the old is gone, what is there to fear? Does the new life, which is Christ’s life, need any protection? Then God would have to be in conflict with His own being. Therefore, when they speak about the blood and being under the blood it is only empty phrases. Therefore, a gospel without the blood. The blood is used only to a certain limit, and then it is of no use.

Exhortations. What use do they have for all the Bible’s exhortations? Should it be the old in the grave that is exhorted, or is it the new life that needs exhorting? Does the new life require exhortations? Or the old one in the grave? All exhortations are unnecessary. And you can also notice that they are regarded as superfluous.

Self-denial. Where does that belong? Should the new life be denied? The old life is completely gone. Jesus says to all in Luke 9:23: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” What does it mean here to take up one’s cross and deny oneself?

Purify yourself. “Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” 1 Joh. 3:3. Is it the new or the old life that must be purified?

“He must increase, and I decrease” said John the Baptist. How is this to be? “For you died.” Col. 3:3, “therefore put to death your members which are on the earth.” Verse 5. Dead to the law, we shall put to death our earthly members. But in the false doctrine this is unnecessary, because the indwelling sin is taken away.

We see that the entire scripture has been totally perverted and destroyed.

From the practical life. One person reviles another one, even though the old life is removed! In order to justify his position, he says afterwards: “Satan will receive greater punishment in hell because he led astray one of the least of these little ones.” Was it the old or new life that was led astray? Satan got the blame!

A sister who was exhorted about something said, “I do not understand this. I have given my sins to God, and I will never see them again. Thus I have given God my will, and I will never see it again. And now it is God who works in me to work and to do.” “Yes, but what you did was not right.” Here God gets the blame!

We see that personal responsibility is excluded. Likewise, the person’s own spirit which should be sanctified. According to this teaching it has already happened. After the fall, Adam blamed God, who had given him the woman, and Eve blamed Satan who had deceived her. But what about themselves?

Expressions like: “God in me cannot make mistakes,” declare one is not responsible and, along with that, one is lawless.