In chapter twelve we saw something concerning the Spirit of life in Romans, 1 Corinthians, and 2 Corinthians. In this chapter we want to continue our fellowship concerning the Spirit of life.
Titus 3:5 refers to the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Transforming and renewing are very much related to one another (Rom. 12:2). The more we are transformed, the more we are renewed. The more we are renewed, the more we are transformed. We have pointed out that transformation is not merely an outward change but an inward change of life, a metabolic change. Transformation is a very subjective change from within by life. The renewing of the Spirit is also not an outward renewing but an inward renewing of life. The divine life that is imparted into us renews us.
Everything related to our natural being is old. Ephesians 4 tells us we need to put off the old man, be renewed in the spirit of our mind, and put on the new man (vv. 22-24). No matter how young a person is, his very being, the created and fallen man, is old. The old man is the man of the old creation which is in Adam. Even a little babe has an old man that needs to be renewed. Our mind is an old mind, our nature is an old nature, and our life is an old life.
Adam became old immediately after the fall. The old man is of Adam, created by God, but fallen through sin. Because of our inherited oldness from Adam, we need to be renewed with all the items of God. Whatever God is and whatever God has is new. Whatever we are and whatever we have is old. God is very ancient because He is infinite, but He is never old. He is ancient yet always new. Because we are so old, we need to be renewed by our new God.
To be renewed means to be replaced. Our mind has to be replaced by the mind of Christ, our nature has to be replaced by the nature of Christ, and our life has to be replaced by the life of Christ. Whatever we have is old. Whatever Christ is is new. When Christ comes in to replace all that we have and all that we are, He renews us. We need to be renewed with all that Christ is in the way of life. A dentist may replace a person’s teeth with some false teeth, but this is not the renewing of a person’s teeth because they are not replaced in the way of life. The Spirit of life renews us in the way of life with all that Christ is.
The New Testament tells us that we were sanctified by the blood of Christ (Heb. 13:12; 10:29). Even the Old Testament has the thought that the redeeming blood can sanctify us (Heb. 9:13; cf. Lev. 16:18-19). Sanctification by the blood is merely a change in position and condition outwardly, not a change in disposition inwardly. Before we were saved, we were one among many unsanctified sinners. When we confessed our sins and accepted Christ as our Savior, the blood of Christ sprinkled us and sanctified us, changing our position. The blood separated us from the sinful people in the world. We were sanctified unto God positionally by the blood of Christ.
Before we were saved, our condition was that we were under God’s condemnation. But by the Lord’s blood, which has been sprinkled upon us, our condition has also been changed. We are no longer under God’s condemnation, but we have been justified in the eyes of God by the blood of Christ (Rom. 5:16, 18; 3:24-25). Our condition is now one of justification, not one of condemnation. The blood of Christ has changed our position and our condition before God. We have been justified and reconciled to God.
The blood, however, does not change what we are in our nature, in our disposition. This is why we need another aspect of sanctification. We do not only need the outward sanctification by the blood but we also need the inward sanctification by the Spirit. Second Thessalonians 2:13 speaks of the sanctification of the Spirit. Sanctification in this verse is something in life. The Spirit sanctifies us subjectively and inwardly by changing our disposition. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us inwardly in our disposition with the substance of Christ, with what Christ is, with the essence of God.
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