The New Man

  • Thread starter Thread starter joejones1949
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

joejones1949

Guest
What does God mean when he says he will put on the new man?
 
thistle said:
Isn’t it to do with baptism and becoming a new person in Christ?
Click to expand...
Not sure. I remember St. John of the cross mentioning that
passage in the Dark Night of the Soul also.I guess I was
wondering how you know when it happens.If it has to do with
baptism only, then that would be when it happens.
 
joejones1949 said:
What does God mean when he says he will put on the new man?
Click to expand...
This is what we’re to do as believers. Our part is to recognize our errors and to become imitators of Christ. This is a conscious choice but one not attainable without His grace. Read 1John Chaps. 3 & 4. They describe pretty well the goal we need to strive towards.
 
fhansen said:
This is what we’re to do as believers. Our part is to recognize our errors and to become imitators of Christ. This is a conscious choice but one not attainable without His grace. Read 1John Chaps. 3 & 4. They describe pretty well the goal we need to strive towards.
Click to expand...
I read 1Jn 3&4 as you said. Am I to understand then that with
his grace, putting on the new man is a process. And not something that happens all at once.
 
joejones1949 said:
I read 1Jn 3&4 as you said. Am I to understand then that with
his grace, putting on the new man is a process. And not something that happens all at once.
Click to expand...
We’re exhorted to make the decision to put on the new man and we can certainly make that decision in a moment of time but we’ll need to reconfirm it again and again throughout our lives- especially when we fall again into sin or struggle with unbelief. So, yes, it ends up being a process because that’s what conversion is-ultimately a process of perfecting our love for God. This is a smattering of CCC quotes on the subject:

1989 The first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion, effecting justification in accordance with Jesus’ proclamation at the beginning of the Gospel: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."38 Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from sin, thus accepting forgiveness and righteousness from on high. "Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man.39

1995 The Holy Spirit is the master of the interior life. By giving birth to the "inner man,"44 justification entails the sanctification of his whole being:
Just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification. . . . But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.45

1428 Christ’s call to conversion continues to resound in the lives of Christians. This* second conversion* is an uninterrupted task for the whole Church who, "clasping sinners to her bosom, [is] at once holy and always in need of purification, [and] follows constantly the path of penance and renewal."18 This endeavor of conversion is not just a human work. It is the movement of a “contrite heart,” drawn and moved by grace to respond to the merciful love of God who loved us first.19

1432 The human heart is heavy and hardened. God must give man a new heart.25 Conversion is first of all a work of the grace of God who makes our hearts return to him: "Restore us to thyself, O LORD, that we may be restored!"26 God gives us the strength to begin anew. It is in discovering the greatness of God’s love that our heart is shaken by the horror and weight of sin and begins to fear offending God by sin and being separated from him. The human heart is converted by looking upon him whom our sins have pierced:27
Let us fix our eyes on Christ’s blood and understand how precious it is to his Father, for, poured out for our salvation it has brought to the whole world the grace of repentance.

1435 Conversion is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the exercise and defense of justice and right,33 by the admission of faults to one’s brethren, fraternal correction, revision of life, examination of conscience, spiritual direction, acceptance of suffering, endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness. Taking up one’s cross each day and following Jesus is the surest way of penance.34
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top