በቆላስይስ 3:5-9, ጳውሎስ ጽፏል, እንግዲህ በምድር ያሉትን ብልቶቻችሁን ውጉ; ዝሙት, ርኩሰት, ከመጠን ያለፈ ፍቅር, ክፉ ምኞት, እና ስግብግብነት, ይህም ጣዖት አምልኮ ነው: ለየትኞቹ ነገሮች’ የእግዚአብሔር ቁጣ በማይታዘዙ ልጆች ላይ ይመጣል: እናንተ ደግሞ ጥቂት ጊዜ ተመላለሳችሁበት, በእነርሱ ውስጥ ስትኖሩ. አሁን ግን እናንተ ደግሞ እነዚህን ሁሉ አስወግዱ; ቁጣ, ቁጣ, ክፋት, ስድብ, ከአፍህ ውስጥ ቆሻሻ መግባባት. እርስ በርሳችሁ አትዋሹ, አሮጌውን ሰው ከሥራው ጋር ስላስወገድክ. እና አዲሱን ሰው ለብሰዋል, የፈጠረውንም ምሳሌ በመከተል በእውቀት የሚታደስ ነው።: ግሪክም አይሁዳዊም በሌሉበት, መገረዝ ወይም አለመገረዝ, አረመኔ, እስኩቴስ, ማስያዣ ወይም ነፃ: ክርስቶስ ግን ሁሉ ነው።, እና በሁሉም. በምድር ላይ ያሉትን ብልቶቻችሁን የሚያጠፋው ምን ማለት ነው?? How do you mortify your members which are upon the earth?
The responsibility of the new man (የእግዚአብሔር ልጅ)
If you are risen with Christ and are seated in Him, በላይ ያለውን ትሻላችሁ, where Christ is seated, and not the things on this earth. The spiritual transformation (the new birth in Christ) shall become visible in your life on earth by putting off the old man and putting on the new man.
God has not only given you the authority in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, but God has also given you the responsibility to (spiritually) mortify your members on earth and to put off the works of the flesh, so that the flesh shall no longer reign as king in your life and dictates you what to do, and make you walk after the flesh in disobedience to God and His Word, but that Christ reigns as King in your life and you walk after the Spirit in obedience to God and His Word (እንዲሁም አንብብ: ኃጢአት እንደ ንጉሥ አይንገሥ!).
That responsibility has been given to the new man, and no single excuse can be cited, to relieve the new man from this responsibility and duty.
No one, who says to be a Christian and claims to be born again has an exceptional position and is excluded.
No one has the right to keep walking in ignorance and be carnally minded, which is enmity against God and is death, and live as children of disobedience as enemies of God and His righteousness (ኦ. ኤፌሶን 2:2; 4:18-19, 1 ጴጥሮስ 1:14).
The old man (son of the devil) is crucified with Christ
If you say that you are born again in Christ, you shall live as a regenerated person, የእግዚአብሔር የሆነው, since your nature has changed.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made you free from the law of sin and death. Therefore you no longer live under the law of sin and death, በሥጋ የሚነግሥ, because your flesh has been crucified with Christ. You have been made free in Christ and live under grace and the law of the Spirit of life (ሮማውያን 6:14; 8:1).
When you were the old man, you were alive to the world, but dead to God, due to your trespasses and sins (ኦ. ኤፌሶን 2:1-3, 1 ጴጥሮስ 1:13-16).
You belonged to the world and therefore you walked according to the course (lifestyle) of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.
The old man doesn’t do the will of God, but the will of the devil (የዚህ ዓለም ገዥ), and lives in obedience to the devil in disobedience to God in unbelief.
The old man walks in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the (ሥጋዊ) አእምሮ, and is by nature a child of wrath (ኤፌሶን 2:1-3).
The new man is raised from the death in Christ
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? አያድርገው እና. እንዴት እንሁን, ለኃጢአት የሞቱ ናቸው።, ከእንግዲህ በውስጧ መኖር? አታውቁም።, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: ክርስቶስም በአብ ክብር ከሙታን እንደ ተነሣ, እንዲሁ እኛ ደግሞ በአዲስ ሕይወት ልንመላለስ ይገባናል።.
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: ይህንን ማወቅ, that our old man is crucified with Him, የኃጢአት አካል ይፈርስ ዘንድ, ከአሁን በኋላ ለኃጢአት እንዳንገዛ. የሞተው ከኃጢአት ነጻ ወጥቷልና።. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord
እንግዲህ በሚሞት ሥጋችሁ ኃጢአት አይንገሥ, በፍትወትዋም እንድትታዘዙት።. ብልቶቻችሁንም የዓመፃ የጦር ዕቃ አድርጋችሁ ለኃጢአት አታቅርቡ: ነገር ግን ራሳችሁን ለእግዚአብሔር አቅርቡ, ከሙታንም በሕይወት እንዳሉ, ብልቶቻችሁንም ለእግዚአብሔር የጽድቅ የጦር ዕቃ አድርጉ. ኃጢአት አይገዛችሁምና: ከሕግ በታች አይደላችሁምና።, ከጸጋ በታች እንጂ.
ምን እንግዲህ? ኃጢአት እንሠራለን?, ምክንያቱም እኛ ከህግ በታች አይደለንም, ከጸጋ በታች እንጂ? አያድርገው እና. አታውቁም።, ራሳችሁን እንድትታዘዙለት ባሪያዎች እንድትሆኑለት, እናንተ የምትታዘዙለት ባሪያዎቹ ናችሁ; ከኃጢአት እስከ ሞት ድረስ, ወይም ለጽድቅ መታዘዝ? (ሮማውያን 6:1-16)
By faith in Jesus Christ and regeneration in Him, the old man has died in Christ and the new man is raised from the death in Christ and made alive unto God.
The spirit of man has been made alive and the Spirit shall reign in the life of the new man. Through submission to God and obedience to His Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit, the new man shall mortify the members which are upon the earth and lay down the works of the flesh and deprave sin from its power, by not giving in to the will, ምኞት, and desires of the flesh and not act upon the thoughts, which oppose the words of God.
If you have become the new man, you shall no longer seek the things which are on the earth and sow in the flesh and reap corruption, but you shall seek those things, which are above and sow in the spirit and bear the የመንፈስ ፍሬ.
You are no longer a servant of sin and death, but you have been made free in Christ and have become a servant of righteousness.
Therefore you shall no longer yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. You shall no longer let your members on earth dictate to you what to do, but from your new position in Christ, you shall take authority over your members and mortify your members which are on the earth and yield yourself unto God and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
What are your members, which are upon the earth?
እንግዲህ በምድር ያሉትን ብልቶቻችሁን ውጉ; ዝሙት, ርኩሰት, ከመጠን ያለፈ ፍቅር, ክፉ ምኞት, እና ስግብግብነት, ይህም ጣዖት አምልኮ ነው: ለየትኞቹ ነገሮች’ የእግዚአብሔር ቁጣ በማይታዘዙ ልጆች ላይ ይመጣል: እናንተ ደግሞ ጥቂት ጊዜ ተመላለሳችሁበት, በእነርሱ ውስጥ ስትኖሩ (ቆላስይስ 3:5-7)
Your members, which are on the earth, are fornication, ርኩሰት, ከመጠን ያለፈ ፍቅር, ክፉ ምኞት, እና ስግብግብነት, ይህም ጣዖት አምልኮ ነው.
If a Christian keeps walking in fornication, ርኩሰት, ከመጠን ያለፈ ፍቅር, ክፉ ምኞት, እና ስግብግብነት, the person is still the old man and not the new man, since the person still bears the fruit of the old carnal man.
It’s important that the person repents and becomes born again in Christ, and from the Spirit mortifies his or her members which are upon the earth.
In Christ, you have been given all authority and power to mortify your members on the earth and put off the works of the flesh by resisting the devil, ኃጢአት, and death so that they shall not have dominion over you anymore.
But it’s up to you, if you want to do it or not. It all depends on whether your love for Jesus and the Father is stronger than your love for your flesh (እንዲሁም አንብብ: Do you love God above all?).
Mortifying your members which are upon the earth and putting off the works of the flesh is something you have to do yourself. Nobody else can do that for you. It’s your responsibility, you will be held accountable for it.
But if you don’t take your authority in Christ and you don’t mortify your members which are upon the earth, then your members will eventually mortify you.
How do you mortify your members, which are upon the earth?
If you have become a son of God (ይህ ለወንዶችም ለሴቶችም ይሠራል), you shall no longer feed yourself with the things of this world that will arouse and strengthen the will, and the lusts and desires of your flesh.
You know the truth and the will of God and you will be careful with whom you associate with and the things you get involved with and what you do. You will be cautious about what you watch, what you listen to, what you read, ወዘተ.
When you stop feeding your flesh and subdue the flesh, then the lusts and desires of the flesh shall not be aroused and strengthened but shall die.
You mortify your members, which are upon the earth by reigning over your members and resisting them. You’re not giving in to what your will and the lusts and desires of your flesh want.
The new man is an obedient son of God
አሁን ግን እናንተ ደግሞ እነዚህን ሁሉ አስወግዱ; ቁጣ, ቁጣ, ክፋት, ስድብ, ከአፍህ ውስጥ ቆሻሻ መግባባት. እርስ በርሳችሁ አትዋሹ, አሮጌውን ሰው ከሥራው ጋር ስላስወገድክ. እና አዲሱን ሰው ለብሰዋል, የፈጠረውንም ምሳሌ በመከተል በእውቀት የሚታደስ ነው።: ግሪክም አይሁዳዊም በሌሉበት, መገረዝ ወይም አለመገረዝ, አረመኔ, እስኩቴስ, ማስያዣ ወይም ነፃ: ክርስቶስ ግን ሁሉ ነው።, እና በሁሉም (ቆላስይስ 3:8-11).
Besides mortifying the members, which are upon the earth (ዝሙት, ርኩሰት, ከመጠን ያለፈ ፍቅር, ክፉ ምኞት, እና ስግብግብነት), you shall also put off anger, ቁጣ, ክፋት, ስድብ, ከአፍህ ውስጥ ቆሻሻ መግባባት, because they don’t fit in the life of the new man (እንዲሁም አንብብ: መጽሐፍ ቅዱስ ስለ አሮጌው ሰው ምን ይላል?? እና አሮጌውን ሰው እንዴት ማስወገድ እንደሚቻል?).
The old man is a liar, just like his father the devil, but the new man is not a liar, but speaks the truth just like his Father. Therefore the new man shall not lie, despite the fact that in some countries lying is considered normal and is part of a culture.
The devil uses cultures to execute his destructive work and to keep the people in bondage to the beggarly elements of this world and sin and death and control the people so that they will do what the devil wants and the devil can build his throne (እንዲሁም አንብብ: የሰይጣን ዙፋን)
እውነታው ግን ነው።, that every culture disappears in Christ. Both the old nature of fallen man as the culture disappears in Christ (እንዲሁም አንብብ: Every culture disappears in Christ)
There is no distinction in Christ
በእምነት በኩል ሁላችሁ በክርስቶስ ኢየሱስ የእግዚአብሔር ልጆች ናችሁና።. ከክርስቶስ ጋር አንድ ትሆኑ ዘንድ የተጠመቃችሁ ሁሉ ክርስቶስን ለብሳችኋልና።. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus (ገላትያ 3:26-28)
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, በመጠን ሁን, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; ምክንያቱም ተጽፏል, Be ye holy; for I am holy (1 ጴጥሮስ 1:13-16)
በቅድስና ሂደት, you shall renew your mind with the Word, put off the old man and put on the new man, የፈጠረውን ምሳሌ በመከተል በእውቀት የሚታደስ ነው።, whereby there is neither Greek nor Jew, male nor female, መገረዝ ወይም አለመገረዝ, አረመኔ, እስኩቴስ, ማስያዣ ወይም ነፃ, but Christ is all and in all.
‘የምድር ጨው ሁን’
