I roto i te mau Ephesia 4:24, Ua papai o Paula no nia i te ahuraa i te taata apî. No te mea mai te peu e ua riro mai outou ei mea hamani apî; te taata apî, na roto i te faaroo e te faaho'i-faahou-raa i roto i te Mesia, you should also walk as the new man. What does the Bible say about the new man? What does it mean to put on the new man and how do you put on the new man according to the Bible?
Who is the new man?
The new man is created in Jesus Christ. Your fallen position and the peace with God are restored (Faaorahia) i roto i te Mesia. Na roto i te toto o Iesu Mesia, you have been redeemed, fa'a'ite'ite, and reconciled with the Father. You have been made holy and righteous and therefore you are no longer a sinner (A tai'o atoa: E tamau noa outou i te riro ei taata hara?).
Now that you are no longer a sinner, you will no longer walk as a sinner and do the works of a sinner. ta'na i te auraa, that you will not habitually walk in sin anymore.
By the hearing of the gospel of Christ, you have found the Truth; Iesu te Mesia, the Son of the Living God and Savior of mankind (A tai'o atoa: Te taata papa'i buka no te faaoraraa mure ore).
You have repented of your former walk and the way you lived, which was full of sins and iniquities.
Na roto i te bapetizoraa, you have laid down and buried the old man (ō'ere), who carried the death, and you are risen in newness of life. Te mana o te Varua Mo'a, your spirit is raised from the dead and has become alive, and through baptism with the Holy Spirit, you received the Holy Spirit and He shall abide in you.
Na roto i te bapetizoraa i roto i te pape e te bapetizoraa i te Varua Mo'a, Ua riro mai outou ei taata hamani apî; te taata apî, who no longer belongs to the darkness but the Kingdom of God, i reira Iesu Mesia te Arii e te mau mana'o. The new creation no longer carries death (na roto i te tino), but life (through the Spirit).
But does the new man, who is born in the spirit, become visible in the natural realm?
Being born again in the spiritual realm
In the Heavenly Places, a new birth in the spirit has taken place. Ua riro mai outou ei hamaniraa apî; te taata apî, o vai tei fanauhia no te pape e te Varua.
I teie nei, it’s time that this spiritual transformation, which has taken place in the spiritual realm, will also become visible in the natural realm (A tai'o atoa: I te va'uraa o te mahana, te mahana o te hamaniraa apî).
The new man is born on this earth,
and not after death
You don’t become the new man after you die, as so many Christians believe. You become the new man during your life on this earth. Only when you become the new man during your life on this earth, you will carry the life of God inside of you and enter the Kingdom of God, e te farii i te ora mure ore.
The new man is new and not old. So if you have become the new man, you shall no longer walk as the old man.
You shall no longer do those things, which you did before you repented and before you gave your life to Christ. Because you have laid down your old life, with its sinful habits.
Te taata paari, who was ruled and controlled by the sinful nature; te iho (a'au, Te mau mana'o, Te mau mana'o, Te mau nota, Te mau nota, Te mau nota, e tē vai atura.) doesn’t exist anymore. You have exchanged the old man for the new man.
A new life has begun; a life after the Spirit and not after the flesh.
Terā rā… you will always have a free will. This means that you will always have the ability to return to your old life and pick up your old habits (te mau hara), e te haere i muri a'e i te tino (A tai'o atoa: Ia oti ana'e i te faaherehere i te moni?).
What is the basis of repentance?
The basis of your repentance plays an important role in the way of sanctification; the transformation to spiritually mature as a son of God (e tano te reira no te tane e te vahine) and becoming like Jesus. Because on which basis have you repented and decided to follow Jesus? (A tai'o atoa: Eaha te tatarahapa?)
Why did you repent? Did you repent,
- Out of fear of going to hell?
- Out of obligation, because your whole family are Christians and go to church
- Because your spouse believes?
- Out of guilt?
- The experience in the church?
- Because you are lonely and by going to church you don’t feel so lonely anymore
- Because you want to get married and seek a spouse?
- Because you need physical healing?
- Because you want to have a prosperous, Rava, and successful life?
- … (faaî outou i te mau vahi taata ore)
If you have turned to Christ and have repented based on one of these reasons, then you will never fully become the new man and spiritually mature and walk as the new man on earth. Eaha i te haere 'o'ona? Because you don’t hate your ‘self’ yet; the old man with his sinful nature and sins.
You are not conscious of your sinful state and the necessity of the new birth, to be delivered from the power of darkness and your sinful nature, which reigns in everyone’s life until a person becomes born again in Christ.
You don’t see the necessity to repent of your former life and become born again. You don’t see the necessity to change your lifestyle and lay down your sinful nature and its habits.
But you consider your behaviour and habits as normal and consider yourself a good person. You don’t hate your sins. Ei hi'oraa,, you still love your sins and the world. You love your sins and the world more than you love Jesus, because you persevere in sin.
The Holy Spirit convicts of sin
The right basis of repentance is when the Holy Spirit confronts you with your evil sinful nature and state. When the Holy Spirit convicts you of your sins and your unrighteous state and reveals to you the way God sees you as a sinner, who lives separated from God in darkness.
When you are confronted with your sinful nature and evil walk as a sinner, and you become aware of your sins, and consider the great love of God and of Jesus Christ and His redemptive work, only then will you be able to truly repent, and lay down your life and your habits and follow Jesus (A tai'o atoa: E aufau te mau mea atoa ia outou i te mau mea atoa).
I muri iho ana'e, you shall truly repent and change. E ā'a 'ite ua tuu i nia i te taata ruhiruhia with his evil nature of the devil, e a ahu i te taata apî, who is created after the image of God and has God’s nature.
How do you put on the new man?
The new creation has come to life through the Word and the Holy Spirit and shall live by the Word and the Spirit. It is therefore important to get to know the Word of God and read the Bible in the Holy Spirit and apply His words in your life.
To ‘put on’ is an action and is not passive. This means that you have to do it. You have to put on the new man. There’s no one else, who can do that for you.
Someone may help you and guide you, but you have to open the Word by yourself, study and apply the Word in your life, e te riroraa ei taata papa'i ve'a (A tai'o atoa: Te mau taata e faaroo nei, e te mau rave'a).
When you apply the words of God in your life, e ti'a ia outou ia tuu i ni'a i te taata apî.
Only through the Word and by walking after the Spirit, you grow up in the sonship of God and become a mature son of God (e tano te reira no te tane e te vahine) like Jesus. Remember, Jesus is your Example, Jesus showed you how to walk as a Son of God, when He walked on this earth in the flesh after the Spirit.
The Bible is the manual and the mirror of the new man
Te Bible, which is the Word of God is the manual and also a mirror of the new man. Ei hamaniraa apî, te taata apî, you reflect the Word. What stops and retains the sanctification process; the transformation of the new man? To outou feruriraa (A tai'o atoa: Eaha te tumu o te Bible?).
Te ora nei te Varua Mo'a i roto ia outou (te taata apî), but is often retained by your mind by your old way of thinking, which is the way the world thinks. That’s why it is necessary to faaapî i to outou feruriraa with the Word of God. There is no other way. You have to get to know the Word, because only then you will get to know Jesus. Because He is the Word and through the Word, E ite outou i te Metua e To'na hinaaro.
Ā'ati'ati, how sour it will be when that day comes, that you stand before the throne of God, and Jesus tells you “I don’t know you, go away your worker of iniquity” (Luka 13:27)
Get to know Jesus
Therefore take the Word and get to know Him and have a relationship with Jesus. He is the Image of the new creation and we should become like Him. We are His Body and He is our Head. We can’t function without Jesus. Without Jesus we are dead. Because a body without a head is not able to live.
Take the Word and take His words, so that your mind will be renewed by the Word and will line up with the Word so that you will think the way He thinks. Your mind shall line up with His will and therefore you shall do His commandments (A tai'o atoa: Te vai ra anei te mau mana'o o te Atua i to tatou mau mana'o?).
E ite outou, why He has given these commandments. Because you have gained knowledge and insights through His Word in the spiritual realm, where you are seated in Christ Jesus.
What does the Bible say about the new man?
- The new man is created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesia 4:24)
- Ua parahi te taata apî i roto ia Iesu Mesia (2 Korinetia 5:17)
- The new man has access to the Kingdom of God (Galatia 6:15, John 3:4)
- The new man is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him (Kolosa 3:10)
What are the works of the new man?
In the letters to the saints in Ephesians and Colossians, Paul wrote about the new creation; te taata apî, and the works of the new man. I te aha, the works of the new man converge with te hotu o te Varua.
Te taata apî:
- Loves God above all (Mareko 12:30)
- Loves his neighbor as himself (Mareko 12:31)
- Walks in the truth and speaks the truth (Ephesia 4:25)
- Doesn’t stay angry (Ephesia 4:26)
- Doesn’t give place to the devil (Ephesia 4:27)
- Doesn’t steal, and defraud not, but labors, so that he may also give to him that needed (Ephesia 4:28)
- Speaks properly and doesn’t communicate in a corruptive way (Pō'i, dirty words, perverse sexual remarks/jokes, dissoluteness, e tē vai atura.(Ephesia 4:29, 5:4))
- Speaks that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers (Ephesia 4:29)
- Is filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesia 5:18)
- Doesn’t grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesia 4:30)
- Is kind to one another (Ephesia 4:32)
- Is tender-hearted (Ephesia 4:32)
- Forgives, like God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you (Ephesia 4:32, Kolosa 3:13)
- Forbears one another (Kolosa 3:13)
- Follows God, Iesu (walk in His will and keep His commandments (Ephesia 5:1))
- Walks in love, a self-sacrificial love (God’s righteous love, and not false love (Ephesia 5:2, Kolosa 3:14)
- Walks in cleanness (purity), and not in uncleanness, Te mau nota, Te mau nota, filthiness, te paraparauraa maamaa, or jesting (Ephesia 5:3)
- Walks as a child of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, ha'uti, e te parau mau (Ephesia 5:8)
- Proves what is acceptable unto the Lord (Ephesia 5:8)
- Aita oia e amui atu i te mau ohipa faufaa ore o te pouri, te tahi râ (Ephesia 8:11)
- E haere mai te paari, parau - faahou - raa, No te mea e mea ino te mau mahana i te mau mahana (Ephesia 5:15-16)
- Te ite e te taa-maitai-raa i te hinaaro o te Fatu (Ephesia 5:17)
- Aita oia i haurangi i te uaina (e aore râ, te tahi atu mau inu ava'e), i reira te hau (Ephesia 5:18)
- E hau, no te mea te vai ra i roto i te taata apî te hau o te Atua o te faatere ra i roto i to'na aau (Kolosa 3:15)
- Te mauruuru e te mauruuru (Kolosa 3:15)
Te taata apî, o tei mo'a e tei herehia, e tuu:
- Te mau farii o te aroha (Kolosa 3:12)
- māuruuru (Kolosa 3:12)
- Te haehaa o te feruriraa (Kolosa 3:12)
- Te mǎrû (Kolosa 3:12)
- Te faaoromai (Kolosa 3:12)
- Ha'api'i tāvana (Kolosa 3:14)
Ua riro te mau ohipa a te taata apî ei hotu no te Varua Mo'a, ta te taata apî e amo ra. Āre'a, oomo i te ahu o te taata apî, ia riro ei taata rave i te Parau, e ia pee i te Varua i roto i te hinaaro o te Atua.
'Ia riro ei miti no te fenua'
