Putting Off and Putting On
There is a principle throughout God’s Word that in order to put something on, you first have to take something off.
When I change clothes, I do not put a new shirt over my old one; first I take off the old shirt, then I put on the new one. While that might seem like a silly illustration, it is an obvious principle that we sometimes fail to follow in our Christian walk. We cling to our old sins and desires while trying to layer godly behaviors on top of them. Just as an old outfit will ruin the fit and comfort of a new one if it is not removed first, your old fleshly habits will hinder your ability to follow God’s leading and guidance.
Put off the Flesh, Place God’s Word in Your Heart
James 1:21 reads, “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”
Notice that there is a process and an order that the believer has to follow here. Before receiving the engrafted word, the believer must lay apart the filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness.
Follow the Process
The term ‘lay apart’ is a term that applies to removing a piece of clothing. But what are we to remove? First, we remove the ‘filthiness,’ which is the moral filth or impurity we find in our lives. If you have ever been hiking shortly after a rainstorm, you know the importance of removing your muddy hiking boots before entering your clean home, or else you will track mud throughout the house.
Next, we must remove the ‘superfluity of naughtiness.’ To say something is superfluous is to say that it is not necessary. There is no requirement for a certain amount of sin that should be in a believer’s life. On the contrary, we should be seeking to remove all sin from our lives, as none of it is necessary. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). The concept of ‘naughtiness’ brings to mind a spoiled or misbehaving child, but this ‘naughtiness’ is evil wickedness that comes naturally to our flesh. We all have not just a few peccadilloes to remove, but an overabundance of malice and wickedness.
Finally, we are to “receive with meekness” the engrafted word. We must approach God humbly with a teachable spirit. He longs to implanted His word of truth through which we were born again (see Jeremiah 31:33).
Another Illustration of the Process
We see this same concept in 1 Peter 2:1-2:
“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.”
Babies are not shy about their desire for milk. They will scream and cry until they get it, because they depend on it for their nutrition and growth. That is the same attitude we should cultivate towards receiving the Word of God and studying it every day. But the first step is laying aside those sins in our lives that inhibit our growth. If we try to receive the engrafted word before laying aside and abandoning these sins, we are not going to be successful. And we certainly are not demonstrating meekness when we insist on clinging to our sins.
Be Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)
How are we renewed in our mind? Through reading, listening to, and studying the Word of God. In order to succeed in conforming to the image of Christ, we must refuse to conform to this world. We do this by putting off our old ways.
“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.” (Ephesians 4:22-25)
These verses in Ephesians teach the same principle — that before we renew our minds and put on the new man, we have to put off the old man. We cannot keep old sinful habits, behaviors, and attitudes in our lives and expect to live in a way that allows us to grow into mature believers.
Old Clothes and Old Ways
I outgrew my baby clothes years ago, and to try to wear them now would be ridiculous. But so many times Satan tempts us to go back to our old ways, and the pull of sin on our flesh is hard to resist. Why is that? Consider your favorite pair of shoes. It is likely that they are your favorite because of their fit. They are so comfortable.
Our old sins entice us because our flesh loves them — they are comfortable and fit our flesh perfectly. We may even have ‘pet sins’, sins we have nurtured for years that we are unwilling to give up because our flesh desires them so strongly that we cannot imagine life without them.
God has not called us to wallow in our sin. Christ calls us to die to self and forsake our sin so that we can then renew our mind and follow after God’s heart. We need to cultivate an attitude towards sin that matches how God sees sin. Sin is destructive. It is abominable. It is deadly. Until our view of sin matches God’s view, until we love God more than we love our sin, and until we understand how our sin grieves God, we will struggle to remove it from our lives.
Put Off the Old Man, Put on the New Man
We find this same principle in Colossians 3:8-15:
“But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”
Old and New Emotions
Notice the old emotions that characterized our behavior before we accepted Christ: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, and lying. I have met many people who have told me that before they were saved, they casually used profanity without any guilt or discomfort in their conscience. But after accepting Christ as their Savior, using their old language bothers them and makes them uncomfortable. This is a result of the ongoing process of sanctification that the Holy Spirit undertakes when someone comes to Christ, and continues throughout their life as a Christian. We will continue to grow and mature, but we never achieve perfection until we see Jesus face to face.
Notice also the new emotions that characterize the believer: mercy, kindness, humbleness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, forgiveness, love, and peace. That is a list I want to describe me as a believer of Jesus Christ! Note also that this list that describes the ‘new man’ is the opposite of the ‘old man.’ This is because of the truth we see in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
It is not possible to grow in the way that God wants you to grow if you are not putting off the old man and putting on the new man.
Keep Adding to Your Faith
“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” (2 Peter 1:5-7)
We do not live the Christian life on level ground. You are either growing closer to God or drifting away from God. That is why it is necessary to intentionally seek the Lord, drawing closer to Him in daily Bible study and prayer. Keep adding to your faith, and allow God’s work of sanctification to transform you to more closely match the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.
This process of progressive sanctification will continue until we enter eternity. It is at that moment that we will finally be able to lay aside our sinful flesh and receive a spotless robe of white.
“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” (Revelation 19:7-8)
Until then, let us be faithful in the process of putting off and putting on.
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