Category: The Gospel of God

Sin and its consequences.	God’s provision in Christ.
Being under the judgement of God.	Justification and forgiveness.

Job asks these great questions. “What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?” Job 15:14.

How can a man be made righteous?

How can he stand as a guilty sinner before the Triune, thrice holy God?

You may remember, many parts ago now, how Adam’s nakedness as a consequence of his sin, was covered. The Lord God made coats from the skins of animals to clothe them. This is the first indication in the Bible that a sacrificial blood offering had to be made, and it was God who provided such.

Further on in Genesis we read of the great man, Abraham.

You will remember from our studies that Abraham was called out of his heathen culture to walk with the true and living God, the God of glory. God had given Abraham many promises, all of which were dependent on him having an heir. This was a problem as he had no children; both he and Sarah were infertile.

One evening when Abraham was talking with God about this matter, the Lord took him outside and this is what we read took place.

“Then He (the Lord) brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And he said to him, “So shall your descendants be”.

And he believed in the Lord and He accounted it to him for righteousness, Genesis 15:5,6”.

Abraham received righteousness because he believed God. He received it as a gift from God that had come to him by way of his faith in God.

This shows both Abraham’s greatness as well as God’s greatness!

Abraham did not earn this gift of righteousness; he put his faith in God by means of His word to him. It was unmerited and totally of grace.

Paul takes up this central theme of our salvation in the New Testament. There we read “We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we who have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified, Galatians 2:15,16”.

The words are quoted again in Galatians; “Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? – just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness”, Galatians 3:5,6”.

He goes on to clearly state that this righteousness was not merely for the Jews but also for the Gentiles in the purposes of God; “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying , “In you all the nations shall be blessed”

So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham, Galatians 3:8.9”.

“Abraham did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

And therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness””. Romans 4:20-22.

We need to stand back now and return to the subject of sin and man’s alienation from God for which the gospel is God’s provision.

Do you remember these columns we wrote about previously in Part 30?

Sin and its consequences.	God’s provision in Christ.
Being under the judgement of God.	Justification and forgiveness.
Being separated from God.	Reconciliation.
Being spiritually dead.	Regeneration.
Being enslaved.	Redemption.
Being unclean.	Sanctification.
Being powerless.	The Holy Spirit.
Being in the Old Covenant.	The New Covenant.

We will now consider the manner in which God has provided for man’s full restoration and recovery, using the words above.

The left-hand column lists many of the key ways in which sin has had its terrible consequences. This is not an exhaustive list but it does cover the more serious ones.

The right-hand column lists words that are the corresponding Biblical ones, so one can see how full, wonderful and complete has been God’s provision in the gospel.

One of our friends, Ron Bailey, has said many times that Bible words don’t have definitions, they have histories.

We will need to examine the histories around these Bible – gospel – words.

Sin and its consequences.	God’s provision in Christ.
Being under the judgement of God.	Justification and forgiveness.

We have seen God’s judgement of Adam and Eve when we were considering their place in the Biblical narrative. We also saw the awful condition of men’s hearts at the time of Noah when God destroyed them all in the flood.

Man is still under the judgement of God. This is clearly written in the book of Romans, which is Paul’s great statement of the gospel.

“We know that the judgement of God is according to truth…” Romans 1:2.

“You are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God”. 2:5.

“In the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ”. 2:16.

“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God”. 3:19.

This is an aspect of the gospel that is unpopular to the modern man’s mind. One seldom hears these days of God’s judgement. But without the knowledge of sin and judgement there can be little understanding of the grace and mercy of God in His provision in the gospel.

In using the words in the right-hand column it is not my intention to suggest that each word represents a different experience that we must know and enter into. Rather the variety of words used illustrate to us differing aspects of what God has done for us in Christ. This richness in the Biblical record increases our understanding and appreciation of Him and His work.

The different words may have a “family” of ideas related to them as they are drawn from different fields of life.

So, for example, there might be words that come from biological or family concepts; words with a legal emphasis that would be heard in the courtroom; another set of words might have had a religious or ceremonial application.

Now we will consider each of them in turn.

At the end of the forty days on earth Jesus ascended back into heaven out of the disciples’ sight.  There Jesus received the Holy Spirit from the Father, pouring Him out upon His waiting disciples.

“This Jesus God raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. Acts 2”32,33”.

Jesus’s exaltation was the final act of His great work upon earth.

“Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the God the Father, Philippians 2:10,11”.

He was incarnated in the womb of the virgin Mary. He lived a perfect life as both God and man. He was crucified at the hands of wicked men. He was raised to life again by the power of the Father. He was exalted to the right hand of God, to the position of greatest honour. He received the promise of the Holy Spirit which He poured out.

Death, resurrection, ascension, exaltation and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. These are the great elements of the work of Christ.

All the writers of the New Testament refer to this great work of Christ. He is the central theme of all. At any one time there might be one theme in view, but each aspect is dependent on, or flows out from, the other. Christ’s work would have been impossible without the virgin birth for example. Christ’s death would have been powerless without the subsequent resurrection. The gift of the Holy Spirit is clearly linked to Christ’s exaltation.

“But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified, John 7:39”.

All go together forming one great whole; not just as the record of Scripture, but in reality, truth and power.

Finally, in this part, we need to mention briefly the significance of the wonderful third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the Executor of the Godhead. He works out in humanity all that the Son has made possible, and all that the Father has desired. The Father is the Source of everything; the Son fulfils all the Father’s will; the Holy Spirit indwells believers to make everything real on the earth.

We will return to the subject of the Holy Spirit in a later part of our study.

Jesus lived a perfect life in thought, word and deed.

The gospel records show the wonders of His life.

His life however, culminated in a betrayal by one of His closest friends, and all the others of His friends ran away and abandoned Him. One of them cursed and swore that he had never known Jesus!

The religious leaders of the day stirred up hatred among the people and brought false witnesses against Him. They put Him on trial at night and repeated it in the day time, in a flagrant misuse of authority.

Even though Pilot could find nothing wrong with Jesus, he still allowed Him to be “examined” – beaten and whipped, even though innocent of any wrong doing.

Finally, they took him out of the city, stripped Him and nailed Him to a wooden cross, before raising it up and dropping it into the ground. There He died in agony, refusing anything such as myrrh to deaden the pain.

He was crucified between two villains and was there only because the authorities had released a notorious terrorist in His place.

Never a word of denial, anger, hatred, or bitterness came from His mouth. The only words were of forgiveness to His torturers and prayers for His executioners.

The Roman centurion in change of the spectacle exclaimed that “Certainly this was a righteous Man!” (Luke 23:47). No doubt he had witnessed many similar scenes as those unfolding before his eyes, but nothing had compared to this!

Remarkably they did not have to break the legs of Jesus because He was already dead.

John 19:33, 34 tells us that “one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out!”

However, His moment of death was marked by a great cry, “It is finished!” as recorded for us in John 19:30, following which “He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit”.

Jesus had fulfilled what He said He would do.

He said “I am the good Shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.

As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.

And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

Therefore, My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.

No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay if down, and I have power to take if again. This commandment I have received from My Father.  John 10:14-18”.

Jesus conquered our ultimate and greatest enemy, death itself! Death did not defeat Him, He defeated death. He laid down His own life, no one took it from Him!

He demonstrated this before His bewildered disciples, by rising from the dead three days later. He appeared to them, individually, as well as in both small and large groups, over a total period of forty days.

We can read amazing accounts of conversations He had with individuals like Mary, Peter, who He had to re-commission after his failure, Thomas, who missed out on the first occasion Jesus came into their locked room! There were others also!

Paul writes later; “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received; that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once….. 1 Corinthians 15:3-6”.

Jesus used the forty days no doubt to prepare His disciples that He was going to go away again, not for a few days or even weeks, but for ever. He had told them of these things in the days immediately before His crucifixion, but they had failed to understand, or even, remember them.

He had said the that “it was expedient – necessary – to your advantage – that I go away; for if I do not go away the Helper – Comforter – the Holy Spirit, will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. John 16:7”.

So, the death and resurrection of Christ was required so that the Holy Spirit could be given.

And for that we need Part 33!

The word “gospel” means good news, glad tidings, the proclamation of the grace of God manifest and pledged in Christ.

The first words of Mark’s gospel are “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”, Mark 1:1.

Later he goes on to record this; “Now after John (Baptist) was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, Repent, and believe in the gospel”, Mark 1:14,15.

After His great time of temptation in the wilderness, following which He returned in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus went into the synagogue at Nazareth where he had been brought up. There he read a portion of the scroll that was telling of the coming Messiah. When he finished reading, remarkably He sat down as an indication of His authority and right to speak and applied the text to Himself!

“When He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

The He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”. So, all bore witness to Him, and marvelled at the gracious words which proceded out of His mouth, Luke 4:17-22”.

The time was fulfilled. “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son …Galatians 4:4”.

This would have included all the time of the prophets right up to John, whom Jesus would describe as the greatest of the prophets. Every Old Testament prophecy had been or was about to be fulfilled. Everything in the then known world was ready, politically, economically, etc. The Roman Empire with their great roads and civilisation were all available to ultimately aid in the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The fulness of the time had come!

One perspective is to see Jesus on earth as a man announcing, and moving in, the power of the kingdom of God. Another perspective is to understand that Jesus was not merely another human being however wonderful. He was, as Mark told us, the eternal Son of God.

The incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is the most amazing miracle! He left the unsullied glories of heaven and intimacy of love with the Father and the Spirit, to come to our sin sick, broken world, to save us!

Here is one of the most wonderful sections of Scripture describing the glories of Christ in His Sonship.

“Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the the dead, that in all things He may have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fulness should dwell and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Colossians 1:15-20.”

Here is the clearest statement of Scripture concerning his incarnation and His self-emptying.

“Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant , and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance  as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross, Philippines 2:6-8”.

The sentence, “made Himself of no reputation”, is often translated “He emptied Himself.”

It is important for us to note at this point that Jesus did not cease to be God when He came to earth as a man. He emptied Himself, not to divest Himself of His sonship as some erroneously teach, but to choose not to act in that manner.

“In the incarnation Jesus did not (and could not) become “less God” in the incarnation. No deity was subtracted (though He did renounce some of the rights of deity); rather humanity was added to His nature.” David Guzic in the BLB”.

“His condescension was free, and unconstrained with the consent of His Father…the Son of the Highest can, at His own pleasure, show or eclipse His own glorious brightness, abate or let out His fulness, exalt or abase Himself in respect of us (Poole)”.

God was on the earth breathing, living, walking and working in the person of Jesus Christ!

God’s gospel had come!

The gospel is essentially the person of Jesus Christ.

Let us try to summarise where we are at this stage of our study. We will attempt to see sin and its consequences on one hand and God’s great provision on the other.

Sin and its consequences.	God’s provision in Christ.
Being under the judgement of God.	Justification and forgiveness.
Being separated from God.	Reconciliation.
Being spiritually dead.	Regeneration.
Being enslaved.	Redemption.
Being unclean.	Sanctification.
Being powerless.	The Holy Spirit.
Being in the Old Covenant.	The New Covenant.

Let’s begin with the immediate build up to the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ.

At the beginning of the New Testament we are introduced to a strange, charismatic, preacher called John; as he baptised his converts, he was referred to as John Baptist, or John the Baptist. He described himself as the voice preparing the way for the coming and long-expected Messiah.

His baptism was a baptism of repentance. He ruthlessly exposed sin, especially of the religious leaders of the day. He castigated them for their hypocrisy.

His message was a dual one:

Firstly, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” in Matthew 3:2, with a prophetic word that the ax was laid to the root of the trees in Luke 3:9 and Matthew 3:10.

Secondly, the promise that the One coming of whom he spoke would not baptise his followers in water, but he would baptise them with the Holy Spirit, Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33 and Acts 1:5. This reference to Spirit baptism in the beginning of all three synoptic gospels and quoted in the early verses of the Acts of the Apostles is highly significant. We plan to explore this great subject of the baptism with the Holy Spirit at a later date in Food for Thought.

So, the picture of the ax resting against a tree is an image of the work that Christ would do to slay the principle and power of sin in everyone who repents, and submits themselves to the baptism with the Spirit that was to come. There are also other images depicted of the same powerful work of grace, like fire, and a winnowing fan, that burns up sin, and cleanses the heart.

In addition, we read in John1:29-34 two wonderful promises of the work of Christ as told by John Baptist. He says “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!….this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit”.

Here is established at the very beginning of the gospel the link between the sacrificial lamb, the taking away of sin and the baptism with the Holy Spirit. This was John’s great calling to be Christ’s forerunner announcing the greater ministry that was to come.

After such an amazing deliverance we see Moses leading the people through the desert until they came to Mount Sinai.

This is a key passage because it is at Sinai that God gives the people the law. He had brought the people out of Egypt and now He wanted to take them in to the land, promised from the days of Abraham.

Moses was called up the mountain to meet with God. Here he was given the ten words, the ten commandments of God which were to be received by the people and which were to be the basis of a covenant that they were required to keep.

Moses is referred to as the mediator of the old covenant in “Galatians 3:19 ESV 9: the law …..was put in place through angels by an intermediary”. He received them directly from the hands of God, written by His finger.

“The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  John 1:17”

The earlier part of this verse says: “Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring – seed – should come to whom the promise had been made” ESV.

This is the key question. “Why then the law?” Why was the law given?

The law does not justify anyone. God has chosen to count men and women righteous by faith. Remember this is what God established with Abraham thousands of years previously.

As a result those who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ”Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them” Galatians 3:10, ESV.

But we know that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us- for it is written cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, Galatians 3:13” ESV.

The law was given to make sin known. If it had not been for the law, Paul says, I would not have known sin. “For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said ”You shall not covet”, Romans 7:7,8.

Because the law is holy and good, sin kills us. (Romans 7:11). We all stand condemned by it. There is nothing wrong with the law; the problem is with us, we are “sold under sin”, Romans 7:14”.

God gave mankind the law to keep sin restrained. The law acts as our protector. God kept us shut up until Christ came. So, the law shows us our sin and also leads us to Christ.

“Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order we might be justified by faith.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith…. Galatians 3:23-26” ESV.

This section in Galatians refers to the Jews, (Paul was one of course) when Paul uses the pronoun, “we”. Then he says, but “you”, referring to those who were Gentiles. The children of Israel were God’s people and to them the law was given, which kept them “under guardians and stewards” until Christ came. 

Paul says that the Gentiles also received the Holy Spirit that brought them into sonship too. Sonship for the Jews was couched in terms of them coming into the full right of sons, adoption, whereas the emphasis for the Gentiles was that of a new birth, where “Abba, Father” is the birth cry. These of course are not separate experiences but rather truth revealed in different ways and emphases.

We must now turn largely to the New Testament to see how God has provided a gospel that thoroughly deals with sin.

Because God had made a covenant with Abraham, He would not forget His people, even in their darkest hour. He was behind the scenes preparing a man, Moses, who with his brother Aaron, was going to be the long-awaited deliverer.

God judged Pharaoh in a series of devastating plagues culminating in the death of the firstborn in every family. During this time the people of God were waiting safely inside. They had applied the blood of a lamb to each of their homes, so that the angel of death passed over them.  They had marked the occasion by taking a special meal all dressed and ready to move. This was the “Passover”. It was a reminder that the people were delivered by the blood of the lamb. These events are all described in Exodus chapters 12-15.

They left quickly, taking with them the spoils of Egypt. Pharaoh pursued them in haste. The children of Israel were trapped in the desert with the Red Sea ahead of them and the Egyptian army behind them.

God spoke to Moses and told him to advance stretching out his rod in front of him. Remarkably the cloud that had been over them came behind them blotting out the view of the following army. At that moment there was a strong wind and the sea divided making a path right through it. All the children of God safely passed over, may be 1-2 million of them. Then Moses raised his rod again and the sea returned to its normal state with walls of water on each side cascading down drowning the chasing army out of sight. The New Testament tells us that this was God baptising the people in the cloud and in the sea and into Moses.

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed though the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea… 1 Corinthians 10:1,2” ESV.

This is an amazing illustration of the great act of God in the Exodus – the coming out – of Egypt. They had been saved by the blood of the lamb and had seen all their enemies destroyed in the sea. This was a true baptism into Moses, a picture here of course of Christ; freed from our enemies by the blood that saves and by baptism into our Head, our Deliverer.

Are we still thinking about the Gospel of God?

What do we learn from these historical accounts?

Are we still thinking about the problem of sin?

So how did God respond to the dreadfulness of sin?

Before we can start giving some thought to this question we need to very briefly turn back to Abraham. We have already noted that he plays a key part in God’s great purpose and therefore is revealed frequently in the Bible.

God called Abraham out of a totally heathen people by revealing Himself as the God of glory. God made great promises to Abraham saying that He would bless all the families of the earth through his descendants. These promises were made in a covenant that God instituted with Abraham and his seed – his descendants.

“Abraham was justified because he believed God; his faith was counted to him as righteousness” Galatians 3:6.

It put him in right standing with God. This is a central theme in the New Testament.

Abraham had a son, Isaac, and Isaac had a son called Jacob. From Jacob and his wives came twelve more sons, resulting in a large tribal group that came to be known as the twelve tribes of Israel. (Along the way God changed Jacob’s name to Israel.)

His eleventh son, Joseph, was his father’s delight as he came from the love of his life and his marriage to Rachel. Being favoured did not help Joseph however as his brothers took exception to his status and sold him to traders from Egypt.

There, through a series of amazing events, he remarkably rose to become the chancellor of the exchequer, only Pharaoh being above him.

Meanwhile, back in Canaan, where the tribe were living, famine forced them to go down to Egypt for food. There Joseph recognised his brothers and eventually, forgiveness and reconciliation followed, resulting in all the family moving to live in Egypt.

The tribal family grew quickly and after a change in power the new Pharaoh became apprehensive of these people and put them into slavery and bondage.

This dark passage of the children of Israel’s history lasted for 430 years, exactly the time period revealed to Abraham when God instituted the covenant with him.

Where was God now?

How could the seed line be continued?

How would all the promises of God be fulfilled in the face of such impossibility?

Is this how God responds to the dreadfulness of sin?

The clearest definition of sin in the New Testament is found in Ephesians.

 Ephesians 2:1-3, “And you he made alive, who were once dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others”.

We noted in Part 25 that everyone comes into the world with a nature that is under the judgment of God. We are all children of wrath.  This inherent nature is expressed in our daily walk. Our walk is a term describing the usual pattern, direction and character of our lives. Paul in this text says that our walk, our pattern of life, was according to, or in keeping with, the powers that operate in our fallen world.

The world is under the prince of the power of the air, a title of the devil himself. This spirit works in us, sons of disobedience. In our fallen nature there is power that is destructive to us. We are influenced by it at best, and controlled by it at worst, this formidable opposer to God.  We are given over to the lusts of our flesh, with no fear of God in our eyes. The spirit has power to work in us because we are fundamentally disobedient sons. All of us have an inbuilt bias to sin, until we allow God to put it to death in us. 

Much of our behaviour is because of what we have inherited by birth, but this must not be used as an excuse as we all have committed sin of our own volition.

Our text here describes that, in our un-regenerate state, we all fulfil the lusts of our flesh and of the mind. Not everyone manifests gross sin. Not all have the opportunity to either commit sin, or be protected from sinning; but all of us have a mind and an imagination that may know no limit to the extent of our sinfulness. All of us are capable, given the right circumstances, of any sin.

Paul goes on in his letter to describe the amazing change that happens when we “learn Christ, when we are taught the truth that we have put off the old man, put on the new and are renewed in the spirit of our mind”.

He contrasts the old manner of life, living and walking like everyone else, in darkness, ignorance, blindness, lewdness, greed, and so forth. He says that this behaviour springs from “the old man” in us – the power of sin that yields fruits of sins. There are numerous manifestations of sin, that are called sins in the Bible, but they come from a single source, the nature of sin itself. 

Ephesians 3:17-24:-

“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness”.