The Self & The Selfless: Two

{ This is a continuation of The Self & The Selfless: One }

As stated in the previous post, we as Chrsitians are called to a life of self-denial, self-giving or outright sacrifice. We need to kill off our old selves to do this properly. It is done in three ways.

Death to Sin: The Legal Death

It happens to all Christian by the fact of our union with Jesus Christ, His death and His Resurrection. In this union not only are we forgiven but we also share in the benefits of God’s gift of eternal life but we also share in His death as is symbolized in our baptism. Where we can we must kill the sin in our lives and/or resist it. Sin cannot be free to manifest itself whenever it feels like it wants. You are to control it through a sanctification process with Christ. You are to take captive any thought that is sinful or as 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 states:

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.” 2 Corinthians 10:4-6

Die to Self: The Moral Death

Is is called self-mortification, to denying one’s self or taking up one’s cross. The result is a committed fellowship with a fellow suffering servant. It is not a death that we have done directly to ourselves but rather something that we do to ourselves through the power of the Spirit. We kill our old nature.

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Colossians 3:5-11

Carrying The Death of Christ Within Us: The Physical Death

We must carry the life and the death of Jesus Christ in us so that it is revealed to the world in our bodies.

“…persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:9-10.

This is clearly carried out plainly in our bodies. It speaks of our infirmities, weaknesses and our mortality. It is why Paul said, “I die daily” in 1 Corinthians 15:30-31. It is human frailty. The subsequent resurrection is the inward vitality or renewal in a Christian’s life with Jesus that continues to renew us in hope until our last breath.

In Addendum:

I would like to add that this theology is not advocating negative attitude towards humans. Anyone that knows the story of Jesus Christ could ever get the impression that Jesus held humans of low or poor value. How could anyone imply that? If anything just the opposite is true and is shown in the Bible. There is a continued pattern throughout the Old Testament of moral and spiritual failure, punishment and repentance. If Jesus Christ had held people in such low regard why did He make Himself of no accord and humble Himself so greatly, great enough to allow Himself to be humiliated by crucifixion on a cross?


“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11

Jesus’ main mission ended in a death for humanity. How can anyone think that God is holding man in low accord after a sacrificial love like that for humanity? Whatever we do, we should NEVER see us as anything less than God sees us as. Additionally, Jesus during His life went out of His way to approach those that society rejected because He valued them so highly. The disowned, the rejected, the one’s society saw as human refuse, and He honored them. The pimps, the prostitutes, the diseased, the homeless, the broken….you and I.

He became like us in all things except sin. He renounced His position to become like us. Jesus, The King of Kings came down to serve, not to be served.

"...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." ~Matthew 20:28


Stott, John R. W.. The Cross of Christ. 20 Anv ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Print.