This topic discusses a type of non-physical death, and the new birth/new life in the Spirit for Christians. The life of the apostle Paul, as recorded in the New Testament (NT), is used as an example.
Before Paul became converted, he was known as Saul (Ac.13:9). Saul terrorized Jewish Christians. Ac.8:1-3 “Saul was consenting to his death [Stephen’s, Ac.7:58-60]….Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and dragging off men and women, he put them in prison.” House churches were springing up then, around 34 AD. In Ac.22:4, Saul/Paul later said of his past, “I persecuted the Way [followers of Christ, Jn.14:6] to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons”.
But in Acts 9, Saul had a dramatic conversion experience! Ac.9:1-2 “Saul was breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord [Jesus].” Authorized by the high priest, he left for Damascus in search of Jewish Christians to bring them bound to Jerusalem. v.3-9 as Saul neared Damascus, he was blinded (for 3 days) by a light from heaven…and the voice of Jesus spoke to him! v.10-22 Ananias said, “Saul…you may be filled with the Holy Spirit”. v.17 Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit (HS), his sight returned, all his past sins were washed away via water baptism in Jesus’ Name (Ac.22:16).
Saul/Paul was never the same after that encounter! Paul wrote in Ga.1:12-14, “I received it [the gospel] by revelation from Jesus Christ. You have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond my peers, being very zealous for my ancestral traditions.” Religious Pharisaism highly valued Jewish oral law traditions. Saul was a devoted Pharisee (Ac.23:6)…and then he saw the Light that day on the Damascus road.
We understand Paul received mercy & forgiveness from Father God. And yet God is also just; we reap what we sow, as Paul wrote (Ga.6:7). Ac.9:16 the Lord told Ananías that Paul would suffer (for His Name’s sake). Saul had caused many to suffer. 2Co.11:24-27 Paul’s own sufferings. A murderer sentenced to death, who becomes converted in prison, may still die physically in the electric chair.
Subsequently Paul wrote in 2Ti.1:3, “I thank God whom I serve with a pure conscience”. Maybe it seems strange that a man who was party to the murder of Jewish Christians could claim a pure conscience? Paul acknowledged in 1Ti.1:13, “I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief.” He mistakenly had thought the Lord Jesus was just a dead man who was worshiped as a false god. Saul had zealously sought to eradicate that which he viewed as idolatry (as per De.13:6-9, 17:2-7. also see “Stephen’s Stoning in Acts”.) Yet murder was murder. Saul/Paul repented, changed, was forgiven, his conscience was cleansed.
The NT reflects a pertinent connected level of meaning. It has to do with the symbolic death of Paul’s old man/old self (Saul), the old “body of sin” (Ro.6:6), begun through Christ’s work on the cross.
Paul wrote figuratively in Ga.2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it’s no longer I who live; but Christ lives in me”. Christ’s HS and word indwelt the new Paul. This enabled Paul to subdue his self-will and live a life of submission and obedience to God, as Christ did. Ellicott Commentary Ga.2:20 “It is through the power of the cross…that the Christian is enabled to mortify the promptings of sin within him. Death upon one side of my nature does not prevent me from having life on the other side.” Benson Commentary Ga.2:20 “The apostle proceeds in describing how he was freed from the dominion as well as the guilt of sin.” But it’s not a pain-free process.
Crucifixion by the Romans was usually a slow, lingering, painful death! (see “Jesus’ Death – The Physical Cause”.)
Quitting old wrong practices and beliefs can involve mental turmoil/pain, and isn’t instantaneous. Expositor’s Greek Testament Ga.2:20 “A real crucifixion of heart and will. By this figure he [Paul] describes the intense agony of spiritual conflict.” Saul’s old self, ways, self-desires didn’t want to ‘die’.
The first verse where Saul is called Paul is Ac.13:9. “Saul, also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit….” He wasn’t referred to as “Paul” prior to his becoming Spirit-filled in Acts 9. Saul was a persecutor…but Paul is the Roman name of an apostle to the nations. The Lord Jesus told Ananias in Ac.9:15, “He [Saul/Paul] is a chosen vessel of Mine, to bear My name before the gentiles”.
The old Saul ‘died’ with Christ, as he (Paul) later put it. The man Saul who’d persecuted the Way…himself became a follower of the Way. Paul later said of his new way of life in Ac.24:14, “I admit to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect do I serve the God of our fathers, believing everything written in the Law and the Prophets”. The man Saul, regenerated, became the new Paul.
The Latin name Paul/Paulus (Strongs g3972, Greek) meant ‘small’ or ‘little’. His physical appearance wasn’t impressive (2Co.10:10). According to tradition, Paul stood only 5 feet tall. John Chrýsostom (347-407 AD) Homily On Romans “The apostle Paul was short in stature, modest (?), bald on the head, bow-legged…pale colored, well-bearded, sensible…full of grace, inspired by the Holy Spirit.” (For an exposition of Paul’s doctrine/ideology, see the series “Paul the Apostle”.)
Saul/Paul was from the Israelite tribe of Benjamin (Php.3:5). Benjamites had assimilated with the tribe of Judah (the Jews) when God divided the united kingdom of Israel after Solomon died (1Ki.12:23-24).
Of note…ca 1050 BC Israel’s first king, Saul the son of Kish , was also from the tribe of Benjamin. But King Saul was a very tall man (1Sm.9:1-2), who had initially been small/humble in his own eyes (1Sm.9:21, 15:17). However, he changed for the worse. This Old Testament Benjamite Saul became a persecutor, wanting to put David to death (1Sm.19)! Whereas the NT Benjamite Saul/Paul the ‘little’ was a persecutor who changed for the better…the reverse of King Saul.
At his repentance and conversion, Paul became a new creature, born from above (Jn.3:3-ff). 2Co.5:17 “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away, they are become new.” The NT Saul’s old deceitful heart (Je.17:9), his past self/old man, was figuratively crucified.
The Lord had foretold in Ezk.36:26, “I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh”. God gave the HS, and a metaphorical new heart (called “Paul”), to Saul’s physical body. Again, Paul wrote in Ga.2:20, “It’s no longer I [Saul] who live….”
Paul’s persecutions (as Saul) became obsolete. Saul had figuratively died! The new Paul didn’t persecute Christians. So Paul’s conscience was clear when he wrote to Timothy in the 60s AD – and the new changed Paul could make the claim of having a clear conscience (2Ti.1:3).
Paul wrote in Ro.6:6-7, “Knowing this, that our old man [self] was crucified with Christ, so that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin.” Here Paul includes all Christians…our old nature to be rendered inactive. This concept may be hard to comprehend or seem like Christian mysticism. But Paul writes with absolute assurance – “Knowing”.
Cambridge Bible Ro.6:6 “This knowledge is to be a working motive in the new life.” JFB Commentary Ro.6:6 “Our old selves’ – all that we were in our old unregenerate condition, before union with Christ.”
Paul to the church at Colossae in Col.3:3, “For you died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God”. Our own way of following our selfish inclinations perishes. Expositor’s Greek Testament Col.3:3 “For you died’, that is to their old life, at the time of their conversion.”
2Co.5:15 “He [Christ] died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for their sakes and rose again.” Cambridge Bible 2Co.5:15 “And thus made obedience possible for us…freeing us from our bondage to sin.” Our attitude and service should now be, “Thy will be done” (Mt.6:10)…not…my will be done.
Paul wrote further in 2Ti.2:11, “If we died with Him [Christ], we shall also live with Him”. For some believers the realization of this self-death may begin with intellectual agreement, after reading Paul’s letters. Others may understand this operation of death to sin and regeneration to Life through revelation from the HS. I feel no death within my body; we can’t explain this new birth miracle by the five senses. But we can have faith in the operation of God; and believe the above verses were inspired.
We’re not aware of an exact time of death for a Christian’s old man or old self, as he/she/we undergo the waters of baptism. But as Jesus was dead prior to His burial, the Christian was already dead, symbolically, before his baptismal burial. (also see the topic “Baptisms and Washings”.)
This baptismal burial isn’t what killed us – in cultures of the world people are not customarily buried alive! It is only after a person dies that he/she is buried. The previous verses indicate that we died to sin (on a cross, metaphorically), being crucified as was Jesus. And then only after this death were we buried (immersed in baptism) with Him. This burial is also a public testimony of the (prior) death of our ‘old man’, according to the faith we had in Jesus when we first believed (before baptism).
Ro.6:3-5 “We have been buried with Him through baptism unto death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.” Our baptism under water symbolizes this burial, and our surfacing the regeneration/rebirth to real Life via the Spirit.
Yet Christians still maintain in our souls most learning, abilities and muscle memory patterns that date from the years/decades of our ‘old man’. Some sinful responses were also learned and internalized. So we still have wrong desires, and will sin occasionally (or too often). Paul sinned occasionally too (cf. Ro.7:23). We have a (daily) battle against lapsing into sin. He wrote, 1Co.15:31 “I die daily”. Paul died daily…to keep his flesh crucified (and from enemy threats). see “Repentance from Sin”.
Daily repentance and asking God that the blood of Jesus be applied to any recurring sins…will result in our being continually forgiven and our consciences cleansed. He.9:14 “The blood of Christ…will cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” Jesus’ sacrifice is fully efficacious.
As we yield to the HS, our (old) self-will should become less and less operative or dominant. Webster’s Dictionary: Self-Will “The persistent carrying out of one’s own will or wishes.” Collins Dictionary: Self-Will “The stubborn adherence to one’s own will, desires, etc.” Rather…God’s will be done.
We’ve been baptized in/by the HS. The HS leads us into doing the will of God. 1Co.12:13 “By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” There’s no baptism into another, ref Ep.4:5. (Note: Humans cannot baptize one another into the HS, e.g. Mk.1:8…but Jesus can.)
Few Christians undergo a name change from their former life, as Saul became known as Paul. Yet as Christians, we too should say (Ga.2:20), “It’s no longer I who live; but Christ lives in me”. We ‘died’ in Christ, and He has become our life too.
I keep one nail spike in my key tray on the bedroom dresser. So in the morning when I dress and reach to the tray…I see the spike. I’m reminded that the old me ‘died’, figuratively ‘crucified with Christ’; and that new day I am to let Jesus live inside via the HS.
But how much time do we live filled with, or aware of, the Holy Spirit? Paul exhorted the church in Ep.5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit”.
This topic is continued and concluded in “Holy Spirit-Filled (2) – Be Refilled”.
Bible Topic Exposition 