(a) Explain the concept New Life in Christ as taught by Paul. (b) What four necessary steps must a new member in the church take before initiation into the ...

Answer Details

(a) The concept of New Life in Christ as taught by Paul (Romans 6; Colossians 3; Ephesians 4; Galatians 2:20)

Paul taught that when a person believes in Christ and is baptized, he enters into a completely new kind of life, a spiritual and moral transformation brought about by union with Christ. The main features of this teaching are:

• Death to sin and the old self: In baptism the believer is united with Christ in his death; the old self is crucified with Christ so that the sinful body might be destroyed and he is no longer enslaved to sin. "We were buried with him by baptism into death."
• Resurrection to a new life: Just as Christ was raised from the dead, so the believer is raised to walk in newness of life. He is to consider himself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
• A new creation: The believer becomes a new creation; the old has passed away and the new has come. It is no longer he who lives, but Christ who lives in him (Galatians 2:20).
• Putting off the old nature and putting on the new: The Christian must put away the works of the flesh, such as immorality, impurity, anger, malice, lying and covetousness, and put on the new nature, being renewed in knowledge after the image of the Creator.
• Bearing the fruit of the Spirit: The new life is lived under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
• Yielding to God as an instrument of righteousness: The believer no longer yields his members to sin but presents himself to God, so that the end is sanctification and eternal life; for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.

(b) Four steps a new member must take before initiation into the New Life

• Hearing and believing the Gospel: He must hear the word of God and put his faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
• Repentance from sin: He must turn away from his former sinful life and be genuinely sorry for his sins.
• Confession of faith: He must openly confess Jesus Christ as Lord.
• Baptism: He must be baptized, symbolising death to the old life and rising to the new life in Christ.

(A further step is receiving the Holy Spirit, who empowers and guides the new life.)