Our justification does not come some day in the undetermined future, based on our own works. Every true believer is declared righteous in Christ and has both legal and relational standing as God’s children. All believers are coheirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). Christians not only have the benefit of being justified in Christ, but they also have the benefit of sanctification. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer and is at work conforming them to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29).

In Ephesians 4:20-24, the apostle Paul writes:

But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

What is Paul saying about the “old self” and the “new self” and how is this passage connected to a believer’s new life in Christ?

All Christians Should Strive Both to Mortify Sin in Their Lives and to Grow in Godliness.

The Christian life is one of mortifying our sinful desires (also known as the mortification of the flesh) and living unto God by keeping his commandments (also known as vivification).

The Heidelberg Catechism, first published in 1563, is a highly regarded summary of the Christian faith and has the following to say about a believer’s conversion:

Q: What is the true repentance or conversion of man?

A: It is the dying of the old nature and the coming to life of the new. — The Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 88.

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