New Humanity in Christ

Pastor Martin zooms in on Colossians 3:9-10 as a second great witness to definitive sanctification, working through the letter's larger framework of the person of Christ, the work of Christ, and union with Christ. He examines the vivid imagery (undressing and dressing), the profound analogy (old man and new man as the totality of humanity in Adam or in Christ), and the decisive tenses (a once-for-all 'having put off' and 'having put on'). He draws three conclusions: every believer has put off the old man and put on the new, every believer as new man must still deal with remaining sin, and every believer must fight sin from the conviction that he is a new man — illustrated by Augustine's famous 'it is no longer I.'