2018 Fall - Higher Things Magazine (with Bible Studies)

Faces of the

H H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 4

Old Adam

e’s familiar. You know him all too well. And that’s a bad thing— deadly, hell-worthy, even! Sounds bad, and it is! Evil, wicked, nothing good there—that’s your flesh, your Old Adam.

We hear about him a lot. When your pastor preaches or teaches, you may hear him talk about your flesh which is at war with the Spirit, your old man who’s against your new man, your Old Adam who’s opposed to Christ Jesus.

But it’s not just your pastor saying that.

That’s what the Holy Spirit says through Paul: “The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” (Galatians 5:17).

But what does your Old Adam look like? He’s familiar, so you’d think you could spot him from a mile away, but that’s not always the case. In fact, there are some misconceptions about what your flesh will do and what your Old Adam actually looks like. So let’s take a look at some different Old Adam masks that he uses to present himself.

The first Old Adam is the one we hear about the most, the one we’re most aware of. He’s what you could call “Frat Boy” Adam. He lives however he

By Rev. Aaron T. Fenker

wants, does whatever he wants. He’s a party animal. He sins and sins and sins some more. He doesn’t care what he does as long as he likes it and as long as it feels good. “The works of the flesh are evident: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, drunkenness, rivalries” (Galatians 5:19, 21). Sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll are this Old Adam’s favorites. He can sin, sin, sin. He could also be lazy, lazy, lazy. Again, do whatever he wants. He’ll trick you into thinking that you can do whatever you want because you’ll just be forgiven for it on Sunday. But that naturally leads us to another Old Adam.

The second Old Adam is the super pious one. He’s “Pharisee” Old Adam. He