Rom.vi.6). This being so, why try to fight and kill what God has already slain, as though

we had the power to conquer the sinful old nature?

The climax of the list of sins is covetousness, which we might think was not nearly so

bad as sexual impurity. But the Apostle insists that those who indulge in it are idolaters

(Col. 3: 5; Eph. 5: 5). The Greek word pleonexia means the desire to possess more than

one ought to have, particularly that which belongs to someone else. This puts some

object of desire in the central place which the Lord Jesus should occupy, and so it

becomes idolatry. This is indeed dangerous and all the more so because it can assume so

many respectable forms.

As against all this, the `new man', the life and power of Christ within, is renewed by

the Holy Spirit `day by day' (II Cor. 4: 16) and thus Christ-likeness is being reproduced

continually in the believer's life. It is `renewed unto knowledge after the image of Him

that created him' (Col. 3: 10 R.V.). This takes us back to the creation of Adam, made in

the likeness of the One Who is the Image of the invisible God. The believer's life is not

just an improvement or reformation of the old. It is something completely new, a

creation by God and it is this that should dominate him right through to the end of his

earthly pilgrimage.

But it is not only sinful habits that should not intrude into this new creation. All

barriers that divided one from another are abolished, too, whether racial (Jew and

Gentile), cultural (primitive Scythians and other barbarians who did not share in the

Graeco-Roman culture), or social (such as that between slaves and free men). In the

unsaved world these barriers still counted, but in Christ they ceased to exist. In the

spiritual sphere and in His relationship to the church which is His Body, Christ is ALL.

These last three words really sum up the Truth. There are no extras to the Lord Jesus

Christ. Only when the believer, in his experience reaches the stage that this is real and

vital in relation to himself, does he reach his full spiritual stature. There are so many

`other lords' which seek to have dominion over us and there is only One Who has the

indisputable right to be there as Lord.

When we in truth crown Him `Lord of all', then we are at last, from a practical

standpoint, in the right relationship to Him, one in which we can realize to the full what

He plans for us in our lives and service, and how rich then our Christian lives and witness

can be!

The result of all this is bound to be shown in the day to day Christian walk of the

believer, in his estimate of himself, his treatment of others and his treatment by others.

The ground has already been stressed in Eph. 4: and 5: There must be humbleness of

mind leading to meekness and longsuffering. This certainly does not imply weakness,

but refusal to retaliate in the face of provocation. These graces must be `put on' by the

believer continually (Col. 3: 12-14). There must be gracious forgiveness if one has been

wronged and all is summed up in the greatest Christian virtue, `love, which is the bond of

perfectness (or maturity)', which forgets about self, its needs, and thinks constantly of the

Lord and how much we owe Him and, after this, the needs of others. This is the only tie