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the
old man. The verbal phrase “was crucified” is cast in the past tense, and
hence, it is an event forever done. Our old man is not going to be crucified with the Lord, nor will it be crucified in the future; to the
contrary, it is already crucified.
When Christ was crucified on Calvary, our old man was included in His
crucifixion. When Christ died, the old man died simultaneously with Him.
    Suppose a sinner wants to be saved tonight, so he prays
to God, saying: “O God, have mercy on me! Please cause the Lord Jesus to shed His
blood for me to redeem me of my sins.” Were you to hear it, you would undoubtedly
tell him that such prayer is wrong, for how can anyone ask God to cause the
Lord to shed His blood? His blood has already been shed for the sinner. All the
latter need do is ask God to give him faith to
believe, for by faith the sinner will be saved. Instead of asking the Lord to shed
His blood for him tonight in order to redeem him of his sins before God, the sinner
must believe that His blood has already been shed. He need only believe and he
will be justified. Likewise, faith must be exercised by the Christian towards this
matter regarding the old man. Let us not ask God to crucify our old man, for
the Lord has declared that the old man has already been crucified. Just as
redemption and forgiveness are past events, so also is the old man crucified a
past event.
    If we believe in the forgiveness of our
sin because the Lord himself has already made that possible, then the crucifixion
of our old man is also already realized for us through believing that the Lord
has already crucified our old man with Him. By looking
at either the Greek or English translation of Romans 6:6a we know and are
assured that the crucifixion of the old man is a past event—that our old man has
already been crucified. Yet knowing this accomplished fact alone is not
sufficient, it has to be believed as well. If we believe that our old man has
been crucified, then we should praise God, declaring: “Praise Him, I am dead.”

Old Man
Crucified and the Body Unemployed
    Now as the old man was crucified, “the body of sin” was “done
away” (Romans 6:6b). In the original Greek, the word translated in English as “done
away” actually means “unemployed.” Originally, the business of the body of sin
is to sin. The mouth, for example, is for scolding people and the brain is for thinking
up unclean thoughts. But if the old man has died ,
the mouth can no longer scold, nor the brain conjure
up unclean thoughts. And thus both the mouth and the brain become unemployed.
Although the sin within still impels you to sin, there is no longer the old man
to respond, for the Lord’s new life within you cannot
sin because it has no love for sin. Hence the body is unemployed.
    In Tientsin there was a man who loved to play cards. His
two hands were naturally used to play cards. But after he believed in the Lord,
his two hands were now unemployed. This is an illustration of what Paul has
here declared: that once the old man within was crucified, the body without became
unemployed. And thus a person is kept from sinning and is no longer a slave to
sin. Although the sin within may tempt and temptation is still present, a dead
person will not sense it and hence there is no reaction. Such, then, according
to the Scriptures, is the effective work of the cross which can be every
Christian’s experience.
    The efficacious work of the cross is totally different
from that of the blood. The blood was shed by our Lord for the remission of
sins before God. We absolutely have no part in it. For us to be crucified with
Christ is not for sins, it is for getting rid of our old man. The Bible says
that “the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (I John 1:7b). This
passage tells us that the blood of Christ is for cleansing us of our sins, but
it does not say that the blood is for cleansing the old man, or for cleansing
us, or for cleansing the flesh.