Catechism: Old Adam and New Man
Since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. Colossians 3:9-10
In Matthew 22, Jesus tells a parable about the wedding feast in the kingdom of heaven. At the end of the parable, the king hosting the feast finds a man who is not wearing the proper wedding garment. The man is swiftly thrown into the outer darkness.
We cannot enter the kingdom of heaven without new clothes. Our old clothes are not acceptable to our heavenly Father. In Colossians, Paul tells us that our old clothing is our Old Adam. It is a uniform of sorts. The Old Adam is the uniform of a sinner. When we wear our Old Adam, we do all the evil deeds of those who will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. We need to daily take off our Old Adam and put on the New Man. But we are more likely to change our own skin than to change our natures. This has to be a work of God. It is God who changes us, renewing us according to His image.
Scripture and our Confessions also speak of this process as killing the Old Adam. That sounds violent, and for good reason. To give us unblemished new robes, Jesus had to put on all the Old Adams of the world and suffer and die for all our evil deeds. By that sacrificial death our sins have been forgiven. The Old Adam has died. In Jesus’ resurrection we receive robes washed in His own blood which, when the wedding feast commences in heaven, will be the only clothes we will ever wear for all eternity.
Holy Spirit, change me daily out of my sinful Old Adam. Renew me with the clothing of the New Man created in Your own image. Amen.