The Old Testament tells of Saul of Benjamin, that immediately after his anointing by Samuel, but prior to his proclamation to Israel, he was sent on his way by the prophet with the following significant words. “Thou shalt meet a company of prophets. . .and they shall prophesy. And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thon shalt prophesy with them, and thon shall be turned into another man.’”1 And so it came to pass that, at least for a period, Saul became a changed man. The New Testament tells of another Saul, a citizen of Tarsus and a persecutor of the Christians, who on the Damascus Road was overwhelmed by a great light at mid-day—and that light was the Light of the World. And although his physical sight was blinded for a season, the eyes of his spiritual discernment were considerably opened, and he, too, became “another man.” Which was the real Saul of Benjamin? Which was the real Saul of Tarsus? After most startling experiences, they each became “a new creature.”
What is the reality of a person? For most people possess complex and even incongruous characteristics of personality. In the course of a few hours, we are all different “selves” and present varying phases of our personality, according to our particular circumstance, environment, temperamental structure and spiritual outlook. We may be one “person” to our relatives, quite a different “person” to our superiors, and yet another “person” still to our tradesmen or landladies. In view pf all the possible kaleidoscopic changes of mood and temperament, how may we ascertain the true spiritual “self” of a man? Let us consider a few examples.
Who was the real Duke of Marlborough? Was he the invincible commander whose very name brought terror to thousands of Frenchmen? Or was he the miserable poltroon afraid of one little woman—his termagant wife, who flung at his crouching head the key to the royal wardrobe which Queen Anne had commissioned him to recover after her quarrel with the Duchess?
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Author: A. E. Jones
Keywords: new creature, new creation, born again, born from above, conversion, converted, repentance, changed man, changed person, conversion process, baptized in Christ, batpised in Christ, spirit born, renewing of your mind, renewing of mind, renewal, renewal of mind, conformity, born of the spirit, transformed, transformation, transformation of the mind, be ye transformed, new man, put on the new man
Bible reference(s): 1 Sam 10:5-6, Ezekiel 11:19, Ezek 18:31, Ezekiel 36:26, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Philippians 2:5, Matthew 12:33, Matthew 12:35, Matthew 18:3, Mark 10:15, Luke 18:17, Luke 22:32 , John 3:3, John 3:5, Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19, Romans 6:4, Romans 6:6, Romans 8:9, Romans 8:10, Romans 12:2, 1 Corinthians 13:11, Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:5, Colossians 3:7, Colossians 3:8, Colossians 3:10, 1 John 2:6, 1 John 3:3, 1 John 3:9
Source: “A New Creature,” The Testimony, Vol. 10, No. 120, December 1940, pp. 362-4.
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