Who am I?
This is the wonderful story of salvation: that Christ died for you. Because of Adam’s sin, you were born dead, but because of Christ’s sacrifice, you can be made alive again. It says in I Corinthians 15:21-22, “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Jesus Christ became the second and last Adam; He became the head of all those who would accept Him. Just as Adam is the head of those who are physically born, Jesus is the head of those who are Spiritually born. All men are identified with one of these two. By birth you are automatically identified with Adam, but you can by choice be identified with Christ at the time of Salvation. So then while a man is lost, he has only one point of identification; once a man is saved, he now has two. He has the old identity, who he was in Adam, and he has the new identity, who he now is in Christ.
I Corinthians 15 goes on to explain to us in verses 45-49, “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” God’s desire is for you to stop identifying with the old man, who you were in sin, and to start identifying with the new man, who you are in Christ. This is where many Christians find their difficulty, in finding their new identity.
Imagine that you are standing between two objects.
On the one side of you is a dead and rotting corpse, and on the other side of you is Jesus Christ. You stand in the middle trying to decide which of these two you want to be identified with. In the past, you have always been identified with the corpse, but you didn’t know it at the time. Because of your past identity you are surprisingly comfortable being identified with the corpse. Now that you are saved, you find it disgusting, and vile, yet it still has a comforting remembrance to you. The corpse represents the old nature, who you were before salvation. The Bible says in Romans 6:2 “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”, again in Romans 6:11, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”, and yet again in Romans 8:10, “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” You see, God makes it clear that the old sinful nature is dead.
