A complete salvation 4: to be a saint (1) -- crucify the old self

Dear All:

To continue A complete salvation 4: to be a saint

4. To be a saint and what we need to fight against.

We know that man is composed of 3 parts: body, soul and spirit. Other animals only have body and soul. Our spirit is directly from God.
"Then the LORD said,' My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.'" (GENESIS 6:3) (According to scientists, in the future, man's age can be up to 120.)
Body is the media between this material world and the spirit. When one is dead, the spirit will separate from the body like taking off clothes. Death means the spirit cannot interact with this material world any more.

The initial creation of man is good until Eve and Adam's freewill make a wrong choice to disobey God and eat the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. As God warned clearly before:"...for when you eat it you will surely die." (GENESIS 2:17) The life of spirit of human died to God on the day they eat the forbidden fruit. The fruit enhanced their capability to know what is good and evil but killed their life of spirit to live a good and holy life. The spirit is dead and cannot interact with God as before. A little is left which are our consciences. Therefore, the morality law of humans is the same regardless of different cultures and races.

Where are the bad things from? As addressed previously, all the bad things are the results of disobedience -- being away from the truth and source of goodness and the only good one - God.
" For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." (1 JOHN 2:16-17)
"The heart (of man) is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (JEREMIAH 17:9)

But you might say that it's Eve and Adam's fault, why I suffer the results. Praises and thanks be to God, He grant human another chance - the salvation through Jesus Christ. As long as one admits one's sin and believe in Jesus Christ's name, one will be reborn and is given a new spiritual life that is reconcile with God. Now as a Christian, we have made a right choice but we need to follow Jesus Christ's example closely to recover the image that we should be in God's mind.
"For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through one man, Jesus Christ." (ROMANS 5:17)

We must be holy to go to heaven.
"...without holiness no one will see Lord." (HEBREWS 12:14)
"It is God's will that you should be sanctified:..." (1 THESSALONIANS 4:3)
"For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life." (1 THESSALONIANS 4:7)
"But just as he who calls you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written:" Be holy, because I am holy." (PETER 1:15-16)

We must try to be a saint and follow the example of Jesus Christ to live our life on earth.
"Then Jesus said to his disciples,' If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'" (MATTHEW 16:24)

(1) We need to fight against the sinful nature of the body and crucify our old self on the cross:
Dead to sin, alive in Christ. Many of the teachings listed in the following are about the same message.

"There is no one righteous, not even one;" (ROMANS 3:10)
"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:..." (COLOSSIANS 3:5)
"The mind of sinful man is death,... the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God." (ROMANS 8:6-8)
"We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of Father, we too may live a new life." (ROMANS 6:3-4)
"For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-because anyone who died has been freed from sin." (ROMANS 6:6-7)
"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."(ROMANS 6:11)
"I beat my body and make it my slave ..." (1 CORINTHIANS 9:27)
"Struggling with sin..." (ROMANS 7:7-25)
"For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live." (ROMANS 8:13)
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." (GALATIANS 2:20)
"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." (GALATIANS 5:24)
"...the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,..." (PHILIPPIANS 3:10)
"Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourself also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin." (PETER 4:1)

All glories, praises and thanks be to God
in Jesus
servant of Christ