Forever Sealed

[percho]

No, I would not say a more perfect man.

The new man is already born of God. Rather, I would say that the future redemption of the body completes the believer's redemption, removing the remaining Adamic corruption so that the whole person is conformed to Christ.

removing the remaining Adamic corruption ?

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 1 Cor 15:50

Help me out. When does a man's redemption begin and when is that man's redemption completed?

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Rom 8:11

Is the new birth an event or a process?

By the same token was the following an event or a process?

And of Jesus Christ, the birth was thus: For his mother Mary having been betrothed to Joseph, before their coming together she was found to have conceived from the Holy Spirit,
Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.
But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
And Joseph, having risen from the sleep, did as the messenger of the Lord directed him, and received his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son.[fn] And he called His name JESUS. From Matt 1 NKJV

John 3:6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

According to the Word made flesh are not both a process?

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

removing the remaining Adamic corruption ?

I think we need to distinguish between the new birth, the Christian walk, and the completion of redemption.

The new birth is a one-time event, not a process. A person is either born or not born, saved or unsaved. There is growth after birth, but the birth itself is a definite act of God.

The same is true physically. Conception, birth, growth, and maturity are related, but they are not the same thing.

A child does not spend years gradually becoming born. The child is born and then grows.

Likewise, the new man is born of God and then grows in grace.

Redemption begins when a sinner is born again and brought from death unto life through faith in Christ. From that point forward, God continues His work of sanctification. Sanctification is not a continuation of a salvation process. It is the growth of a person who has already been saved.

But the redemption of the body still lies in the future. In Romans 8:23, Paul speaks of believers waiting for "the redemption of our body."

That is what I meant by the removal of the remaining Adamic corruption. The new man is already born of God, but he still lives in mortal flesh.

Romans 7 describes this struggle. Paul delights in the law of God after the inward man, yet he sees another law in his members warring against him. The inward man and the flesh are not the same thing.

The new man is born of God, but the flesh remains subject to weakness, sickness, aging, temptation, and death. That is why believers still struggle even though they have been born again.

At the resurrection, that changes.

The believer does not receive a little more spiritual life than before. Rather, the whole man is finally conformed to Christ. Mortality puts on immortality. Corruption puts on incorruption (1Corinthians 15:53-54).

So then, the new birth is an event, sanctification is a process, and the redemption of the body is the future completion of the believer's redemption.

That is why I would not speak of a "more perfect new man." The new man is already born of God. What remains is the redemption of the body, so that the whole person, body as well as spirit, is conformed to Christ.