Verse 24

Here is the truth of the new man in us. The question is not of changing what we were, but God has given us a new life, eternal life. We have seen the manner in which the Church is united to Jesus; the truth which is in Jesus is the presence of this life in the Christian. We ought to put off the old man in us, and to put on the new man. This hidden life must manifest itself in all that the man puts on. The old man is in itself a captive, a slave of sin, and a prey to the lusts which lead him away. Moral discernment is wanting. But where the new man is, there is also spiritual intelligence. We are renewed; and this intelligence judges of things according to God. Man is free in the things of God; God is found there; we are capable of seeing things which are suitable for God. " There where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." We then have the consciousness of the beauty of the things of God, and it is a man who discerns them. The man who does not act by the power of the Spirit acts according to the flesh.
We are created according to God. God is formed in us. Christ was the image of the invisible God; He manifested in His ways the character of God. Also the Christian is a new creation. The apostle speaks, in this verse, of the power of God, which has produced that life in which we enjoy God. God has set His seal upon us; it is quite a new thing; the lusts of the old man are no longer in question, but the energy of the new man; that understanding which speaks according to truth.