Old Self
Typological Treatment in the Corpus
The “old self” typifies in Noordzij’s baptismal theology the former state of humanity—fallen, sinful, under the power of death. This is not merely a psychological state but a reality from which the believer is freed in baptism. The antitype is “new life” that is born in Christ through baptism—a radical re-creation of the person.
Scriptural Foundation
| Reference | Context |
|---|---|
| Romans 6:3-5 | ”Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” |
| Romans 6:6 | ”We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed” |
| 2 Corinthians 5:17 | ”If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away” |
| Colossians 3:9-10 | ”Put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self” |
| Ephesians 4:22-24 | ”Put off your old self…and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God” |
Typological Sense
Noordzij sees in the “old self” the typical representation of humanity apart from Christ—the unenlightened, unchanged state. This is not merely moral—it is a fundamental transformation that baptism effects:
The human being under the power of sin—this is the old self. In baptism this self dies with Christ, and from the grave of water baptism the new self rises.1
The mortification of the “old self” is not metaphorical in Noordzij’s theology, but a real mystical dying. Paul in Romans 6 speaks of a crucifix—a dying-with-Christ. This is the type of which Christ’s death and resurrection are the antitype:
For as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.2
The crucial moment is that this transformation takes place in baptism. Baptism is not merely an outward symbol of inward change; baptism effects the change. The old self is truly buried; the new self truly rises:
Those who truly submit themselves in baptism truly participate in Christ’s death and resurrection. This is no imagining, but the reality of their communion with Christ.3
Related Types
- Parallel progression: water-baptism (Water baptism as the external sign of the old self’s death)
- Antitype: new-life (The new life in which the believer partakes through baptism)
- Structural parallel: earthly-things (Old preferences/earthly desires are abandoned; heavenly things and new spirit intrinsic)