In each of these spheres is a sovereign who purposes to rule with undivided authority.

Colossians 3:9-10

⁹  ”Lie not one to another; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, ¹⁰ and have put on the new man, which is renewed in  knowledge after the image of him that created him.”

The sovereign in the old sphere is “the old man.” The very essence of the flesh is self-will in the form of this God-resisting, God-rejecting nature. The heart of the flesh is this deep-dyed traitor who hates everything that God loves and loves everything that God hates.

The expression “the old man” is used three times in the Bible, in Ephesians 4:22, Colossians 3:9, and Romans 6:6. It has an equivalent in the “I” of Galatians 2:20 and in the word “sin” as used in Romans 6. The term commonly used is “self.” Through the first Adam’s fall, the “self” usurped the throne of man’s personality and has held it in its control and use ever since. Every child is born into the world with king “self” on the throne, a fact which is made evident before he can even walk or talk.

“The old man” on the throne determines what the whole life from center to circumference shall be. His evil desires become evil deeds; his unholy aspirations are transmitted into unholy acts; his unrighteous character manifests itself in unrighteous conduct; his ungodly will is expressed in ungodly works.

Ephesians 2:3

“Among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind.”

Colossians 3:9

“Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.”

Galatians 5: 19-21

¹⁹ ”The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, ²⁰ idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, ²¹ envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

“The old man” demands an environment that is in full accord with his tastes and inclinations, all of which are earthborn. He feeds on the things that are seen; he walks by sight, and he revels in “the lust of the flesh,” “the lust of the eyes,” and “the pride of life.” So, the only atmosphere in which he could live and breathe is that of the world. “The world” is “the old man’s” native heath.

1 John 2:16

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Oh Lord, in the fall, Adam sinned when he dethroned You and enthroned himself.