The new man is the New Covenant man. The new man is new because of his new heart and the new spirit within him, God's Holy Spirit, which enables him to walk in God's ways. Ezekiel's reference to a new heart parallels Paul's command for a renewed mind in Ephesians 4:24. The new man is the man to whom God has given a new heart and in whom He has placed a new spirit. In Ezekiel 18:31, the responsibility becomes ours to make a new heart and a new spirit. In this passage, it is man, not God, who creates the new heart and the new spirit. Ezekiel 18 and Ezekiel 36 do not contradict; by Himself, God cannot create the new man in us. He needs our cooperation. The Old Testament bears this out through its teachings of circumcision and of the new spirit. We make ourselves a new heart by what we do. Specifically, the action God requires of us is keeping His law, doing His commandments. This is a Christian's work. By its meaning of prepare, asah describes both sides of the covenant agreement. It describes what God does for us and what we must do for ourselves if we are to receive the promises of the New Covenant. God, for His part, has prepared unimaginable glory for us. We are to prepare ourselves just as an Israelite prepared an animal sacrifice. It is up to us, as living sacrifices, to prepare ourselves for the marriage of the Lamb by putting on clean clothes, the new man. Paul tells us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

In the course of explaining the necessity of spiritual rebirth to Nicodemus, Jesus describes the process by which a person receives a new spirit and a new heart of flesh rather than the normal human heart of stone. This transformation occurs through sprinkling with clean water, which points to baptism, followed by the renewing of the Holy Spirit at the laying on of hands. The new spirit enables the individual to understand heavenly truths that remain inaccessible to the unconverted mind and to begin living according to God's ways instead of remaining under the sway of the wicked one. This regeneration marks the start of conversion for those whom the Father calls, separating them from the world even while they continue to live in it. It produces visible changes in conduct as the person, now motivated by God's Spirit, practices truth and seeks the light rather than hiding in darkness. The same renewal that begins at baptism will reach its completion in the resurrection, when the firstfruits receive full spiritual life. Thus the promise of a new spirit stands as the essential link between God's love expressed in sending His Son and the everlasting life granted only to those who believe in Him after being drawn out of the world.