One of the first verses I memorized is 2 Corinthians 5:17. Paul stated that those in Christ are new creatures; the old is gone and the new has come. “Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.”
This verse contains the hope of the Gospel of Christ. Our new position gives us a new kind of life–one that pleases God and changes the way we live.
What does this verse say to us?
First, we belong to Christ. To be “in Christ” means to belong to Him. It also means that we have identified with His death and resurrection. The result is being new people with a new way to live.
Second, our position has changed. In Corinth, Paul spoke mainly to Gentiles. In the previous verses, he asserted that Christ died for all (that is, both Jew and Gentile). That kind of thinking showed a major change in thinking and belief for a Jew. Because Christ died for all and because we belong to Christ, we are new creatures. Our position is now in Christ. We are new creatures.
The change in our position occurred because Christ died for us. Therefore we are new.
The Greek verse can be translated as a “new creation” or a “new creature.” The new creation has to do with the dawning of a new age while the new creature refers to God making us new within. I follow the idea of being made new within.
Third, we are empowered to live a new life. Because we are in Christ and therefore new within, we are capable of living differently. This verse raises the strongest ethical implication for Christians. We should live our lives in new ways, befitting our new position.
Fourth, a better way of life has come. Paul assured us that the old (“old fashioned,” “worn out,” “antiquated”) has passed away and the new (a new set of standards and a new way of looking at things) has come to stay.
This is a verse we all should learn and learn to apply to everyday living.
You are new. You are no longer under the control of the old desires. Live as the new person you truly are.
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One Response
Indeed, both a new beginning and different from the inside out, as it were. For in one’s newness is the joining of the Body and Bride of Christ, a new beginning. The toleration of the worldly ways of social organization is superseded by His Lordship. Yet, why do we insist on tolerating the ways of the world as part of the Body? Render unto Cesar the things of Cesar and unto God the things that are God’s. Do we not have a higher order in keeping with our Call? Thank you!