The Re-Branding of Humans

Fall ‘23 Doctrinal Series: Identity

Message Seven

2 Corinthians 5:17-21.

ETS: Paul explained the new life believers have following their regeneration.

ESS: Believers are new creatures, reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.

OSS: [Consecrative] {I want the hearers to recognize the new life believers have in Jesus.}

PQ: What are the implications of this passage for believers?

UW: Implications

Intro.: [AGS]: 57 Chevy- in 2023, it is likely not in good condition any longer unless it was taken really good care of. However, someone might buy one that is not in good condition and take on the project to restore it back to what it once was- maybe a fresh paint job; new interior upholstery; maybe new engine; etc. [TS]: The same is true for humans. Since the fall of humans, as sin infiltrated us and consumed us, we ceased being what we were intended to be. Yet, Paul wrote that in Christ, God did the work to restore us back to what He intended us to be, being completely different than we were prior to faith in Christ. [RS]: Did you know that if you have not trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior, confessing your sin to God and receiving forgiveness through the blood of Jesus, then you are not living in accordance to the intention, design, and purpose God initially created you for? Yet, in Christ, you can be restored by to who you were intended to be.

TS: Let us examine together the implications present in this passage for believers:

Believers are new people in Christ. [v. 17]

The key to understanding this is really gauged in one question:

Is it our aim to please God or ourselves? 2 Cor. 5:9 “9 Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him.” asserts that we should have an aim and desire to please God.

Notice that the text is not suggestive. It is, rather, factual. Rather than saying, “whoever is in Christ should be a new creation” it states, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”

The old life has passed away- the desires, the pleasures, and everything else that is of the sinful flesh; what has come? The person who is new in Christ, desiring to please God above all else.

Believers are reconciled to God. [vv. 18-19]

Notice that Paul highlighted that all things are from God; thus, the reconciliation is rightly understood because, in sin, man was estranged and separated from God, distorting his image and nature. Yet, in Christ, God initiated and fulfilled everything necessary for humans to be reconciled (brought back near) to Himself.

Part of the reconciliation was God forgiving the trespasses man had against Him because of the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Only through Christ alone an individual reconciled to God. (Jn. 14:6)

Believers are representatives of Christ, calling others to repentance in Christ. [vv. 20-21]

In light of our being new and re-branded in Christ, God has given to us new purpose. That purpose exists in this phrase: “God is making his appeal through us...”

The re-branding of humans is simply this: in Christ, we are restored to who God created us to be; we are restored to the purpose God initially gave us, no longer living selfish lives caught up in all of who we are and want to be- worldliness and unrighteousness; Now, we live to please Him and pursue holiness and righteousness.

We were once lost; now we are found; we were once blind; now we see. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!

Inasmuch as we have experienced this great grace, we ought to share it with others, pleading with them to be reconciled to God through faith in Christ and repentance of their sins. This is our purpose.

CONCLUSION:

[1] Have you experienced a change in your heart that causes you to want to please God more than anything or anyone else?

[2] Have you understood that, as a believer, it is your role to represent Christ by proclaiming His truth and calling others to repentance in Jesus?

Consulted Resources:

[1] James Parks, Wordplay in the Bible (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2021), 2 Co 5:17.

[2]Colin G. Kruse, 2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1987).

[3]Marvin Richardson Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 3 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887).

[4]Colin G. Kruse, 2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. Eckhard J. Schnabel, Second edition., vol. 8, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2015).

[5] Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: II Corinthians & Galatians, ed. Robert Frew (London: Blackie & Son, 1884–1885).

[6] Kendell H. Easley, “2 Corinthians,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017).