Identity Series (5)

2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

So Paul starts off verse 17 with the word therefore and we always want to ask what's that there for therefore when he says therefore in this scripture it's connecting the verse to the previous thoughts about living for Christ and seeing other through the lens of Christ love like I was just talking about seeing others through the lens of who they were created to be not who they are right now which is not easy to do. If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation if you are a Christian you have been born again of imperishable seed and share in the divine nature God has brought about a spiritual transformation inside of you and your identity is tied to your new birth you are no longer who you once were the oldest passed away therefore you are called to live according to your new identity.

When a new world is born, a new way of living goes with it.

This is true in so many stages of life. It is true when a couple have their first baby; a whole new chapter has opened in their lives, and nothing will be the same again. They have new responsibilities; everywhere they go, they see things with new eyes. It is true when people who have lived in a small and badly equipped house move into a large and well-appointed one. No more trips out of the back door to get running water. And it is true when people move from one country to another. A new language needs to be learnt. New laws apply. If you speak the old language, and live by the old laws, you won’t fit in. You won’t know what’s happening.

But that, Paul implies, is what the Corinthians are still doing. He is still appealing to them to see the world with the new eyes of the gospel, instead of expecting everything, particularly his own style of apostleship, to conform to the fashions and customs of the world they were used to. The old world was a ‘merely human’ world. Paul uses one of his favourite phrases for this, which literally means ‘according to the flesh’; but he doesn’t mean ‘flesh’ as in ‘physical body’. He means ‘flesh’ as in ‘old, corruptible, passing away’. A new world has come about, through the death of Jesus in the ‘flesh’ in that sense, and the resurrectionof Jesus in a new body, gloriously physical but not corruptible. The challenge of the gospel is to live cheerfully in that new world. Paul’s challenge to the Corinthians is to recognize that that’s what he’s doing.

He begins by describing, in sweeping terms, the view from where he now is. He is on the threshold of the new creation itself, and everything looks different because everything is different. When he looks at other people, other Christians, himself, anyone, he sees them in a new way from how he did before. When he looks at the Messiah, he sees him, too, in a new way; there was a time when all his dreams of a Messiah were concentrated on ‘purely human’, that is, ‘fleshly’, ideals—a Messiah who would conquer the enemies of God, build the Temple of God, establish a ‘purely human’ kingdom. All such dreams must come to dust; that’s what the Messiah’s death and resurrection have taught him. The way to the true kingdom is through death, and out the other side into God’s new world.

So: put together what he’s learnt about other people and what he’s learned about the Messiah, and what do you get? Verse 17, one of his great summaries of what Christianity is all about. In the Greek language he was using, he said it even more briefly: ‘If anyone in Messiah, new creation!’ The ‘new creation’ in question refers both to the person concerned and to the world which they enter, the world which has now been reconciled to the creator. I wanted to give a better definition of reconciliation. Reconciliation is bringing again into unity, harmony, or agreement what has been alienated. According to Biblical teaching, there is need for reconciliation between God and man because of the alienation between them which has its source in human sin.

So in my studies I've noticed that I'm gonna have to preach this two different ways what I just got finished preaching and teaching is second Corinthians 517 as a whole and now I want to kind of break it down verse by verse and bring in other parts of the Bible so that we can look at it piece by piece

If anyone: This is a promise for anyone. Anyone! It doesn't matter what class, what race, what nationality, what language, or what level of intelligence. Anyone can be a new creation in Jesus Christ.

b. Is in Christ: This is a promise for anyone who is in Christ. This is not a promise for those who are in themselves, or in the religion of men, or in someone or something else. This is for those in Christ.

c. He is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Paul here teaches the great principle of regeneration. Jesus Christ changes those who come to Him by faith and who are in Christ. The saved are not "just forgiven." They are changed into a new creation.

In the Bible, regeneration holds deep spiritual significance. It refers to a profound transformation that takes place in the life of a believer when they accept Jesus as their Savior. Regeneration is often described as a spiritual birth, where one is made spiritually alive and becomes a new creation in Christ.

It is unfair for us to expect those who are not in Christ to live as if they were a new creation. However, it is not unfair to expect a changed life from people who say they are Christians. "I know no language, I believe there is none, that can express a greater or more thorough and more radical renewal, than that which is expressed in the term, 'a new creature.'" (Spurgeon)

ii. However, being a new creation doesn't mean that we are perfect. It means that we are changed and that we are being changed.

d. He is a new creation: Who makes us a new creation? This is something God alone can do in us. This isn't just "turning over a new leaf" or "getting your act together." Yet the life of a new creation is not something God does for us but in us. So, we are told to put off… the old man and to put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness Ephesians 4:22-24

Ephesians 4:22–24 CSB

22 to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, 23 to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.

to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires,

to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.

Put off… the old man… put on the new man: This has the same idea of putting off or putting on a set of clothes. The idea is to “change into” a different kind of conduct.

Think of a prisoner who is released from prison, but still wears his prison clothes and acts like a prisoner and not as a free man. The first thing to tell that person is that they should put on some new clothes.

Even as putting on different clothes will change the way you think about yourself and see yourself, even so putting on a different conduct will start to change your attitudes. This means that we shouldn’t wait to feel like the new man before we put on the new man.

Fundamentally, Paul says that for the Christian, there must be a break with the past. Jesus isn’t merely added to our old life; the old life dies and He becomes our new life.

You have not so learned Christ: The repetition of this idea shows that putting on the new man has a strong aspect of learning and education to it. You have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus… and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. The Ephesians learned Christ, not only learning about Jesus, but also learning Him. This means a living, abiding knowledge of Jesus will keep us from the kind of sinful conduct Paul speaks of. Just knowing about Jesus isn’t enough to keep us pure.

iii. “So, if you want to know the Lord Jesus Christ, you must live with him. First he must himself speak to you, and afterwards you must abide in him. He must be the choice Companion of your morning hours, he must be with you throughout the day, and with him you must also close the night; and as often as you may wake during the night, you must say, ‘When I awake, I am still with thee.’ ” (Spurgeon)

c. Put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness: The new man is the new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) created in us at conversion. It is the person created according to the image of Jesus Christ and instinctively righteous and holy. It is in contrast to the old man, who is the person inherited from Adam and who instinctively rebels against God.

Being a new creation is a gift from God received by faith. "God is surely the author of the second creation as he was of the first." (Harris) "A phrase which argueth the greatest change imaginable, and such a one as can be wrought in the soul by no other power than the power of God." (Poole)

The work of a new creation is even greater than God's work of creating the world. "My brethren, it was more difficult, if such terms are ever applicable to Omnipotence, it was more difficult to create a Christian than to create a world. What was there to begin with when God made the world? There was nothing; but nothing could not stand in God's way — it was at least passive. But, my brethren, in our hearts, while there was nothing that could help God, there was much that could and did oppose him. Our stubborn wills, our deep prejudices, our ingrained love of iniquity, all these, great God, opposed thee, and aimed at thwarting thy designs… Yes, great God, it was great to make a world, but greater to create a new creature in Jesus Christ." (Spurgeon)

Living as a new creation is something God works in us, using our will and our choices. So, we must both receive the gift of being a new creation and be challenged to live the life of a new creation. All this is God's work in us that we must submit to. This reminds us that at its root, Christianity is all about what God did for us, not what we can or should do for God. "Beloved, if you have no more religion than you have worked out in yourself, and no more grace than you have found in your nature, you have none at all. A supernatural work of the Holy Ghost must be wrought in every one of us, if we would see the face of God with acceptance." (Spurgeon)

All things have become new is the language of God's perfect, recreated work (Revelation 21:5). Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”

God wants to do a new thing in our life.

"The man is not only mended, but he is new made… there is a new creation, which God himself owns as his workmanship, and which he can look on and pronounce very good." (Clarke)