“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV)
The new or spiritual birth product is not a better, improved, reformed, or refined old self but an entirely new creation, a new self, a new being in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17 – NKJV
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
The Greek word translated as “new” in this scripture is “kainos,” and it simply means “new in every respect.”
With respect to form, “new” implies “recently made, fresh, recent, unused, and unworn.” As respects substance, it means “new kind, unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon).
In other words, the day you were born again, a new, fresh, and unprecedented person came into existence. What happened to your old or former self, who was corrupt, hostile, stubborn, and rebellious to God?
It is gone forever, having been crucified with Jesus Christ!
Romans 6:6 – RSV
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.
Your daily victory over Sin and Satan lies in walking in the revelation knowledge that you are now a New Creation because of your spiritual union with Christ.
If you fail to acknowledge, embrace, believe, and live by the spiritual truth that you are now a new creation—a new being with a unique, holy, and divine nature, divine potentials, new status, exalted position, and unlimited spiritual authority—you will continue to think, speak, live, operate, struggle and suffer under the tyranny of Sin and Satan as the old being (John 8:32).
What does the Scripture teach about the new creation?
It is worth finding out!
First, the new creation possesses a new, holy, divine nature.
You were born with a sinful, selfish, and corrupt nature inherited from Adam. It was that nature that made you a slave of Sin and Satan. But through the new birth, you have become a partaker of God’s new, holy, and divine nature (2 Pet 1:1-4).
1 John 3:9 – RSV
9 No one born of God commits sin; for God’s nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
The Scripture states that your new spirit was created in God’s image and “after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Eph. 4:24 RSV).
The new creation does not have two natures—the sinful and holy nature in his heart. No one can have both!
The new creation has only God’s kind of nature in his heart. Therefore, the new creation is no longer a slave of sin but a slave of righteousness.
Romans 6:17-18 – NKJV
17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.
18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
It is no longer natural or normal for you as a new creation in Christ to practice sins or continue in your former sinful habits (Gal. 5:24).
Second, the new creation possesses everlasting life.
In Adam, you were dead spiritually—alienated from God’s life, but now, in Christ, you are spiritually alive, possessing God’s kind of life (Zoe).
Everlasting life is not a future promise but a present reality or possession of the new creation in Christ!
John 3:36 – NKJV
36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
A new creation’s life is Christ Himself, for He is eternal life.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6 NKJV).
No one can possess or experience eternal life without having Christ Himself.
The Scripture states, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” (1 John 5:10-11 NKJV).
Friend, you can receive eternal life today by receiving and confessing Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Learn more about the New Creation in Part 2.
Prayer:
I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. I possess eternal life now, in Jesus’ name. Amen.