New Creation Christians: All Things Are New

2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

We will now examine the final characteristic of the new creation Christians described in 2 Corinthians 5:17. It reveals the complete newness of the new creation Christian. No other description of the new creation Christian is as impressive as this one. It defines the newness of the entire character of one who is in Christ – all is new!

It is important to note here too, like we have done before, the plainness with which the word of God describes the newness of the character of anyone who is in Christ. The Scripture passage does not mention a gradual process of renewal. It does not say, for example, some aspects of the character of one in Christ are new and other aspects are still old and the old ones are gradually receding. Nor does it say newness of character is gradually emerging while there are still some of the old things remaining to be dealt with as time goes on. The Holy Spirit makes a plain, comprehensive statement of an accomplished fact there – behold, all things have become new. Newness is thorough and accomplished.

Do you hear this positive Gospel preached today? If you are blessed to hear it, you have heard the word of God, spoken as the Holy Spirit has given it. And it certainly would have inspired your faith to know and believe who you really are, if you are a believer in Christ. If you are not a believer in Christ such a message would tell you the character you can miraculously become if you become a believer in Christ.

It is important for us to realize that, as the Scriptures emphasize, the real faith that produces real salvation comes from hearing and believing the true Gospel as presented in the Scriptures. We read in Romans 10:16-17: “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?’ Then faith is of hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

When the Scriptures declare that God has transformed any one in Christ into a completely new creation, this is the Gospel that is to be preached, heard, and believed, and it will produce real salvation results. It witnesses to the truth that God does not produce incompleteness. Who dares find fault or impurity in that which God declares He has made new?

The newness of the Christian life is brought out convincingly in the Gospel’s description of salvation.

Jesus points out in Matthew 9:16-17: “No one puts a piece of new cloth onto an old garment; for that which is put in to fill it up takes from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do men put new wine into old wineskins; else the wineskins burst, and the wine runs out, and the wineskins perish. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved together.”

We read also in Ephesians 4:21-24: “If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

Paul is quite explicit about the termination of our old nature of sin and the bringing forth of a newness of life through our participation in the death and resurrection of Christ in the work of salvation. We read in Romans 6:1-6: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”

It is clear to us that the message of the Gospel as presented in the Scriptures are radical in relation to some of what we know is taught by men as the Gospel. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of any medicine is in its purity. Men’s distortion and modification of the word of God to fit their reasoning will not produce the faith in the hearers, as well as the miraculous effects, that the pure word of God can. It is the incorruptible seed of the word of God that gives birth to God’s incorruptible children. Hence, it is necessary that, if we are going to benefit from the power of the Gospel message unto salvation, we accept the word of God as He declares it, believe it, meditate on it, agree with God, and let His word accomplish in us what He decrees it to accomplish.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”