A NEW CREATION

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Galatians 6:15  For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

Ephesians 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 4:24  and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Colossians 1:16  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

By Him - that is, Jesus Christ, all things were created - those things that are evident to our eyes, that we can see, that we can touch, that we can understand. The invisible things also, the spiritual things, the things we cannot see, or understand, or touch - those things He also created.  The most miraculous creation of all, mankind has a very hard time believing or grasping, because it is unseen, yet the evidence of it is there (John 3:5-8).  It is such a mystery that it is very often totally missed, or misunderstood, even by those who are God's children.  This is the miracle of the new creation that He creates within every man or woman who comes to Him in faith, when they are convicted of sin and their need for a Savior.  He makes an entire new creation in them.  It is not seen.  It is many times not even felt.  But the results of this new creation are just as real and valid as those things He created that we see clearly with our eyes.  It is not a mental condition, or an emotional condition, or some philosophy one has adopted.  It is not of our own works. No human can create it (John 1:12-13). It is not a religion or a new way of thinking, though it certainly does change our old way of thinking.  This new life in us, is an entire new creation, that comes completely from outside of us. 

Many think to be a Christian is to join a church and do good works, live the best you can toward your fellow man, and give to the church or the needy, or to partake of certain rituals.  Some think to just say a prayer to receive Jesus means they are "in" and are assured of eternal life, as though there were some magic in that prayer that the very words spoken obligates God to accept.  None of these things can produce the very real thing that God alone can do in a person's heart, that makes them His child.  Only He can create new life.  Only He is the creator.  The new birth is His creation, and the life that is created is His life, not anything of ourselves.  Just as these bodies of ours are very tangible and cannot cease to exist once born, the new life that is created inside of the child of God cannot cease to exist once created.  It is a very real creation.  It has substance. It is "incorruptible" - since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

(1 Peter 1:23)

What does this new creation bring?  How do we know we have had that happen?  As Colossians 1:16 says, it is created by Him and for Him.  It is His life in us which will produce a new heart, a new will, a new desire toward the things that please God (Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah 32:39).  He does not take away our will but regenerates or creates it anew, as we have died with Him to ourselves, and have been resurrected with Him to "newness of life" (Romans 6:7-11). It will produce a knowledge of sin that displeases Him and a desire to please Him. Without that, if left in our flesh, we could not ever please God or desire to (Rom. 8:6-9). It will produce fruit - the fruit of the Spirit that lives in us, which only comes from the Spirit and not from the sinful selfish nature of man (Galatians 5:18-24).  This new creation comes about in us as we respond to the Spirit's conviction, the convincing, of sin that we are guilty of, and the penalty of that sin, and the condition it leaves us in, of being totally lost for eternity and separated from God.  As we respond to that conviction by putting our faith in Who Jesus is, God the Son, Who came as man to take on our sin and pay the penalty, and trust in Him to forgive us, justify us from our sin, and put His Spirit within us to make us His own child, we are then born again.  A new creation has been made - something that did not exist before.  It was not our own doing.  We are now created "in Christ Jesus."  It is such a marvelous thing that we cannot grasp or comprehend it.  We are now seen "in Christ" and He in us.  Christ in us is our hope of glory, not our works (Colossians 1:27). 

Though we have this wonderful new nature, the very nature of Christ living in us, it is a great treasure that is living within weak flesh (2 Cor. 4:7), that has not been yet redeemed - therefore the struggle is very strong.  This in itself is one of the sure signs of the presence of that new nature in us.  There is no struggle between flesh and Spirit unless the Spirit is there striving in you against the flesh. 

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

(Galatians 5:16-17)

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

(Galatians 5:25)

There is still our responsibility to walk in step with the Spirit, to yield ourselves to His working in us, and to trust in Him.  As we grow in our walk we should become more and more sensitive to His moving in us and working in our hearts to lead us.  He is our counselor, teacher, and keeper.   We no longer belong to ourselves and He is jealous for us.  If we grieve Him, He lets us know, and He chastises us.  If we take a wrong path He says to us, "no this is the way, walk here."  He promises never to leave us or forsake us, but that He will be in us forever - "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever."

(John 14:16)

... for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

(Hebrews 13:5b)

When we have confidence in this new creation, this new life within us, having been a creation of God and which is by His power and authority, we have the faith we need to rely on that very life and power in our hearts to be there to enable us to live as He would have us to, rather than seeing our walk as a striving in our own power to live up to His law.  It instills in us a love that grows more and more and causes our hearts to want to please Him more than ever.  There have been times in my Christian walk when suddenly I'll be aware of an attitude in myself that is a complete change from where I once was and it happened so subtly in me that I am amazed and I am aware that it did not come from me, or was not of my doing, but God formed that in me as I simply took in His Word day by day and looked to Him.  It was of His new creation.  I find myself rejoicing in what He did in my heart.  When it is of His creation, you cannot boast, but you can rejoice in Him and His work.  You know that it came from Him, not your willpower or striving to change.  Sanctification is of Him, just as the new birth was of Him.  It is that new creation in you, growing in you, and being formed in You as you learn to walk according to it, nothing less. Christ is being formed in all of those who He called and made new.

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

(Romans 8:29-31)

What can we say then? Thank You Jesus for the unspeakable grace that makes me a new creation! With thanksgiving I bow to You in worship and adoration! What was birthed in me by faith, is now also being formed in me by faith, until that day when I will see Him face to face and be like Him, for I will see Him as He is! 

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

(1 John 3:1-3)

Ultimately, one day we will be free of these bodies of death, and that new creation will be clearly seen and enjoyed in His presence for all eternity! 

Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

(1 Corinthians 15:49-57)