What does it mean that a Christian is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)?

Response

The new creation is described in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” The term “therefore” directs us back to verses 14-16 where Paul explains that all believers have died with Christ and no longer live for themselves. Our lives are no longer worldly; they are now spiritual. Our “death” is that of the old sin nature which was crucified with Christ. It was buried with Him, and just as He was raised by the Father, so are we raised to “walk in newness of life” «Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. », (Romans 6:4). The new person that was raised up is what Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 5:17 as the “new creation.”

To comprehend the new creation, we must first understand that it is indeed a creation, something brought into existence by God. John 1:13 informs us that this new birth was initiated by the will of God. We did not inherit the new nature from our parents or choose to recreate ourselves. God did not merely refurbish our old nature; He crafted something entirely novel and distinct. The new creation is entirely fresh, emerging from nothing, just as the entire universe was created by God ex nihilo, from nothing. Only the Creator could achieve such a feat.

Secondly, “old things have passed away.” The “old” encompasses everything that is part of our former nature—natural pride, love of sin, reliance on works, and our previous beliefs, behaviors, and desires. Most importantly, what we lovedEd has passed away, especially the supreme love of self and with it self-righteousness, self-promotion, and self-justification. The new creature looks outwardly toward Christ instead of inwardly toward self. The old things died, nailed to the cross with our sin nature.

Along with the old passing away, “the new has come!” Old, dead things are replaced with new things, full of life and the glory of God. The newborn soul delights in the things of God and abhors the things of the world and the flesh. Our purposes, feelings, desires, and understandings are fresh and different. We see the world differently. The Bible seems to be a new book, and though we may have read it before, there is a beauty about it which we never saw before, and which we wonder at not having perceived. The whole face of nature seems to us to be changed, and we seem to be in a new world. The heavens and the earth are filled with new wonders, and all things seem now to speak forth the praise of God. There are new feelings toward all people—a new kind of love toward family and friends, a new compassion never before felt for enemies, and a new love for all mankind. The things we once loved, we now detest. The sin we once held onto, we now desire to put away forever. We “put off the old man with his deeds” «Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; », (Colossians 3:9), and put on the “new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” «and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. », (Ephesians 4:24).

What about the Christian who continues to sin? There is a difference between continuing to sin and continuing to live in sin. No one reaches sinless perfection in this life, but the redeemed Christian is being sanctified (made holy) day by day, sinnBeing less and disliking it more each time he fails. Yes, we still sin, but involuntarily and with decreasing frequency as we mature. Our new self detests the sin that still grips us. The distinction is that the new creation is no longer enslaved by sin, as we once were. We are now liberated from sin, and it no longer holds power over us (Romans 6:6-7). Now we are empowered by and for righteousness. We now have the option to “let sin reign” or to consider ourselves “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11-12). Most importantly, we now have the power to choose the latter.

The new creation is a marvelous thing, conceived in the mind of God and brought into existence by His power and for His glory.