2 Corinthians 5:17 - A New Creation
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

By Marni Montanez

2 Corinthians 5:17

New King James Version (NKJV)

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

In order to understand what the "new" creation is, we have to understand what the "old" nature was. Added to the exhaustive list of things we were guilty of before we gave our life to Christ is the specific things that pertain to our own life. We have all sinned hence the name sinner. Our old "self" or nature was born of sin, grew of sin and lived in sin only because we were not covered in the blood of Christ. We knew no better and lived according to our own desires, which were far from godly. The old nature was bathed in darkness whether we acknowledged it or not and every step we took on earth was heading for the gates of hell.

But when we surrendered our lives to Christ we were saying yes to His nature becoming our new nature; His righteousness and holiness became our identity. Our sin was placed upon Jesus but He was never considered a sinner Himself. He only carried our sin. The sin He carried on the cross was left there and it never came down from the cross. To this day it is nailed there and those who are in Christ no longer have the label of "sinner". Those who sin and are in Christ have either not completely surrendered to God or are struggling with sin because of strongholds. So if we are now in the image of Christ and He does not have the label of sinner why would we? We are justified just by position, not by anything we have done. We are now a new creature. What is a new creature? It is someone who is righteous and holy. the prodigal son never lost his position in the household of his father just because he sinned and neither do we lose the position of righteous and holiness just because we sin. We are now heirs to the throne of heaven. We are kingdom priests and beloved. Our whole identity has become God's identity and that is why we can no longer be called sinners.

A friend once told me that God is not concerned with our sin. At first I was shocked by what she said and disagreed, until I listened to the rest of her statement. We do need to acknowledge when we sin and be accountable. the difference is that now we are not condemned for it. A Believer's sin was taken care of at the cross. We no longer carry the burden or weight of that sin. Jesus died on the cross so that our sins would be removed and we would have everlasting life in heaven. What God has always been most interested in is relationship with us. As a new creation we can now have that relationship because sin no longer separates us from God. We may sin but because it was taken care of on the cross there isn't anything in the way of us getting closer to Him. This doesn't mean God does not discipline us for the sin, it means that as he disciplines us we still have the right to move closer to Him.

Challenge: Look at your self in a new light. You are a new creation. You have the identity of Jesus Christ.

God bless,

Marni

Go on to: 2 Corinthians 10:5
Return to: Food for Thought
Return to: Christian Living Articles

The purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.