Latest / Reformed Thinking / New Creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Transcript

New Creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) · Reformed Thinking

0:00
Welcome to Reformed Thinking, the deep dive that takes Paul's
0:03
most critical declarations. And, well, we try to extract
0:08
their full meaning for those living today.
0:10
And today we are focusing very intently on just one short but
0:15
incredibly powerful sentence. It's found in 2nd Corinthians
0:18
5.17. Right.
0:20
And for so many people, identifying as a believer is
0:24
it's comfortable. Maybe it's a cultural thing.
0:26
You grew up with the tradition from your parents.
0:28
Or even just an agreement with certain moral ideas.
0:30
Sure. But Paul describes something far
0:32
more radical than just, you know, cultural alignment.
0:35
So the central question we're wrestling with today is this.
0:38
What did Paul mean when he wrote that anyone in Christ he is in
0:42
your creation? Was that just some kind of
0:44
motivational slogan, or is it a complete description of a
0:46
spiritual reality that actually rewrites your identity from the
0:49
ground up? And that really is the mission
0:51
for this deep dive. We want to move beyond that
0:53
casual, nominal idea of belief, that vague sense of being
0:57
religious right, to see how this union with Christ results in God
1:00
remaking the person at the deepest, most fundamental level.
1:03
So not a cosmetic change. Not at all.
1:06
Yeah, and our source text insists this isn't a cooperative
1:08
either. It's a divine creative act and
1:11
it results in three simultaneous very closely links changes.
1:15
OK, what are they? A change in your status before
1:18
God, a change in your inner life itself, and a change in your
1:22
outward pattern of conduct all at once.
1:25
And what gives this particular text so much theological weight?
1:29
It's that Paul presents it as a conclusion.
1:32
It's a direct result drawn from Christ's substitutionary death
1:35
and his resurrection. So it's not a stand alone
1:37
command, it's a consequence. It is, Paul is basically saying,
1:40
because Christ has already finished his redemptive work on
1:43
the cross, the fact that you are a new creation flows directly
1:47
and necessarily from that completed act.
1:50
The change in the believer is the inevitable outcome of God's
1:53
decisive action in Christ. OK, so let's unpack this,
1:56
starting with that necessary precondition.
1:58
Paul doesn't say if you manage to be sincere enough or, you
2:01
know, if you achieve a certain level of moral success.
2:04
He says if anyone is in Christ, that little phrase in Christ, it
2:09
seems to be carrying an enormous load of meaning.
2:12
What exactly is the spiritual location that phrase signals?
2:15
In Christ is well, it's arguably the most heavily weighted
2:19
expression in all of Paul's letters.
2:21
It signals a living spiritual participation.
2:24
Participation, not just agreement.
2:27
Right. It's not mere association or
2:29
admiration or cultural respect for Christ.
2:32
If you simply admire his ethics or agree with his teachings, you
2:36
are not in Christ. So what is it then?
2:39
It presupposes a divine sovereign act that has taken the
2:43
center out of their former state and brought them into a living,
2:46
real connection with the crucified and risen Lord.
2:49
So this isn't just an idea we consent to, it sounds more like
2:52
a spiritual state we occupy because God established a bond.
2:55
That's it. We need to talk about how
2:57
comprehensive that bond is, especially from a Reformed
3:00
perspective. Well, it is entirely
3:01
comprehensive because it's the bond established by the Holy
3:04
Spirit who joins the elect believer to the Savior in what
3:07
we call an effectual calling. And this is where that idea of
3:10
federal headship becomes so important, isn't it?
3:12
It is. We all start life in Adam.
3:15
That's our default state. His sin and his failure in the
3:19
covenant of Works dictates our status, condemnation, and death.
3:23
But when God places someone in Christ.
3:27
They are moved from the headship of Adam to the headship of
3:29
Christ. All lays this out in Romans 5.
3:32
OK. And that transition ensures that
3:35
Christ's entire history, his perfect obedience, his
3:38
sacrificial death, and his resurrection, all of it now
3:41
counts for the believer in God's own reckoning.
3:43
So our sources are insistent on this point.
3:46
This union is the location where every single saving blessing is
3:49
found. Yes, every single one.
3:51
It's not like you get a collection of separate gifts,
3:53
it's a unified status. You get the whole package
3:55
because you are in the location where the package resides.
3:58
Exactly. The blessings that flow from
4:00
this union are all tied together.
4:02
Election, redemption, Justification, Adoption,
4:04
sanctification. You can't have one without the
4:06
others. You can't.
4:07
You cannot isolate 1 without the others because they are all
4:10
located within that state of being in Christ.
4:13
If you are justified, you're also being sanctified.
4:16
Period. This phrase is the decisive
4:19
dividing line. Between those still under Adam's
4:22
condemnation and those who are now accepted in Christ.
4:25
The only two categories that matter.
4:27
So that sets the foundation for the kind of change we're talking
4:30
about being a new creation. Now Paul could have chosen
4:33
several Greek words for new, but he selected a very specific 1
4:37
Kanos for new creation, Kaino Catasis.
4:41
You did. Why did he make that precise
4:43
choice, especially when he had another word, neos, available to
4:47
him? This is such a critical point.
4:49
It's what separates Paul's statement from any kind of self
4:52
improvement philosophy. How so?
4:54
If Paul had used Neos, he would have meant newness in time.
4:58
For example, if you bought a new calendar for the new year, that
5:00
would be Neos. It's a replacement, sure, but
5:03
it's of the same type. Just a newer version of the same
5:06
thing, right? But Paul uses Kainos and Cano
5:09
stresses newness in kind or qualitative newness.
5:12
Something of a different order. Completely.
5:14
Paul is communicating that the change the believer undergoes is
5:17
something of a different category.
5:19
It is not simply version 2, point O of the old person.
5:22
It's an entirely new species, a new reality.
5:25
And that choice of words guards US against reducing conversion
5:30
to just, you know, a minor adjustment.
5:32
It does. It's not about changing a bad
5:34
habit or just adding religion to an otherwise unchanged core
5:38
identity. Paul defines the believer as
5:40
someone whom God has fundamentally remade and.
5:43
When we look at the noun, he pairs it with kanaitisis, the
5:47
word for creation. That carries the full weight of
5:50
a divine act, doesn't it? Oh, absolutely.
5:52
It suggests something brought out of nothing, not just
5:54
repaired. It does.
5:55
Kanaitisis is the very term used in the Septuagint, the Greek Old
5:59
Testament, for God's creative activity and what He brings into
6:03
being. He carried the immense weight of
6:05
God's original creative act in Genesis 1.
6:07
So he's intentionally echoing Genesis.
6:09
He is, and he's also echoing the Old Testament prophets,
6:12
particularly Isaiah, who look forward to a new creation or a
6:16
new exodus where God wouldn't just fix Israel, but would
6:19
recreate them and their world entirely.
6:22
I see. So when Paul says can I take can
6:24
ISIS, he is saying that the eschatological reality, the new
6:28
heavens and the new earth has already broken into the life of
6:30
the person who is in Christ. So this is a huge God sized act.
6:34
It is. It elevates the whole discussion
6:37
far, far above some modern marketing slogan for ethical
6:42
living. And this is where the theology
6:43
gets intensely practical, because if this is a creative
6:47
act by God, we have to discuss the mechanism which our sources
6:50
define as the monarchistic work of regeneration.
6:54
What does it mean in practice that this work is monarchistic,
6:57
and why does that matter so much to the believer?
7:00
Monarchism means that the work is God alone changing the heart.
7:05
It comes from the Greek for one working.
7:07
Paul is saying that God makes the dead heart alive.
7:10
He removes the Stony core and grants both the ability and the
7:13
desire to believe. So it's a divine command like
7:16
let there be light. That's a perfect analogy, and
7:18
this specific insistence. It guards the integrity of
7:21
grace. If conversion were synergism,
7:23
meaning God and the Sinner cooperate to bring about that
7:26
initial spiritual birth, then salvation would rest partly on
7:29
human will. And your assurance would then
7:31
depend on how well you did your part.
7:32
It would. It would rely partly on the
7:34
quality quality of your decision.
7:36
Which sounds like a very heavy burden.
7:38
If I contribute to my own spiritual birth, I must also
7:41
contribute to keeping myself spiritually alive.
7:43
Yes, and the source has really stressed this theological point
7:47
to guard the church against ancient errors like Pelagianism,
7:51
which suggested the Sinner is just sick, not dead, and can
7:55
take the first step toward God. But monarchism insists on total
7:59
inability. It does that the person in Adam
8:02
is spiritually dead, has Ephesians 2.1 says and therefore
8:05
only God can impart life. The Sinner does not lift himself
8:08
into a new state. God makes him new.
8:11
So the implication for the listener is what?
8:13
A sense of deep rest. Yes, and assurance.
8:17
The sources know this understanding protects the
8:19
Church from views that reduce conversion to a human decision
8:22
or just a family tradition. Because it's not about what you
8:24
did. It's about what God did.
8:26
It means the new spiritual life you have is solely God's own
8:29
act. You look back at the beginning
8:31
of your faith, not as the moment you decided for God, but as the
8:34
moment God acted upon you. That changes everything.
8:37
It changes the entire psychological landscape of
8:39
faith. It moves the ground of your
8:41
acceptance from your performance or the quality of your decision
8:45
to God's sovereign completed act.
8:47
OK, so if the new is the arrival of a totally different order of
8:51
life, it logically follows that the old order has to cease.
8:55
Paul states the consequence very clearly.
8:58
The old has passed away. What exactly are the old things
9:02
or tarkia that have been displaced?
9:05
How wide is the scope of that passing?
9:08
Tarkia refers to the believers entire former reality, the whole
9:13
comprehensive spiritual state and identity they had when they
9:16
were defined as being in Adam. So everything.
9:19
Everything about that realm, it was characterized by life under
9:22
the condemnation of the law, by spiritual death, slavery to sin,
9:25
and evaluating everything based on worldly tarnal standards.
9:30
The old things are the spiritual coordinates of that entire
9:32
former life. And the sources point out
9:34
something crucial about the grammar here.
9:35
Yes, Paul uses the perfect tense for the phrase has passed away.
9:39
This is so important because it's not a process that is still
9:42
ongoing. It is a completed act with
9:45
abiding results. The old reality has been
9:48
decisively dethroned. It's a divine declaration that
9:51
it's rule over the new creation person is finished.
9:55
It's rule is finished. Let's delve into what that
9:58
means, starting with the old legal standing before God.
10:01
For many people, being in Adam means living with a constant
10:05
sense of guilt, or, you know, impending judgement.
10:07
If that judgement was part of the old realm, what's the legal
10:10
result of being a new creation? The primary legal result is the
10:13
end of condemnation. The old realm included the
10:16
verdict of death and guilt because of sin.
10:19
Because of Christ's work, the new Creation person no longer
10:22
stands under that verdict of condemned.
10:24
Which is the great promise of Romans 8 point.
10:25
One it is there is therefore now no condemnation for those who
10:29
are in Christ Jesus. And that sentence is an
10:31
objective legal fact. It's true for the new creation
10:35
person, regardless of their current feelings or performance.
10:37
That's huge. What else is gone?
10:39
Secondly, the enmity toward God is removed.
10:43
The old realm was characterized by hostility.
10:46
Romans 8.7 says the mindset on the flesh is hostile to God.
10:50
The new creation is the personal side of reconciliation.
10:54
God has reconciled them to Himself.
10:56
Yes, through Christ he's dealt with the objective barrier of
11:00
sin, and the text says he is not counting their trespasses
11:03
against them. The guilt has been decisively
11:06
dealt with at the cross. God is now their Father, not
11:09
their Judge. That is an immense comfort.
11:12
I mean, the struggle with shame and self condemnation is often
11:14
so psychological. But our sources say the
11:17
knowledge that the old has passed away provides theological
11:19
comfort against that. It does.
11:21
You now live as a person for whom the sentence of
11:23
justification is a settled past event.
11:26
It completely shifts the battlefield.
11:27
You are not fighting for acceptance anymore.
11:30
You are fighting from a position of acceptance.
11:32
The old reality of legal debt and hostility is gone.
11:35
And if it wasn't, then Christ's death would have been
11:37
insufficient. Correct.
11:38
Since Christ's death was complete, the old legal reality
11:42
is gone. But the displacement isn't just
11:44
legal. It's also highly ethical and,
11:47
well, practical. What about the dominion of that
11:50
old order in our lives? What has passed away in terms of
11:54
worldly standards and sins? Actual grip on a believer.
11:57
Well, the old realm included slavery to sin.
11:59
Rome 6.6 says that our old self was crucified with Christ so
12:04
that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we
12:06
would no longer be enslaved to sin.
12:08
So the old order has been pushed out of its former place of
12:11
dominance. It has, but the key distinction
12:14
here is between sins presence and sins dominance.
12:17
OK, hold on, because I think this is where a lot of people
12:19
get, you know, hung up. Sure, if the old has passed
12:22
away, if the new is in effect and sins dominance is removed,
12:26
why do believers still struggle so intensely with habitual sins,
12:29
with addiction, with anger, right?
12:31
How does the source reconcile that perfect tense have passed
12:34
away with the lived reality of ongoing internal conflict?
12:38
That is the essential tension that defines the Christian life
12:41
in this age. The sources are very careful to
12:44
distinguish between what we call definitive sanctification and
12:47
progressive sanctification. OK, what's the difference?
12:49
The perfect tense has passed away speaks to the definitive
12:53
break. The cord has been cut.
12:55
The master has been dethroned. The legal right of sin to rule
12:58
has been revoked. The new creation person is no
13:01
longer inherently defined as a slave to sin.
13:04
But the struggle is still there. It is the remnants of that old
13:08
life, what Paul calls the flesh, remain in the body until our
13:12
glorification. The struggle continues, as Paul
13:15
says in Galatians 5.1 team, but the nature of the fight has
13:19
changed entirely. How so?
13:20
Before sin was a ruler and the will was its willing subject.
13:24
Now sin is a usurper, and the new will, regenerated by the
13:28
Spirit, hates its presence and fights against it.
13:32
The old realm still bothers the believer, but it no longer owns
13:35
them. That distinction, usurper versus
13:37
owner, is incredibly helpful for understanding daily ethics.
13:40
It is, and furthermore, the old way of seeing is also gone.
13:43
Paul makes this explicit right after our verse in verse 18,
13:46
saying he no longer evaluates Christ or anyone else according
13:49
to The Flash. Meaning worldly standards.
13:51
It's exactly judging based on appearance, ethnic background,
13:55
education, wealth, even religious pedigree.
14:00
The metrics of the old world have passed away.
14:02
And that has to include self identity, doesn't it?
14:04
The new creation identity displaces that tendency to
14:07
define ourselves mainly by past sins or failures or wounds.
14:11
Or even worldly successes. Absolutely.
14:13
The old labels belong to the realm that has lost its
14:16
dominion. Whether you were defined as
14:18
divorced, addict, rich, unsuccessful, highly educated,
14:22
these are all secondary adjectives now.
14:24
The primary definition is in Christ.
14:26
It is that identity supersedes all former definitions.
14:29
It frees the believer from being divined by their biography or
14:32
their wounds. So if the old has decisively
14:35
passed away, Paul follows up with the declaration.
14:37
Behold, the new has come, and he uses that imperative.
14:41
Behold, pay attention to stress that this is settled reality we
14:45
have to recognize and live in light of.
14:47
We've seen the displacement. Now let's look at the arrival on
14:50
three distinct fronts, starting with that new legal and
14:53
relational status. The first front is the objective
14:56
change in standing before God, justification and adoption.
14:59
We already established that reconciliation means God is not
15:02
counting their trespasses against them.
15:04
OK. The result of that is the
15:06
imputation of righteousness. The believer receives a fresh
15:09
status. They're justified and accepted
15:12
in Christ. Their record is wiped clean and
15:15
Christ's perfect record is assigned to them.
15:17
And the result of that, as Paul says, is that believers might
15:21
become the righteousness of God. Yes.
15:24
This is God's declaration about the believer, and it rests
15:26
entirely on Christ's substitutionary work.
15:29
It's a perfect external righteousness.
15:32
The moment they are placed in Christ, their status is secured.
15:35
They are accepted as if they had lived Christ's perfect life
15:37
themselves. And this secured status, it goes
15:40
beyond just legal acquittal, It brings a new family
15:43
relationship, which is adoption. Right.
15:45
Adoption is the relational aspect of reconciliation.
15:48
We aren't just declared not guilty, that's justification.
15:51
We are welcomed as full heirs. That's adoption.
15:53
So a new relation to God is Father.
15:55
Yes, we received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out.
15:59
ABBA Father. That's from Romans 8.15.
16:03
This means intimacy, security and the future inheritance is
16:06
guaranteed. OK, so let's move from that
16:09
external status to the internal core, the new inner life.
16:13
This internal reality is the evidence that the new creation
16:16
is truly a divine creative act, and not just, you know, a change
16:21
of mind. This is the realm of
16:22
regeneration and renewal. As we discussed, God alone
16:26
changes the heart. He brings spiritual life where
16:28
there was only death. And this interchange verifies
16:31
that. The New Covenant promises where
16:33
God puts His Spirit within His people and gives them a heart of
16:36
flesh are at work. So it's the arrival of a divine
16:39
life force in the soul. You could say that.
16:41
And this new life grants the believer new spiritual ability
16:44
by the indwelling spirit. Before the will was enslaved to
16:47
sin. Now the Spirit enables the
16:49
believer to put sin to death, mortification, and to walk
16:51
according to God's will. They get new desires and new.
16:55
Use spiritual power. Yeah, all of it pushes the old
16:57
order out of its former place of dominance.
17:00
But the sources bring up a really interesting paradox in
17:03
this inner renewal, especially when Paul talks about ministry,
17:06
this tension where the outer body is decaying, yet the inner
17:10
person is renewed day by day. Can we spend some time on that
17:14
paradox? It seems central.
17:15
It is absolutely central to the experience of the new creation
17:18
in this age. Paul contrasts the outer self
17:21
and the inner self in 2nd Corinthians 4.16.
17:25
The outer self is the physical body in all its earthly
17:28
conditions. It experiences pressure,
17:30
weakness, suffering, decay, affliction.
17:33
We carry this gospel treasure in fragile jars of clay, subject to
17:36
all that erosion. But the inner self is being
17:39
renewed day by day, yes. While the body wastes away in
17:42
the world, presses in the spiritual person, the inner man
17:45
is advancing in knowledge, hope and holiness.
17:48
The arrival of the new is inner renewal and spiritual health.
17:52
It is not immediate relief from earthly trouble.
17:54
So that allows a believer to say we are afflicted in every way,
17:57
but not crushed. Exactly because the strength
17:59
comes from an internal supernatural source.
18:02
And that helps explain how suffering can coexist with
18:05
genuine spiritual advancement. The most vital part, the new
18:09
creation is actually thriving during the outward weakness.
18:12
That's right. So finally, we turn to the third
18:15
front, the new pattern of conduct.
18:18
This is the necessary outward expression of that internal
18:21
change. If you've been made new, your
18:24
life's direction and purpose have to shift completely.
18:27
That is correct. Those who live through Christ no
18:30
longer live for themselves, but for Him who for their sake died
18:33
and was raised. A total redirection of life.
18:36
Yes, away from self actualization and toward
18:38
Christ's glory and command. The pursuit of self-interest,
18:41
which defined the person in Adam, has been replaced by
18:44
Christ interest. And this redirection shows up in
18:47
a new pattern of life. Pattern of life expressed in
18:50
good works which God prepared beforehand.
18:52
As it says in Ephesians 2.10, the creation of the new person
18:55
is fundamentally linked to a new vocation of obedience.
18:58
So growth in holiness, sanctification is the normal
19:01
expected path. It is, and this is seen in new
19:03
desires for God, new sorrow over sin, and new concrete steps of
19:08
obedience. So if the interchange is God's
19:10
gift, then this pursuit of holiness, this new pattern of
19:13
conduct, is the necessary expression of gratitude.
19:17
It's the fruit of the life that's even given in Christ.
19:20
It's not a path to acceptance, but a result of acceptance.
19:23
Precisely. And in this context, repentance
19:26
for the new creation person gets redefined.
19:29
It isn't some agonizing effort to placate an angry deity.
19:32
What is it then? It is simply walking away from a
19:35
realm that no longer owns you. Those who belong to Christ Jesus
19:39
have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires,
19:42
meaning they are actively putting to death the old
19:45
patterns of life. The battle remains because the
19:47
flesh is still present. But the believer now has the
19:50
spirit to empower this fight. If a person finds they have new
19:54
desires for God, even if those desires are weak, that is
19:57
objective confirmation that God has indeed acted.
20:00
The new life has come. So the reality of that internal
20:02
conflict actually becomes evidence of the new creation.
20:05
It does because the person still in Adam wouldn't care about the
20:09
struggle at all. The idea of the new creation is
20:11
incredibly constructive, but our sources also highlight its
20:14
critical function as a sharp theological corrective. 2nd
20:18
Corinthians 5.17 guards the integrity of the Gospel against
20:22
several errors, many of which are common today.
20:25
Let's look at how this language of new creation challenges false
20:28
understandings of belief. Well, the first major error it
20:32
corrects is against shallow conversion, what we might call
20:35
nominal or cultural Christianity.
20:37
The language of Kineias Tysis just clashes violently with the
20:41
casual idea that conversion is just praying a prayer or being a
20:45
cultural Christian while your life continues functionally
20:48
untouched. It insists on a genuine divine
20:50
act of remaking. Yes, remaking the person at the
20:54
deepest level. Paul makes this even clearer
20:56
elsewhere in Galatians 6.15, where he says neither
20:59
circumcision or uncircumcision matters either ritual nor ethnic
21:03
identity, but a new creation matters.
21:06
So if you are a new creation, you're still in Adam regardless
21:09
of your baptism or church attendance.
21:11
Correct. An empty profession, with no
21:13
evidence of the new life, no new desires, no sorrow over sin, is
21:18
exposed as counterfeit by this standard of divine recreation.
21:22
That insists on substance over ritual or just a public
21:25
declaration. Now what about the error of
21:28
misusing the very grace that brings about this new status?
21:31
That is correction too against antinomianism.
21:35
This is the error that argues. Well since grace covers all my
21:38
sin and I'm justified, I can live however I wish.
21:41
The verse stands against this by redefining the believers core
21:44
identity and purpose if the old realm, which includes slavery to
21:48
sin, has passed away and the new purpose is to live for Christ.
21:52
Then living comfortably in the old realm is a denial of God's
21:54
work. It's a denial of God's completed
21:57
work and the new life he imparted.
21:58
Paul links reconciliation directly to the service of
22:01
reconciliation. You are made new for reason to
22:04
serve Christ. So antinomianism tries to sever
22:06
justification from sanctification.
22:08
It does, but the new creation reality binds them together.
22:11
If you're accepted in Christ, you're also being changed by
22:13
Christ. And the third correction?
22:15
It challenges systems that place confidence in human deeds or
22:19
religious rights as the source of life.
22:21
That's correction three against legalism and sacramentalism.
22:25
The verse guards the freeness of grace by centering everything in
22:28
Christ. So legalism says acceptance
22:31
rests on my obedience. On your obedience and moral
22:34
progress. And sacramentalism in its
22:37
erroneous forms, ties new life to ritual performance or
22:41
adherence to external rules. And new creation counters both
22:44
of those. It does by insisting that new
22:46
life is God's creative act, not the outcome of human merit or
22:50
ritual. The new creation status rests
22:53
solely on union with Christ, which is achieved by God's
22:56
sovereign act through faith. We don't earn the new life we
22:59
receive. It and a resulting good works
23:00
are the necessary evidence that God has already accomplished the
23:03
work. Finally, let's consider how the
23:05
new creation status challenges the idea that being in Christ
23:08
based guarantees earthly comfort, wealth, or freedom from
23:11
struggle. This seems particularly timely
23:13
today. It is this is correction four
23:16
against the prosperity message, or really any message that
23:20
demands immediate outward bliss. New creation speaks of inner
23:23
renewal and a perfect standing before God.
23:27
And as we discussed, Paul himself noted that this inner
23:29
renewal must coexist with outward suffering.
23:32
He did, specifically in the context of Second Corinthians.
23:35
He speaks of believers carrying the gospel treasure in fragile
23:38
jars of clay. So the source material suggests
23:41
that prosperity theology basically misreads God's
23:44
timetable. It does.
23:45
Full blessings, the wiping away of tears, the removal of pain,
23:48
perfect bodily health are all placed in the final stage in the
23:52
coming new heaven and new earth. So new creation insists that the
23:56
new that has come is spiritual life, spiritual standing, and
23:59
peace with God. Yes, not immediate relief from
24:02
earthly trouble. Believers still walk through
24:04
suffering while they for full renewal.
24:06
OK, shifting from the corrections to the calling,
24:09
those who have experienced this definitive act of reconciliation
24:12
are now drafted into a new service, which Paul calls being
24:15
ambassadors. Yes, those reconciled to God are
24:19
given the message and service of reconciliation.
24:23
They act as ambassadors, representatives of a foreign
24:25
king pleading with others. Be reconciled to God.
24:29
And this is the ultimate purpose of the new life.
24:31
It is to witness to the reality of God's reconciling act.
24:35
So a believer's changed life. Their new desires, their sorrow
24:38
over sin, their new conduct, all of that lends weight to the
24:42
message. It does.
24:43
Their very existence is a visible sample of the new
24:46
creation, demonstrating that the old world is dying and the new
24:50
age is breaking in. And this leads us to the
24:52
eschatological hope. This isn't just about what
24:55
happened yesterday at conversion.
24:56
It connects the believer to God's future cosmic plan for the
24:59
whole universe. It does.
25:01
The new creation in the believer is the first fruits.
25:04
It is the beginning of the age to come, arriving right in the
25:07
midst of the present age, which is still marked by decay and the
25:10
curse. So when Paul calls a believer a
25:12
new creation, he's saying the new world promised by the
25:15
prophets has broken into the present in a personal human
25:18
form. He is and God has prepared
25:21
believers for their heavenly destiny and has given the Holy
25:24
Spirit as a guarantee or a down payment.
25:26
A pledge. A pledge, The inner renewal and
25:29
the spiritual life they experience now is a foretaste of
25:32
the wider cosmic renewal to come, when God will make all
25:35
things new, new heavens and a new earth.
25:38
Our current state is a deposit securing that future
25:41
inheritance. And for the listener who is
25:43
struggling under guilt or self doubt, the knowledge that the
25:46
old has passed away provides deep comfort against shame.
25:50
It provides absolute comfort because the verdict of condemned
25:54
no longer defines them and the status in Christ cannot be
25:57
revoked. The assurance stands firm on
26:00
Christ's completed work, not on current feelings or even
26:03
day-to-day performance. So even while the battle with
26:05
sin continues inside. Faith trusts God at His word.
26:08
If he says the old has passed and the new has come, that legal
26:11
and spiritual sentence stands firm.
26:13
We rest in the objectivity of the declaration.
26:16
So if we bring this entire deep dive to a conclusion, what is
26:19
the single sharpest implication this text delivers to the
26:22
believer? The entire discussion brings us
26:24
down to a sharp dividing line that challenges both the
26:27
religious and the skeptical. The decisive line is not between
26:31
the churchgoers and the non churchgoers, but between those
26:35
still an Adam under the verdict of death and ruled by the flesh,
26:39
and those now in Christ where God has begun his renewing
26:43
sovereign work. There is no middle ground, only
26:48
these two realms. So what does that mean for the
26:50
listener? It means the text calls the
26:52
listener to both rest and repent.
26:55
Rest, because the work of remaking the heart is God's
26:57
alone, resting entirely on Christ's finished work securing
27:01
your status. And repent.
27:03
And repent, because you must not willingly cling to the old realm
27:06
that no longer owns you. The presence of new spiritual
27:08
life compels the new creation person to actively shed the
27:12
behaviors of the realm they no longer inhabit.
27:14
That's a powerful distinction, that the identity precedes the
27:17
action. We talked about how Paul said he
27:19
no longer evaluates Christ or anyone else according to the
27:21
flesh, meaning by worldly standards, because that old way
27:24
of seeing has passed away. So if that old way of seeing has
27:27
passed away, if our metrics for worth, success, and value must
27:31
be redefined by God's creative grace, what specific worldly
27:36
measure, whether it's related to career achievements, financial
27:38
status, physical appearance, or past failures, must you now
27:42
actively stop using to measure yourself or others, seeing them
27:47
instead only through the lens of God's recreating grace?
27:50
That's the challenge the new creation poses to our daily
27:52
lives. A good place to leave it.
27:54
Thank you for joining us for this deep dive into the new
27:57
creation. We will see you next time on
27:58
Reformed Thinking.