A NEW CREATION
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Last Wednesday night we spoke about Lazarus being raised from the dead when Jesus spoke in an authoritative voice, “Lazarus come out!” and Lazarus came out! Lazarus was never called “A New Creation” but in a sense he was for he had been dead for five days before being returned to life.
Tonight we will address what the Bible calls A New Creation. But first in Galatians chapter 5 there is a favorite verse of mine, verse 6, 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. But different verse in Galatians has my attention tonight. It is in chapter 6 and is verse 15, 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. And if we look at 6:15 in the NKJV, they become even more similar, 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
To make better sense out of the latter let’s look at it in context as Paul prepares to conclude his letter to the Galatians 6:12-15. Even though important to legalists, Paul knew and wanted the Galatians to know circumcision did not matter at all (had no value, meant nothing, availed nothing). If you were circumcised, but not a new creation, you did not belong to Jesus.
But what does this mean in its essence A New Creation? When we believe in Christ and accept Him as our Lord and Savior, we too become crucified. No, not on a cross, but crucified to the world, then being In Him, In Christ, we become A New Creation. As New Creations, for Christians now suddenly and sometimes surprisingly, (Matthew Henry) old things are passed away, and new views and dispositions are brought in under the regenerating influences of God the Holy Spirit.
The fact is a man is created as a new creation (or born again) and he or she is different from other people who are not New Creations. There is no requirement to conform to certain rites and customs to be accepted as A New Creation in Christ. It has nothing to do with rank, wealth, beauty, bloodline, race.
Paul speaks of it this way in Romans 12:2, 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
But how do we, each of us, become A New Creation? For sure it is not something we do. It is something God does in us, for the word creation is from the Greek2937 ktisis which properly defined is a creation which is founded from nothing; a creation out of nothing.
In the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges we read, It is to be observed that the same word (itisis) is used of the calling into being of the material universe; and which is here (and elsewhere) used of the change which is produced in the individual soul by the operation of the Holy Ghost, when a man is brought out of a state of nature (sin/death) into a state of grace. Moving from being dead in our sins, we become A New Creation via the birth of the spirit wanting to live as Christ in the heart of any person who accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Returning to our key verse, Galatians 6:15 (NKJV), 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. A rewrite might read as follows, For salvation, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters, but only that A New Creation arises due to God’s grace and mercy. That is the basic axiom promised here.
I will close with Ephesians 2:10, 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life