A New Creation…Me??? I’ve been crucified…Really?? My body is a temple…Wow! That’s right. That is what Paul says, and he says that it didn’t just happen to him. It happened to every believer.
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Galatians 2:20
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” 1 Corinthians 6:19
If you will notice here, the language is the language of a completed change. It’s not “is becoming a new creation” or “the old is going away”. It says, “I have been crucified.” Paul says this is what has happened. It is a done deal. No process. If you are in Christ, the Holy Spirit lives with you and in you. His presence gives you power, and that makes the Christian life possible for you.
Regeneration, being “born again” (John 3:3, Matt. 19:28,Titus 3:5), is the complete transformation that begins a continuing process called sanctification. The great truth of sanctification is that “God is changing me.” The great truth of regeneration is that “God has changed me.” We need both.
Okay, so does that mean now that I am a believer my life circumstances will change, and I can just forget my past because it doesn’t matter anymore. If I am a “real” believer, a really spiritual believer then I can just smile and wait for everything to be “okay”…eventually.
Um…that is, in fact, what some believers think, but it isn’t exactly true. We will look at that next week, but let me leave you with this thought—It’s not about pretending to be something you are not; it is learning to be who you are in Christ.
