Grace - The New Creation

Below is another article by Mick Mooney.  Read the bold if you're short on time.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

The new creation

By Mick Mooney

 

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:17

 

It's so good to know that when we accept Christ as our Lord and Saviour, God makes us a new creation in him. God doesn't try to fix the old you; he makes you completely new in Christ! It really is good news for our lives. The word 'gospel' literally means 'good news'. The good news of Jesus Christ is that through faith in him we are made a new creation and are given a new life.

 

The message of forgiveness through Jesus is a very significant part of the message; however, it is so important to recognise that it is not the full message. There is more good news within the good news! The gospel is the good news of the new covenant in which there is forgiveness of sins and also new life. When the angel of the Lord freed the Apostles from prison he said to them:

 

Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people the full message of new life!  Acts 5:20

 

Up to this point, the Apostles were only preaching the good news of the forgiveness of sins, however, now the Lord was encouraging them to start preaching the full message of new life. New creation life in Jesus!

 

In him you have not only been saved but you have also been made a new creation, with a new reality and new found blessings and privileges. God knew that if he had to fix the old you it would have taken him the rest of eternity, and he simply couldn't wait that long to pour out his unfailing love upon you. This is why he made you a new creation, so that there would be nothing in you that could separate you from the love of Christ.

 

Being made a new creation does not mean that we will now freely indulge in the sinful nature without any consequences. What it means is that a new reality has been given to us by which we are no longer trapped by sin. When you accepted Christ, your reality changed.  Now that you are a new creation in him, you have been born again, no longer with the nature of Adam, but now with the nature of Christ! This means that you no longer sin by nature, but you now live a righteous life by nature.

 

As a new creation in Jesus, the 'sin man', who led us to live sinfully, has been condemned at the cross with Jesus, and now as a new creation you have the 'righteous man' living in you—that is Christ in you. In fact, the Scriptures say that when you were 'in Adam' you were controlled by sin, but now that you are 'in Christ' you are controlled by righteousness. You are now controlled by Christ in you, who is leading you in his ways!