Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

                                                                                                                                           2 Cor 5:17

Through Jesus Christ, we have become a new creation…but what does this mean?

The ‘new creation’ has a two-fold meaning – cosmic and personal. On a cosmic level, the new creation refers to the way in which Jesus’ life, death and resurrection ushered in the new created order. On a personal level, it refers to the changes that Jesus’ actions brought about within the believer.

 

The World as a New Creation

To understand ‘the new creation’ we must understand that it is a creation – it was created by God. This means that it was brought about solely by the will of God, and was not simply an accident or consequence of Jesus’ life, death or resurrection. The new creation was crafted by God’s hands, just as the original creation in Genesis 1 was, but this creation is greater – it brings about the fullness of God’s original creation.

The creation is also ‘new’, this means that the old creation has not simply been cleaned up. Jesus has inaugurated a brand new creation – fresh and never-seen-before. ‘The old has gone’. It has not been transformed or changed, it has passed away. The new creation establishes the fullness of Creation that has been introduced through Christ. It is an all-encompassing conversion that takes place over everything on earth. No aspect of the world is as it was before Christ –everything has died with him and has been renewed.

 

Believers as a New Creation

The new creation also refers to the way in which Jesus’ actions altered the way that humanity exists.

The old creation is our old sinful natures – our former habits, sinful behaviours and selfish deeds. The old creation has been replaced with the new creation – a new created order is full of new things and new life. As a new creation, you “have taken off your old self with its practices” (Colossians 3:9) and “put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24).  Through our new created-ness, we see the world through a different lens. The nature of the world and of ourselves has changed.

This does not mean that we have been perfected. We are renewed and redeemed daily by the crucified Christ, but we still have the capacity to sin. Though we have been changed, we are also still being changed. The new creation, however, gives us the ability to be freed from the bondage of sin, and loosens its power over us. We are now a new, empowered creation with the choice to continue on, dead in sin or living in the life that reigns through Christ and the new creation. We are not simply forgiven, but we have been changed, and continue to change.

Jesus’ life, death and resurrection renewed every person. We are renewed to live by new rules, in a renewed world, with a renewed faith.

 

 

 

To honour God’s creation, be sure to sign the petition to establish Creation Day as an official holiday!