So if any one [be] in Christ, [there is] a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new
Read Full Chapter →Commentary for this Verse
The verse turns on two small words: "in Christ." Paul is not describing a person who has improved. He is describing a whole new order of things that starts when someone is joined to the risen Christ. That raises an obvious question: why does the old life so often still look and feel the same?
Two Positions, No Third
Every human being stands on one of two grounds, and where you stand is decided by which head you belong to.
The Christian's FriendEveryone is either in Adam or in Christ. Someone who is not a believer is still under Adam as his head. He is in the flesh, and that is where he stands before God... An unbeliever is linked with Adam, shares fallen Adam's life and nature, and belongs to the creation that God placed Adam over. Where he stands before God, he is in Adam.
A New Creation, Not Just a New Creature
The wording matters. One writer draws attention to how Paul says it.
F. B. HoleThe first mention of new creation in the New Testament is in 2 Corinthians 5:17, where we find that everyone "in Christ" is brought into it. It is "new creation" in this verse rather than "a new creature," and Paul's language here is very forceful and emphatic. He leaves out the verb altogether and exclaims, "So then, if anyone in Christ — new creation!" like a man exulting in a glorious fact.
More Than Forgiveness
It would be easy to read the verse as a warm way of saying "your sins are gone." One writer presses that it claims something larger.
C. H. MackintoshPaul does not say, "If anyone is in Christ he is pardoned — his sins are forgiven — his debts are paid." All of that is true. But the words of the verse go much further. It declares that a man in Christ is a new creation altogether. The old nature is not pardoned. It is set aside, along with everything that belongs to it. God brings in a new creation, and not a shred of the old is in it.
Where the Old Ended and the New Began
Two events stand behind the verse: one ended the old, one began the new.
The Christian's FriendThe cross of Christ was God's judgment that ended the first man. The resurrection of Christ — Christ as the risen Man — was God's new beginning, in line with His eternal purposes... He glorified God about the sins and the sin of Adam and his race, the first man who was held responsible. Now, risen and glorified, He Himself is the Beginning.
Living in Old Circumstances With New Life
If the new has come, why do a Christian's home, job and family look unchanged? One writer answers that these relationships will end, but we are still in them for now.
James BoydAs we walk through the world with our responsibilities, we deal with the old order. We have parents, children, husbands, wives, masters, servants, and so on. We are to live in these relationships to the glory of God. But this will all come to an end... in the meantime we are in them, and we are to walk in them so as to please God. The life of Jesus is to come out in us down here; we are to walk as He walked. But in the life of Christ, as made alive together with Him, we are apart from everything belonging to the old.
Why the Old Nature Still Troubles You
One writer adds a careful limit. The verse does not mean the flesh — the old sinful nature — can no longer stir in a believer.
James BoydThe cross ended the old man in God's judgment. The believer has put him off and is done with him. Even so, we still have the flesh to trouble us. We are not in it, but we cannot say it is not in us. We feel its presence keenly. If we are not watchful, it will soon lead us into sin.
Summary
- New position. Everyone stands either in Adam or in Christ. There is no third ground. The verse speaks only of those in Christ.
- New order. Read the phrase as "new creation," not just "a new creature." Paul exclaims over a whole new sphere, not a repaired person.
- New basis. The cross ended the first man in God's judgment. The resurrection of Christ was God's new beginning, and the new creation comes from Him.
- New scope. This goes beyond pardon. God does not forgive the old nature and keep it. He sets it aside, and what replaces it has nothing of the old in it.
- New walk. We still live inside old relationships and still carry the flesh. So walk as Christ walked, knowing God has finished with the old.