So if any one [be] in Christ, [there is] a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new
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The Setting
In a passage charged with the apostle's own experience of resurrection life, 2 Corinthians 5:17 announces the great divide: every soul united to Christ stands in an entirely new order where the former things have lost their claim. The verse is not a pious boost but a doctrinal declaration that the believer's standing, sphere, nature, and relationships are all of God in the risen Christ.
"If Any Man Be in Christ"
To be "in Christ" is to have one's whole spiritual identity defined by Him, just as "in Adam" defined the old race.
A J PollockJust as "in Adam" means to be OF Adam, so "in Christ" means to be OF Christ. "In Adam" is in relation to the old creation; "in Christ" is in relation to the new creation.
Darby presses the point that the phrase concerns position, not merely shared life: it affirms something about a person who is in Christ, while keeping its own ordinary force (J. N. Darby).
A New Creation, Not a Patched Old One
The verse rules out any reform of the first man. The corrected reading is "there is a new creation."
MagazinesIf any man be in Christ, [he is] a new creature, or more exactly, [there is] a new creation, a new sphere, outside of the old creation, where old things have passed away, for faith, and all things are become new.
F. B. HoleThere is no patching up of the old things in connection with new creation. They pass away, and new things which are wholly "of God" are introduced. Once even Christ Himself stooped into old creation circumstances... Now, in His risen glory, he has entered into new creation circumstances, and from Him as Head the new creation proceeds.
J Wilson SmithHe is "created anew in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:10), facts which set aside for ever the idea of improvement in the man of the first creation. And why new creation, if renovation of the old would do? New birth... and new creation place the seal of final condemnation on the creation that has preceded.
What is New: Nature, Life, Relationships
The freshness reaches every part of the believer's existence.
James BoydIn Christ is new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). There "old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new;" new nature, new life, new relationships, new affections. And all these things are of God. The man in Christ is of God, and everything connected with him. In Adam is old creation: old, fallen, sinful, defiled, dead, and lost. In Christ is new, and "as He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17).
All Things Are of God
The next verse adds the explanatory key — "all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ" — and the commentaries treat verses 17–18 together.
J. N. DarbyTherefore if any one is in Christ, he belongs to this new creation... Already, looked at as a system existing morally before God, in this new creation, all things are of God... We live in an order of things, a world, a new creation, entirely of God. We are there in peace, because God, who is its centre and its source, has reconciled us to Himself.
Leslie M. GrantThe first creation was corrupted by the introduction of Satan's lie and man's disobedience. But nothing can possibly mar the perfection of the new creation: nothing is conditional, as it was in the garden of Eden: all is the work of God alone.
"Old Things Are Passed Away" — For Faith
The passing of the old is registered first by faith, before it is realised in glory. Mackintosh gives the verse a vivid practical illustration in the converted Philippian jailer:
C. H. MackintoshWhat a marvellous change! The ruthless jailer has become the generous host! "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new."
Darby explains why such a creation was needed at all: man morally departed from God and is himself beyond mending — "nothing will do but a new creation" (J. N. Darby).
Summary
- Position, not progress. "In Christ" defines a person's standing — to be of Christ as we once were of Adam — not a degree of attainment.
- No renovation. Scripture refuses any patching of the old man; new birth and new creation seal the final condemnation of the first creation.
- Everything new. New nature, new life, new relationships, new affections — and the believer is "as He is" in this world.
- All of God. The new creation has God Himself as its source and centre, secured by the reconciling work of Jesus Christ, so nothing in it is conditional or able to be marred.
- Realised by faith now. The change is enjoyed presently by faith and shown practically in transformed lives, awaiting full display in glory.