New creation

jdh — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:57:45 +0000

In the beginning

Almighty God created the universe: the heavens, the earth, and everything in them. He is ultimately in control. Yet when it comes to us, our thoughts and actions, he has given up control; we can think and do what we want.

We are not made of divine material—we are made of dust and live by the breath of God—so it is unsurprising that often (but not always) what we want to do is not what he wants us to do.

That we were made and live by the will of God has been the understanding even of those to whom the word of God was not revealed. Paul says that “in him we live and move, in him we exist; as some of your own poets have said, ‘We are also his offspring.’” (Act 17:28

We are God’s children; in him we live and move and exist, and sin, and profane his name, and visit horrible things upon each other. Why did God make us this way? I hope to answer that question; beginning with Adam and Eve in Eden, through to Jesus Christ, and finishing with us. “In him we live and move and exist” is where we will start—the creation; “in us he lives and moves and exists” is our destination—the new creation.

God created the world we live in and everything in it. When he had finished, it was very good. Paul says it is still good: “Everything that God has created is good.” (I Tim 4:4

). He is speaking in the context of food, but you get the point: despite all the nasty things going on, creation has not failed; it is achieving its purpose. Men are choosing this day who they will serve and are living their lives accordingly; some to the glory and honour of God and others to their own apetites. This is not a disaster because it is all part of God’s plan from the very beginning.

The new creation

This creation, though very good, is to be superseded, subsumed, by a new creation; not because this creation was a mistake, but because this creation was designed to give birth to the next. Here is a sneak peek from Paul: “I reckon that the sufferings we now endure bear no comparison with the glory, as yet unrevealed, which is in store for us.” (Rom 8:18

). Sufferings? Faithful people suffering? A mistake? No. Part of creation from the beginning.

The created universe is waiting with eager expectation for God’s sons to be revealed. It was made subject to frustration, not of its own choice but by the will of him who subjected it, yet with the hope that the universe itself is to be freed from the shackles of mortality and is to enter upon the glorious liberty of the children of God. Up to the present, as we know, the whole created universe in all its parts groans as if in the pangs of childbirth.

Romans 8:19–22
Romans 8:19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
Romans 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
Romans 8:21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

We are familiar with this frustration. Who subjected creation to it? Mankind? No. God subjected creation to frustration. He subjected it in hope. Not the flip a coin kind of hope, but faithful patient waiting for something you know is going to happen. Hoping for the same thing the whole of creation is waiting to give birth to: the sons of God.

We know from the rest of the chapter that these sons are not like the rest of those who in God, “live and move and exist”, because they are not of the dust but of the Spirit. They are transformed from creatures of the dust to sons according to the Spirit by the work of Jesus Christ in their lives.

But you do not live like that. You live by the spirit, since God’s Spirit dwells in you; and anyone who does not possess the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. The Spirit you have received is not a spirit of slavery, leading you back into a life of fear, but a Spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry “Abba! Father!” The Spirit of God affirms to our spirit that we are God’s children; and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ; but we must share his sufferings if we are also to share his glory.

Romans 8:9,14–17
Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba! Father!
Romans 8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Romans 8:17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

There we have it. The purpose of this creation is to give birth to the next. This process comes about because of Christ, and results in God dwelling in us.

The birth of the natural creation is summarised in Genesis 1–3. The birth of the new creation is summarised in John 1. This creation account has similarities to the natural creation: it starts with the word of God (v.1

), which produces light (vv.4–9), and ends with sons of God. Sons of God, “born not of human stock, by the physical desire of a human father, but of God.” (Jn 1:13) Not natural sons, but spiritual sons. A sonship that is fully realised in the future:

We also, to whom the Spirit is given as the firstfruits of the harvest to come, are groaning inwardly while we look forward eagerly to our adoption, our liberation from mortality.

Romans 8:23
Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

yet also exists for us now:

The Spirit of God affirms to our spirit that we are God’s children; and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow–heirs with Christ; but we must share his sufferings if we are also to share his glory.

vv.16–17
Romans 8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Romans 8:17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Adam

From the very beginning, God gave up control of what we think and do. Nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than in the first test of mankind, in the garden of Eden. God planted a garden (Ge 2:8

) and placed Adam in it (2:15), and gave him one rule (2:16–17) which he broke. This is like an experimental setup; a specially prepared environment in which there is only one temptation to disobey. Adam had no childhood on which to blame poor adult decisions; he had the perfect father and the best living quarters the world could offer. He was lacking nothing. It wasn’t really an experiment because God knew the outcome from the beginning. So what was the purpose of this seemingly stage managed trial? To demonstrate something to Adam and to us.

What does Adam’s experience in Eden demonstrate to us? That even given the best circumstances, we will still disobey God. That is what it means to be made from the dust of the earth and it is part of the plan. God already has a race of beings that cannot do anything but his will; they are called angels. What he wants from us is more complicated, more difficult, and more wonderful. He wants us to look past our own desires and choose him. Micah says it this way:

The LORD has told you mortals what is good,
and what it is that the LORD requires of you:
only to act justly, to love loyalty,
to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8
Micah 6:8
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

We know by now that this is a tall order. Adam didn’t manage it in the garden and most of the Old Testament is full of people who did no better. We also know what it is like to desire to please God, only to end up doing things that achieve the opposite. The effect of God’s law on Adam was for him to realise he was naked, a symbol of the effect God’s law had on the rest of his people in the Old Testament and on us today: it makes us realise how badly we sin. Romans 5 says that, “Law intruded into this process to multiply law-breaking,” (Rom 5:20

), and Paul says of himself that, “had it not been for the law I should never have become acquainted with sin,” (7:7, a truth he painfully expands upon later on in the chapter, finishing with:

In my inmost self I delight in the law of God, but I perceive in my outward actions a different law, fighting against the law that my mind approves, and making me a prisoner under the law of sin which controls my conduct. Wretched creature that I am, who is there to rescue me from this state of death?

Romans 7:22–24
Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
Romans 7:23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Romans 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

From Adam onwards there were two classes of people: those who did what they wanted, and those who wanted to do what God wanted and managed to do so with varying degrees of success. However, largely, everyone failed. Even David, a man after God’s own heart, who meditated daily on the law of God as recorded in just about every verse of Psalm 119, still confessed—in the last verse—an inability to do right on his own.

I have strayed like a lost sheep;
come, search for your servant,
for I have not forgotten your commandments.

Psalm 119:176
Psalms 119:176
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
for I do not forget your commandments.

Compare those words with these ones:

I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work which you gave me to do.

John 17:4
John 17:4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

One is like Adam, “I know your commands, I’m just not doing them,” and the other is Christ, “I know your commands, and I’ve done them all.”

Jesus

Just like this creation was designed to bring forth the new creation, the first man Adam was created in anticipation of the last man Christ. Jesus is the new man and the new creation. He was not made first, because he needed to be perfected through suffering, something that can only happen in a world of suffering, a world travailing to give birth to the sons of God. As Hebrews says:

In bringing many sons to glory it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Hebrews 2:10
Hebrews 2:10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Jesus is the pinnacle of creation; he exemplifies the reason God created by being the first man to give God what he wants from his creation. When he lives in us and we in him, we become part of the reason God created the heavens and earth in the first place, part of the new creation.

Natural and spiritual

In Genesis 1:23

God instructs the man and woman to fill the earth and subdue it, to rule over it and every living thing on it. Today, we have fulfilled this instruction; we have filled the earth and subdued it, and we do rule over the other living things. However, this fulfilment relates only to the natural creation. God makes it clear that, while the natural must come first, what he is really interested in is the spiritual. Paul makes this point when speaking of the resurrection.

If there is such a thing as a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. It is in this sense that scripture says, “The first man, Adam, became a living creature,” whereas the last Adam has become a life–giving spirit. Observe, the spiritual does not come first; the physical body comes first, and then the spiritual. The first man is from earth, made of dust: the second man is from heaven. The man made of dust is the pattern of all who are made of dust, and the heavenly man is the pattern of all the heavenly. As we have worn the likeness of the man made of dust, so we shall wear the likeness of the heavenly man

I Corinthians 15:44–49
I Corinthians 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
I Corinthians 15:45 Thus it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
I Corinthians 15:46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.
I Corinthians 15:47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
I Corinthians 15:48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
I Corinthians 15:49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Here Paul is talking about the spiritual body after the resurrection, but Jesus makes it clear that this new life can belong to us now.

Adam was removed from the garden lest he eat of the fruit of the tree of life and live forever; a merciful act of God—living forever in a state of disobedience would not be very pleasant. In the kingdom Eden will be restored with more than one tree of life. Today, while we don’t have access to a physical tree, we do eat its fruit every week. Jesus says, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (Jn 6:54

). What makes the difference? Why are we allowed access to the tree of life when Adam was not?

The difference is Jesus, as he goes on to say, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I in him.” (6:56

). This present physical creation lives and moves and exists in God. The new creation is a result of Jesus living, moving, and existing in you and in me.

Christ in you

Here are some of the important things Jesus can do when he dwells in us.

If you dwell in me, and my words dwell in you, ask whatever you want, and you shall have it.

John 15:7
John 15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Anything you ask in my name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name I will do it.

If you love me you will obey my commands.

John 14:13–15
John 14:13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
John 14:14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
John 14:15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

It follows, my friends, that our old nature has no claim on us; we are not obliged to live in that way. If you do so, you must die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the base pursuits of the body, then you will live.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Romans 8:12–14
Romans 8:12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Because of these wonderful things Jesus can do for us, it means that unlike Adam, we are no longer under bondage to sin: we no longer have to do anything it says. The writer of Hebrews explains it this way:

Since the children share in flesh and blood, he too shared in them, so that by dying he might break the power of him who had death at his command, that is, the devil…

Hebrews 2:14
Hebrews 2:14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

Adam was cast out of paradise into the world, because people don’t mature in perfect environments. Children don’t mature into adults if they stay in kindergarten. Jesus “came down from heaven” to the world and suffered the same things Adam did, so that he might render the devil powerless, “…and might liberate those who all their life had been in servitude through fear of death.” (v.15

). “The sting of death is sin, and sin gains its power from the law.” (I Cor 15:56). Jesus has set us free from slavery to the law because the things he can do for us mean we do not need to be afraid of sin and death any more. Summarized this way in v.18, “Because he himself has passed through the test of suffering, he is able to help those who are in the midst of their test.”

Salvation from sin

How often do you think Jesus fails when he comes to someones aid? You: “Jesus, I’m being tempted to sin, please help me!”; Jesus: “Sorry, can’t help, I’m outmatched.” It’s rediculous isn’t it? We are no longer under bondage to sin because we have help from on high. Whenever we are tempted, help is only a prayer away; because our high priest can sympathise with our weakness, has been tempted in all the ways we are, without sin. Therefore, “Let us therefore boldly approach the throne of grace, in order that we may receive mercy and find grace to give us timely help.” (Heb 4:16

Such a prayer and its result are what the new life is all about. We want to do right, but the means to do so comes from God, and so God is glorified. The blind man of John 9 who was born blind, not because of anyone’s sin, but so that the glory of God might be shown in his healing. Adam was made from dust, not because of anything he did (he was still dust at the time), but so that the glory of God might be shown in transforming his descendents from slaves to sin into glorious sons of God.

The new creation in Christ makes it possible not only for us to know God’s will, but for us to consistently do it. With this understanding, the words in Romans 6 become truly attainable.

In the same way you must regard yourselves as dead to sin and alive to God, in union with Christ Jesus.

Therefore sin must no longer reign in your mortal body, exacting obedience to the body’s desires. You must no longer put any part of it at sin’s disposal, as an implement for doing wrong. Put yourselves instead at the disposal of God; think of yourselves as raised from death to life, and yield your bodies to God as implements for doing right. Sin shall no longer be your master, for you are no longer under law, but under grace.

Romans 6:11–14
Romans 6:11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.
Romans 6:13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
Romans 6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Jesus said that sin is like a strong man (Lk 11:21–22

). Sin’s house cannot be plundered before sin himself is beaten and tied up, after which his goods can be taken away from him. Jesus tied up sin and plundered his house, freeing us from sin’s clutches. Paul describes a similar situation in which sin uses the law as a weapon to kill us. He says: “in the commandment sin found its opportunity to seduce me, and through the commandment killed me.” (Rom 7:9–11). Putting this together we have a scenario where we are fighting a losing battle against sin. After Christ is in us, he ties sin up and we win the fight, not on our own merit but by the grace of God, and to his glory.

In this present creation, we ask forgiveness for our sins; as part of the new creation, we receive help so we don’t have to. That’s what it means when Mary was told to name him “Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Mat 1:21

With Jesus within us, salvation is assured. Colossians 1, after a long passage about how great Jesus is and all he can do for us, ends with a revelation of the secret purpose of God: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:27

). And remember, this hope isn’t, “I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow,” it is hope in Christ: rock solid. If Christ is in you, there will be glory. The life God has in store for us is very very secure:

You died; and now your life lies hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you too will be revealed with him in glory.

Colossians 3:3–4
Colossians 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

In his steps

No longer having to worry about how safe our life is, (i.e. being good so we get into the kingdom), frees us up to do other things. Oddly enough, the things we are supposed to be doing now that we don’t need to worry about our life, are the very things we used to attempt to do because we were worried.

So put to death those parts of you which belong to the earth||fornication, indecency, lust, evil desires, and the ruthless greed which is nothing less than idolatry; on these divine retribution falls. This is the way you yourselves once lived; but now have done with rage, bad temper, malice, slander, filthy talk||banish them all from your lips! Do not lie to one another, now that you have discarded the old human nature and the conduct that goes with it, and have put on the new nature which is constantly being renewed in the image of its Creator and brought to know God.

Colossians 3:5–10
Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Colossians 3:6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming.
Colossians 3:7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.
Colossians 3:8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
Colossians 3:9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

The difference is, before we were saved (in hope), these things were required of us to shame us into realising the full depth of our need for that salvation. Now that we are saved—having Christ in us, hope of glory—these things are required of us because in Christ we are new creatures who can!

Put on, then, garments that suit God’s chosen and beloved people: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. Be tolerant with one another and forgiving, if any of you has cause for complaint: you must forgive as the Lord forgave you. Finally, to bind everything together and complete the whole, there must be love. Let Christ’s peace be arbiter in your decisions, the peace to which you were called as members of a single body. Always be thankful. Let the gospel of Christ dwell among you in all its richness; teach and instruct one another with all the wisdom it gives you. With psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, sing from the heart in gratitude to God. Let every word and action, everything you do, be in the name of the Lord Jesus, and give thanks through him to God the Father.

vv.12–17
Colossians 3:12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
Colossians 3:13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Colossians 3:14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Galatians puts it succinctly:

The harvest of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness, and self–control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the old nature with its passions and desires. If the Spirit is the source of our life, let the Spirit also direct its course.

Galatians 5:22–25
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Galatians 5:23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Galatians 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

If we belong to Christ we have crucified the old nature. This is a powerful image. I only know of one person who was crucified and lived to see another day. If the old nature is as dead as a doorknob, and the Spirit is the source of our life, then we have been reborn; a condition Jesus describes to Nicodemus:

The wind blows where it wills; you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born from the Spirit.

John 3:9
John 3:9 Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be?

We are motivated by something that cannot be seen or touched. We are not living, Christ is living in us. The new creation is within us.

John and his fellow disciples were there at the beginning of the new creation. They experienced Jesus; they heard him, saw him, and touched him. They have this to say to us:

It was there from the beginning; we have heard it; we have seen it with our own eyes; we looked upon it, and felt it with our own hands: our theme is the Word which gives life. This life was made visible; we have seen it and bear our testimony; we declare to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made visible to us. It is this which we have seen and heard that we declare to you also, in order that you may share with us in a common life, that life which we share with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing this in order that our joy may be complete.

I John 1:1–4
I John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—
I John 1:2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—
I John 1:3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
I John 1:4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

With Jesus within us, we are a new creation, and as a result, have heard things, seen things, and done things that were formerly impossible for us. This article is made up of things I have heard, things I have seen, things I have experienced as a result of Jesus dwelling in me and giving me life. I want to declare it to you so we can share together with complete joy.

The Wellington Christadelphians

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