(36) - "IN CHRIST" - ramifications

"IF anyone is IN CHRIST, he is a new creation - the old is gone, the new has come - all this is from God (or out of God) - 2 Corinthians 5:17f.

Note the emphasis - ANYONE - in Christ IS a new creation - means what ?

Creation (as the following phrase - "all this is from God" proves) - is GOD'S WORK - we cannot be involved in creation. Doesn't mean we are not and cannot be creative - but most of us KNOW we cannot create. So - let's FOCUS on that part. One raised question involved my focus in Colossians 2:12 about Baptism - Paul wrote "we are raised by faith in the energizing of God" - and I see that as a parallel thought to 2 Corinthians 5:17 "new creation" - but I don't force my comment on anyone - I just see that as what Paul is talking about. The focus I do wish to emphasize is the part about "anyone in Christ is a NEW creation - God does this" - and ask YOU - did you get a new "religion" or did you get a new LIFE !??

By the way - I believe the same concept is in mind when Paul wrote about God back in 2 Corinthians 4:6 "FOR - it is the God who said 'LET LIGHT SHINE OUT OF DARKNESS' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" - so my challenge is - did God SHINE in your heart - or not ? If He did - this context calls that a CREATIVE ACT ! God somehow said of YOU - "Let there be light !" and you had that happen to you !

Now - back to the first sentence today - "If ANYONE is IN CHRIST - he is a new creation" means GOD did something to you - to make YOU be a new creation ! Note the phrase "in Christ" - and let's focus in on that. We've discussed it - but briefly "in Christ" means - being UNITED with Him - by faith. I believe when the NT was written, it was generally understood that Baptism was a ceremony of faith accepting what God provides in Christ - and more than once it is written "baptized into Christ" - and it is done by the Holy Spirit, just as Paul discussed what happened in Baptism in Romans 6 and Colossians 2. If we are "raised up by faith in the energizing of God" - that is HOW the Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ. The water ceremony is just like the marriage ceremony - a ceremony of remembrance to mark our allowing God to do His creative work ! Since Baptism is ALWAYS a Passive concept - it makes it even more emphatic - we act dead to show our helplessness - and non-involvement - we allow a burial and GOD energizes us with his creative light power. What a sad fact that Christendom made it a work and focused it on US instead of HIM ! Quite a work - to realize our death and allow ourselves to be buried ! Good grief ! Maybe that was even a problem in the first century so Paul did teach - "not of yourselves, NOT of works" Ephesians 2:8-9. I've actually heard a preacher say - "Baptism is a work - and it is our part in salvation - His work and our work" - that borders on sacrilege ! It is faith from first to last - Romans 1:16. It is ALL FAITH - because "we no longer live for ourselves, but for HIM who for our sakes died and was raised." 2 Corinthians 5:15. It contradicts Paul in many places - I just wouldn't do that ! But - then we generally do not understand "covenant ceremony" either - so that is a quandary. More later

So - "IN CHRIST" means we have allowed God to give us of His life - so our new spiritual DNA is HIS life - and evidence of our Sonship - and that's why we can have confidence on Judgment Day - because we really are like Jesus - our spiritual DNA matches ! Well - I'll try to deal with that more fully later.