“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

2 Corinthians 5:17

OBSERVATION

The Church of Corinth had issues. Paul’s writing here is to address just one of the many challenges facing their community. Here the words “in-Christ” are those people who have accepted Jesus for their King and them becoming a “new creation” means there has been a lasting and complete change in them. This new creation change means the qualities and aspects that were once old are gone and that all things that have “become new”. This newness isn’t just for our own benefit but for others.

APPLICATION

When I read that verse it often is encouraging to me because I know there are some old things in my life that I’d be happy to see “pass away”. It makes me feel good knowing that I won’t be held accountable to my faults and failures but seen by God in the Righteousness of Jesus. HOWEVER… This verse is not a verse simply to encourage the Church. Paul wrote this to show Christians how to view others who have accepted Christ as God sees them! This changes how we read the passage because it now means that I don’t get to view the other Christians around me in their “old things” but need to view them in the restoration that God provides them. It can be hard to forgive people when they have “old things” that they’re still working through, but when we view them in the new creation God provided for them through Jesus it changes our perspective of people. This is the ministry of reconciliation that God provides through Jesus.

PrayER

Father, thank you for making me a new creation. Thank you that you don’t hold the old things against me but you see me in the righteousness of Christ. Help me to see my fellow Christians in the righteousness you’ve provided for me. Help me to look past their old things and embrace the new creation that you’ve made them. Amen.