New Creation in Christ: Union, Life, and Transformed Purpose

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17). Being "in Christ" involves three dimensions of spiritual reality.

First, it establishes our ground of acceptance. Christ's atoning sacrifice supplies the merit whereby sinful men become objects of Elohim's favor. We are lost in ourselves but find ourselves in Him, surrounded by His merits as with a wall of defence, sheltered as by an all-embracing canopy. This alone is the position "wherein we are accepted in the Beloved" (Philippians 3:9).

Second, it provides our spiritual life through faith. Christ becomes the living soul of the believer's spiritual existence. The branch enters the tree by union; the tree enters the branch by the nourishing sap it imparts. So faith unites us to Christ, and Christ's power flows into us (John 15:4–5).

Third, it becomes the sphere of all activity. Consider a man captivated by accounts of a distant land—Australia dwells in his heart as motive power before he arrives physically. Thus the believer: Christ enters the heart through faith, becoming the atmosphere in which he breathes, the circle in which he moves. This devotedness extends beyond religious practice to all secular employment.

The new creation is not physical transformation. Rather, the former principles, motives, aims, and habits pass away; new ones are substituted. The person remains, but entirely renewed in purpose.