1. Background
  1. We are being changed by Christ
  2. We are no longer called to regard anyone by their outside appearance
  3. Now, If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation.
  1. What Paul is using for a basis
  1. New Creation
    1. This is a term that is used by the Jewish people who convert from what they are to Judaism
    2. EXAMPLE: Jesus talking to Nicodemus You must be born again to see the Kingdom of God (John 3: 3)
      1. Born again was to convert from being a Gentile to being a Jew
      2. This is why there was confusion in what Jesus was saying to Nicodemus
      3. How can I convert?  am I suppose to be born again as a Jewish person?
      4. Jesus replied that a spiritual work was happening in this ceremony.
        1. A person immerses themselves seven times and they are Jewish
        2. This is why the Leper Naaman had to dip himself 7 times in the river Jordan to be healed of his leprosy
    3. Paul repeated this message in other letters
      1. We are God’s workmanship created to do good things he planned for us Ephesians 2: 10
      2. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man Ephesians 4: 23
      3. Put on your new man created in Christ Colossians 3: 10

2. The New Creation

  1. Paul’s dramatic declaration, that we have become a new creation in Christ with all things becoming new, has vast implications.
    1. The “he” that is a new creation is our spirit man. All things pertaining to our spirit become new. The real you is our spirit man which is made alive in Christ.
    2. To understand the glory of the new creation, we must first understand that God created humans with three parts—spirit, soul, and body. Man is a spirit, he has a soul, and lives in a body.
      1. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless… (1 Thes. 5:23)
    3. Our Spirit is where we communicate with God
    4. Our Soul speaks of our personality (mind, will, and emotions)
    5. Our Body speaks of our 5 senses that enable us to communicate with our physical world.
  2. Before Adam sinned, his spirit governed his soul and body.
    1. His five senses were subject to his spirit.
    2. After he sinned, he became spiritually dead. He lost his ability to relate to God. Everything was reversed, and his body (five senses) and soul (emotions) gained power over his spirit. His spirit became subordinate to his senses. His spirit lost dominion and his five senses took over.
  3. At the new birth, our spirit is joined to the Spirit, and we are filled with His supernatural life.
    1. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6: 17)
  4. At the new birth, our spirit man was so radically refashioned that Paul uses the term “created.”
  5. Because our spirit man is very different from our soul and body, it cannot be discerned by our emotions (soul) or our five senses (body). Thus, it is referred to as “hidden” from our five senses. Paul referred to our true life, or our spirit man, in this age as being “hidden” in Christ.
    1. The hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle spirit… (1 Pet. 3:4)
    2. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. (Col. 3:3-4)
  6. As Jesus stands boldly before God with righteousness in His spirit, so do we, even in this age.
  7. We have boldness…because as He is, so are we in this world. (1 Jn. 4:17)

3. Old Things Passed Away

  1. Old things passed away
    1. We were under condemnation before God.
    2. We were powerless before sin (at the heart level).
    3. We were under darkness, lacking the ability to understand the Word,
    4. We were unable to receive divine direction for our life.
    5. We were destitute, without hope of a good future in God.
  2. All things have become new:
    1. Our former condemnation has passed and now we are accepted and enjoyed by God.
    2. Our former powerlessness and darkness have passed and now we have the authority of Jesus’ name and the indwelling Spirit which enable us to resist sin, sickness, and Satan, walk in victory over sin, and to receive new understanding of God, His Word, and His will.
    3. Our former destitution has past. Now we have a divine destiny in God.

4.  The gospel is the good news of salvation.

  1. This Is shown in three tenses
    1. Justification.  – our.  Legal position past tense as sins are forgiven
    2. Sanctification: our living condition—present tense focused on my soul (I am being saved)
    3. Glorification: our eternal exaltation—future tense focused on my body (I will be saved).
  2. We experience the fullness of our salvation in three time frames.
    1. One third of our salvation is complete, the salvation of our spirit. Our spirit was created anew in holiness (past tense).

5. A New Orientation: Living According to the Spirit.

  1. our primary orientation is determined by the information that we rely on most
    1. We shift from living from our primary focus of our five sense
      1. Physical appetites
    2. We also shift from living according to our soul (Emotions, Will mind)
  2. This shift is called walking according to the spirit. (Romans 8: 1, 4, 5),
  3. We do this by living with confidence that we are enjoyed by God, as we dialogue with the indwelling Spirit, confess the Word, and choose godliness.
    1. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (Rom. 8:5)
  4. We are transformed by changing the way we think. We must live in agreement with God’s Word. Only as our mind breaks its agreement with our flesh (five senses and emotions) are we freed.
    1. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (Jn. 8:32)
    2. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind… (Rom. 12:2)
  5. The “spirit of our mind” speaks of the whole atmosphere and perspective of our inner life. This involves saturating our mind with the truth, which in turn orients our life more to our spirit man.
  6. Put off…your former conduct…23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. (Eph. 4:22-23)
  7. The renewing of our mind always includes the confession of the Word back to God.
    1. The word is near you, in your mouth…that is, the word of faith…9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart…you will be saved [delivered from the penalty and power of sin]. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation [complete deliverance]. (Rom. 10:8-10)