First: Let us see what the word “creation” means in the word of God? This question is vital to an understanding of salvation.
The biblical definition of “creation” in the Bible is: “the act of bringing into existence something that had never existed before.”
It is crucial to understand that being a Christian is not a matter of a moral reformation, but, as Paul says of becoming a new creation:
2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in the Messiah, he/she is a new creation. The old [person] has passed away; behold, the new [person] has come.
In the “old self” our federal head was Adam. As a “new creation” our federal head is the one who our God and Father Yehovah, has made lord and Messiah. To become a new creation we must consider our “old self” as dead to sin:
Romans 6:11: Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God through Jesus the Messiah our Lord.
Romans 6:8: Now if we are dead with the Messiah, we believe that we shall also live with him:
In the Messiah Jesus as new creations, we have become members of the New Humanity that God had in mind, as part of His overall plan, from before the foundation of the ages.
When you become a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, you are not just a morally reconditioned person but someone with a totally new life in the Messiah! In that life, you will become totally new. It never existed before. You become a new creation, a new life in the Messiah, by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
Before you are baptized you repent and make a commitment to die to self, and to the things of this world, then you enter into the water and are crucified with the Messiah Jesus and come out of the water in newness of life and upon receiving the indwelling empowering Spirit of God you become a new creation in His uniquely begotten son Jesus.
Romans 6:3-6: Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus the Messiah were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death: that as the Messiah was raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Galatians 2:20: I am crucified with the Messiah: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but the Messiah lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh [as a new creation] I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
When we speak of a “creation” out of nothing, it is something only made possible by God’s power. To understand how one can become a new creation in the Messiah is impossible for the natural man/woman to comprehend. It takes the indwelling power of Yehovah – God to open one’s eyes to comprehend what it means to be a new creation in the Messiah.
We are not saved by our own efforts in trying to be a good person. The new creation is by God’s power, for it is His power alone that saves us.
Notice: in Scripture, the two metaphors “creation” and “birth” are interchangeable. An example:
Psalm 90:1-2: Yehovah, you have been our refuge in every generation. Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.
Ephesians 3:14-19: …. I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, because of whom the whole family in heaven and earth came into existence [was created], that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints [holy ones] what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of the Messiah, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.
Have we put our faith – committed obedient covenant faithfulness - in the only true God who has given us new life, the God of the new creation?
Notice: Paul speaks of the new creation in order to contrast it with the old and material creation that exists round about us. It is a contrast between the new and the old, though the old, like the new, was also brought into being out of nothing.
Romans 4:17: … as it is written, "I have made you [Abraham] the father of many nations"; in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
The new creation is a wonderful mystery:
The physical creation is visible, not hidden, for you can see it all around you, whereas the new creation, which is spiritual, is hidden. You need spiritual perception to see it, which is why it is called a mystery. In the Bible, a mystery is something that is hidden and made known only by God’s revelation.
Paul says that the gospel has been hidden all through the ages, and has now been revealed. But you need to have eyes to see it.
1 Corinthians 2:6-7: … we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God marked out beforehand – predestined, before the ages for our glory,
The word of God is a sharp two-edged sword that penetrates the heart (Hebrews 4: 12). It wounds in order to heal and kills [causes one to die to self] in order to give life [new age life, resurrection life, creation life].
Where then do we find this new creation life which is hidden? It is found only in Jesus the Messiah. Salvation and the new creation are found “in him”. To be a new creation is to be “in the Messiah”.
2 Corinthians 5:17: “If any man is in the Messiah, he is a new creation”.
This new life, this power of God to save, is found only in the Messiah. We enter into him by faith, believing he is the one whom our God and Father Yehovah has sent it.
John 5:24: Truly, truly, I say to you, he that hears my word, and believes on Him that sent me, has age upon age lasting life, and shall not come into judgment; but is passed from death to life.
Faith in Jesus the Messiah is our God and Father Yehovah’s way of saving you. By God's amazing grace you enter into the Messiah, putting on the Messiah, to order to be saved. “We are saved by grace through faith, not by our works or achievements” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
We enter into the lord Messiah through baptism. By the Spirit of God, we are baptized into one body, the body [the called-out Assembly] of the Messiah (1Corinthians 12: 13).
At baptism, we are buried with the Messiah and united with him through death to our old life, to be raised with the Messiah by the working of God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 6:3-5). That is how we enter into the Messiah and put on the Messiah, and how our God Yehovah gives us new life, transforming us to be like the Messiah which makes us become perfect in him.
God created the old creation out of nothing, ex nihilo, by His powerful Word. God spoke “Let there be light” and there was light (Genesis 1: 3). This is also true of the new creation, for Paul has Genesis 1:3 in mind when he says: For 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 Jesus the Messiah:
2 Corinthians 4:6: For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus the Messiah.
In the old creation, the first words were, “Let there be light.” Paul likewise says that God brings the new creation into existence by the power of His word. The new creation is wrought in us when we allow the spirit-filled word of God to speak to our hearts.
Are you a new creation?
Until you genuinely say to God, “I will live by every word that you have taught us.” Can you do this? You can only live by every word of God if you have the indwelling of the Spirit of God enabling you to live by every word He has given us to obey. He has given us the laws of the New Covenant we are to obediently live by through His beloved son Jesus.
All that Jesus did and said he did as the agent of His God and Father Yehovah. According to the Jewish law of Agency whatever the agent does it is as if the principal has done it. So all the words Jesus spoke were as if his God and our God were speaking.
You become a new creation only if you let the word of God enter into your heart day by day, which is where the word of God belongs. So the life-giving word is what will make you a new person [creation in the Messiah]. Let God’s Word speak to your heart and live by every word that God has spoken.
When you become a new creation in the Messiah you will rejoice and be delighted to study and meditate on God’s word every day. The psalmist says, “his delight is in the law of Yehovah, and on His law, he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1: 2). He meditates on God’s word day and night because he delights in it. Psalm 119:103 says: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
Notice: In the old creation, we were given physical life through no choice of our own, for it was something that was bestowed on us at birth. We could not say yes or no to it.
Physical life is a wonderful gift. How much more wonderful is the gift of spiritual life that God desires to give you! But the difference is that He won’t give it to you without your choosing it. This time you will have to make the choice between believing, or not believing in God.
Faith is simply saying “yes” to God, unbelief is saying “no” to God. Faith is simply saying “yes”. Look at this verse:
“For the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah, who was preached among you by us — by me and Silas and Timothy — was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him, it has always been “Yes.”” (2 Corinthians 1:19)
With God, nothing is impossible! If you say “Yes” to Him from your heart you will be on your way to becoming a new creation in the Messiah. God will do amazing things in your life as wonderful as creation ex nihilo, creating something out of nothing. He will bring new life into you, and you will know that He is the only true God, the living God Yehovah.
Most of the excerpts I have used in this article were written by Eric Chang and can be found in his book, “Baptism and the New Life in Christ: The Practical Meaning of Baptism in the New Testament” It can be obtained on Amazon.com, the paperback or the Kindle Edition. I have added to his amazing work, editing parts here and there, Bruce Lyon
I highly recommend to all who read this article to get “Baptism and the New Life in Christ” by Eric Chang, it could be a life-changing book for all who read it!
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