In this verse, we find the Apostle Paul explaining what happens to a person who has repented of sin and acknowledged Christ as Savior and Lord:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away and all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

This is a beautiful promise for anyone regardless of their race, language, station in life, or even their past mistakes and failures. Anyone can become a new creation. This is the person who has turned away from seeking after power, prestige, or pleasure, and found their identity “in Christ” and in Him alone.

This is the person who has been made new from the inside, a term that we often call regeneration. In short, regeneration is the “new birth” that places a person “in Christ.” Although one’s sins are forgiven (which is God’s response to repentance and faith), regeneration goes even further by making that person an entirely new creation.

One who has become a “new creation” is given the desire and power to live a new life that glorifies God. Being a new creation doesn’t mean that a person is perfect. It means that although they have been changed, they are also continually being changed into His likeness.

We ask, “How do we become a new creation?” We must realize that it is not our work, but a work of God in the heart of a redeemed sinner. This isn’t about “turning over a new leaf” or “getting one’s act together.” It is not something that God does for us, but something that God does in us. The Apostle Paul exhorts all those who are “in Christ” to “….put off the old man . . .  and put on the new man which is created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).

The transformation in the heart of one who has wandered far from God is a modern-day miracle, a miracle that has been going on since the first century. Living as a new creation is something that requires God’s continual work in us as we pursue a life of righteousness. It’s not about what we can do for God, but a constant reminder of what God has done and continues to do in us.

I pray that today, each of us will live as God intended us to live, and that is as new creations in Christ.

Sincerely, Jim Price