July 9

TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

Memorize this Verse:
Cover the verse text and using just the first letters of each word try to recite the entire passage.
17. T I A M B I C H I A N C O T A P A B A T A B N

Notes on verse:

“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature”: What Paul particularizes (in verse 16), he generalizes (in verse 17). Paul could no longer think of Christ in purely carnal terms, because of the universal truth that has been applied to him personally. That is, when a man comes into vital union with the risen and glorified Lord, he is a “new creation” (John 3:3; 15:5; Rom. 8:1, 9; Gal. 6:14-15), and perceives Christ in a new way.

“In Christ”: These two words comprise a brief but most profound statement of the inexhaustible significance of the believer’s redemption, which includes the following:

1. The believer’s security in Christ, who bore in His body God’s judgment against sin;
2. The believer’s acceptance in Him with whom God alone is well pleased;
3. The believer’s future assurance in Him who is the resurrection to eternal life and the sole guarantor of the believer’s inheritance in heaven;
4. The believer’s participation in the divine nature of Christ, the everlasting Word (2 Peter 1:4).

“New creature”: This describes something that is created at a qualitatively new level of excellence. It refers to regeneration or the new birth (John 3:3; Eph. 2:1-3; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:23; 1 John 2:29; 3:9; 5:4). This expression encompasses the Christian’s forgiveness of sins paid for in Christ’s substitutionary death (Gal. 6:15; Eph. 4:24).

“Old things are passed away”: The aorist tense indicates a decisive break with the old life, at the moment of salvation. After a person is regenerate, old value systems, priorities, beliefs, loves, and plans are gone. Evil and sin are still present, but the believer sees them in a new perspective and they no longer control him.

“Behold, all things are become new”: (Literally, “new things have come to be”): Paul changes to the perfect tense to stress the abiding results of the Christians union with Christ (Isa. 43:18-19; Isa. 66:17; Eph. 4:24; Rev. 21:4-5). The Greek grammar indicates that this newness is a continuing condition of fact.

The believer’s new spiritual perception of everything is a constant reality for him, and he now lives for eternity, not temporal things. James identifies this transformation as the faith that produces works (Eph. 2:10; James 2:14-25).

God does not make new things. He takes the old and changes it. We know that before we are born of the water and the Spirit, we are flesh man. We are living to please the flesh. The new life we get in Jesus allows that flesh man to die and the new spirit man to live. We are born, again, unto God.

John 3:5 “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

When we are baptized, it symbolizes being buried in a watery grave. We leave that old person in the watery grave. The person, who comes up out of the water, is a new creature in Christ.

Romans 6:4 “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

When we become that new creature in Christ, the slate is wiped clean. We start all over again. We are not condemned for the sin that Christ has forgiven. We are clean, washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Romans 8:1 “[There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

We must however, walk in this salvation that the Lord purchased for us. We no longer live, but Christ liveth in us.

TODAY'S BIBLE READING

July 9
Today's Bible Reading Plan selections can be found below. If you don't have a Bible with you, just click the references to read each passage online:

Old Testament
1 Chronicles 20-22  —  8.0 minutes
Psalms 133-134  —  1.5 minutes

New Testament
Luke 9:18-27  —  2.5 minutes
Colossians 4:10-18  —  2.0 minutes

Total Average Read Time — 14.0 minutes