A New
Creation
Arthur
J Licursi
“Therefore
If Any Man Be In Christ, He Is A NEW
CREATURE (CREATION): Old
Things Are Passed Away; Behold, All Things Are Become New.”
(2 Corinthians 5:17)
In the case of my own
salvation, in November of 1968 I visited a church in
New Jersey
. I was
intending to protect and keep my wife from becoming a religious “holy
roller.” Having never seen a Bible, it was there that day that I first
heard the words of the above verse.
Unknown to me then,
though my heart knew, I was seeking a new beginning already, at the age
23. The words wrung powerfully in my heart with the hope of a new life,
a new beginning. Somehow, though I already had a wife who
loved me, two children, a new company car, and a house, I knew something
was missing and that in myself I was not a good person. Clearly,
God had prepared my heart for that day when I would say
"yes" receive His love and His “Spirit
of life.”
Today, having had nearly
45 years of learning at His feet, I have understanding to match and
explain what occurred on that eternally fateful day
for me.
The truth is, as Bible
tells us, we as human are all related to the first man, Adam, and bear
the imprint of his failure in the form of the sinful
nature that indwells every person.
“Wherefore,
as by one man (Adam) sin
(a “noun,” Sin as a NATURE)
entered into the world, and death
(came) by sin… so death passed upon all men…” (Romans
5:12)
“Wherein
in time past ye (the believers) walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that
now worketh in the children of
disobedience: 3Among whom also we
all had our conversation (manner of living) in times past in the lusts
(desires) of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the
mind; and were by NATURE the children of wrath,
even as others.” (Ephesians 2:2-3)
These verses clearly
indicate that every child born into the world since Adam is a partaker
of Adam’s sinful nature that dictates our desires – which are almost
totally of self- interest.
We may cover this ugliness with external niceness but this
self-interested nature is always there as one who is a self-lover.
Of course this is the very opposite of God, whose nature is other-interested as a lover of others.
Parents sometimes wonder
why their wonderful children disappoint them and surprisingly act out as
they may do. The answer is simple. Every born child is related to
rebellious Adam by their physical
birth. All ultimately rebel against the external constraints of culture,
law, and their knowledge of
right and wrong, just as Adam did in disobeying God.
Yet, in view of
man’s pathetic and helpless condition, Scripture tells us of God’s
good news for us,
that He “commendeth
His love toward us, in that, While We Were Yet Sinners, Christ
Died For Us” (Rom.
5:8).
None
of us inherently love God, but here is where it starts. When
you’re in trouble and someone comes to your aid, aren’t you
automatically drawn to that person? Shouldn’t we be attracted to the
One who cared so much for us that He “(Jesus)
made Himself of no
reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He
(Jesus) humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death
of the cross” (Phil. 2:7, 8)?
Through natural
birth we partake of the sinful nature of our parents, back to
Adam, just as we may also have the same physical features as our
parents. How wonderful to know that the Lord
Jesus Christ took on
Himself that very
same “likeness
of men,”
and as the God-man
who never sinned, He
Died For Our Sins Upon The Cross, where sinful men
(people like us) nailed Him!
As we recognize
this and “receive Him,”
by placing our faith in Him, a spiritual birth takes place and we become
the literal "children
of God” (John 1:12).
We thereby become members of “the
Body of Christ,” as God’s new
creation. “if
any man be in Christ,
he is a new creation”
(2 Cor. 5:17). “created in Christ
Jesus…” (Eph. 2:10a).
Now, though I may still
occasionally sin, I know I am accepted and loved just
as I am, in Christ.
