When you are made “New”

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASV)

My daughter Lilly asked me to study the book of Ephesians with her.

It’s a big deal. She is in her last semester of college, working on her senior project (It’s a CD of several of her original songs!!), and she doesn’t have spare time. So, it’s such an honor that she would want to invest in this with me.

We “meet” each Sunday via video call, and we read and discuss together. Last Sunday she was home and we were able to do Ephesians 2 in person. 🙂

No matter how many times you read the Bible, God will show you something new. This week, I was really wowed. What I learned forever changed my perspective of what it means when scripture says the old has gone and the new has come.

“For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups” (Jews and Gentiles) “into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.” Ephesians 2:14-16

It was the the little word “NEW” that caught my attention. Turns out it is huge in meaning. The Greek word is Kainos, and it means new in form (recently made, fresh, recent, unused, unworn), and new in substance (of a new kind, unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of). Out of curiosity, I looked up 2 Corinthians 5:17, and “the new has come” is the same word.

My brain has always translated being made new in terms of form–same me, new start. I’m no longer seen by God as the child of wrath, wearing the filthy rags of my sin. I’m given Christ’s righteousness, and for lack of a concrete example, I developed this image of same me, all cleaned up with a new script. I’m “like-new”, but not actually new. I didn’t realize this is what I thought until I wrestled with this definition, but I don’t think I’m alone in this idea because I see too many individuals who feel like they have to prove themselves to others who can’t see the spiritual newness and still remember the last mistake. The enemy capitalizes on that, and he convinces us that we’re not capable of maintaining our “like-new” status. But, new is more profound than all that.

New is not just a modified version of the same thing. It’s not just acting different. New is an altogether different thing. It is the state of being different. Like the caterpillar and the butterfly… it is a different kind of creation. It is a novelty. It is other… like God is other. He’s not like anything else, and that’s what He does to us and for us when He fills us with Himself. Not only are we individually fresh and metamorphosed, but we are also now part of a corporate body–a new race–the church. Lets wrap our minds around that.

What would happen if we stopped dodging ghosts from our past, and we didn’t ever feel like we have anything to prove to others. How would we live if we believed that we are new in form and substance, and that God has given us everything we need to stay true to that new pattern? After all, a butterfly never turns back into a caterpillar. It never says it can’t be what it has become. It stretches its wings and flies.

By the way, the blueprint for the new pattern is in the Bible. Reading it is a necessary part of the metamorphosis.

My kids loved the movie Bridge to Terebithia when they were young. The song below is from that movie–it’s not a Christian song, but it talks about how much we miss when we lose our imagination. I think there is a parallel that can be drawn to our faith and how much we miss when we lose our spiritual wonder. Paul says God is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine through his power which is at work in us. (Eph. 3:20) We miss out on so much sometimes because we are watching for “more than we ask for or imagine” out there somewhere…. when the miracle is in you and me.

If He can do more than we can imagine to ask for, then have you thought of asking Him for that? God, that thing you want to do in me that is so NEW that I can’t even imagine it, will you please do it?

Now wait in wonder.