BEHOLD THE NEW!
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
The above verse of Scripture captures something very beautiful that happens when someone gets born again, that is, when one receives Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour. Perhaps to understand it very well, we ought to first of all build an understanding of what a man (human being) is. Man isn’t the body that we see. The body we see is his house (2 Corinthians 5:1). Now who is a man?
Man is a spirit; he possesses a soul and lives inside a body. That is why the body is his house. When you read Genesis 1:26, it says that God made man in His image and in His likeness. Verse 27 then says in His image, He made them both male and female. An image is a picture; a copy of something. Thus, man is a picture, a copy of God. The question we should ask ourselves now is, “what does God look like?”
John 4:24 (KJV) “God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” If God is a spirit, and man (both male and female) look like Him, that means man is a spirit too! When God then made the body which he created from the dust of the earth, He breathed the spirit-man into the body (the house) and at that point, man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7).
When God deals with man, He deals with his spirit. Why? Because that’s the real man. The body is just a house. Recall Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a senior person among the Jews, and he sought Jesus in the night. Jesus told him that he needed to be born again. Upon hearing this, Nicodemus thought he was supposed to go back into his mother’s womb and come out again.
He thought about “being born again” as a physical process. But that was not what Jesus communicated. Being born again is spiritual. Why? Because man is a spirit. No wonder Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ (John 3:5-7)
When you get born again, you are baptized into Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). Now, here’s what happens: “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). You become a new creature. That word “new” is from the Greek word “kainos.”
“Kainos” does not refer to something new in terms of an item that has just been released, no! It means something that is new in terms of type and quality. It is something that never existed before. Something we just are seeing now which was never there. That’s what “new” in 2 Corinthians 5:17 means. Hallelujah!
Thus, when you are born again, you become a new species of being. Something the world never knew. Something that never existed. Of course, you will retain your body complexion, height and other physical features. But your spirit is born anew. That spirit, is the real “you.” So, upon salvation, you become a “kainos” creature. That new creature bears the image of Christ (Colossians 3:10). Hallelujah!
If you are probably reading this and you want true and lasting changes in your life, receive Jesus Christ in your heart today. You do this by believing in Him – that He came, lived on earth, died in the place of sinful men and rose on the third day for your justification. Then you confess His Lordship over your life. If you do this, you will be born again. You become a new creature.
The old is gone, everything becomes new. Your spirit-man bears Christ-like characteristics. Righteousness is imparted to your spirit (Romans 5:17). You become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You become a partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). You are elevated into God’s class of divine beings. Not only that, you become a god (Psalms 82:6). That means, you carry God’s DNA in you. Hallelujah!
Eternal life is imparted to your spirit. Eternal life is the God-kind of life. Anyone who is born again has this life (1 John 5:11-12). This life is supernatural, transcendent, impregnable, indomitable and incorruptible. It will make you a superman! You cease to be ordinary. Hallelujah! You are ushered into the realm of the miraculous.
Men was designed to function from the inside-out. His spirit-man controls the outward-man (the body) and the circumstances around. If there is a change in your spirit, there will be a change in your body and in your circumstances. Don’t wait until tomorrow – be born again now! Receive Jesus Christ now! You will become a new creature. Pray this prayer right now. Say:
“Dear Father, I believe with my heart that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for me, and rose on the third day for my justification. I confess with my mouth His Lordship over my life. I receive eternal life into my spirit today. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus Name. Amen!”
Congratulations, you are born again! You are a new creature. The old is gone, behold all things have become new!
Pastor Somandla Ndlovu
Resident Pastor – Bethel Ministries International Church
somainzim@gmail.com