Our Identity In Christ (Draft: Second Edition, Revised and enlarged)

SECTION TWO : NEW CREATION

9. IF ANYONE IS IN CHRIST

2 Corinthians 5:17,18
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;
behold, all things have become new.
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ,
and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

As we continue in our journey to discover who we are in Christ, we first establish

important understanding of being “in Christ”. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 are familiar verses
that are quoted often to introduce us to our life in Christ.

We begin by emphasizing that anyone can have the privilege of being in Christ. This
invitation of coming into Christ is, of entering this wonderful union with Christ, freely
receiving God’s abundant grace and the rich inheritance He makes available, and the
opportunity to live life out of this union with Christ, is open to everyone.

What a truth to hold close to our hearts, both for ourselves and as we share and
minister to others. No one is without hope. Regardless of where we are spiritually,
regardless how desperate, hopeless, miserable our life may be, we can all enter into this
life in Christ and experience all that God offers to us in Christ Jesus! Hallelujah!

Anyone, everyone, all are welcome! Anyone can have this privilege of being in Christ.

10. NEW LIFE FROM ABOVE

John 3:1-8
1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a
teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with
him."
3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a
second time into his mother's womb and be born?"
5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the
Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

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7 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'

8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where
it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

In His teaching, the Lord Jesus introduced this new life that is available to everyone. He
used the term being ‘born again’. The word ‘again’ can also be translated ‘from above’
or ‘anew’. Hence, we see the term ‘born again’ translated as ‘born from above’ or ‘born
anew’ in some versions. To be born again means to be born anew from above. We
receive new life from God in heaven. The Lord Jesus indicated that to be born from
above is to be born of the Spirit. So, this is a spiritual birth, a work of the Holy Spirit in
our spirits, where we receive new life from God.

When and how does this happen? The Bible tells us very clearly, that "But as many as
received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe
in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God" (John 1:12-13). When we receive Jesus Christ, that is to believe in Him
for who He is and all He has done for our salvation, then Jesus makes us the children of
God. We are born again, born with new life from above. We become new creation.

Jesus explained that the experience of this new birth is very real, even though we
cannot provide details of its dynamics. Like us hearing the wind blowing, we are very
aware of its occurrence, although we do not know where the wind originates and where
it reaches. Similarly, those who experience this new birth receiving new life from above,
know that it has happened to them on the inside, even though we may not be able to
explain all details of this experience.

This new birth is available to everyone, anyone, who believes in Jesus Christ.

We were born again by the action of God’s Word and God’s Spirit in our spirit.

1 Peter 1:23
having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of
God which lives and abides forever,

Titus 3:5
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He
saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

At the time of our salvation, the Holy Spirit washed us (removed the old), regenerated
us (gave us new birth) and renewed us (gave us new life).

Now let us look at birth in the natural. A baby born into a family inherits some of its
genes from the parents. It is showered with the love and care of the parents. The baby

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inherits the family name, and a lot of what the family stands for. While the baby
receives all this by birth and at birth, the baby has to grow up into experiencing and
enjoying all these over time. This is in the natural. So also, in the spiritual. We are born
of God. We receive His life and nature. We are partakers of His nature. We are loved
and welcomed as His own. We also inherit the family blessings. Now spiritually, we have
all of this, and yet we need to grow in our knowledge of these things and learn how to
walk in what is our because of being born again, born anew with the life of God as new
creation.

As we progress in our understanding of being in Christ we explain how we got into

Christ, and some insights of this new creation.

11. BECAUSE OF HIM, YOU ARE IN CHRIST

1 Corinthians 1:30
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

1 Corinthians 1:30 (Good News Bible)

But God has brought you into union with Christ Jesus, and God has made Christ to be
our wisdom. By him we are put right with God; we become God's holy people and are
set free.

This verse is full of divine initiative, divine action. God did it all. We did not earn it; we
did not deserve or merit it. We did not even plan it. God decided that those who came
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, Heaven’s single provision for salvation, would
divinely be brought in Christ Jesus. God brought us into union with Christ Jesus. God did
it for us.

Notice also that fact that this has been done. God has brought us into union with Christ
Jesus. We are in Christ Jesus. This is a present tense reality. It is a spiritual fact.

Notice how this verse also reveals to us that in Christ Jesus, Christ became all of these to
us: wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Christ is our wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. This is powerful.

Christ is the wisdom of God. Through our being in Christ, the wisdom of God has been
made available to us. Similarly, Christ is our righteousness. Our righteousness, our right
standing before God, is the same as Christ’s. Christ is our sanctification. In Christ we
have been set apart as God’s own, as God’s holy ones. Christ is our redemption. In Christ

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we are redeemed, and no devil can dare violate that, because Christ is our redemption.
Each of these are wonderful truths that every believer must embrace. We will delve into
each aspect as we progress in this study.

12. CREATED IN CHRIST

Ephesians 2:10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Not only do we discover that God Himself brought us into Christ, but this verse teaches
us that we were “created in Christ Jesus”. The creative power of God became
operational when God brought us into Christ. And it was by God's creative power that
we were brought into this union with Christ.

A creative work of God took place the moment we were brought into Christ.
We became something, which we were not earlier.
What did not exist now came come into existence.
You became a new creation!
A new creation came into existence.

God did not take the ‘old me’ and put me in Christ. Instead, He made me a new creation
and put me in Christ. I became a new creation—something, someone new—when I
came into Christ Jesus.

You may have noticed that we are touching up just one or two insights from each
Scripture that we are referencing. There is a lot more in each of these Scriptures. We
will come back to these Scriptures to draw more insights and revelation as we progress.

13. GOD HOLY SPIRIT BAPTIZED US INTO CHRIST

1 Corinthians 12:13
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks,
whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

As we have seen earlier when we are born again, we are born of the Spirit. At the time
of our new birth, as we heard the word of Christ, the Gospel, and said ‘yes’ to Jesus, the
Holy Spirit was the One who regenerated us. At that instant, the Holy Spirit made us
new creatures, a new creation, with new life from God. He also took us and ‘immersed’
us into the Body of Christ, i.e., brought us into union with Christ. (The word ‘baptize’
means to immerse or submerge).

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14. SPIRITUALLY ONE WITH JESUS

1 Corinthians 6:17
But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

This means that our union with Christ is a spiritual union. As new creation our spirits are
united with Him. Spiritually we are connected with Him, one with Him.

Hence the effect of our union with Christ will work outwards from our spirit, affecting
our soul and body. When we were brought into Christ, it was not our soul or body that
was put into Christ, but our spirit.

Further we see in the context of this portion of Scripture (1 Corinthians 6:12-19), the
apostle Paul, states that in view of our union with the Lord, everything about us is also
His, and He is for all of us. Consider what he states:

1 Corinthians 6:13,15,19,20
13...Now the body is...for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,
whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your
spirit, which are God's.

Hence, we state that being in Christ, being in union with the Lord Jesus, our being one
with Him in spirit, makes every part of our being, spirit, soul, body, and all, His own. And
He makes Himself available to touch, change, transform every part of our being. The
Lord Himself is for our spirit, soul, and body.

To be in Christ is to be born of Him.

To be in Christ is to be immersed in Him.
To be in Christ is to be in union with Him.
To be in Christ is to be one with Him spiritually.

15. NEW CREATURES IN OUR SPIRIT

We became new creatures in our spirit, not in our mind or body.

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1 Thessalonians 5:23
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole
spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This verse reveals to us that each human being is a tri-part being, spirit, soul, and body.
Each of us are spirit beings. Each, have a soul and we live in a body. The soul includes
the mind, emotions, will, and mental capabilities. The body is the house we live in, the
outer shell. The real person inside is a spiritual being. It is in our spirits that we have
become a new creation.

We are a new creation in Christ but our soul (mind, will and emotions) is not yet
renewed. Our minds must go through a process of change by being renewed to the
Word of God. And our body—our flesh must be kept under control. We are new
creations in our spirits, but we need to keep our mind and body in subjection to our
spirit.

Ephesians 4:22–24
22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts,
23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true
righteousness and holiness.

This is where many believers fail. We are born again. We are brought into Christ.
However, we do not grow spiritually and let the new creation life touch our mind and
body to bring about change. Many believers still walk with a carnal mind and still
struggle with the flesh and so the new creation life is not very evident in their way of
living. The transformation this new creation brings must work from inside out. There is
work to be done in our soul and body. We will discuss further on this later, when we
learn how to live out of our life in Christ.

16. A NEW SPECIES

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

There are two main Greek words used in relation to the new creation. The Greek word
‘kainos’ referring to something new in quality, essence, nature and character; and the

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Greek word ‘neos’, referring to something new in time, recent, young, younger. Both
these words are used of the new creation.

The Greek word ‘kainos’ is used in “new creation” in 2 Corinthians 5:17; in "new man" in
Ephesians 2:15 and again in “new man” in Ephesians 4:24. The Greek word ‘neos’ is used
in "new man" in Colossians 3:10.

So, the new creation is new in character, essence, nature, and quality, as well as new in
time, something that did not exist before.

The old man began back in time with Adam and was sinful in nature. The new man
begins in Jesus and is the nature of God.

If we wish to use terms from biology or genetics, we could say that the ‘new man’ is a
new species, something that is ‘genetically distinct’, or distinct in nature, essence,
quality, and character as well as new in time. As new creation people, we are a new
species. A people with new life from above, spiritually one with Jesus.

17. A NEW IDENTITY

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

This new creation that we became has a new identity.

We became something that we were not before.

Notice a few identity changes, the apostle Paul mentions in Ephesians:

We were dead, but now in Christ we are alive (Ephesians 2:1)
We were far off, but now in Christ have been brought near (Ephesians 2:13).
We were aliens and strangers, but now in Christ we are citizens and members of God’s
family (Ephesians 2:19).
We were darkness, but now in Christ we are light in the Lord (Ephesians 5:8).

We were once sinners, but now in Christ we are saints.

We were once guilty, but now in Christ we are justified.
We were once unrighteous, but now in Christ we are the righteousness of God.
We were condemned, but now in Christ we are justified.
We are no longer what we used to be, spiritually.

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And so much more… (We will study these in detail in the forthcoming sections of this
manual).

As the apostle Paul instructs, we must live according to our new identity. Notice the
clear and simple instruction in Ephesians 5:8

Ephesians 5:8
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of
light.

To live aligned to our new identity we need to change our self-image—the way we think
and talk about ourselves. We need to think of ourselves and talk about ourselves the
way God see us in Christ—instead of the way we are used to seeing ourselves, or the
way others view us.

As people who are in Christ things have changed. We have a new identity. This is
something we must understand and embrace. We need to make this shift from the old
to the new.

You were once a guilty sinner, now you are a righteous saint. The term ‘unworthy
sinner’ has to do with your old life in Adam. In this new creation life in Christ, you are a
sanctified saint. We must stop calling ourselves as what we used to be in Adam and
starting using descriptors that describe the new creation we are in Christ.

Speak of yourself in line with your new identity in Christ. Use new creation language
when you talk about yourself, when you pray, and when you talk to others. Speak
according to the new creation you are in Christ.

Recognize and embrace your identity and inheritance as new creation.

Call yourself as who God has declared you to be as the new creation.
Remember, who you are in Christ is who you really are.

18. THE NEW CREATION IS IN THE IMAGE OF GOD

Ephesians 4:24
and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true
righteousness and holiness.

The Bible says that God made man in His own image (Genesis 1:27). God breathed into
him His own life. He put something of Himself into man. That was God’s plan—to have a
race of people who would be in His own likeness and image. But because of sin, this got

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corrupted. However, now in Christ, the new man has been made in the likeness and
image of God. When we are brought into union with Christ, God’s original intention has
been accomplished and restored. Our spirits became a new man.

This new man is not according to Adam or the old sinful man. This new man is not in the
likeness of Adam, but in the likeness or image of God.
Since we are made in the image of God, it means that our spirit, which has become a
new man, now has the life and nature of God. We have the life and nature of God in us.

2 Peter 1:3, 4
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,
through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that
through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust.

1 John 5:1
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him
who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.

Notice Ephesians 4:24 states the characteristics of the new person inside us is
righteousness and true holiness. This means that we now can walk in righteousness and
true holiness. The new creation you became is in the image of God, is a carrier of the life
and nature of God, and has the capacity for righteousness and holiness. You can walk in
righteousness and holiness.

19. OLD THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY

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

All things about the old life that we had in Adam have been released off from us. Old
things have no more right over us. The devil wants to convince you that things from the
old life must cling on to you and you must live with it. Reject that lie of the enemy. Old
things have no right over you – spirit, soul, or body.

The ‘old man’, that is our sin nature or the sin that was dwelling in us, was put to an end
so that we are not slaves to sin anymore. We do not have to be subject to sin.

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Do not limit your life by what you have been in the past, because in your spirit you have
become something that you were not earlier. There is hidden potential, the power of
God or the life of God in your spirit. If you allow what God has put in your spirit to
dominate your mind and body, then the new man inside can be manifested in your daily
life.

20. ALL THINGS ARE NEW AND FROM GOD

2 Corinthians 5:17,18
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;
behold, all things have become new.
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ,
and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

All things are new. All things are of God.

All things that have come from God is what constitutes this new creation. Everything
about this new creation is from God. The new creation does not have anything sinful.

You do not have a little of the Adamic nature and a little of the new nature. No! All
things are new, and all things are of God. The new creation has all things new and all
things of God!

21. GROWING INTO THE FULL MEASURE OF THE NEW CREATION

Growing in spiritual functions to walk in the full measure of the new creation.

The re-created new creation human spirit must grow, just like a baby born into a family
must grow up and walk in the inheritance it has to its name.

Our human spirit, which has now become a new creation, needs to continually increase
in the knowledge of its Creator.

2 Peter 3:18
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be
the glory both now and forever. Amen.

Ephesians 4:13
Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a
perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

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The spirit must grow (increase) in knowledge. The eyes of our spirit must be opened to
receive revelation of truth that has been revealed to us (Ephesians 1:17-19).

What would life look like if we truly walked in our identity and in our inheritance, and
lived out of the life we have in Christ? The answer is simple. Our life would be just like
His. We would be just like Jesus. This is the reason why God has placed us in Christ
Jesus. To have a people who are conformed to the image of His Son, a people who are
just like Jesus.

Key Statements

Who I am in Christ, is who I really am!

Being in Christ defines my identity, my inheritance, and the life I live out of Him.

To be in Christ is to spiritually one with Him and this union envelopes everything else
about me, into Him.

The reason God put me in Christ, is so that Christ can be fully revealed in me.

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 Sermon Notes

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