"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)
I believe also that the definition of what it means to be IN Christ is contained in the next part of the verse, "he is a new creature!" I always chuckle a bit when I read that verse with its' archaic language... although there are times I do feel a bit like the "Creature from the Black Lagoon!" The word translated as "creature" is ktisis in Greek, and it means an original formation (properly the ACT of formation), creation. Let that sink in for a moment... the ACT of formation. An action word is a verb.
You, my friend, are a new creation! However you are not just a new creation in the sense of a noun, you are a VERB, an action word- a new creation to create newness! The word translated as "new" is kainos in Greek, and it means new- especially in freshness; while the Greek word neos is properly so with respect to age. Let that idea sink in for a moment...freshness.
It seems that most things in life are better when they are fresh. Something that is fresh has not yet been subjected to the process of decay. Before Adam transgressed, nothing had been subjected to decay. Everything was fresh because all was in the state of an ever-present now. "For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of him who so subjected it--[yet] with the hope That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption..." (Romans 8:20-21 Amplified Bible)
reFRESHing
Because we live in a fallen creation, even though we may be a "new creation" personally, the things all around us are always in need of reFRESHing. Science refers to this principle as the Second Law of Thermodynamics. We live in a universe consisting of resonant energy. Thermodynamics is the study of the efficiency of energy transfer and exchange. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is partially a universal law of decay; the ultimate cause of why everything ultimately falls apart and disintegrates over time. Everything ages and wears out, and nothing stays as fresh as the day one buys it. When left to themselves, even chemical compounds ultimately break apart into simpler materials; they do not ultimately become more complex. The natural tendency of complex, ordered arrangements and systems is to become simpler and more disorderly with time.
To reFRESH is to bring things back to freshness, to their original state, even into a state of an ever-present now. Remember, you are a VERB, an action word- a new creation to create newness, to be a reFRESHing to everything around you! And how on earth, you ask, can you do this? "So repent (change your mind and purpose); turn around and return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of reFRESHing (of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air) may come from the PRESENCE of the Lord;" (Acts 3:19 Amplified Bible)
You know, a verb requires the presence of a noun to be a complete sentence. Yes, you are a verb to create newness, but that is only accomplished by the presence of THE Noun. It is the Presence of the Lord within us that brings times of reFRESHing to everything we come in contact with!
The question is this, Are we being conscious "carriers" of His Presence?... Or are we being "carriers of self" ?
Remember, "self" is what brought decay into the world; "For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of him who so subjected it..." (Romans 8:20 Amplified Bible) Conversely, it is a people being an expression of the Life of the ONE True God, the Presence of the Lord within us, that will bring reFRESHing to the world; "...yet with the hope That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption..." (Romans 8:21 Amplified Bible)
Doug Fortune
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