April 22, 2011
HearHim.net
The New Creation and the New Birth
What does creation have to do with redemption?
What is the new creation and the new birth? When
does the old stop and the new begin? How is the new
creation related to the old creation … and what is
the difference between them? Did God leave His rest
to re-create? Did He make a mistake with His first
attempt at creation? These are some of the question
we’ll begin to answer in this writing.
T
he writers of the New Testament often speak
of creation in the same breath as redemption.
John starts his version of the gospel making
sure that his audience understands that the God he
speaks about is the God who created all things and
through whom all things exist.
“The original, authentic Word was face to face with
God from the very beginning. God Himself is the
content of this communication – revealing His perso-
nal presence and unique expression in all that exists.
In fact there is nothing original or innovative outside
of Him! He is the only Creator and the source of all
inspiration and creativity. Everything that is, has
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‘Made by God’ stamped on its existence.
(John 1:1-4 Translated by Andre Rabe)
When Paul explores the scale of reconciliation in
one of his most powerful writings, he starts with
reminding us about the person we are dealing with
– the Creator of all things:
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of all creation. For by him all things were created, in
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heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all
things were created through him and for him. And
he is before all things, and in him all things hold
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together. And he is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in everything he might be preeminent. For in
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him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile to himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by
the blood of his cross.” (Col 1:15-20)
The psalmist said it this way: “The earth is the LORD’s
and the fullness thereof, the world and those who
dwell therein,” Ps 24:1
So how is redemption connected with creation?
The Creator has not forsaken His creation.
The Creator has not given up on His creation.
He has not renounced His declaration that what He
made is good.
God believes that everything He made can be saved.
Evil did not obliterate God’s original creation. Evil
did not succeed in perverting creation to such an
extent, that it was not worth saving. Evil could twist,
pervert and suppress what God created, but it could
not utterly corrupt it.
God still sees a value, in fallen creation, which is
worth pursuing and paying the utmost price for.
The new creation is nothing less than God’s affir-
mation of the original creation.
In the new creation God declares that what He made
originally was not a mistake, that creation is worth
renewing and restoring.
When God finished creation, He entered His rest on
the seventh day – an eternal day. (All the other days
have a beginning and an end, the seventh day has no
end) Heb 4 also reveals that God ceased from all His
work, entered His rest and has never left that rest.
God did not become dissatisfied with what He made
and consequently started working on a brand new
plan for something that never existed before. The
new creation was not another act of creating or
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The New Creation and the New Birth
work which required God to stop resting and start
creating again. God is satisfied with what He origi-
nally created and confidently waits for its return
to His original design.
God is not nervous about what He made … He is not
anxious about your life. What He imagined origi-
nally when He first thought of you, is still His only
reference to who you are. Agree with God and be
at peace.
Let’s look at one of the most popular scriptures re-
garding the new creation: 2 Cor 5:14-17
“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have
concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore
all have died; and he died for all, that those who
live might no longer live for themselves but for him
who for their sake died and was raised.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one accor-
ding to the flesh. Even though we once regarded
Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no
longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new
has come. All this is from God, who through Christ
reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of
reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling
the world to himself, not counting their trespasses
against them”
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I want to specifically focus on verse 17:  Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The ‘if’ in this sentence has often been seen as a
conditional ‘if’. But Paul uses this ‘if’ as a conclusion,
not as a condition. See for instance Rom 8:31 as well:
If God is for us, who can be against us? Can you see
that the ‘if’ is a conclusion … not a condition?
Also notice the word ‘therefore’. Whenever you see
the word ‘therefore’, ask, what is it there for. You see
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verse 17 is the conclusion of verse 14-16 in which
Paul makes it as clear as can be that all where in-
cluded in the death of Christ. That is why Paul can
no longer look at any man from a human point of
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view. History recorded the death of one man, but
eternity saw humanity included in that event.
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April 22, 2011
The word ‘new’ was translated from ‘kainos’ and
refers to that which is new, especially in freshness
and age. In other words that which has not been
affected by time.
The word ‘creation’ was translated from ‘ktisis’.
Strongs define it as: original formation, building,
creation, creature, ordinance. It comes from the
word ‘ktiz?’ which Strongs defines as follows:
Probably akin to G2932 (through the idea of the pro-
prietorship of the manufacturer); to fabricate, that
is, found (formoriginally): – create, Creator, make.
It is also interesting to note that ‘any man’ can also
be translated ‘any thing’.
The new creation, therefore, is the original creation
that was found again by its founder and cleansed
from the affects of time, renewed and refreshed.
The old creation is also the original creation, but in
a state of decay as it was subjected to corruption.
In the same way as there is only one Creator, there
is only one creation.
This one original creation has been in different
states, namely ‘old’ or corrupted by the events in
time, and ‘new’ or cleansed from the decay of time
and restored to its authentic glory.
There is no such thing as an evil creation – evil never
created anything.
The only thing Satan can give birth to, is lies.
In His death He did the unthinkable, He reached
back into the irreversibility of time and loosened
the grip of corrupting events from His creation. He
reaches back into timeless eternity and restores the
first creation to a place of blameless innocence, wi-
thout a trace of decay or any evidence that it was
ever touched by sin.
In Christ God preserved the logic that was in the
beginning, the design that was untouched by the
fall, the motivation behind all of creation. In Christ
the Creator finds His creation and establishes such
a unity that it can never be lost again.
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The New Creation and the New Birth
If there is anything in Christ, if indeed all things
consist in Him, then in Him we see God’s authentic
thought and design for everything restored. It can
mean nothing less than the original creation being
restored to that place of relationship to God, as if sin
never existed, as if time never decayed.
When the Word became flesh, when the Creator
became a creation, the relation between them funda-
mentally changed. This act of incarnation, in which
the Creator embraces his creation, in which God
unites Himself with humanity, is the beginning of
reconciliation and the end of hostility. Incarnation
is how God releases His creation from corruption
and affirms once again that what He made is good
… when He said man is His image and likeness, He
meant it.
I’m sure you have often heard this scripture used in
the context of individual conversion, to show how
a person’s life changes when they meet Christ. And
I can understand that. When we look at the mess
in which we lived before Christ and the peace we
received when we received Him, this verse makes a
lot of sense. However, the new creation has a larger
context and relevance than your individual life and
experience. God sees the universal renewal of all
that exists to His authentic thought before the fall.
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We can individually participate in that renewal …
but the new creation is a larger event that your
individual decision.
The new birth.
When we understand the new creation, it is not diffi-
cult to understand the new birth. The new testament
uses the words ‘born again’ only in the book of Peter!
John 3 actually speaks about born from above. The
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word which some bibles translated ‘again’ is the
Greek word ‘an?then’ which means: from above;
by analogy from the first; by implication anew: –
from above, again, from the beginning (very first),
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the top. As with the new creation, this refers to a
renewal, a restoration of the original.
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April 22, 2011
Let’s have a look at these verses in detail. John 3
speaks of two births – what is born of flesh and
what is born of spirit, our natural birth and our
spirit birth. He refers to these births in different
ways, namely: the spirit birth is also referred to
as ‘born from above’, and the natural birth is also
referred to as born of water – the natural womb
from which we came.
Many sermon’s have been preached on ‘you must
be born again’ as if this is something a person can
do. However, in the same passage Jesus says: “unless
one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter
the kingdom of God.” As little as you contributed
to your natural birth, as little you are capable of
contributing to your spirit birth.
Jesus is stating a fact to Nicodemus: to see the
kingdom of God, to even have an appetite for spiri-
tual things, you have to have a spirit dimension …
a part of you that has its origin ‘from above’
All men have spirits. There are multitudes of
scriptures that show that all men have a spirit.
In Gen 6:3 God says that the life within flesh is His
spirit! : “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever,
for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”
Num 16:22 (and others) refers to God as “the God
of the spirits of all flesh”.
Job 27:3 calls man’s breath ‘the spirit of God is in
my nostrils’
There are too many to mention. The truth is that
man has a spirit dimension, a part that originates
‘from above’. It is because Nicodemus had an origin
beyond flesh, a spirit dimension, that He had an
appetite for spiritual things.
But when and how does this renewal happen? What
is the basis and beginning of this new creation, this
new birth?
“By His boundless mercy we have been born again
to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead” 1 Pet 1:3
“You have been regenerated (born again), not from
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The New Creation and the New Birth
a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from one that is
immortal by the ever living and lasting Word of
God.” 1 Pet 1:23
Jesus came to remind us that we have a greater,
and more valid identity than flesh. In His death He
brings to judgement that identity of man that was
tarnished by sin  - the events in time. He reaches
into that eternal realm, where the blueprint of man’s
design was preserved, and in His resurrection, the
new creation begins. He was raised because of our
justification.
What He accomplished is reality. Our appeal to man,
is to enter into God’s reality. In Colossians this re-
demption is described as being transferred out of
the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the
son of His love. Can you see how the new birth, is
just like the new creation – it is the original crea-
tion that is rescued from the decay and chaos of the
kingdom of darkness.
Our decision for Christ only has substance because
of God’s decision for us. Our faith is simply entering
into – saying yes – to what God already believes to
be true.
As with the original creation, all Adam could do was
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to open his eyes to the perfection and completion of
what God had done already, even so with redemp-
tion, our only contribution is to open our eyes to
the perfection and completion of the salvation He
achieved for us, with us and in us, even before we
were aware of it.
Hosea prophesies of the death and resurrection of
Christ as follows: “After two days He will revive us
(quicken us, give us life); on the third day He will
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raise us up that we may live before Him.” God was
indeed in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.
What He accomplished is reality and it is complete.
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The future holds a further unveiling and manifes-
tation of this reality … but the event that made it
real was the life, death and resurrection of Christ.
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April 22, 2011
“That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison
between the present hard times and the coming good
times. The created world itself can hardly wait for
what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being
more or less held back. God reins it in until both
creation and all the creatures are ready and can be
released at the same moment into the glorious times
ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The
difficult times of pain throughout the world are
simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s
within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within.
We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and
barren bodies of ours are yearning for full delive-
rance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any
more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother.
We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t
see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the
larger we become, and the more joyful our expec-
tancy.”
Rom 8:18-25 MSG
Waiting for the full manifestation of these truth is
not something that leaves us with a sense of lack
in the present. No … this is a joyful expectation … a
joy bursting forth in how we live life now.
4I continually thank my God for you because of the
grace of God which is given you in Christ Jesus, 5that
you are enriched by Him in every possible way, in
all the fullness of what can be known and unders-
tood and being able to express it fully. 6Just as the
evidence of Christ was confirmed within you – you
have within yourselves the proof that He is! 7You
don’t lack anything – you are fully qualified. You
have every reason to expect the Lord Jesus Christ to
be made visible through you. 8Who also confirms
your blamelessness to the uttermost degree in the
day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ( 1 Cor 1:4-8 a transla-
tion from the original by Andre Rabe)
You have every reason to expect the Lord Jesus Christ
to be made visible through you!
Through you He desires to give expression to His
authentic thought.
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To display His image and Likeness in human for

was His idea from the beginning.
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