“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” – 2 Corinthians 5:171
A new year seems to be the best time for a person to renew themselves. New means new, or in the case of the new year, renew.
When the new year comes, many people will set resolutions for themselves. A resolution is defined as “a firm decision to do or not to do something.”2 In this case, it most definitely can be both. But how firm that decision is will be determined as the resolution made goes forward.
Resolutions can be just about anything, and it typically is something that we might feel makes a change in our life. We see ourselves as needing to do something new or to do something different.
This opportunity to renew might be to learn a new skill, learn to play an instrument, learn a new language, or even take a class just to increase one’s knowledge. It might be to read more books, cook more new meals, or to spend more time with family. The resolution could be to read one more chapter a day from the Bible, to wake up earlier to spend just a few more minutes in prayer and meditation, to take one day a week to fast, to give more to the church, to volunteer to do more for the church or even some charitable organization.
Now it could also be the usual, such as losing a few more pounds, eating a little healthier, and joining the gym. It’s always the latter that I find to be something that happens each January by many people. I have been a member of my gym for three years, and I have seen the increased number of people who join that month, as it gets a little more crowded, many of whom will no longer be there after a few months.
I have to admit though, I was one of those people three years ago who joined after the first of the year, I just stayed. I wanted to make that change in myself. I wanted to look forward to what life would be like with a renewed sense of health and vitality. I wanted to remake who I was and to what I could be after exercising and losing weight, gaining more endurance, and feeling better about myself and, well, just feeling better.
I didn’t begin this as a resolution, because for most folks (and even myself), resolutions are good thoughts, but in the end, that is usually what they are. We like to look at who we are and who we have been, but many times, even while looking ahead, we lose our focus and go back to who we once were. Now, this isn’t true for everyone, but if most folks would be honest, they would admit, their resolutions are only good for about a month or two. Then life gets in the way. Resolutions are about doing something new, starting something, becoming someone new. We desire to make changes to ourselves and the beginning of a new year feels like the best place to start. After all, I think many of us like something new.
And that newness is not just in our well-being, it’s also in what we wear. Who doesn’t like a new shirt, a new pair of pants or a new pair of shoes? Looking like a million bucks (as the saying goes) can even fit into our New Year’s resolution.
And although they might not always be new, putting on fresh, newly clean clothes every day is a part of life for most people. We take off the old and put on the new, in the respect that it is different from the day before.
It always fascinates me to watch a good western on television, and see these cowboys who ride about in the harshest of environments, where there is a lot of sun and dust and heat, and they stay in those same clothes (and yes, I realize it’s a movie or TV show, but some reading will tell you that some of that may be accurate). I mean I like feeling fresh and new.
And think of John the Baptist as he entered back into society after being in the wilderness for many years and he came out in that garb, the camel’s hair clothing. What a mess he must have been.
Life in Christ is somewhat like that.
We have all started somewhere in our lives where we are living in the proverbial dust and grime of the sinful life before we came into a real relationship with Christ, who allowed us to change all that and, while still being sinners, we have been made a way to wash all that off and wear something new.
Think about what Paul wrote in the text from 2 Corinthians 5:17. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
In that statement he wants to let us know what has happened to us when we discover Jesus for ourselves, accepting him as our Savior, and then developing this lifelong relationship with him. A relationship that will not come without its ups and downs, its trials and tribulations, but one that does have an opportunity to change when we confess our sin, share with him the dirt, and allow him to get into the process of cleaning us up.
We are a new creation in Christ, but we sometimes still find ourselves desiring the old ways. I know that I like to wear my really old clothes sometimes, you know the ones that are tattered, a little torn – the ones that are really broken in. They are comfortable. They fit well, and they just feel good. And in some ways, I just trust them, odd as that may sound. Usually, these are the ones that become my work clothes. But eventually, they need to be changed out. Eventually the old will be gone. These old clothes will begin to lose their structure, their flexibility, the threads will break and the color will fade.
New needs to take its place.
In this fifth chapter of Second Corinthians, Paul has been talking in his letter to the church there about how we are to live, especially around others who need to hear the story of Christ. He has also been spending some time defending his ministry.
We have to think back to Paul’s own life, and how even he became a new creation in Christ. And we think his old life was not unimportant because he thought he was doing the work of the Lord as he did the dirty work of the church persecuting Christians.
We see this as we look at the ninth chapter of the book of Acts.
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. (Acts 9:1-2)
This murderous mission might have continued because that is what Saul (Paul) felt he was called to do, had it not been for his own changing of self (through divine intervention). And as he was on his way to Damascus to look for those followers of the Way (the followers of Jesus as it is known then), something happened that changed his life, this new life was about to come upon him.
As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:3-6)
How does that seem to relate to Paul’s statement, “…if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
Now, in this instance, Saul still needs work as he becomes new, but Christ has now called him to change. Saul did the things he was told to do, finally being baptized and beginning a new ministry, a ministry of calling people to follow Christ, so they could experience the old going away and the new being for them.
Paul’s own story gives him the privilege to speak to the change that can be within any of us.
What does it mean to leave the old self and put in the new? Paul gives us a clue in his letter to the church at Colossi.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. (Colossians 3:5-8)
While some of these characteristics of the old self might seem fairly egregious, some might be character traits that each of us deals with as we are with and around others. These he describes as part of the old self that is out of sync with the Word of God.
He follows that in verses 9 and 10 “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices, and have put on the new self…”
Even to the folks in this church, Paul wanted them to be reminded of what it means to be a new person in Christ. And when you do that, your attitude and your way of living change.
What are some of the ways we exemplify this newness?
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (vv. 12-14)
Notice that Paul used the language of being clothed. So, the idea of new clothes versus old is not a stretch when describing the way our life is to look as we come into a relationship with Christ.
How closely do these character traits remind us of how even Jesus himself lived his life? That we should be people who demonstrate compassion, kindness, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness toward others (Think also of the fruits of the Spirit, from the Letter to the Galatians, which speak to our new life and the attitude we should have towards others). And Paul also states that we are to be very humble in our very actions and the words we speak.
And isn’t that what the new life is about, to act and to speak differently from the person we once were. To completely have the same attitude of Jesus, to carry the same demeanor, to find ways to share the gospel, and to be a neighbor to those we meet. That we should be persons who care about others, those like us and those who aren’t. That we look deep within us at our beliefs and see if they align with the teachings of Jesus. I would say that would be putting off the old and putting on the new.
Paul says to the Ephesians:
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24 [emphasis mine])
Sounds like there is a pattern with Paul, who wants the members of the churches to which he is writing to live a life more consistent with Christ’s, knowing that that is how they had been taught by him and those whom he had left to oversee the churches.
Living like Christ means living a changed life. It is a life where the old self has to move off so that the new self, the self that is now under the blood of Christ, is saved and filled with the Spirit. A reminder that we are a chosen people of God, and that this new self puts away the childish things (thinking of Paul’s description of lour life of loving one another in 1 Corinthians 13:11 – “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me”).
Paul’s reminder of how we are to love one another is just another example of the new self (neos anthropos [ νέος ἄνθρωπος ]) being worn.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a )
These actions can demonstrate our taking on the newness of Christ in our lives.
The way we treat those whom we meet, and those that we already know.
I recently ordered a new pair of shoes. I was pretty excited about it. They were the brand I wanted and the color I wanted (and the right size). And I needed a new pair. The old were worn and were very unattractive. The new ones are bright, strong, and make a statement, but are also appropriate for what they will be used for.
Our old life can be worn and unattractive to others, and especially to God. We need to adorn ourselves with the new self, the new life that comes from Christ. A life that speaks to His grace, His mercy, His peace, His compassion, and His love. Jesus told us to love God and to love our neighbors. When we take on a new life, we do just that. We follow the example of Jesus in everything that we do and say.
Share the blessings of Jesus with others, let them see how your new life has transformed you. And let them see how Jesus might transform them as well.
Marty Doss is the pastor of the Mount Bethel Church of the Brethren in Dayton, Virginia, where he has served since 2014. A 2004 graduate of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, he lives in the college town Harrisonburg with his wife Cheryl, daughter Jill, and their little shihpom (dog) Cleo. Marty also co-hosts the 2 Preachers Talking podcast with former Brethren Life & Thought contributor Jon Prater.