Metaphors of the Mystery - Part 4
Identity, You Are a New Creation
Many believers admire the message of salvation, but do not yet see how deeply it speaks about identity.
They know their sins are forgiven. They know Jesus died for them. They know they are going to heaven. But when it comes to daily life, they still think of themselves in old categories. They define themselves by their past, their family background, their failures, their weaknesses, or the habits they are still trying to overcome.
The New Testament does not do that.
It speaks about the believer in bold, present-tense terms. One of the clearest of those terms is this, you are a new creation.
You Are Not an Improved Old Man
2 Corinthians 5 (KJ2000)
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
That verse does not describe a future hope. It describes a present reality. Paul does not say the believer is trying to become new. He says that in Christ, the believer is a new creature.
This is one of the most important identity statements in the New Testament.
Many Christians think of the gospel mainly as pardon. Thank God, the gospel does include pardon. But it is more than pardon. God has not merely forgiven the believer, He has recreated him in Christ. The new birth is not God cleaning up the old man. It is God bringing forth a new man.
That is why identity matters so much.
If you think of yourself mainly as the old person who is trying to do better, you will struggle to live the Christian life with confidence. But if you begin to see yourself the way the New Testament sees you, your conduct starts to flow from a new centre.
The Christian life was never meant to be the old man trying to imitate Christ. It is meant to be the life of the new man expressed through a renewed mind and a yielded body.
The Old Man and the New Man
Paul says this very clearly.
Ephesians 4 (KJ2000)
22 That ye put off concerning the former manner of life the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Notice the language carefully. Paul speaks of the old man and the new man. He is showing a real contrast between what the believer once was in Adam and what the believer now is in Christ.
The old man is corrupt. The new man is created in righteousness and true holiness.
That is not a small statement. Paul is saying that righteousness and holiness are not just demands placed on the believer from outside. They belong to the very nature of the new man God has created in Christ.
This changes the way we think about Christian growth.
Too often, believers are told only to stop doing wrong things. That matters, of course. But the apostolic method goes deeper. The apostles keep reminding believers who they now are. Their conduct must come into line with their identity.
In other words, the answer is not simply, “Try harder.” The answer is, “See clearly who God has made you in Christ.”
Renewing the Mind
That is why the renewing of the mind is so important. Your spirit may already be recreated, but your thinking may still be trapped in old patterns. A believer can be genuinely born again and still think like the old man. He may still speak like the old man. He may still expect defeat like the old man. He may still define himself by old labels.
But the New Testament keeps calling him back to his real identity.
Colossians 3 (KJ2000)
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.
Again, Paul speaks in completed terms. Ye have put off the old man. Ye have put on the new man. He is not describing a distant goal. He is describing what has happened to the believer in Christ.
This is where many Christians miss it. They treat these verses as lofty spiritual ideas for especially mature saints. But Paul wrote them to ordinary believers. This is the common identity of every person who is in Christ.
You are not a special case outside the scope of these verses. If you are in Christ, this is who you are.
Old Things Are Passed Away
This truth gives the believer confidence.
Many believers live with a deep sense of inadequacy. They are always looking backwards. They are always measuring themselves by what they used to be. They are always bracing for failure because they still think the old identity is the truest one.
But 2 Corinthians 5:17 does not say old things are slowly fading. It says, old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
That means your past may explain some battles, but it no longer defines your identity.
Some believers still speak as though they are prisoners of their background.
“I will always struggle because of where I came from.”
“That is just how my family is.”
“That is simply my nature.”
The New Testament does not teach denial of natural facts. It teaches the supremacy of spiritual truth. In Christ, the deepest truth about you is not what sin did to you, not what people said about you, and not what your past formed in you. The deepest truth about you is what God has made you in Christ.
Holiness Flows from Identity
This truth also changes the way we understand holiness.
A believer should live holy, not because holiness is an impossible standard hanging over his head, but because holiness belongs to the life he has received in Christ.
Sin is inconsistent with who he now is.
Righteousness fits the new man. Holiness fits the new man. Love fits the new man. Truth fits the new man.
Ephesians 4 (KJ2000)
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
That means the believer is not trying to manufacture righteousness through human effort. He is learning to walk in line with the new life he has already received.
The New Creation Destroys Pride
The message of the new creation leaves no room for boasting.
If you are a new creation, then your standing before God is not the result of human effort, family pedigree, education, discipline, or natural morality. It is the result of what God has done in Christ.
No believer can boast in the flesh.
The new creation leaves room only for gratitude, humility, and confidence in Christ.
Live from Your New Identity
Christian maturity is not becoming somebody else. It is growing in the knowledge of who you already are in Christ. It is learning to walk in the light of what God has already done.
That is why believers must stop speaking of themselves carelessly.
Some say, “I am just a sinner.” But if you are in Christ, that is no longer your identity.
Some say, “This is just how I am.” But if that statement refers to the old life, it cannot be accepted as final.
The New Testament keeps calling the believer to think differently, speak differently, and live differently because he is different.
So, what should you do with this truth?
Believe it.
Say it.
Renew your mind with it.
Read the epistles with fresh eyes and ask, what do these verses say I now am because I am in Christ?
Then refuse every identity that competes with that truth.
Yes, your nationality matters. Your background matters. Your experiences matter. But none of those things sits at the centre of your identity. Christ does.
And in Him, you are a new creation.
Final Thoughts
The believer who understands this truth will pray differently. He will think differently. He will face temptation differently. He will read the Bible differently. He will walk with God differently.
He will no longer spend his life trying to become what God says he already is.
He will begin to live from that reality.
2 Corinthians 5 (KJ2000)
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
That is not merely doctrine.
That is your identity.
Continue in grace!