A new creation race being
If I were to sum up the Christian message for our time in a single statement, I would say that, with Paul, it is the message of the new creation race being.
We can read this in second Corinthians 5:17. Let me paraphrase: if anyone is in union with Christ, he is a new being , a whole new race of people: the old state of things has passed away, there is a new state of things.
Christianity is the message of this new race of people. It is the message of a whole new creation, an entirely new being, and a wonderful new reality.
This world was developed for human beings. God the Father ultimately brought this about through the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth. Because of this, the new creation is called a Christ-person or Christian. It is Christ the Messiah, the selected and anointed one, who brings about the new creation race of people and a new state of being.
Since all human beings have lived in the old state of things, the question is raised in second Corinthians whether we also participate in the new state of things. We have belonged to the old creation but the demand is made upon us by Christianity that we participate and understand our part in the new creation race.
What exactly is the new creation race being? Paul answers first by saying what it is not. It is neither circumcision nor uncircumcised.
For Paul and the readers of his Galatians letter, the new creation race being meant something very definite. It meant that neither being a Jew nor a pagan is ultimately important and that only one thing counts , namely, our Union with Christ, in whom is the new reality.
Circumcision or uncircumcision, what does that mean for us? It could mean something very definite, and at the same time something very universal.
It means that no religion (think of any and all religions) produces the new creation race being.
Only the Father can bring about this new creation race being and only a new state of being matters. That means Christianity is not a religion, it is a birthed person by God the father.
If I were to sum up the Christian message for our time in a single statement, I would say that, with Paul, it is the message of the new creation race being.
We can read this in second Corinthians 5:17. Let me paraphrase: if anyone is in union with Christ, he is a new being , a whole new race of people: the old state of things has passed away, there is a new state of things.
Christianity is the message of this new race of people. It is the message of a whole new creation, an entirely new being, and a wonderful new reality.
This world was developed for human beings. God the Father ultimately brought this about through the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth. Because of this, the new creation is called a Christ-person or Christian. It is Christ the Messiah, the selected and anointed one, who brings about the new creation race of people and a new state of being.
Since all human beings have lived in the old state of things, the question is raised in second Corinthians whether we also participate in the new state of things. We have belonged to the old creation but the demand is made upon us by Christianity that we participate and understand our part in the new creation race.
What exactly is the new creation race being? Paul answers first by saying what it is not. It is neither circumcision nor uncircumcised.
For Paul and the readers of his Galatians letter, the new creation race being meant something very definite. It meant that neither being a Jew nor a pagan is ultimately important and that only one thing counts , namely, our Union with Christ, in whom is the new reality.
Circumcision or uncircumcision, what does that mean for us? It could mean something very definite, and at the same time something very universal.
It means that no religion (think of any and all religions) produces the new creation race being.
Only the Father can bring about this new creation race being and only a new state of being matters. That means Christianity is not a religion, it is a birthed person by God the father.
