“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17).
To appreciate this wonderful verse properly, it is helpful to remember two things. In the New Testament both “creature” and “creation” represent the same Greek word and so can be used interchangeably. Secondly, in both Testaments only “God” or “the Lord” can be the subject of the verb “create” or “created,” because God alone is the Creator. Men can “make” things, or “form” things, but only God cancreate!
As far as the physical creation is concerned, the work of creation was finished long ago (Genesis 2:1–3; Hebrews 4:3,10) except for the very special case of miracles (e.g., the miracle of the multiplied loaves and fishes).
Nevertheless, He is still the Creator, and the miracle of regeneration is a spiritual creation which does occur every time an individual truly receives Christ as Savior and Lord and is thereby “born again.” Only God can create! No psychologist, or guru, or anyone else can make a “new man” of an “old man.” Only God is Creator, and an unregenerate person must be “born of the Spirit”—that is, God the Holy Spirit—to be truly “born again” (John 3:3–8).
But then he does become a new creation, and his life is changed! We “put off . . . the old man,” and “put on the new man, which after God is created [note—‘created’!] in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:22,24). We “have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him” (Colossians 3:9,10). This is Christ’s work, for “Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20). HMM
