Who am I in Christ?

According to 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new!" There are two Greek words that are translated as "new" in the Bible. The first, neos, refers to something that has been created, but many things like it already exist. The word translated "new" in this verse is the Greek word kainos, which means "something made that is unlike anything that existed before." In Christ, we are made a completely new creation, just as God originally created heaven and earth—He created them out of nothing, and He does the same with us. He not only cleanses us from Himself, but He makes us completely new. When we are in Christ, we are “increasingly made partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4 Hindi BSI Bible). God Himself, in the person of the Holy Spirit, makes His home in our hearts. We are in Christ and He is in us.

In Christ, we are renewed, regenerated, and born again, and this creation is in spiritual subjection, whereas our old nature was in fleshly subjection. The new nature is in fellowship with God, obeys His will, and is devoted to His service. There are activities that the old nature was unable or unwilling to do. The old nature was dead to the things of the spirit and could not awaken on its own. It was “dead in sin and trespasses” (Ephesians 2:1) and can only be revived by supernatural revival, which only occurs when we come to Christ, and He dwells in us. Christ gives us a completely new and holy nature and a pure life. Our old lives, which were dead to God because of sin, have been buried and we have risen to walk with Him in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4). If we belong to Christ, we have been united with Him and are no longer slaves to sin (Romans 6:5-6); we have been made alive with Him (Ephesians 2:5); we have been conformed to His image (Romans 8:29); we have been freed from condemnation and no longer live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1); and we are now members of the body of Christ with other believers (Romans 12:5). Believers are given a new heart (Ezekiel 11:19) and are “filled with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 1:3). We may wonder why we often do not live in the way described above, even though we have committed our lives to Christ and are confident of our salvation. This is because our new natures are living in our old bodies and the two are at war with each other. The old nature has died, but the new nature still has to struggle with the old “tent” because it is living in it. Evil and sin still exist, but believers now view them from a new perspective and are no longer subject to it as they once were. In Christ, we can now choose to resist sin, whereas the old nature could not. We now have the choice to either nourish it with the help of the new nature through the Word, prayer, and obedience, or ignore those things and nourish it with the flesh. When we are in Christ, “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37) and we can rejoice in our Savior, who makes all things possible (Philippians 4:13). In Christ we are loved, forgiven, and protected. In Christ we are adopted, justified, redeemed, reconciled, and chosen. In Christ we are victorious, filled with joy and peace, and given the true meaning of life. How wonderful is Christ our Savior!