Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Galatians 2:20
A Life of Faith
When a person is brought to repentance and faith in Christ, they become a new creation. The Apostle Paul wrote, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2nd Cor 5:17). What this means is that we’re not the same person we were before. We’re now a new creation in Jesus Christ, and as such, we’ll have new desires like hungering for the Word of God, praying often, and being in fellowship with the saints. It is now a life of faith…faith in God.
A New Creation
As Paul wrote, we’re new creations in Christ, but it’s not from self-effort or reading a great “self-help” book, but “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2nd Cor 5:18). This means that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (2nd Cor 5:19). Once we were separate from God (Isaiah 64:6), but not anymore.
Christ Living in Us
If you have trusted in Christ, then you’ve been crucified with Christ. Not crucified on a cross, but your old life has been put to death and the new man and woman in Christ is now alive. As Paul wrote, it’s not us who lives anymore, but Christ Who lives inside of us (Gal 2:20a). For Paul, it was “through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God” (Gal 2:19), and now that Christ lives in you and me, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20b).
Conclusion
We are new creations in Christ, as we move from being the children of the Devil to the children of God. That doesn’t mean we’ll be sinless…but we should be sinning less and less over time. It is a life of growing in holiness and obedience to the Lord, and why not? Its Christ Who lives in us…the old self has moved out, although he or she does show up at the door once in a while.
