2Corinthians 16-17 has been the scripture we've been basing these teachings on. These two verses of scripture give much truth and revelation concerning who we are now in Christ Jesus. It's difficult to imagine a Christian who doesn't believe his/her loved one (who died in Christ) is in heaven with the Lord. We might disagree on many things, but should not on this point. The old familiar phrase of "They are in a far better place," is the hope and faith that we all should share.
Paul said many things that shed much light about our being new creations in 2Corinthians 5:16-17 (Amplified) saying, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a (purely) human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). (No) even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, yet now (we have such knowledge of Him that) we know Him no longer (in terms of the flesh)."
This scripture tells us there is now revealed to the Church (by the Holy Spirit), a new and full revelation of Christ as He is now. We know Christ as more than just the Man Who died for us, but as the Lord Who has been raised for us. We seem to have no trouble with knowing the Man, but struggle with knowing the Risen Christ. We seem to struggle with identifying with the Risen Christ, more so than the Man Who is Christ. This is because we still identify more with our old carnal self (the sinner), rather than the new creation who is now righteous. The flesh, with its pride and ignorance has used false humility to keep us from seeing who we are, by clinging to who we once were.
We have no problem believing our spirit goes to heaven when we die, but we have somehow failed to deal with our spirit, while we are in this mortal body. We didn't become a spirit when we died, but we became a spirit when we were born. We've always been a spirit being, even when we were unsaved. Jesus said in John 4:24 (Amplified) that, "God is a Spirit (a Spirit Being) and those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality)."
Genesis 1:27 (Amplified) says, "So God created man in His Own Image, in the Image and Likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them." This leaves no doubt that we and spirit beings just like our God. When Adam transgressed in the Garden, we didn't stop being spirit beings, but we lost contact with God, Who was and is the Life of our spirit, according to John 6:63 (Amplified) which says, "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life-Giver); the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."
When Adam was cut off from the Life in God by his transgression, he didn't cease being a spirit, but now, he had become a "dead spirit" that was disconnected from the Life Giver, Who is the Spirit of God. Being born again doesn't mean you just became a spirit, but that the "dead spirit" that resides in your flesh and blood body, was now made to be alive again unto God Who is the Life-giver, by the Holy Spirit.
John 3:5-6 (Amplified) says, "Jesus answered, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, unless a man is born of water and (even) the Spirit, he cannot (ever) enter the Kingdom of God. What is born of (from) the flesh is flesh (of the physical is physical); and what is born of the Spirit is Spirit."
For some reason (that only God knows, I guess), we hardly ever think of ourselves as spirit, until after we die physically. What the Holy Spirit is trying to reveal to us, is that we're not only spirit beings, but now we a living spirits, by the Life-Giver Who is the Holy Spirit Himself.
By being born again, by the new birth, we have become new creations who are after the Likeness and Image of Jesus Christ. The new birth gave life into a spirit that had been dead unto God, until Jesus died and rose again to pay the price needed to restore Life into our once dead spirit.
Many have had a problem dealing with "spiritual death," throughout the years. This might be because of not being taught correctly or from not really wanting to know the difference. A dead spirit doesn't mean "non existence," as some would believe, but means "cut off" from the Life Giver. When Adam sinned in the Garden, he didn't cease to be, but the day he listened to the voice of satan, he sinned and died. Genesis 5:5 tells us that Adam lived for 930 years.
What did God mean when he forbid Adam's eating of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden? Genesis 2:16-17 (Amplified) says, "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, you may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Yet, we see how Adam lived 930 years after that day. Did he died that day, as God said, or did he not die? He died spiritually and his spirit was cut off from the Life Giver, Who gave life to his spirit. Once he was separated from God's Spirit, all life began to cease in his body as well and now, even the flesh was doomed to death and disease. Adam was still a spirit, but was without the Life of God to draw from.
Romans 8:2 (Amplified) says, "For the Law of the Spirit of Life (which is) in Christ Jesus (the Law of our new being) has freed me from the Law of sin and of death." We can now understand more of what 2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) means to us now. Thus, is says, "Therefore is any person is (ingrafted) in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creation altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed away, Behold, the fresh and new has come."
Through faith in Jesus as our Sin Bearer, believing He died as we did as "spirit" because of sin or separation from God and believing we became alive again because He rose again to the Father in righteousness and justification for us. We are made alive with Him unto God, Who has given us Life in our new creation spirit. We are now connected to Life, wisdom, the realm of Heave, the Kingdom of God Himself, eternal life in and with Him, our inheritance as family and so much more.
All of these things came to pass when we were made a new creation in Christ Jesus. The cemeteries hold the "house of flesh" our spirits reside in while on earth and the living spirit has gone to Heaven, with God. We must concentrate, then, on who we are now and not on only who we will be when we die.
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