2Corinthians 5:17-18 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed. Behold, the fresh and new has come. But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ has reconciled us to Himself (received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself) and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation (that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him)."
God's Word tells us about the things Jesus did for us and how He has paid the price for our salvation. We read these Truths, but view them as being for sometime in the future. God is the righteous Judge of all things and mankind's redemption had to be done legally in the courts of justice, nothing was left to chance. When reading the Gospels, we've failed to realize that Jesus didn't only pay the Price for us, but as the Body of Christ, He actually took us to the cross with Him.
Paul says that we are His Body, in Galatians 2:20 (Amplified), saying, "I have been crucified with Christ (in Him I have shared His crucifixion); it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself up for me."
The above scripture isn't an allegory or metaphor that we quote, but it's a legal right to be completely exonerated from the persons we once were and stand in the place as a new creation family member of God's House. Paul said, "It's no longer I who lives, but Christ Who lives in me." My life is His Life and although I died with Him on the cross, I live through faith in Him. The legal aspect of our redemption is our past. 2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) says, "Behold, old things are past away and all things have become new." The other side of our redemption is, taking our place in the family, by faith in Him, because we were crucified with Jesus and the penalty for our sins has been paid. Jesus was crucified in our place and we actually died with Him. When we understand the legal terms of our salvation and know that God accepted Jesus as our Substitute, as if it was actually you and me on the cross.
In order to walk in the vital understanding of our redemption, we must by faith, accept this Truth and live His Life through us now in this flesh and blood body. Paul said, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me," because he understood the Truth that he died with Jesus and now live the Life that was in the Resurrected Jesus. We've failed to see that "in Him," we have shared everything that Jesus has done and is. Galatians 2:20 (Amplified) says, "I was crucified with Him." Colossians 2:12 (Amplified) says, "We were buried with Him." 1Timothy 3:15 (Amplified) says, "We were justified with Him." Colossians 2:13 (Amplified) says, "We were made alive with Him." Ephesians 2:6 (Amplified( says, "He raised us up with Him and made us to sit with Him in the Heavenlies in Christ Jesus."
God didn't just place my sins upon Jesus, but He actually put me in Jesus. In God's mind, it was you and me on the cross, in the pit, and in the grave. It was you and me who were justified, declared righteous, and restored back to our place as the "redeemed of the Lord" and "sons and daughters" in God's family. We were identified with Him, in every aspect of His Sacrifice, from the cross to the resurrection. It was as if I went with Him to the cross, suffered the shame and guilt, died, was resurrected in victory and was justified.
We have identified with Jesus as the Substitute for our sins and His paying the price for our transgressions, but we've failed to to realize that the identity didn't stop there. It includes being made righteous and justified and raised already with Him and are seated with Him. We are already His Body. If the Head is seated at God's right hand, then the Body is also seated there in power, authority and in His Name. By faith, we've been granted the Power of Attorney to us His Name, as our own, as His Body.
Knowing the legal aspects without knowing the vital aspects, only creates a religious understanding, bringing man's idea of walking in our redemption. Knowing the vital aspects without understand the legal aspects of our redemption, brings strange things that magnify experience above the Word. Many have sought so-called "manifestations" of the Holy Spirit, which led them to a place of deception and error. Some remained on the "legal" side of redemption and established rules to govern man, which offered no deliverance to mankind. Going beyond the cross to the resurrection of Jesus, is a place where most of us have had differing understandings about God's Word.
We cannot only identify with Jesus on the cross as being our Substitute, without also identifying with His resurrection. If Jesus wasn't raised from death, then we weren't raised. If Jesus was raised, then we were and are raised "in Him" and "with Him." If we are truly in Him, then God's sees us like He sees Jesus, according to 1John 4:17 (Amplified) which says, "In this (union and communion with Him) Love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us; that we may have confidence for the day of judgment (with assurance and boldness to face Him) because as He is, so are we in this world."
The carnal mind is unable to comprehend this, because it must be spiritually discerned. The carnal mind cannot understand the things that only the Holy Spirit can reveal. Reading these things by only man's intellect and not the Spirit, has resulted in man's building many doctrines about becoming a Christian. If you've received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you are already a Christian and a child of God. You don't need to try becoming what God has already birthed you to be. We need to grow up, in what God has already created us to be, new creations.
We have so many different ideas about what a Christian should be, and we've made it nearly impossible to be one. Different denominations have determined that you must do this or that to grow as Christians, but only the Holy Spirit and the Word can produce the maturing of God's children. 1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) tells us, "You have been regenerated (born-again) not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm) but from One that is immortal by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."
Natural man has no idea of how we are to mature as Christians, because we are a Super-natural being, from the Spirit of God and His Word. As natural men, we've determined that we are to abstain from sin (which is very true), but we haven't been taught much about how to function as spirit beings, in righteousness and union with our Father. We've yet to understand that righteousness is more than conduct and that it is a Gift of Grace by our Father in Christ Jesus. When we understand that you "have been made" to be the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ, it will change your entire relationship with the Father. Being a Christian and continuing to confess you are not righteous, is telling God that, "Jesus is not enough to make you righteous." Telling God that "Jesus isn't enough for you to be righteous," seems like a defiant thing to say to God.
We have received His righteousness, when we received Him. It's not your righteousness that you depend on to bring you into God's Throne of Grace...it is His righteousness. We learn how to walk in who we were made to be as new creations, by the Word and the Holy Spirit. The world would mold you back into the image it has of God and His Church. Only the Holy Spirit, can reveal to you, who you really are.
We've determined holiness and righteousness, by denominational creeds and rituals natural man has placed upon us. This is paramount to bringing us back under the Law, which no person can walk in. We continue struggling to become what God has already made us to be, which is a new creation family. If we are a new creation, then there is no pattern in the natural creation to follow. We must follow our Example, Who is Jesus and the Revelation given by the Holy Spirit in His Word. This is why Jesus said this about the Holy Spirit, "He will lead and guide you into all Truth." He is the Only One Who knows who and what we are. Not everything we've learned over the years is incorrect, but we must heed Isaiah 1:18-19 and Isaiah 54:8-9 (Amplified) which says, "Let us come and reason together with the Lord," because "His ways and thoughts are higher than our ways and thoughts."
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