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)."
Because there have been so few examples of who and what the new creation being really is, we've fashioned or have allowed ourselves to be fashioned after man's idea of who we truly are.
God said in Genesis 1:26-27 (Amplified), "Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) make mankind in Our Image, after Our Likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air the (tame) beasts, and over all of the earth and over everything that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His Own Image, in the Image and Likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them."
John 4:24 (Amplified) says, "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in Truth (reality)."
Man was created first of all, a spirit, according to Genesis 2:7 (Amplified) which says, "The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of Life, and man became a living being." Luke 3:21-22 (Amplified) says, "Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized, and (while He was still) praying, the (visible) Heaven was opened And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in Bodily Form like a dove, and a Voice came from Heaven saying, You are My Son, My Beloved! In You I am well pleased and find delight!"
In John 17:21-22 (Amplified) Jesus prayed, "That they all may be one, (Just) as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, So that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me. I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one (even) as We are One."
2Corinthians 4:6-7 (Amplified) tells us, "For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts so as (to beam forth) the Light for the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God (as it is manifest in the Person and is revealed) in the Face of Jesus Christ (the Messiah) However, we possess this previous treasure (the Divine Light of the Gospel) in frail, human vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves."
I have listed the above scriptures, in order to cast a new light on the new creation man. There are many more such scriptures that reveal this truth, but these are a good place to begin understanding the "Glorious Gospel" that was given to Paul. Most of us view ourselves as "forgiven sinners who are saved from perdition and the penalty of sin." This is some of the Truth, but it isn't all the Truth. We're not just forgiven of sin, but we've actually been cleansed and purified from sin, by the death, resurrection and the Blood of Jesus. The Law of Sin and Death was paid for by Jesus' being made to be sin with our sin. "We were made righteous with His righteousness," according to 2Corinthians 5:21 (Amplified). We were also crucified (died) the death that He suffered and therefore, in Him, we fulfilled the same Law of Sin and and Death. When we were born-again and became part of the new creation family of God, we weren't just "forgiven sinners," but we were truly new creations.
God created man in His Image and Likeness. Man was first created a spirit and not a flesh and blood being. The Image and Likeness of God was the spirit, not the flesh. The great difference between the first Adam (or man) and the Last Adam (Jesus), was that the first Adam was a spirit like God and the Last Adam was "One Spirit with God." As the new creation family, we are "One Spiirt with Him" and not just "like Him." The Last Adam (Jesus) was One and the Same Spirit with Him.
God has now become infused with His Spirit and our spirit. Now, as new creation family, He and I are One and the same spirit. God didn't live in Adam, but only with Adam. We though, don't live with God, but we actually live in God and God in us. This wasn't what the original man was. He was an independent spirit, like God. God said, "Let Us make man in Our Image." We weren't simply created "a spirit," we already were a spirit. Like Jesus, we were created new, when God's Spirit entered into our dead spirit and infused Himself into our spirit. We have now become "one with Him."
In order to fully understand the difference between the first and Last Adam, we must understand it from the Spiritual aspect and not from the senses. Jesus was "born" a Flesh and Blood Man. Jesus had a Spirit, just like we have (or are) a spirit. Until Jesus received the Holy Spirit at His baptism, He was just like we are...a man. Even though Jesus was the Son of God, He didn't do any Super-natural deeds until He was infused in the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus said, after being baptized in John 12:45 (Amplified), "And whoever sees Me sees Him Who sent Me." Jesus also said in John 17:23 (Amplified), "I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them (even) as You have loved Me."
In the new creation, the spirit of man is made one with the Spirit of God and is united in His Love. We are united in His Love and our natural bodies have become the Temple of God (where God lives in and through). This new creation man isn't "just forgiven," but is made new by God's Own Self living and abiding in and through our spirit. This is the Mystery that Paul was sent to preach to the Jews and Gentiles. This is the "Mystery hidden in God," that is now sent into the world.
This Mystery is being made clear to the Church in Corinth, in 1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) which says, "But it is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God (revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine Plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as) our righteousness (thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God), and our Consecration (making us purse and holy) and our Redemption (providing our ransom from eternal penalty for sin)."
Paul goes on in 1Corinthians 6:19-20 (Amplified), "Do you not know that your body is the temples (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received (as Gift) from God? You are not your own. You were bought with a Price (purchased with a Preciousness and paid for, made His Own). So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body."
Jesus prayed to the Father about the believer who was to come through His death and resurrection, in John 17:22 (Amplified), saying, "I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one (even) as We are One." Paul preached about the Church, from the revelation he was given by God, in 2Corinthians 4:6-7 (Amplified) saying, "For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts, so as (to beam forth) the light for the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God (as it is manifest in the Person and is revealed) in the Face of Jesus Christ (the Messiah). However, we possess this Precious Treasure (this Divine Light of the Gospel) in frail, human vessels of earth that the grandeur and the exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves."
Even Jesus said, "It is not Me, but the Father in Me, that does the work." The glory and honor given Him, was also in a "frail human vessel of earth." The glory and majesty that Jesus portrayed, was "the Father in Him." As new creation sons and daughter and family of God, we have this same majesty and glory abiding in us.
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