2 Corinthians 5:17

‘Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new (or ‘the old has passed away, the new has come').'

As a result of that if any man is in Christ he is a new creature, newly created in Christ. When a man is ‘in Christ' through his response to the word of the cross everything is changed for him. All the old things, his old life, his old ambitions, his old aims, are passed away. He is a transformed person. His whole life has become new. He is a new creation. He lives only for Christ, and as it were allows Christ to live out His life through him (2 Corinthians 5:15). He is born anew of the Spirit (John 3:5), and made a partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).

Alternately this could be translated, ‘there is a new creation'. Both translations are equally possible, and the word does normally refer to ‘the creation' elsewhere. But the meaning then is almost the same. It means that for the man in Christ the whole creation becomes new. He looks at everything in a different way, and from a different point of view. He has entered into the new beginning, the Kingly rule of God over His ‘new' creation, which has come in Christ.

However, the continuation from 2 Corinthians 5:16, and the statement in 2 Corinthians 5:15 strongly favour that we see it as meaning ‘a new creature'. The point there is that such a one is different, and that is why he sees things so differently. He is a totally new person. On the other hand the transition to ‘all things' in 2 Corinthians 5:18 has been suggested as favouring ‘a new creation', (although ‘all things' can probably there mean something else).

The word ‘new' means ‘something different from before'. It means here totally new. He is a transformed person. What is common to both interpretations is that for the man in Christ life changes. He has a new perspective. He lives a new life. He is thus a ‘new' person.