Your New Identity

Discipleship 1:9

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

In Christ is mentioned over 300 times in the New Testament and it is vital to our new identity to grasp this.

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23

This verse states that we are three parts: spirit, soul (mind, will, emotions), and body. Though some people do experience deliverance in other areas simultaneously with salvation, we remain mostly the same physically, emotionally and mentally. If you’re short, you’re still short; if you’re a quick wit, you’ll maintain a quick wit; if mathematics comes easy to you, it’ll still come easy to you. We will still have a lot of the same memories and thoughts. (This is where Romans 12:2 points out transforming power of the Word of God but that is not for today’s topic).

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Genesis 2:7 NKJV

Adam was complete, but he wasn’t alive until God breathed into him the breath of life. It is our spirit part that is changed and new after salvation. Our life comes from our spirit.

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,… Ephesians 2:1

Yes, we were alive physically, but prior to salvation we were spiritually dead. Death in the Bible doesn’t mean “ceasing to exist”; it means “separation”. When a person physically dies, they do not cease to exist.

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:… Hebrews 9:27 NKJV

The spirit and soul continue to live either in the presence of God or in hell but there is separation from our physical body which dies and decays.

“…but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:17 NKJV

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. Genesis 3:7

We studied this out in prior lessons. Adam and Eve did not physically die on the spot after taking that forbidden bite, but they became sin-conscious, and that condemned them and separated them from God. They became separated from God’s holy, complete, absolute, abundant life.

It’s worth repeating:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

If we are in Christ we are a new creation, old things are gone. Praise the LORD! God literally places His Spirit in us and gives us a new identity in Christ.

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),… Ephesians 2:1-5 NKJV

We were dead in trespasses in sin. Accordingly, we followed the ways of the world, obeyed the devil, and lived in the spirit of disobedience. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love for us, made us alive together with Christ while we were still dead in trespasses and sins, saved us by His grace.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NKJV

We were the things listed above, but when we became born again, we were washed, made holy, and righteous (in right standing) before God. What we were is past; what God made us through Jesus and by the Spirit is present.

But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 1 Corinthians 6:17 NKJV

It doesn’t get any plainer than that.

Please join me next time as we continue along the same vein of studying our new identity in Christ.