Thoughts on Christian Living Book #2 by Dr. W. A. Dillard - HTML preview

“BORN FROM ABOVE” CREATURES AND ALL THINGS

NEW

A most often used verse of scripture among evangelicals as immediate evidence of spiritual salvation is 2 Cor. 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” What a most wonderful thing the “born from above” experience is to all who repent from sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. That blessing will not be diminished by any other truth twisted out of its context. That being said, a scripture twisted out of context becomes a pretext, and its greater meaning diminished or altogether obscured by forcing it into a twisted meaning. Think, please!

The spiritual salvation of men goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. It has never changed, and has always been freely available to all men of every race in every generation. It is absolutely theologically correct to teach it as the universal offering of God to men, underscored by the marvelous word “whosoever!”

But, the new way of life, by which all things are become new rests entirely on the individual saved person’s submission to the teaching of the New Testament, whereby obedience to, and activity in (the things of) Christ Jesus is an ongoing life experience. Practically speaking, there is no difference in a modern day saved person walking apart from New Testament teachings, and a saved Jew living life his way under the Old Testament. Baptist Preachers generally have it correct when they proclaim the universality of the new birth, and its simplicity such that even a fool need not err therein. Then a great number of them will revert to grandma’s theology: if a man is saved, he will act like it.

To be sure there are saved people in most all churches under the great umbrella of “Christendom.” But, all things have not become new to them, in fact most all of them believe things diametrically opposed to plain New Testament doctrine.

So, what does the context of 2 Cor. 5:17 tell us? Those “all things new” are the things of God Who has reconciled us to Himself by Christ Jesus and given to us the ministry of reconciliation, v. 18. One is not reconciled to God in the rebellion, and false teachings a lot of saved people practice. Therefore, in definition as well as context, it should be understood and appreciated that new things of life are in the things of Christ which flow through obedience to His person, works, and Word!

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