2 Corinthians 5:17 - Explained

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

When you teach that a person can believe on Christ without making changes in their life, this is a verse people often turn to to try to refute that. They will say, see, if you are really saved there is going to be a change. So let us see what this verse is actually talking about.

The first thing to notice is that it starts with the word therefore — meaning it is tied back together with things that were mentioned prior. If you are only looking at this verse by itself and isolating it from the rest of the chapter, you are already going to be taking it out of context. Verse 10 is a great verse to look at for that context: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." The judgment seat of Christ is for people that are saved, and they are going to get rewards based on the good they have done. Certain works are going to be burned up, but the good things they have done they will actually get a reward for. And it talks about the things done in the body — which connects directly to 2 Corinthians 5:17 talking about old things and new things.

So therefore, linking back to the idea of rewards at the judgment seat of Christ and things with eternal value — if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. When you get saved you get born again and you have the new man, the new creature. But the flesh does not magically disappear. Galatians chapter 5 talks about the battle between the flesh and the spirit — there is a battle between the old man and the new man, and God commands us in Galatians 5 to walk in the spirit as opposed to walking in the flesh. When you get saved it is not a reformation of the old creature, and it is not a vanishing of the old creature. The Bible says you have a new creature. And old things are passed away — but this is not saying that the old man, the flesh, just magically disappears, because throughout the Bible it talks about the battle we have, and throughout the Bible we see that saved people sin and do wrong and have to fight against the flesh. We are under the bondage of corruption as Romans 8 talks about, and that is something we are going to live with while we are here in this present body.

Old things are passed away means that the things that are in your flesh are basically meaningless — they are not going to get you rewards in heaven. And when you get saved with the new creature, you now have new things that God wants you to do. Ephesians 2:10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." God does have plans and things for us to actually accomplish as saved people. But we have free will to do it, because it says we should walk in them — it is not a guarantee that we will.

And all things are become new — meaning the plans that God has for you after being saved are completely different from before you were saved. The next verse says: "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." One of the biggest things you have after getting saved is realising that it is your job to actually help get other people saved. The ministry of reconciliation is something brand new because the unsaved person is not getting people saved. But as a new creature with a new man and being saved, the big thing God has for us to accomplish is winning people to the Lord. He has given to saved people the ministry of reconciliation — not unsaved people.

So when you get saved, that is not a guarantee that your life is going to change. It does not say in here that you are a reformed creature — it says you are a new creature and old things are passed away. Since people still sin and do wrong after getting saved, this cannot be saying that if you are really saved you are going to become a better person or make some changes. It says all things are become new — not some things. What it is referring to is the fact that now you have the new creature inside of you with new objectives and new goals. And going back to verse 10, if we want to get rewards at the judgment seat of Christ, it is when we actually partake in the things and goals that God has for us as saved people — specifically verse 18, the ministry of reconciliation. That is when we are really going to start to get rewards in heaven. But as the Bible speaks about with the judgment seat of Christ, you can be there and have all your works burned up, and that does not mean you are not saved — it just means you are not going to get many rewards in heaven.

So 2 Corinthians 5:17 is not saying you are going to be changed or reformed or make some changes. It says all things are become new because you have got the new creature with new objectives and new goals — but you still have that fight between the old man and the new man, the flesh and the spirit.

Pastor Matthew Stucky