NEW CREATION
NEW CREATION
In “reconciliation” — everything removed, not merely justification. Few know the nature of the distance, though all admit it exists. For the reconciliation of two at variance, the cause of the distance must be removed. Sin — me — gone in judgement. “End of all flesh is come” by God; Genesis 6:13. I do not address a man in the flesh by God. God is the first relieved in the gospel. The first action of the Holy Spirit in the believer is the love of God known; Romans 5:5.
Coming to the living stone is not conversion. This is illustrated in Peter; Matthew 14. The first thing with a soul in earnest like Mary is, Where is He? The other side — death; you must cross the water to reach Him. (Matthew 14 and John 6 are same time.) Affection leads to this, no circumstances in any combination could surpass “the Person”.
All is to come out new. In Revelation 21 it comes out fully, but it is true for us in the Spirit. Christ is the beginning of the creation of God. There is to be nothing original — it is all in Christ. He glorified God when atoning for my sin. Christ was not of the old order, though a real Man.
In Luke 15 the elder brother was a very good man, as they say, ‘never transgressed’, but as such he was not entitled to a kid; the prodigal was received on the ground of another Man altogether — grace — he gets everything on the ground of the “shepherd”. You must change your man — God has got a Man, man in Christ, a new creation.
In Ephesians you have more — union. Nothing can be united to Christ but what is of Him. Christ would not be complete without His body. The church, His body, comes from Him. Every man’s gospel is according to his idea of the church. Reduce ‘light’ [p. 2] to a human level and you will be popular. For instance, the ‘resurrection’ is illustrated by a receipt for debt. The idea of two natures is wrong - nature is the characteristic of a thing. Scripture never supposes that you will be characterised by two things. The greatest power in the world is love. The work of the Spirit is to form you by the association in which the grace of God has placed you.