“All Things Are Become New” by Romans
Youtube Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUnDKD1NMH4
On Sunday, we began a New Year: 2023. And I am sure we are all looking forward to, or at least hoping that, the New Year will be a healthy and prosperous one for each of us, our families, our individual countries, and our planet. We have been going through some rough times over the past several years, individually and collectively.
America has been reeling from unprecedented divisiveness, and political and ideological division. Communication is rendered powerless when so many are speaking, and so few are listening to anyone except those with whom they already agree. We would all do well to have a new start, and a fresh and positive start as the New Year begins.
The word, “New,” of and by itself, is generally regarded as a positive word. Advertising companies have made millions of dollars by introducing or promoting products in almost every category as being “new and improved,” perhaps so often that it means almost nothing to us when we hear it any more. There is a particular quotation that I researched for tonight's Discussion about new products.
According to ask.yahoo.com, there is a humorous, but fictitious story about Charles H. Duell, who was Commissioner of Patents in 1899. According to the account, the head of the U.S. Patent Office sent his resignation to President McKinley urging the closing of the office because "everything that could be invented has been invented." However, according to The Great Idea Finder website, Duell was far from pessimistic about the future of new inventions and patents. He even encouraged Congress to improve the patent system. So that story, if you have heard it before, has no basis in fact.
In the Bible, Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:9: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” Well, perhaps Solomon wasn't expecting me to be able to sit in my own home in Southern Virginia, and be able to speak into a plastic box, in a normal voice, and potentially have people all over the world instantly hear me as I quoted what he wrote!
In addition to Solomon's words, the Bible also has much to say about new things. In the spirit of the New Year, I decided to present a Discussion about just that: the title of this evening's Discussion is “All Things Are Become New.” While this is a Discussion that I have presented in the past, I have both reviewed and revised my notes for tonight's session. And it is my belief that it is one that should be annually reviewed as the first Discussion of the New Year.
I will be using many topics and Scriptures this evening with some help from Thompson's Chain Reference Bible, under the topic, and from Torrey's Topical Textbook. The Scriptures and topics I will use tonight will be scattered and reassigned into various combinations of Themes so I won't be able to give specific credit to each Source when they are being used. That is why I am giving them general credit in this introduction for the assistance they both provided me.
As I have already said, the word “new” is generally regarded as a positive term, but that is not necessarily always the case.
I was curious to see where and in what context the word “new” was first used in Scripture. Would anyone like to take a guess without Googling an answering? Or, does anyone remember from last year's Discussion? No Googling, now.
It is found in Exodus 1:8: “Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.” After all the good that Joseph had done in Egypt, enough time had passed that the rescue from the famine was long forgotten, and the much enjoyed Egyptian prosperity afforded by Joseph's God-given ability to interpret dreams had long been forgotten. And... a “new king” had come to power. If the Hebrews sensed no negativity from his ascendancy to the throne, that soon changed.
This new king was moved, seemingly without cause or justification, to fear how large a population the Hebrews had become. He said he feared that if Egypt were invaded, that they would side with the enemy (Exodus 1:10). Many generations would pass before they would be delivered from the cruel and merciless bondage that was imposed on them by this “new” king. But as God promised Abraham, “whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance” (Genesis 15:14).
Several chapters later, after their deliverance, the word “new” appears again. As before with the “new king and its aftermath, the application of the word “new” is not a positive one here, either. Allow me to set the stage for you: The children of Israel had been delivered from Egypt, but they were thankless murmurers, and miserable complainers.
On top of their ceaseless whining, Moses' authority to lead was also challenged. We read of Korah, and others taking men and rising up against Moses along with two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly... men of renown. God instructed Moses as to how to handle their doubt as to whether Moses was indeed chosen to lead the children of Israel, which brings us to this next occasion of the word, “new.”
We read, beginning in Numbers 16:28: “And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men...” (the rebels) “...die the common death of all men... then the LORD hath not sent me. But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit...
then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD. And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.”
The two occasions of the word “new” that I just used are the only two I plan to use where there is no specific Theme involved. I thought they were significant enough to cite, because the first one that I cited was also the first one the Bible cited. The second occasion I used was a few Books later, and I used it because God was shown to be doing a new thing when the ground opened up to swallow those men of renown who withstood Moses.
The word “new” appears 153 times and in many contexts in Scripture. While I think it would be an interesting review to go over many of them, I decided instead to focus on the most edifying occasions of the word. And, I have found, in every case, that it is most edifying when it applied to something “new” in which God, Himself, was involved.
In every such instance I will cite in the remainder of this Discussion, the word “new” is used in a positive, mind-altering, heart-altering, life-altering, creation-altering , and even Universe-altering context. And, in each case, it is a new thing in which God is the sole Source, the exclusive Initiator, and the only Being capable of seeing to it that the new thing comes to pass.
With that in mind, let's see what New Things God has planned for those who believe in Him, who trust that Scripture is His written Word, and who have accepted His Son's death for us to pay our sin debt. Our first stop, tonight, is Ezekiel 36:26 where we read: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”
A new heart and a new spirit. These are just two elements of another new thing God both proposed and brought to pass: The New Covenant. Of it, Matthew Henry writes “All that have an interest in the new covenant, have a new heart and a new spirit, in order to their walking in newness of life. God would give a heart of flesh, a soft and tender heart, complying with his holy will.
Renewing grace works as great a change in the soul, as the turning a dead stone into living flesh. God will put his Spirit within, as a Teacher, Guide, and Sanctifier. The promise of God's grace to fit us for our duty, should quicken our constant care and endeavour to do our duty. These are promises to be pleaded by, and will be fulfilled to, all true believers in every age.”
The Renewal that God Promises will come are Of Divine Origin
In speaking of the followers of Jesus Christ, we read in John 1:13: “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Albert Barnes writes of this: “But of God - That is, God produces the change, and confers the privilege of being called his children. The heart is changed by his power. No unaided effort of man, no works of ours, can produce this change. At the same time, it is true that no man is renewed who does not himself “desire” and “will” to be a believer; for the effect of the change is on his “will” Psalm 110:3, and no one is changed who does not strive to enter in at the strait gate, {and we are admonished to “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling”}(see Philippians 2:12).”
The Bible Tell us that, as Christians, we are a New Creation:
We read in 2 Corinthians 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. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”
Matthew Henry says of this: “In these verses the apostle mentions two things that are necessary in order to our living to Christ, both of which are the consequences of Christ's dying for us; namely, regeneration and reconciliation.
I. Regeneration, which consists of two things; namely, 1. Weanedness from the world: “Henceforth we know no man after the flesh.
We do not own nor affect any person or thing in this world for carnal ends and outward advantage: we are enabled, by divine grace, not to mind nor regard this world, nor the things of this world, but to live above it. The love of Christ is in our hearts, and the world is under our feet.” Note, Good Christians must enjoy the comforts of this life, and their relations in this world, with a holy indifference.
Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet, says the apostle, we know him no more. It is questioned whether Paul had seen Christ in the flesh. However, the rest of the apostles had, and so might some among those he was now writing to. However, he would not have them value themselves upon that account; for even the bodily presence of Christ is not to be desired nor doted upon by his disciples.
We must live upon his spiritual presence, and the comfort it affords. Note, Those who make images of Christ, and use them in their worship, do not take the way that God has appointed for strengthening their faith and quickening their affections; for it is the will of God that we should not know Christ any more after the flesh. 2. A thorough change of the heart: For if any man be in Christ, if any man be a Christian indeed, and will approve himself such, he is, or he must be, a new creature.
Some read it, Let him be a new creature. This ought to be the care of all who profess the Christian faith, that they be new creatures; not only that they have a new name, and wear a new livery, but that they have a new heart and new nature.
And so great is the change the grace of God makes in the soul, that, as it follows, old things are passed away - old thoughts, old principles, and old practices, are passed away; and all these things must become new. Note, Regenerating grace creates a new world in the soul; all things are new. The renewed man acts from new principles, by new rules, with new ends, and in new company.
II. Reconciliation, which is here spoken of under a double notion: - 1. As an unquestionable privilege. Reconciliation supposes a quarrel, or breach of friendship; and sin has made a breach, it has broken the friendship between God and man. The heart of the sinner is filled with enmity against God, and God is justly offended with the sinner. Yet, behold, there may be a reconciliation; the offended Majesty of heaven is willing to be reconciled.
And observe, 1. He has appointed the Mediator of reconciliation. He has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. God is to be owned from first to last in the undertaking and performance of the Mediator. All things relating to our reconciliation by Jesus Christ are of God, who by the mediation of Jesus Christ has reconciled the world to himself, and put himself into a capacity of being actually reconciled to offenders, without any wrong or injury to his justice or holiness...
and does not impute to men their trespasses, but recedes from the rigour of the first covenant, which was broken, and does not insist upon the advantage he might justly take against us for the breach of that covenant, but is willing to enter into a new treaty, and into a new covenant of grace, and, according to the tenour thereof, freely to forgive us all our sins, and justify freely by his grace all those who do believe.
2. He has appointed the ministry of reconciliation. By the inspiration of God the scriptures were written, which contain the word of reconciliation, showing us that peace was made by the blood of the cross, that reconciliation is wrought, and directing us how we may be interested therein. And he has appointed the office of the ministry, which is a ministry of reconciliation: ministers are to open and proclaim to sinners the terms of mercy and reconciliation, and persuade them to comply therewith. For,
3. Reconciliation is here spoken of as our indispensable duty. As God is willing to be reconciled to us, we ought to be reconciled to God. And it is the great end and design of the gospel, that word of reconciliation, to prevail upon sinners to lay aside their enmity against God. Faithful ministers are Christ's ambassadors, sent to treat with sinners on peace and reconciliation:
they come in God's name, with his entreaties, and act in Christ's stead, doing the very thing he did when he was upon this earth, and what he wills to be done now that he is in heaven. Wonderful condescension! Though God can be no loser by the quarrel, nor gainer by the peace, yet by his ministers he beseeches sinners to lay aside their enmity, and accept of the terms he offers, that they would be reconciled to him, to all his attributes, to all his laws, and to all his providences, to believe in the Mediator, to accept the atonement, and comply with his gospel, in all the parts of it and in the whole design of it.
Becoming A New Creature is both a Prerequisite to, and an indication of, Salvation:
Titus 3:3: “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared...
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:3-7).
Being a New Creature Is A Renewal of Our Minds:
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).
The word transformed in the above verse is from the original Greek term, “metamorphoo,” from which we get our English term, “metamorphosis.” We apply it to the radical transformation that a caterpillar undergoes when it emerges from its cocoon as a butterfly, unrecognizable from its former state as a caterpillar. That is how revolutionary a change the Christian becomes as a new creature, when compared to his and her former state.
Their thoughts, actions, reactions, likes, dislikes, priorities, and behaviors take on new and different dimensions as they follow the Spirit's lead, and Christ is reflected in them. Perhaps this is best exemplified when we consider that the same Greek term was applied to Jesus when he was “transfigured” in Matthew 17:2. Jesus went from being, by all appearances, a Jew whose appearance was so average, Judas had to be paid 30 pieces of silver to identify Him.
I cite the transfiguration not to say that we, as new creatures, undergo a change in our physical appearance. But how we think and behave and speak and treat other people will be as profound a change. Our acquaintances will certainly be aware that the person they formerly knew is gone. Peter referred to this when he wrote of their reactions, “Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:” (1 Peter 4:4).
The Bible speaks of this renewal and newness where believers are concerned with this analogy: We read in James 1:18: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
Of this, Albert Barnes writes, Of his own will - Greek “willing.” The idea is, that the fact that we are “begotten” to be his children is to be traced solely to his will. He purposed it, and it was done. The antecedent in the case on which all depended was the sovereign will of God. When it is said, however, that he has done this by his mere will, it is not to be inferred that there was no reason why it should be done, or that the exercise of his will was arbitrary, but only that his will determined the matter, and that is the cause of our conversion.
The object of the statement here seems to be to direct the mind up to God as the source of good and not evil; and among the most eminent illustrations of his goodness is this, that by his mere will, without any external power to control him, and where there could be nothing but benevolence, he has adopted us into his family, and given us a most exalted condition, as renovated beings, among his creatures.
Begat he us - The Greek word here is the same which in James 1:15 is rendered “bringeth forth,” - “sin bringeth forth death.” The word is perhaps designedly used here in contrast with that, and the object is to refer to a different kind of production, or bringing forth, under the agency of sin, and the agency of God. The meaning here is, that we owe the beginning of our spiritual life to God.
With the word of truth - By the instrumentality of truth. It was not a mere creative act, but it was by truth as the seed or germ. There is no effect produced in our minds in regeneration which the truth is not fitted to produce, and the agency of God in the case is to secure its fair and full influence on the soul.
That we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures - Compare Ephesians 1:12, which says (beginning in verse 11 to not break into the thought, “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.” He goes on to say, “The phrase here does not primarily denote eminence in honor or degree, but refers rather to time - the first in time; and in a secondary sense it is then used to denote the honor attached to that circumstance.
The meaning here is, either. (1) That, under the gospel, those who were addressed by the apostles had the honor of being first called into his kingdom as a part of that glorious harvest which it was designed to gather in this world, and that the goodness of God was manifested in thus furnishing the first-fruits of a most glorious harvest; or, (2) The reference may be to the rank and dignity which all who are born again would have among the creatures of God in virtue of the new birth.”
We, as Christians are spiritually renewed, as if our whole being is starting again from scratch:
Let's read Paul's words, again, that it might truly sink in: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-18);”
Notice, also what we find in 1 Peter 1:3-4: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you...”
We also find that we are renewed by the Word of God, itself: “Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently: having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth” (1 Peter 1:22-23, ASV).
Of this, Alexander MacClaren writes, “’Ye have purified your souls’—a bold statement to make about the vast multitude of the ‘dispersed’ throughout all the provinces of Asia Minor whom the Apostle was addressing. The form of the words in the original shows that this purifying is a process which began at some definite point in the past and is being continued throughout all the time of Christian life.
The hall-mark of all Christians is a relative purity, not of actions, but of soul. They will vary, one from another; the conception of what is purity of soul will change and grow, but, if a man is a Christian, there was a moment in his past at which he potentially, and in ideal, purified his spirit, and that was the moment when he bowed down in obedience to the truth.
[A] great many of us are too much disposed to believe that ‘the truth as it is in Jesus’ has received from us all which it expects when we trust to it for what we call our ‘salvation,’ meaning thereby forgiveness of sins and immunity from punishment. These are elements of salvation unquestionably, but they are only part of it. And the very truths on which Christian people rest for this initial salvation, which is forgiveness and acceptance, are meant to be the guides of our lives and the patterns for our imitation.
Why, in this very letter, in reference to the very parts of Christ’s work, on which faith is wont to rest for salvation,—the death on the Cross to which we say that we trust, and which we are so accustomed to exalt as a unique and inimitable work that cannot be reproduced and needs no repetition, world without end.
Peter has no hesitation in saying that Christ was our ‘Pattern,’ and that, even when He went to the Cross, He died ‘leaving us an example that we should follow in His steps.’ So, brethren, the truth needs to be known and believed: the truth needs not only to be believed but to be trusted in; the truth needs not only to be believed and to be trusted in, but to be obeyed.
The Apostle was speaking to men of very diverse nationalities who had been rent asunder by deep gulfs of mutual suspicion and conflicting interests and warring creeds, and a great mysterious, and, as it would seem to the world then, utterly inexplicable bond of unity had been evolved amongst them, and Greek and barbarian, bond and free, male and female, had come together in amity.
The ‘love of the brethren’ was the creation of Christianity, and was the outstanding fact which, more than any other, amazed the beholders in these early days. God be thanked! there are signs in our generation of a closer drawing together of Christian people than many past ages, alas, have seen.
So then we have to school ourselves into greater conformity to the likeness of our Master, to conquer selfishness, and to purify our souls, or else all this talk about Christian unity is no better than sounding brass, and more discordant than tinkling cymbals. Let us learn the lesson. ‘The unfeigned love of the brethren’ is not such an easy thing as some people fancy, and it is not to be attained at all on the road by which some people would seek it. Cleanse yourselves, and you will flow together.
Here, then, we have Peter’s conception of a pure soul and a pure life. It is a stately building, based deep on the broad foundation of the truth as it is in Jesus; its walls rising, but not without our effort, being builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit, and having as the shining apex of its heaven-pointing spire ‘unfeigned love to the brethren.’ The measure of our obedience is the measure of our purity.
The measure of our purity is the measure of our brotherly love. But that love, though it is the very aim and natural issue of purity, still will not be realised without effort on our part. Therefore my text, after its exhibition of the process and issues of the purifying which began with faith, glides into the exhortation: ‘See that ye love one another with a pure heart’—a heart purified by obedience—and that ‘fervently.’”
We have begun a New Year: 2023. We don't know what awaits us at the end of the road, and around those blind corners in the months ahead. But we do know this: Whatever befalls us good or ill, we serve a God Whose written Word promises, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
We serve a God Who promises to never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). But we have a Savior Who promises us, “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). It is my hope and prayer that you all enjoy a good, healthy and prosperous 2023.
There is a Part 2 to this Discussion, and it is also one that should be annually refreshed in all of our minds as the New Year begins. God Willing I will present Part 2 next week. I hope as many of you who are hearing my voice, or reading my words will make a point to join us next Wednesday, January 11th, and promptly at 7:30 Eastern Standard Time.
This concludes this evening's Discussion, “All Things Are Become New.”
This Discussion was presented “live” on January 4th, 2023.
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