Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
the new creation has come:
The old has gone, the new is here!
2 Corinthians 5:17
Bible Rank: 43
The Apostle Paul knew old vs. new.
The old was legalistic (a Pharisee). The old legalistically tried to win his way to God (which provided structure, but was ultimately insecure and futile). The old to uphold these strict laws - ironically and tragically - became murderous (the old Paul was leading the stoning of the first Christian martyr, Stephen). The old was a mess ... who proudly called himself and his ways good.
Then Jesus literally knocked him down. On the road to Damascus, the glory of the risen, reigning Jesus knocked Paul flat on his face ... then lifted him up. The old hatred and legalism had to die. As Jesus said in Mark 2:22, "no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins."
Old wineskins become brittle. New wine starts as juice, then it expands as it ferments. The expanding liquid will destroy the old, fixed, rigid, and brittle. And that's what Paul understood about the changing of the human heart. Without even comprehending how rigid he'd become, Paul discovered - in Christ - the freedom of becoming new ...
· of replacing a fermenting hatred with a self-giving love ...
· of replacing having to earn your way to God to being a thankful recipient of God's amazing grace
· of replacing a dead legalism with the living faith.
It's no accident that the Apostle who told us about the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, is the one who never fully experienced love, joy, and peace until the old became new.
In Christ's Love,
the new guy
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