Summary
A New Creation
Try this: hold out your hand, concentrate as hard as you can, and say the word "apple." Nothing appears. No amount of effort, focus, or volume produces fruit from an empty palm. The reason is simple—we are not God. We do not call things into being out of nothing. That power belongs to the One who, in the beginning, spoke into the formless void and said, "Let there be light," and there was light Genesis 1:3. Everything that breathes, swims, walks, and grows came forth because God spoke and it was so.
The crown of that creation was humankind, made in God's own image Genesis 1:27. But that image did not remain unbroken. After the fall, Scripture records what one seminary professor called the saddest verse in all of Scripture: "When Adam had lived 130 years, he became the father of a son in his likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth" Genesis 5:3. The image of God was exchanged for the image of fallen man. By the time of Noah, the Lord saw "that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually" Genesis 6:5. Even after the flood, this remained true—God's promise not to destroy the earth again by water was not because wickedness had ended, but because mercy had triumphed Genesis 8:21.
This is why the New Year's resolution to "just be better" cannot save us. The Ten Commandments tell us exactly what to do—do not covet, do not take the Lord's name in vain, have no other gods—and yet we cannot keep them. We are born in the image of man, and every inclination of the human heart is evil from youth. As Paul cried out, "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Romans 7:24. The honest answer is that we cannot cure the habit of sin by trying harder, any more than we can speak an apple into our hand.
Consider Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones Ezekiel 37:1-14. The bones were many and very dry—long dead, beyond reviving. When the Lord asked, "Mortal, can these bones live?" the only honest answer was, "O Lord God, you know." And then God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy, and by His word breath entered the bones, sinews and flesh came upon them, and they lived. That is the picture of the sinner: not merely sick or weak, but dead—and made alive only by the word and Spirit of God.
This is what Paul proclaims in 2 Corinthians 5:17: "If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. Everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new." The same God who created out of nothing, who breathed life into dry bones, speaks new life into us through Jesus Christ. In the waters of Holy Baptism, the old Adam and the old Eve are drowned, and we are brought forth reborn, restored to the image of God. We are not merely revived or resuscitated—we are made new.
And this newness is entirely God's work. "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ" 2 Corinthians 5:18. The Father, who cannot abide wickedness, has reconciled us to Himself through the sacrificial blood of His Son. As Paul writes elsewhere, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" Galatians 2:20. Our sins are no longer counted against us. And then God places that "apple" of righteousness and forgiveness in our hands—not to keep, but to share, entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So how should this shape our resolutions? Not "be better, be better, be better." You are better—because you are a child of God, a new creation in, through, and because of Jesus Christ.
Video citations
- “A New Creation” 1-1-23 — Our text today is out of second Corinthians chapter 5, but we're not starting there. I want everyone to hold out their hand. Yes, for real. Hold out your hand. Now concentrate really, really hard…