A New Creation In Christ Jesus

(Galatians 6:11-18)

When we come to Jesus we learn that we are new creations; the old has passed away and the new has come.

But often we do not live as the new creations that we are. Often we continue to live in the old ways of the world having missed the point of the hope of salvation that is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And too often in the churches today we do not see the teachings of the new life and the new creation, but we are taught the “old” way of the law, which is the issue Paul is raising in these few verses at the close of Galatians. Paul was particularly concerned about this because of the issues that faced the Galatians church, and it is a message we can learn from and take heart from.

Circumcision vs. Uncircumcision

Paul has pressed the point about circumcision throughout this letter to the Galatians. He has made it abundantly clear that to receive circumcision, which is the sign and seal of the law, means that you must keep the whole law.

Circumcision was only one of the 650-plus laws in the Old Covenant. However, we also are taught that:

10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” said also, “Do not kill.” If you do not commit adultery but do kill, you have become a transgressor of the law. (James 2:10-11)

And;

2 Now I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is bound to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait for the hope of righteousness. (Galatians 5:2-5)

These two scriptures tell us a very interesting thing regarding the law.

They say that if you accept ANY one of the 650-plus laws, not just circumcision, you are bound by the whole law.

The first verse tells us that if you break ANY one of the laws, and it doesn’t matter which one you break, you are guilty of breaking all of it. And the second verse tells us that if we choose to follow and live under the law, then Christ is of no advantage to us. In fact those who choose to follow under the law are bound to keep the WHOLE law and are cut off or severed from Christ.

To be cut off from Christ means you are not worshipping under the New Covenant. And if you are not worshipping according to the New Covenant but are under the law of the Old Covenant, then you are not following in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and you are NOT a new creation in Jesus Christ.

Is this where you want to be? The Jews could not keep the law, and in fact no man is able to keep the fullness of the law, which is why we need a Saviour in the first place. It is because man cannot keep the law that man is subject to sin, and the only way a man can be set free from sin is to be free from the law.

This is why neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters in Christ. It mattered under the law, but not in Christ.

Law in the Modern Church

The modern church has a problem because many of the churches and the people in the church are stuck under the law. The modern churches in many congregations are still teaching the law.

Think about this. How many churches teach their congregations that they must keep the Ten Commandments? How many churches teach their congregations that they have to tithe? How many churches teach their congregations that they are still under sin and are sinners, even though Jesus has set us free from sin?

All of these issues arise because many of the churches teach law. The churches keep their congregations confined under the law, and as a result they live in guilt and condemnation when they can’t keep the law.

The churches that are still teaching law have missed the point of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They do not understand the freedom that is in Jesus Christ that leads to us becoming a new creation.

Yes, the law still exists, as Jesus said:

17 “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. 18 For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-18)

The law is still in effect. But, in Jesus Christ we have escaped the law. We died with Christ when we entered into His death through baptism, and as Paul showed in Romans:

Do you not know, brethren–for I am speaking to those who know the law–that the law is binding on a person only during his life? (Romans 7:1)

When you die you are no longer under the law, and we have died with Christ to be set free from the law and from sin.

Why do so many of the churches not teach this fundamental principle of Christianity? Without this knowledge a person cannot be set free from sin and the law, and they cannot become a new creation.

A New Creation

In Jesus Christ we are new creations. We are no longer under the law but have received the free gift of righteousness by faith through the grace of God.

To be righteous is to be set free from sin, and to be set free from sin we must be set free from the law so that we do not break the law. You cannot break a law that you are not under.

This is why Jesus died. He died to set us free from sin, to set us free from law, and to allow us to put on His death as if it were our own so that we are born again as children of God. We are new creations in Jesus Christ through this process.

In Jesus Christ many of the things that the world thinks important are of no consequence. Also, many of the things that the church teaches and believes are important are likewise of zero consequence in Christ.

Paul made this clear in verses 15 and 16 of the section under review, which says:

15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. 16 Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of God. (Galatians 6:15-16)

We see also in other places that some things that are of consequence in the world AND/OR in the church are of no importance in Jesus Christ.

Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scyth’ian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:11)

The only thing of any importance in Jesus Christ is becoming a new creation.

And being a new creation is not a static thing. We are being recreated every day by the working of the Holy Spirit in us until we are recreated into the image of Jesus Christ. This is all that is important…to be moulded into a new creation in Christ Jesus.

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