A New Species

(Doctrine of Positional Truth)

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.

This is a very familiar passage, which is frequently quoted but often distorted. The implications of being a new person are usually associated with some experiential change. When many believers first accept Jesus Christ as Savior, they become the recipients of some type of legalistic bullying; or they may simply be impressed with certain Christian types, and as a result want to do what that person does . . . they want to imitate. So they are led or inspired or bullied or coerced or shamed or pressurized into giving up something. Now, anything that the Word of God causes you to give up is fine; but to give up something simply because of some other pressure is definitely not a bona tide part of the Christian life. No one ever gives up something in the energy of the flesh and the strength of the old sin nature without wanting to crow about it at some time,

some place, somewhere!

DISTORTIONS

I have attended many young peoples’ camps, and they all wind up in the same sad way: inspirational singing around a campfire, a few glowing testimonies, an inspirational message on discipleship; then the faggot-on-the-fire ceremony with the “what-will-you-give-up?” pitch. When the young people come down from the mountain, they give a glowing testimony in their churches about how they gave up their girl friend or boy friend, and now they have a closer walk with the Lord. Then they quote 2 Corinthians 5:17, implying that they are new creatures because they have given up something for God!

Their unsaved counterparts are doing the same thing. They are giving up things in order to go to heaven; they are giving up things because they are unhealthful; they are giving up things because of disapprobation of society. The idea of making some sort of sacrifice has had appeal to the human race almost since the fall in the Garden of Eden. Unfortunately and tragically, it is almost impossible to approach this verse without remembering some of the distortions to which it has been exposed. It is fixed in most of our minds, erroneously so, that we are new creatures because we have changed our lives; because we have changed our behavior pattern; because we have changed our modus operandi; because we have made a supreme sacrifice. Once we were having fun; now we are not having fun because we are doing this for God and because we are new creatures. And frankly, it just doesn’t sound like fun to become a new creature, when, as a matter of fact, it is the most wonderful thing in the world when you understand it in the light of its context.

So the interpretation of this passage causes us a great deal of trouble, because we associate it with what we are doing for God rather than with what God is doing for us. It is one of those passages which, by itself, is difficult to begin because it draws a conclusion. But let’s start with the word “therefore.”

GRACE ORIENTATION

The Greek word, “hoste,” actually brings us to our first conclusion in this passage. While it is translated “therefore,” it would be better translated “so that. It is the conclusion of the previous sixteen verses of this chapter in which all of the marvelous provisions of the grace of God have been delineated. We have now come to the ultimate in the field of grace principles . . . grace orientation. “Conclusion” is the best translation here.

“Conclusion: if (first-class condition, ‘if, and it’s true’) any man. . .” “Man” is a generic term (“tis”) meaning “anyone,” any believer-priest. “If anyone in Christ” (there is no verb here in the original text).

Before I go any further, I want you to notice an important point: a new creature is IN CHRIST! You don’t have a “new Creature” first; you have CHRIST FIRST! “In Christ” is referring to positional truth. The only sense in this passage in which we are new creatures is through our union with Christ (Gal. 3:28). The reason for that becomes quite obvious in the Greek: the word “new” is an adjective (“kainos"), and it is a word for a NEW SPECIES! There is another Greek word for “new” — “neos,” which means “new in time.” But this latter word is not used in this passage.

In the Devil’s world, there is a BRAND NEW SPECIES that has only existed since the ascension of Christ. The new species came into being with the baptism of the Spirit, which did not occur until after Jesus Christ was glorified.

But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39). (Cf. Acts 1:5).

Although 2 Corinthians 5:17 does not contain the word “salvation,” it includes it. In the Old Testament, billions of people were saved by believing in Christ as He was then revealed. The pattern is Abraham. “And he believed in the Lord (Jesus Christ); and he counted it to him (it was credited to his account) for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6; cf. Rom. 4:3). When people were saved in the Old Testament, they were born again just as we are; they were justified just as we are; they were given eternal life just as we are. BUT . . . they were not “kainos,” Why? Because never before in history had anyone been

put into UNION WITH CHRIST. Not until the Day of Pentecost (30 A.D.) did the baptism of the Holy Spirit occur.

Old Testament saints are just as much saved as we; but there is a difference between Old Testament and New Testament saints, and that is that Christ had not yet been glorified. Up to that time, Christ was the target of Satan and the angelic conflict; but now that Christ is glorified at the right hand of the Father, the target is the believer. Since Christ is absent in the Church Age, the angelic conflict is intensified. Why? Because the plan of God is moving rapidly, and Satan sees the time is getting short (Rev. 12:12).

Since Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, “Operation Footstool” (Psa. 110:1; Heb. 1:13) is becoming a reality, when the demons will be removed from the earth (Zech. 13:2). Christ, the Firstfruits (1 Cor. 15:23), is a “New Species “ and is the only One at present with a resurrection body. But a new Body is being formed — the Body of Christ, composed of all believers in the Church Age (the Body only is the “Bride”; Old Testament saints are not part of the Bride); and this Body is the next group of people to receive a resurrection body. For the first time in history, and only in the Church Age, we have something that was never true before among believers, and after the Rapture of the Church, will never be true again. We have a NEW SPECIES, the Body of Christ — believers in Christ. Although the Millennial saints have perfect environment, we have something they do not have: we are a new species in Christ!

We are not a new species because we have given up bubble gum or changed our behavior pattern or cut our hair or whatever we do that we say makes us different. We are a new species because at the moment of salvation, when we were born again, we were “picked up” by God the Holy Spirit and entered into union with Jesus Christ. This is the baptism of the Spirit.

The word “new” is important here. We are new creatures — “a new species of creation” actually. The word “ktisis” means “a creature or a new creation.” We are a new species in creation. We have been made that by what God did. WE ARE NOT A NEW SPECIES BECAUSE OF ANYTHING WE HAVE EVER DONE! Whatever great triumphs you have in the Christian life, whatever you give up (whether it is bona fide or not), if you give it up in the power of the Spirit and as a result of growth, that is fine; but DON’T EVER QUOTE THIS VERSE IN CONNECTION WITH IT! This verse has nothing to do with what you have done or what you are going to do by way of victorious living. It has to do with one thing only — a thing God did for you at the point of salvation. There are approximately thirty-six things that constitute the believer a brand new species, and this is one: God the Holy Spirit entered you into union with Jesus Christ.

Now I emphasize this, not to give you a sense of fat-headedness (for certainly, you must recognize that this is God’s grace), but to cause you to realize that you are in the most unusual, the most exciting and the most difficult place in history . . . that you personally are in an unseen conflict. There are many observable, known conflicts in history at the present time; but you are a part of a conflict that is so fantastic and so amazing, and yet so difficult, that at times, even when the weather is beautiful, you would think it is snowing or raining, so powerful is the pressure from demons. And the angelic conflict has reached an intensified stage never known before in history. You are in that battle and a part of that conflict. One of the first doctrines you must understand in order to withstand the Satanic onslaught is Positional Truth; and this doctrine is also the key to understanding 2 Corinthians 5:17.

“Therefore (conclusion) if any man (anyone, believer-priest, male or female) in Christ (positional truth), he (‘is’ is not in the original) a new creature (a new species).” You have been created a new species by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. No wonder the baptism is under so much attack! No wonder we have people who think that the baptism of the Spirit is an experience! No wonder, when the “holiness” crowd and the “tongues” crowd and all of the cults and isms crowd have an emotional

experience, they call it the baptism of the Spirit! Let us take a look at the doctrine of Positional Truth, or Positional Sanctification, as it is the basis for orientation to the grace of God.

POSITIONAL TRUTH

(1) THE MECHANICS OF POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION (1 Cor. 12:13). This says that “by means of one Spirit are we all baptized into one body (the Body of Christ).” Most of you know there are at least seven baptisms. Here the word (‘baptized’) refers to the moment of salvation a point in time which is perpetuated forever. At that moment, God the Holy Spirit enters every believer into union with Christ (Cf. John 14:20; Acts 1:5; Eph. 4:5).

(2) POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION BELONGS TO THE CARNAL AS WELL AS THE SPIRITUAL BELIEVER (1 Cor. 1:2,30).

. . . to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord . . . But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

Let’s take a look at the top and bottom circles.” The spiritual believer is in the bottom circle as well as the top circle. The carnal believer’s out of fellowship, out of the bottom circle: but he’s also in top circle, One’s in the bottom circle and one is out; but both are in the top circle. One is a spiritual Christian and one a carnal Christian; but both are in union with Christ. They are called in this passage “sanctified in Christ Jesus,” And this is really something, because when you read on through the book and see now an those Corinthian believers were out of line . . . the ones who committed mental attitude sins, the ones guilty of sins of the tongue, the ones who were guilty of lasciviousness, the ones who were spending their time in court suing other believers, and all the rest . . you wonder how they could be classified as “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” Yet, carnal or spiritual, it is true of every believer today, just as it was then. All are in Christ Jesus; all are sanctified in Him.

Remember, those believers you glare at are also in Christ Jesus. The worst believer, the best believer, the greatest believer, the inferior believer, the believer who is just in by the skin of his teeth, the believer who is a spiritual giant — all are in union with Christ, sanctified in Christ. Sanctification means “to be set apart.” All believers are set apart unto God at the point of salvation; they have a permanent relationship with Him. You are no more in union with Christ than any other believer; you are no less in union with Christ than any other believer! Positional sanctification is an absolute

which belongs to every believer, regardless of his failure or success in the Christian life. That is the grace-orientation principle.

(3) POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION PROTECTS THE BELIEVER FROM ETERNAL JUDGMENT. One of the marvelous things about positional truth is that it carries with it some guarantees. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, a new species.” Now, as a member of the new creation, as a new species, you are protected from the last judgment: “It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). There is a judgment coming after death for the unbeliever. But…

He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18).

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1).

As a member of a new creation in Christ, you have a guarantee that the lake of fire is something you will never experience. You can rest assured right now that as far as you are concerned, the lake of fire is only a principle of doctrine. You ought to be glad there are some doctrines you cannot experience! There is no way that you, as a believer, can get into the lake of fire. Suppose you say to yourself, “I’ve had a tummy full of Christians. If heaven is a bunch of yappy people like that, I’ll take hellfire every time!” Do you know that if you were a genius, you couldn’t sit down and figure out a way to go to hell? Even if you pulled the Devil in to help you, there’s no way! What can he do? What can he say? What activity can he indulge in to do it? He could pull in a million demons and ask every one of them to come up with something, but it would be futile. Did you ever stop to think that there is no way, there is nothing you can do and there is nothing you can say or think that will

get you into the lake of fire? You can blaspheme, you can deny the Lord, you can commit every sin in the Bible, plus all the others; but there is just NO WAY!

Do you know what I mean by “all the others” ?Those are the sins the “preachers” mention — sins which are not in the Bible, but they emphasize them all the time. Just think of it: no matter how you slice it, if you have accepted Christ as your Savior, if you have believed in Him, you are in that top circle, and no one has ever figured a way to send you or any member of the Body of Christ to the lake of fire — in fact, it cannot be done! This should give you some idea about God’s plan. God’s plan is perfect because God is perfect. God’s plan is perfect, not only because a perfect Person devised it, but because He also did the work.

So you have perfect planning (God the Father) and perfect work (God the Son). Where does that leave you and me? It leaves us out in the cold when it comes to work. That’s why some Christians are always “working” — they feel so left out. Now it is important to realize that you have a perfect security, and there is nom way that you can go to hell. You can do nothing except study about hell; there is no way you will ever experience it!

(4) POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION QUALIFIES THE BELIEVER TO LIVE WITH GOD FOREVER. There are three things which are necessary in order for a believer to live with God. First of all, his sins have to be taken care of — and they were — at the cross. Every sin of everyone who has ever lived or ever will live was poured out on Christ and judged. But, even with your sins forgiven, you still haven’t everything necessary to live with God forever. That’s only part of the package. You must also have the same kind of life that He has. Could you be happy living with a “zombie” if you are a person who has a lot of life? Our lives must also be compatible with God’s life. We must be given His life and we have been. Jesus Christ is eternal life; we are in union with Christ; we share His life; and therefore, we have eternal life.

And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life (1 John 5:11,12).

Now that is not all. Even with eternal life and your sins forgiven, you couldn’t be in heaven. Why? God says that heaven is one place where everyone who is there has to be as good as He is good. Well, let’s all give up right now, because there is no way! BUT THERE IS! Jesus Christ is PLUS R. He has God’s perfect righteousness, both in His humanity and in His deity. We are in union with Christ, and therefore, we share His righteousness. That is all it takes. The sin question? That was settled at the cross. It is now the “Son question.” Are you a new creation in Christ Jesus? “If any man be in Christ, he is a new species of creation.” Why? Because he has eternal life and because he has the righteousness of God. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21). So positional sanctification qualifies the believer to live with God forever.

(5) POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION DEFINES BOTH ELECTION AND PREDESTINATION.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved (Eph. 1:3-6).

The word for predestination, “proorizo,” is usually translated “predestined”; but that isn’t what it actually means. It means “to be pre-planned.” The point is that God the Father planned a future for Jesus Christ, and Christ was therefore “called” or “elected.” Since we are in union with Christ, we share His election; and we were elected ‘’before the foundation of the world.” In other words, there never was a time when Christ didn’t exist. He lived in eternity past with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. During some period in eternity past, some planning occurred. In that planning Christ was given an eternal destiny; and since it was planned in the past, we call that “election.” Since it was designed in the past, we call it “predestination.” “ So we share His election and we share His destiny.

(6) POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION PRODUCES A NEW SPECIES ON THE EARTH (2 Cor. 5:17). This is a “species” which had never existed before — a species which started on the Day of Pentecost, the day the Church began. It is the “missing link” in the Old Testament. Moses, Abraham, Elijah — none of the great believers of the Old Testament were included in this new species. It

is unique in its formation (baptism of the Spirit) and unique in its removal from the earth (the Rapture of the Church).

. . . the dead IN CHRIST shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:16,17).

The Old Testament saints don’t rise up. How do we know? “In Christ” is the key! They were not in Christ.

(7) POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION GUARANTEES ETERNAL SECURITY.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:38,39).

You are in union with Christ, and nothing or no one can remove you from that position.

(8) POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION EXISTS IN TWO CATEGORIES: Category One — retroactive (Rom. 6); Category Two — current (Col. 3:1,2). Retroactive positional truth is identification with Christ in His death. In His death. He bore our sins but rejected human good. Therefore retroactive positional truth excludes human good from having any part in the plan of God. Since we are identified with Christ in His death, and since in His death Christ rejected human good, positionally we have rejected human good. “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).

Current positional truth is identification with Christ in His resurrection. In resurrection body, Christ ascended and was seated at the right hand of the Father (Heb. 1:13), the place of ultimate glory as well as the place of superiority to all angelic creation (Heb. l:4) In union with Christ, believers are positionally at the right hand of the Father and therefore positionally superior to angelic creatures at the present time. Under ultimate sanctification in the future, the believer with a resurrection body will be physically superior to angelic creatures (Heb. 1). “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Rom. 6:5).

(9) THE IMPLICATIONS OF POSITIONAL SANCTFICATION. First, the believer shares the life of Christ (1 John 5:11,12). There is eternal life again! Second, the believer shares the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). Third, the believer shares the election of Christ (Eph. 1:4). Fourth, the believer shares the destiny of Christ (Eph. 1:5). Fifth, the believer shares the Sonship of Christ (Gal. 3:26). Sixth, the believer shares the heirship of Christ (Rom. 8:16,17; 1 Pet. 1:4,5). Seventh, the believer shares the sanctification of Christ (1 Cor. 1:2, 30). Eighth, the believer shares the kingdom of Christ (2 Pet. 1:11).

You can take any one of them, or any combination of them, and no matter how you slice it, you are in a plan which won’t quit! YOU may quit, but the plan won’t .That is the beauty about being in the plan: you can quit, yet you are still in the plan. The plan moves on; it just picks you up and carries you along as though you were riding the surf on a big wave. There is no way to get around it — the plan is going to go right on; it is going to carry you; so you might as well get with it!

You may think you have been “carrying God on your back.” Then one day you “drop Him,” and you go around saying that it is all over. I am not being blasphemous I am just describing the way a lot of people feel. Where you made your mistake is in thinking you did anything in the first place. If you start out with grace, you can’t do anything but win; if you start out with legalism, you can’t do anything but lose. But God’s plan is still going to win because grace is still there, even when you are legalistic. When you take a look at some of the characteristics of positional truth, however you line them up, it all comes out the same: God did all the work! There is no way for you to slip in even one ounce of glory — even with a verse like 2 Corinthians 5:17!

(10) CHARACTERISTICS OF POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION. First of all, positional truth is NOT an experience. It is neither emotion nor ecstatics. It is not an emotional experience.

Secondly, it is not progressive. Since positional sanctification is perfect at the moment of salvation, it cannot get better and better. The moment you accept Christ, you enter into union with Him; you have a perfect position, and you always will have. It cannot be improved in time or in eternity. It will be just as perfect a million years from now as it was the moment you entered into union with Christ.

Thirdly, positional truth is not related to human merit. It is neither human good nor energy of the flesh. Here are the implications of retroactive positional truth. There is no place in the plan of God for human good. Grace escalates divine good and excludes human good.

Fourthly, positional truth is eternal in nature. It will last forever. No one can change it, no angel can change it — not even God Himself can change it!

Fifthly, positional truth is known only through the Word of God, by the teaching of the Word, by understanding the Word. In other words, anything you learn or know about positional truth, you get out of the Bible from doctrine! No one taps you on the shoulder and whispers it in your ear. You don’t get the whole thing laid out for you in a dream. You get it only from the Word of God! And this is dedicated to the brethren who have fallen into the apostasy called “tongues.”

Sixthly, positional truth is obtained in toto — completely — at the moment of salvation. This is accomplished by means of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is one of the 36 things God does for us at the moment of salvation. “Therefore (a conclusion) if anyone (the ladies are included) in Christ (positional sanctification), a new species of Creation!” And you are a new species of creation because of the work of the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation.

SPIRITUAL DEATH

OLD THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY . . . You may have followed along this far, but now you think, “Old things are passed away? That means my fifteen cases of gin which went down the drain . . . the girl friends I said good-bye to . . . the monastic type of life I’ve led since I’ve been saved . . . the places to which I no longer go . . . I now go to church!”

But that is not what it means at all. I know you are not going to take my word for it, and I don’t intend for you to do so. We’ll take it up in the Greek. “Old things’ is one word in the Greek. Although it is in the plural, I will give you the singular form — “archaios.” Now let’s see what has passed away. You’re going to love this: “that which existed in the beginning.” The word “archaios” means something that is really old, more ancient than anyone here today.

The reason it was given a plural translation is that you cannot give it a one-word translation and have it make sense in the English. To what do “things which existed in the beginning” refer? Obviously they do not refer to the things YOU gave up, since “archaios” does not even refer to this generation. Nor does it refer to the past generation or to a hundred years ago. The word is never used in that sense. “Archaios” is always used for things which are thousands of years old. Here it goes

back to the original sin in the Garden. By their own negative volition, Adam and Eve entered into a condition called “spiritual death.” They died spiritually the moment they sinned. They had started out having fellowship with God. God the Son (Jesus Christ) came into the Garden every day to see them (Gen. 3:8).

When God breathed into them the “breath of lives” (literally — Gen. 2:7), He gave them a soul and a human spirit. The human spirit enabled them to understand spiritual phenomena and to store and utilize doctrine. The soul had a “breathing apparatus,” the left and right bank or “lungs” with their apertures, whereby Adam and Eve could inhale and exhale doctrine. The left bank was designed for relationship with God, the right bank for relationship with man. When the first man and woman sinned, they lost the human spirit and picked up an old sin nature, which immediately cut them off from God; thus they were spiritually dead.

Where once they were trichotomous (body, soul and spirit), they were now dichotomous (body and soul only;. The sin nature is in the soul; therefore, spiritual death is in the soul. That’s why it is the soul which must be saved (Heb. 10:39). The soul is composed of self” consciousness; mentality, which has two frontal lobes — the mind, or the staging area, and the heart (right lobe) where knowledge resides; volition; emotion; and conscience, which is in the right or dominant lobe. Add to

that an old sin nature, and that is all they had!

Now, in their mentality, they got a good case of pride going. Secondly, their conscience began to fire up. They put on fig leaves — “operation fig leaves” followed by “operation patsy” (“The woman thou gavest to be with me, she gave me . . . to eat”) .In other words, it’s all God’s fault. Whenever a sin is produced when the temptation becomes a sin in reality the sin is then evacuated through the old sin nature; and whenever there is a guilt reaction, then human good comes through the old sin nature. So both sin and human good are evacuated from the old sin nature. The sin nature is the evacuator of the soul.

How does this look in the soul? “Scar tissue” forms on the left bank of the soul through negative volition toward Bible doctrine. You’re too busy, you’re antagonistic, you’re occupied with other things! That opens up a vacuum (“mataiotes)” in the Greek) into which is sucked Satanic (demonic or false) doctrine (1 Tim. 4:1). On the right bank of the soul, the lust pattern of the old sin nature gets a mental attitude sin going. The mental attitude sin is expressed in gossiping, maligning, nit-picking, various types of revenge tactics, etc., and these sins are evacuated through the old sin nature.

Then, terrible guilt complexes start up in the conscience; so what happens now? Well, you go back to church and try to make it all up. You crank out human good like mad; but it’s only evacuating human good through your old sin nature. And that is not good! The scar tissue must first be removed. Through the “rebound” technique (1 John 1:9) and the resultant filling of the Spirit, doctrine is inhaled into the left lobe of the mind, transferred into the human spirit by faith where it becomes “epignosis” (residual doctrine), and is exhaled through the left bank of the soul toward God and out the right bank toward man, producing divine good. This process shaves off the scar tissue in the soul.

What are the “old things” which are passed away? Something archaic, something older than you are. Do you know what is older than you and I? The old sin nature. It isn’t literally passed away as yet; but the old sin nature means spiritual death. Since you are born with one, you are born spiritually dead. Spiritual death is the principle of no relationship with God; and the “old things,” the archaic thing, is spiritual death — no relationship with God.

Before you can commit one sin, before you can perform an act of human good, before you can crank up and do anything, your old sin nature is there, and you are spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1). Spiritual death is as old as Genesis 2:17. Spiritual death as a promise, as an anticipated judgment, came before sin. God warned the first parents: “The day thou eatest thereof, dying thou

shalt die.” But once the sin came, then the condition which had been promised — about which they had been warned — came into existence.

It is the old sin nature which causes us to be born spiritually dead: “Wherefore, as by one man (Adam) sin (the old sin nature) entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death (spiritual death — and there’s the point at which the picture changes) passed upon all men, for that all have sinned (aorist tense, in a point of time).” The aorist tense is important in Romans 5:12. “All have sinned” means that all sinned when Adam sinned. Adam is archaic. The word “sin” in the singular refers to the old sin nature. When it says that “all sinned,” it means that we are born with spiritual death because we are born with his nature. Romans 5:12 is rarely understood. Spiritual death passed upon all the human race because all the human race sinned when Adam sinned.

A NEW RELATIONSHIP

But here is the beautiful thing: “Old things are PASSED AWAY.” The moment you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, “archaios” — spiritual death — passes away, and you enter into a relationship with God. There is another way of saying this: 1 Corinthians 15:22: “In Adam (we are born ‘in Adam’) all die ....” How do they die? Spiritually! We died the moment we were born; we died spiritually. We had no relationship with God. BUT, “even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Jesus Christ is eternal life; we share His eternal life. “Old things are passed away!”

“Passed away” is “parerchomai” in the Greek, which means several things: “to go,” “to pass “ “to come to an end.” The latter is the meaning in context. Spiritual death has come to an end. It has come to an abrupt stop! The moment you accept Christ as Savior, spiritual death comes to its end. Never again will you be subject to spiritual death. It is impossible; you are IN CHRIST!

“Parerchomai” also means “to be neutralized” and “to disappear.” We could translate this: “The ancient things (pertaining to spiritual death) have vanished, disappeared,” Spiritual death is gone. There is one thing you can say about yourself as of the moment you accepted Christ, and you can say it with dogmatism, with conviction and confidence: it is now impossible for you to be spiritually dead. Never again will you know anything about spiritual death. You may die physically if the Rapture doesn’t come soon; but you have a relationship with God, and no matter how sorry you are or how good, that relationship will always exist The “old things” — the “archaios” are passed away. They have come to an abrupt halt!

GRACE IN POSITIONAL TRUTH

Finally, 2 Corinthians 5:17 concludes, “behold, all things are become new.” “All things” is not found in the original text. It is literally, behold, THEY have become new.” “Behold (focus on this; concentrate on this), they have become (“ginomai” in the perfect tense) new (in the past, with the result that they will always be new).” “New,” again, is “kainos” — new in species. You are now an absolutely new species, one who will never again be subject to spiritual death, one who can in

no way be condemned.

And now this is the important thing: all of this is the work of God every bit of it! There is no way that YOU can make YOURSELF a new creature. There is no manufacturing on your part; there is nothing you can give up; there is no change you can make in your behavior pattern; there is no new morality, no intensification of your life, no system of asceticism nothing you have done makes you a new creature. God did it all, AND THAT IS GRACE! He starts that way with us, and He ends up that way with us. In between, we may get off base, but He will never stop treating us in grace.

Grace always finds a way; never has grace failed even once. Grace is the character of God; grace is the glory of God; grace is the personality of God; grace is who and what God is! God the Father planned it this way for this dispensation. Jesus Christ went to the cross and ascended. Positional sanctification could not occur until the ascension. God the Holy Spirit takes us at the moment of salvation and enters us into union with Jesus Christ, and we are positionally sanctified. The only Persons who can receive glory from this plan are God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!