Introduction

IDENTIFYING THE NEW CREATURE

Who is it that must first learn Christ? It is the New Creature. Otherwise, He will remain a babe. The Beatitudes say, “This is who you are.” It exposes the mind of Christ who has apprehended the inward parts of the believer. However, I think we need to identify this New Man using the revelations given to us over the past few months. I truly believe that a major part of the problem is in identifying the Creature Himself. The minds of the believers are confused at times with where to place the responsibility of righteousness.

II Corinthians 5:17-18

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

Anyone in Christ is a New Creature. Who or what are the old things that passed away, and what are the things that have become new? These are the first questions that must be answered.

As we embark on this journey to discover the identity of the New Creature, I find that there are many scriptures that aide in securing a positive identification.

St. Matthew 9:16-17

16 No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.

17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

The Lord Jesus is the speaker above. He declares that no one would use a new piece of cloth to repair an old garment, for the new piece would magnify the tear even more. Though it was meant to repair the garment, in actuality, it has made the garment look even worse.

He goes on to say that it is not wise to put new wine into old bottles. The bottles used in His day were probably wine skins. To do so would cause the bottle to break and the wine to run out. But new wine is placed in new bottles, and both the wine and the bottles are preserved.

I am sure these parables are relative to the receiving of the Holy Spirit. The first deals with the renewing of the inward parts, which we will discuss later. The second, however, deals with the body. The wine represents the Holy Spirit, and the wine bottle the human body.

But what does all this mean? Well, Paul begins to shed some more light on the subject. I pray that by the end of this lesson we will all understand the physical and spiritual nature of the New Creature.