Q&R with Greg Albrecht – “Is Being Born Again the Same as the New Creation?”
Question: I’m trying to get a clear understanding on what the new creation in Christ means – specifically in Gal 6:15.
Can you recommend any good books/articles that could help me?
Hope you can help!
Warm regards,
A Pastor in California
Response:
My initial response is that all of the New Testament metaphors for new creation, salvation, conversion, transformation, being one in Christ, new men and women in Christ, putting “on” Christ, born again, being children of God, being heirs of his kingdom, being resurrected in Christ from a watery grave, et al, all speak of the same event, not of course to be confused with the future transformation of the mortal body into immortality as an event to occur at the Second Coming.
As I see it, new creation/new birth is a spiritual metaphor using physical, relational terms to speak of the spiritual world with which we do not naturally interact or perceive, apart from the grace of God which enables and empowers, and gives spiritual sight and hearing, to those who believe in Jesus Christ. I am tempted, at the more general level (in fact I will go beyond tempted and do so!) to say that while there are nuances in meaning for all these terms the nuances are not critical to faith, or indeed the reality of being a new creation in Christ. We should not, as I see it, lose sight of the centrality of this beautiful reality and try to parse the linguistics of physical terms and their physical meanings.
While the more often cited passages about this miracle, a gift of God, are John 3:3-8, 2 Corinthians 5:17 and John 3:3 one of my priority passages is again in John, but 1:12-14. Were time to allow, I would want to include in this discussion a brief summary of how the term “born again” has entered religious vocabulary, belief and definitions, vested with meanings far beyond biblical revelation. It seems to me “born again” is an abused and overused phrase and needs, for the layman, to be carefully studied for what it means and what it doesn’t.
Finally, you mention Galatians 6:15. My brief exegetical summary of this passage is that one must first of all be reminded of the entirety of the book of Galatians, its grand theme, its thesis and its liberating message, as of course as a pastor I am sure you are well aware. Then I would suggest a reading of the immediate context, vs. 12-14, leading to vs. 15 – these three verses speak of the futility of the flesh, rooted in the literal religious demands of that era that one must be circumcised in order to become a child of God.
Riffing on the grand themes of the prophet (I think primarily of Jeremiah 31:31-34), Paul speaks of an inner transformation of the heart, a circumcised heart as the “real” circumcision — a new covenant if you will. But of course other Pauline references would include Romans 2:29 and Colossians 2:11-12 – and while not Pauline, we recall Stephan speaking to those who eventually condemned him as having uncircumcised hearts and ears (Acts 7:51). Always central to our faith in the Cross of Christ, which Paul mentions in Gal 6:15, leading up to his statement that “what counts” is the new creation.
Hoping these brief thoughts will be of some help as you serve in ministry.
Greg Albrecht
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