Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.Tim Chester, in You Can Change:
What does it mean for us to be a new creation? It means we're re-created in the image of God. It means we're given new life so we can grow like Christ. And being like Christ means being like God, reflecting God's glory as God's image. (17)
The next verse he cites illustrates this well.
Ephesians 4:24
[You were taught in Christ] to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
There are plenty of things to say about this, but I'll mention just one. It's important that we do not just talk about "change" and being "new" without saying what we are changing into and what the new is like. These words need to mean something specific. Otherwise, it's all just empty rhetoric like that of politicians and pop psychologists.
The Bible does not use these words in this way. When it talks about a "new self," there is something real and tangible that it refers to. We will be "created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." That has to mean our values, character, and behavior must be changed to reflect God's.
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