For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; (15) and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. (16) Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. (17) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

The second letter to the Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. He brings before us in a clear, definite way the reason for the death of our Lord; bearing the judgment that sinners deserve in order that they may be delivered from judgment and that the believers may be a new creation. Mankind as a whole was under the sentence of death that came in with the fall of the first man. Adam deliberately disobeyed the command of God and fell under the sentence of death – as all men were represented in him, so all mankind then were in the place of death. If Christ died for all, then all were dead. Those who put their trust in Him were/are possessors of eternal life through faith. As new creations we now look at the world through different eyes from those we used when we belonged to it. In this new creation “old things have passed away and behold, all things become new.”

There is a great deal of evil in this universe but it all belongs to the old creation – in the new creation all things are of God. In Christ all our sins are forgiven – God looks upon us as though we had never sinned at all. Christ did not come to charge man’s sins against him but to pay man’s debt. The old creature is under the curse and the new creature is such as God can approve. The change must be in the hearts and lives of the believer. The old creation was a child of Satan and in faith in Christ the new creation is a child of God. Formerly, in spiritual death, man lived for this world alone, but now he/she, in faith, has God and looks at things not seen but things that are eternal – not just mended but new made. Christ did die for the sins of the whole world, not just the elect, but that doesn’t mean every man ever born is going to receive Him. Believers are set free from the power of the old selfish life. In Christ the old man is gone.

Regeneration is a change of our entire nature from top to bottom and the renewal by the Holy Spirit of all our senses and in all respects. If all had not been guilty and spiritually dead, there would have been no need for Christ’s sacrificial death. As always there is a perfect quote from c.s.Lewis: Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true , of Infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”