“His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace., and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.”  (Ephesians 2:15-16, NIV) “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.”  (Galatians 6:15, NIV) “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”  (2 Corinthians 5:16-17, NIV)

The Bible contains stories of people, nations and cultures that existed in our world from the ancient past: from several thousand years before Christ through the first century after Christ.  These stories are told against a backdrop of three creations by God that are in conflict due to rebellion in the first two creations against the authority of God their Creator:

1. Angels and their environments (levels of heaven: 2 Corinthians 12:2) that were created before our universe was created.
2. The first race of humans under the headship of its first member, Adam, and this universe that God created as our environment. (Genesis 1-2)
3. A second race of humans under the headship of its first member, the God-man Jesus, and the future environment (“new heavens and the new earth.”) he is now preparing for his followers who are members of this new humanity.  (“His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace.”  Ephesians 2:15. See also Isaiah 65:17, Revelation21:1, John 14:3 (“I go to prepare a place for you.”) regarding the future new heavens and new earth he is now preparing.)

This third creation by God, called the “new creation” in the New Testament, is the focus of this blog.  All human beings since Jesus Christ have been invited by God to experience the fabulous blessings that come with membership in this new, second humanity, which I consider stage two of “the new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:15) that started when God the eternal, uncreated Word, (John 1:1,2,14), Second Person of the Triune God (The Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit)–was conceived as a human being through God the Holy Spirit in the womb of a human woman, the virgin Mary:  ^“You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” ³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[ the Son of God.” (Luke 1:31-35)

God the eternal, uncreated Word started this new, third creation within himself, not separate from himself, by leaving his position at the right hand of God the Father in heaven and becoming a human being (Ephesians 2:15), permanently uniting himself (“merging” himself) with the final and highest ranking life-form he had previously created in our universe–humanity under the headship of its first member, Adam. (Genesis 1:26-28)  In my opinion, this “merger” was not merely a natural continuation of the Genesis 1-2 creation, but was the start of a new, third creation in Mary’s womb—God the eternal, uncreated Son coming into a new,  permanent unity with the first humanity he had previously created.  By creating a new humanity within himself  (Ephesians 2:15) while remaining God the eternal, uncreated Son, he thus became the first and only human being who is also God.  This God/human combination had never existed before God the Son was conceived as a human being in Mary’s womb. Until then, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit had remained separate from their Genesis 1-2 creation, even before human sin enlarged the separation of human beings and our created world from God (Genesis 3, Romans 8:19-25) .  Being God the eternal, uncreated Word through whom the entire Genesis 1-2 universe was created (John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:16), Jesus Christ is therefore not only the first member of this new human race he created within himself by becoming a human being, but also is forever the highest ranking being in this new, third creation which began when he created himself as the the founding member of this new humanity (Ephesians 2:15), with deity and humanity becoming combined within himself. He thus created himself as the initial third creation human being who is its head (“the Last Adam” according to 1 Corinthians 15:45), just as “The First Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45), the first second creation human being named Adam is the head of the second creation human race (1 Corinthians 15:47, Genesis 2:7 Colossians 1:16-17, Romans 5:12-19).

Just as the Second/Old Creation’s Old Covenant has a law–the Law of Moses–so the Third/ New Creation’s New Covenant has a new “law”, the Law of Christ, Jesus Christ being its highest ranking human being. (Romans 8:2, 10:4; 1 Corinthians 9:21; Galatians 6:2; James 1:25, 2:8,12). This change from the law of Moses to the Law of Christ is illustrated for me by these changes:  1.  From sinful second old creation humans being under a “yoke of slavery,” the Law of Moses (Galatians 5:1-4)  to the sinless new creation humans being under the “yoke of freedom”, the law of Christ (Matthew 11:28-30, Galatians 5:1).  2. From the Old Testament people of God meeting on the 7th Day Sabbath (Saturday) every week to the New Testament people of God meeting on the 1st day of the week, Sunday.  Jesus had risen from the dead on a Sunday, and had later poured out his Spirit, launching the New Testament people of God, on a Sunday–the Day of Pentecost.  This change to Sunday worship, in my opinion, was prefigured by Jesus’ continual conflict with the teachers of the Law of Moses–he was often accused by the Pharisees of breaking a requirement of the Law of Moses that no one work on the Sabbath, the 7th day of every week.  In John 5:17, he defended himself against this charge by saying, “My Father is working, and I myself am working.”  When God had commanded the Jews to rest on the Sabbath , it was because he was no longer working after completing the Genesis 1-2 creation:  “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating he had done.”  (Genesis 2:2-3; see also Exodus20:8-11.)  In my opinion, the conception, birth and earthly life of Jesus before his ascension back to heaven (Mark 16:19, Luke 24;50-53, Acts 1:9) meant God was now “working” during Day 7 of this world’s creation, no longer resting.  It is why the Old Testament Law of Moses–including the command to not work on the Sabbath, which had been required of God’s Old Testament people while God was resting from doing any creating during Day 7 of this second creation–would later be declared obsolete by Paul in his letters and in the book of Hebrews:  “You who are trying to be justified by the law have have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” (Galatians 5:4) In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul repeatedly says that followers of Christ are no longer subject to the law of Moses. (For example: Romans 7:4, 8:1-3, 9:30-32, 10:1-13; Galatians 5:1-4, 6:15-16, Ephesians 2: 9-22). “By calling this covenant “new,”  he had made the first one obsolete.” (Hebrews 8:13). See also Hebrews 7:18-19, 22 and all of Hebrews 8.  Jesus himself said it in Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24 and  Luke 22:20.

I therefore believe that the earthly life of Jesus Christ was both the final phase of his creation of this world due to him and God the Father now working for the first time during Day 7, rendering obsolete the Old Creation commandment that no work could be done on the Sabbath, while simultaneously being the first phase of his new, third creation.  In my opinion, the earthly life of Jesus Christ created an intersection of Day 7 of “The Old Creation” (Genesis 1-2) with Day 1 (Phase 1) of “The New Creation”. As Jesus said in John 5:17, He and God the Father were doing the work of creation again, starting with a new humanity God the Word created within himself in his incarnation as a human being.

The earthly life of Christ before his ascension back to heaven brought together opposite creation processes: Thematically, the process of creation in Genesis 1-2 was like the building of a pyramid:  It progressively grew from broadest at the bottom (Day 1, the creation of light), becoming narrower from Day 2 through Day 6 when the creation of Adam and Eve was its final and highest point. Day 7, the future, highest pinnacle of this thematic pyramid, had no creation by God for thousands of years until Jesus Christ, God the eternal Word through whom this world was created during Days 1-6 (John 1:1-3), during Day 7 of this creation became the sharpest and highest peak on the pyramid-like creation of Days 1-6 through creating within himself a new humanity (Ephesians 2:15)–his incarnation as the first and only God/man. As the eternal divine Word through whom our universe was created in Days 1-6, he is highest in authority over it, making him the highest peak of this thematic pyramid through his incarnation in Day 7 (See what Jesus said in Matthew 28:18 about his highest authority on earth now.)  After Jesus ascended back to the right hand of God the Father (Acts 1:9), this New Creation has continued to develop in a reverse thematic process from the Old Creation, which went from broad (Day 1) to narrow (Day 6). This new, third creation started with its own highest, narrow peak (God the Son taking on human flesh) and, became broader in what I consider Phase 2–the adoption of billions of believers in Christ, over nearly 2,000 years, into this new humanity through their faith in Christ starting with Jesus’ original disciples (except for Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus) and about 3,000 additional converts on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2).  At the same time, from his position back at the right hand of God the Father after his post-resurrection ascension, Jesus has been “preparing a place for us” (John 14:2), an even broader phase of this new, third creation to be revealed after the Second Coming of Christ to this earth: our future environment–the future new heaven and new earth.  (Isaiah 65:17. Revelation 21:1).

To summarize the opposite processes of the old, second creation by Christ with the new, third creation in Christ–Christ creating within himself a new humanity, making himself the first member and head of it (Ephesians 2:15): the Old Creation happened “bottom-up” (Gen. 1-2) and the New Creation is happening “Top-down.” Phase 1 of the New Creation (the life, death and resurrection of Jesus before his ascension) was the beginning of God’s work since Day 7 of this Old Creation when his work had ended:  Christ simultaneously became the peak of both creations–finalizing  what he had previously created bottom-up in Days 1-6 of this old creation (Gen.1-2) through his own eventual incarnation while simultaneously becoming the pinnacle of this new, third creation which he is now developing top-down in preparation of the future new heaven and new earth his new creation people will inhabit forever without death (Revelation 21:4).

Seeing the God/man Jesus as the Day 7 pinnacle–highest in authority of his Day 1-6 creation of our current world–helps me to understand the physical and spiritual powers he exercised during his earthly ministry before his death on the cross: As the Creator of our world (John 1:3:  “All things were created through him.”) who had become the first member and head of a new humanity he created within himself (Ephesians 2:15), he exercised authority over Old Creation “mother nature”–rebuking and thus calming life-threatening wind and storms (Matthew 8:23-27), walking on water (Matthew 14:22-33, fulfilling the Job 9:8 prophecy about him), feeding thousands of people by miraculously multiplying a few loaves of bread and a few fish (Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 8:1-9), healing every diseased person brought to him, including blind people, (Matthew 4:23-24; Mark 1:29-32, 40-42, 8:22-25); and even resurrecting dead people (Mark 5:35-43, Luke 7:11-17; John 11:1-44). Jesus also exercised authority over evil angels (one third of all angels whom he had previously created in the First Creation as good angels before creating our world in Genesis 1-2. (Colossians 1:16-17:  “For by him all things were created:  things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”).  These evil angels (demons) had followed Satan in rebelling against God and were therefore cast out of heaven down to the earth where they tormented some people by “possessing” them until Jesus cast these evil angels out of people.  (Ezekiel 28:14-17, Revelation 12:3-9, Matthew 4:24, 8:16, 28-34, 17:14-18)

Conclusion:  For the Creator of our world to leave heaven and be born as a human being in order to create a new, enhanced human race within himself (Ephesians 2:15) was an incredible act of love, as was his death on the cross to pay for our sins.  His sinless, new creation life built a bridge across the huge gap–caused by human sin–separating sinful people in the first humanity under the headship of Adam from the holy God (Isaiah 59:2-3, Ephesians 2:16).  All who put their faith in Christ as their Savior and Lord not only receive God’s forgiveness for their sins because of his death for the sins of the world (Isaiah 53:4-6, 10-12; John 1:29; Mark 10:45, Ephesians 1:7, 1 John 2:2), they also are born again by being adopted into membership of this new human race under the headship of its founder and first member, Jesus Christ (John 1: 12-13, Ephesians 1:5). Thanks to the sinless life of Jesus before his death, this new human race is in harmony with God the Father, which provides fabulous benefits for its members–as you will read below in my introduction to my second and third articles on this blog.

These incredible acts of love by God the Son (leaving his throne in heaven to become a human being and then dying for the sins of all other human beings) is illustrated in the Apostle Paul’s directive to the Philippian believers in Christ–that as followers of Christ they should love others as Christ loved them:  “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider  others more important than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and become obedient to death–even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:3-8)  My hope is that deeper understanding into the mystery of the new creation incarnation of Christ, the purpose of this blog, will not only increase your joy in the Lord by increasing his joy in you, but will also increase your sacrificial love for people:  “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  (John 15:11-13)

Introduction to my other New Creation Articles on this blog:

Article 2:  Your Greatest Promotion: Phase 2 of the New Creation, in my opinion, began when Jesus Christ ascended back to heaven (Acts 1:9.)  Ten days after his ascension, God the Holy Spirit was poured out in the public launching of the New Creation people of God on the Day of Pentecost. From that day on, if anyone puts their faith in Christ, they are a new creation because they are adopted into Christ–the first member and head of this new creation human race (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:15).  All humans except Jesus (because he was born of a virgin–did not have a human father) are under the inferior headship of the first human race’s first member, sinful Adam (Romans 5:12-19, 1 Corinthians 15:22). The fabulous benefit of this New Creation merger of God the Son with the highest form of life in his Genesis 1-2 Old Creation–humanity–is that all those who receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, by faith, are adopted by God (Ephesians 1:5) into this new, enhanced human race under the superior headship of its first member, sinless Jesus.  In “Your Greatest Promotion,” I share how Jesus, the beginning of the New (third) Creation, due to being the first member and head of this new human race, offers the greatest possible promotion to all first humanity people who are under the lower-ranking headship of Adam:  a second birth (their own new creation) into this second, enhanced, higher humanity under the headship of God the Son, Jesus.  I believe this is the meaning of Jesus’ use of “born again” when talking to the Jewish Pharisee Nicodemus:  “No one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3:3) Those who are spiritually born again as new creations into the humanity of Christ-the-New-Creation, who are “in Christ” through faith in Christ, share in the superior rank of God the Son (Creator of everything including the angels), and therefore have been promoted above the angels and above the first humanity in Adam, thereby enjoying two fabulous benefits not given to the Old Testament people of God due to sin that separated the first human race from God. This Greatest Human Promotion involves the first fabulous blessing:  Continual access to the presence and loving fellowship of the Trinity (God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) in the highest place in the highest heaven–where God’s throne is now located. (“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  Hebrews 4:16)  Article 4 (see below) addresses the second fabulous blessing of this promotion.

Article 3: To learn how you can become a “new creation in Christ”, in order to gain the fabulous blessings I write about in the other four articles on this blog, see my article, “How to Become A Member Of The Enhanced New Humanity In Christ” in section three of this blog, “Join the New Humanity.”

Article 4: “Your New Self–God’s Presence In His New Temple” The second fabulous blessing enjoyed by followers of Christ that was not given to the Old Testament people of God is becoming the new temple of God–having God the Son, Jesus, live inside them through the indwelling third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” ) Another New Testament term for the new human race in Christ, the Body of Christ, is about Jesus living inside his followers.  This name for the new humanity in Christ opens up another aspect of the mystery of Christ, according to the Apostle Paul in Colossians 1:24-27:   ^“Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. ²⁵ I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— ²⁶ the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. ²⁷ To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  When we use the term “the new humanity” the focus is on each believer living “in Christ.”  But when we use the parallel New Testament term, “the body of Christ,” the focus changes to the mystery of each of us having Christ living in us through the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit.  My fourth article on this blog, “Your New Self–God’s Presence In His New Temple“ explores this angle on the mystery of Christ being in us and us being in Christ.

Article 5: “When the earth is promoted with you above the highest heaven”: According to the Apostle Paul, what we call “Mother Nature”–the universe that God the Father, Son Jesus and Holy Spirit created (Genesis 1:26) as the environment for the first human race under the headship of its first member, Adam (Genesis 1-2)–will in the end be promoted with the new, second human race under the headship of its first member, Jesus, into the “new heavens and the new earth” prophecied in the Old Testament (Isaiah 65:17) and the New Testament (Revelation 21:1):  Romans 8:18-21:“ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”  This article 5 the New Testament teaching about this exciting future for “Mother Nature” (cursed due to Adam’s sin: Genesis 3:17-19, Romans 8:20, Revelation 22:3), when God’s throne will relocate from the highest environment of God’s first creation (angels) to the new capital city of the future new earth–the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2-3, 22:3).  In this article I contend from Scripture that the relocation of God’s throne to the new earth means that the new humanity in Christ and their environment, the new earth, will become the highest place in all God’s created universes–one more fabulous benefit for those who are new creations “in Christ.”

I welcome your feedback to “My Story: How I Know From Experience That God Is Real” and to these five articles on the New Creation in Christ.  You can comment on this blog or write me at pastorpaulbarnes@gmail.com.