Grace in Galatians (Part 195) – You Are A New Creation In Christ

https://youtu.be/eRUUW1e4gJY?si=46WjWh72rhom3Gmh

Today, we continue our focus on THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, as we learn to maintain our posture of faith after God has revealed His plans for our future.

As part of this series, I am teaching a verse-by-verse exposition of the book of Galatians.

Key scriptures for this year:

2 Peter 3:18 GNT“But continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and forever.”

Luke 10:20 Mirror“It’s time for you to rediscover who you are from Heaven’s perspective.”

1 John 3:10 Mirror“There is a very visible and vast difference between living one’s life from your God identity or from a fallen man’s mindset.”

Proverbs 25:2 NKJV“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

Jeremiah 29:13 NIV“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Scripture we will study today:

Galatians 6:15 NIV“Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.”

Galatians 6:15 TPT“Circumcision doesn’t mean a thing to me. The only thing that really matters is living by the transforming power of this wonderful new creation life.”

Galatians 6:15 AMPC“For neither is circumcision [now] of any importance, nor uncircumcision, but [only] a new creation [the result of a new birth and a new nature in Christ Jesus, the Messiah].”

Galatians 6:15 ERV

“It doesn’t matter if anyone is circumcised or not. The only thing that matters is this new life we have from God.”

Supporting scriptures:

2 Corinthians 5:17 TPT“Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new creation. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.”

Romans 6:4 TPT“Sharing in his death by our baptism means that we were co-buried and entombed with him, so that when the Father’s glory raised Christ from the dead, we were also raised with him. We have been co-resurrected with him so that we could be empowered to walk in the freshness of new life.”

Ephesians 4:22-24 TPT“And he has taught you to let go of the lifestyle of the ancient man, the old self-life, which was corrupted by sinful and deceitful desires that spring from delusions. Now it’s time to be made new by every revelation that’s been given to you. And to be transformed as you embrace the glorious Christ-within as your new life and live in union with him! For God has re-created you all over again in his perfect righteousness, and you now belong to him in the realm of true holiness.”

Ephesians 2:10 TPT“We have become his poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny he has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it!”

Galatians 3:28 TPT“There is no longer a difference between Jew and non-Jew, slave or free, male or female—because you are all one through your union with Jesus Christ.”

Romans 6:6 TPT“Could it be any clearer that our former identity is now and forever deeply submerged in his death? Now we are no longer living as slaves to sin.”

1 Peter 2:9 TPT“But you are God’s chosen treasure—priests who are kings, a spiritual ‘nation’ set apart as God’s devoted ones. He called you out of darkness to experience his marvelous light, and now he claims you as his very own.”

John 3:3 NIV“Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’”

Setting the Stage:

Yesterday, we wrapped up two days on Galatians 6:14. We unpacked the mutual crucifixion and what living crucified actually looks like. Today, we cross over into Galatians 6:15. The Apostle Paul makes one of the most powerful declarations in the entire letter.

Galatians 6:15 NIV says, “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.” Read that. The religious performance and actions do not matter. The labels do not matter. The categories the Judaizers were fighting over do not matter. All that matters is that God has made us a new creation in Christ Jesus! That is the point of the cross. You are not who you used to be. You are a NEW CREATION! Let’s get into it.

So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.

1. Religion Tried To Define You, But The Cross Already Did.

Look at what Paul is doing in verse 15. He is taking the two biggest religious categories in the first-century church, circumcised and uncircumcised, and he is saying they BOTH MEAN NOTHING. Read that. BOTH MEAN NOTHING! Neither is right. Neither is preferred. Paul was saying, “NEITHER matter anymore.” Why? Because the cross eliminated the religious categories the Judaizers were trying to use to define the Galatians. The cross does not sort people by tradition. The cross does not rank people by performance. The cross does not classify people by religious resume. The cross does not organize people by gender, race, or ethnicity. The cross has ONE verdict on every person who comes to it: YOU ARE A NEW CREATION IN CHRIST JESUS! 

How this applies to you:

— The cross has one verdict (YOU ARE A NEW CREATION IN CHRIST JESUS), and it overrides every religious label.

— Galatians 3:28 TPT says, “There is no longer a difference between Jew and non-Jew, slave or free, male or female—because you are all one through your union with Jesus Christ.” Read that. No longer a difference. Not in salvation. Not in standing. Not in inheritance. The cross eliminated every category man ever invented to divide us.

— Religion sorts you. The cross sets you free and puts you all into one category: CHILDREN OF GOD.

— I want you to picture a young believer walking into a church for the first time. Religious people start measuring them immediately. What music do they listen to? What clothes are they wearing? Where do they come from? Who’s their pastor? Religion is in the sorting business. But God is in the saving business. 

— The labels men give you cannot outvote the verdict the cross gave you.

— I grew up in a religious environment, and for years, I let religious people put labels on me. Some of those labels stuck longer than they should have. But when I really got the revelation of grace, I realized something. The cross had already spoken over my life. What man called me did not matter anymore. What God called me was the final word. That changed everything for me.

— I will close this point with this. The Judaizers wanted to add a religious category to define a believer. Paul says, “There is no category. The category was nailed to the cross.” You are not Baptist or Pentecostal. You are Catholic or Charismatic. You are not Black or White. You are not rich or poor. You are not male or female. You are HIS! I am not negating that in the natural, you may be all of these things or see yourself as all of these things, but in the spirit, none of that matters. That’s the point that Paul was making. 

2. You Are A Brand NEW Creation In Christ Jesus.

This is the second half of Galatians 6:15. “What counts is the new creation.” Paul is not saying you have been improved. He is not saying you have been upgraded. He is saying you have been made NEW. 2 Corinthians 5:17 TPT puts it like this: “Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new creation. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.” Read that. All that is related to the old order has vanished. The new you is not the old you with better behavior. The new you is a brand new species. You were born again from above. You have a new heart. A new nature. A new identity. A new family. A new destiny. This is a brand new life.

How this applies to you:

— You are not an improved version of the old you. You are a completely new creation. You were born from the earth the first time, but the second time you were born from above. God’s spirit is now in you, and that makes you a completely different entity. You are not a natural man having spiritual experiences anymore. You are a spiritual man having natural experiences. 

— 2 Corinthians 5:17 TPT says, “Behold, everything is fresh and new.” Read that word. Everything. Not some things. Not most things. EVERYTHING. The day you got born again, every part of your existence was re-stamped by Heaven. A new heart. A new nature. A new spirit. A new family. A new destiny. A new authority. A new inheritance.

— The new birth produced a new nature. The moment you got born again, you received a new nature, and then you spend the rest of your life learning how to walk in the reality of what Jesus already made you. 

— Jesus said you must be BORN again. And birth produces a brand new person, not a reformed old one.

— I got born again on August 27, 1995. In one moment, I went from being Rick Pina the staff sergeant who was searching, to Rick Pina the new creation who had been found. The old Rick did not get rehabilitated. The old Rick died. And the new Rick was born that night. I have been walking in the newness of that life ever since. And the same is true for every believer reading this today.

— I will close this point with this. God did not just clean up your past. He gave you a whole new life. A new nature. A new family. A new destiny. You are not who you used to be. You are a brand new creation in Christ Jesus. Live in it!

3. Throw Away The FAKE ID And Walk In Your TRUE Identity.

Here is one of the most powerful pictures in the entire New Testament. Saul of Tarsus had spent his whole life building up his identity. He was a Pharisee. A scholar trained under Gamaliel. A super-zealous religious law-keeper. A religious superstar among the Jews. That was his ID (his identity). That was the name he flashed in every room he walked into. And then on the road to Damascus, he met Jesus. And God essentially said to him, “Son, that whole identity you spent decades building is a FAKE ID. I am about to give you a TRUE ID.” Saul had to die so Paul could live. Saul was the fake ID. Paul was the real one. And here is the trap a lot of believers fall into. They got born again, but they keep flashing the credentials from their old life. Listen. That was your FAKE ID. At the cross, it expired. Throw it away.

How this applies to you:

— Saul had decades of religious credentials. He could quote the Law. He could trace his lineage all the way back. He could name-drop Gamaliel as his teacher. All of that was the FAKE ID. And the day he met Jesus, God did not say, “Saul, you are now Saul with Jesus added.” God said, “You are not Saul anymore. You are Paul.” A new name. A new identity. A new ID issued by Heaven itself.

— Your past is not your testimony. It is your history.

— I want you to picture a believer who keeps flashing the old credentials. “I’m a recovering whatever. I’m a former whatever. I’m a sinner saved by grace.” That last one is theologically true, but the emphasis is on the wrong word. You are not a sinner saved by grace. You are a SAINT who used to be a sinner. Big difference. Stop showing the FAKE ID. The new one is in your wallet.

— I had a few FAKE IDs of my own. I had built my identity around being Dominican by heritage, American by citizenship, a soldier by profession, and a Mason by association. All of those were FAKE IDs compared to who God said I was. When I got born again on August 27, 1995, every one of those identities lost its authority over my life. I was issued a new ID that night. Son of God. Heir of the promise. New creation in Christ Jesus. I have been walking in that ID ever since.

— For years after I got born again, I still flashed the FAKE ID. I told the same old stories. I emphasized the same old failures. I talked about what I used to do in Brooklyn growing up, but all of this happened before I got born again. And then one day I said one of my famous lines (people like my one-liners). This is a line I use from time to time. It is: “If you tell me you moved, why do I keep finding you at your old address?” When I say it, people normally laugh, and then some people give a deep thought, and some are even convicted to walk more strongly into the newness of the life that Christ Jesus died to give us. But one day, when I said it, the Lord said to me, “You’re guilty of the same thing.” The Holy Spirit said, “Son, that is not who you are anymore. Stop preaching about a dead man.” From that day on, I kept my focus on the NEW LIFE God has given me. Please do the same!

4. Live FROM Your Identity, Not FOR It.

Here is the freedom of being a new creation. You do not work for your identity. You receive it. And once you receive it, you live FROM it. Religion teaches you to live FOR an identity you have not yet earned. Grace teaches you to live FROM an identity you have already been given. The Judaizers in Galatia were trying to live FOR their identity by adding circumcision and the Law. Paul says, “Stop. There is nothing to earn. You are already in. You are a new creation.” And the believer who finally understands this is the believer who walks in actual freedom. You are not BECOMING righteous. You ARE righteous. Receive, then live!

How this applies to you:

— Grace teaches you to live FROM an identity you have already been given.

— Ephesians 2:10 TPT says, “We have become his poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny he has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it!” You are not a project God is working on. You are God’s destiny (pre-ordained) that is being manifested.

— You are not BECOMING righteous. You ARE righteous.

— 1 Peter 2:9 TPT says, “You are God’s chosen treasure—priests who are kings, a spiritual ‘nation’ set apart as God’s devoted ones.” Read that list. Chosen treasure. Priests who are kings. A spiritual nation. God’s devoted ones. That is not what you are TRYING to be. That is what you ARE. Right now. Today. In the middle of whatever season you are in.

— You are not working TOWARD acceptance. You are working FROM acceptance.

— I used to live FOR God’s approval. Every prayer was a transaction. Every act of obedience was a deposit. Every failure was a withdrawal. I was exhausted. But now the prayers came from sonship instead of slavery. The obedience I give God now is rooted in love instead of fear.

— I will close this point with this. You do not have to prove who you are. You do not have to earn who you are. You do not have to qualify for who you are. You just have to RECEIVE who Christ has already made you to be. And then live from that revelation every single day. A new heart. A new nature. A new family. A new destiny. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Settle it in your heart. And let your life flow from that one truth!

Declaration of Faith:

Father, I thank You that the cross has given me a brand new identity in Christ, and I am not who I used to be!

The religious categories the world tried to put on me have lost their power, because the cross has spoken the only verdict that matters over my life!

I am a brand NEW creation in Christ Jesus, not an improved version of the old me, but an entirely new species born from above!

I refuse to dig up the old man, because You buried him in the death of Christ, and what You buried stays buried!

I have thrown away the FAKE ID the world tried to give me, and I walk in the TRUE identity Christ purchased for me with His blood!

I am born again, I have a new heart, a new nature, a new family, and a new destiny in Christ!

I live FROM my new identity, not FOR it, because identity is something I have received, not something I have earned!

I am righteous because of what Jesus did, not because of what I do, and that righteousness can never be taken from me!

I am God’s masterpiece, His poetry, His treasure, and the cross is the receipt of my worth!

I am living in THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, I am Living THE GRACE LIFE, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!

I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!