2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul explains in Romans 6:4, when Jesus died on the cross, the old self died with him, not the old self as a project to be managed, the old self as a verdict, the old self as an identity. And when Jesus rose from the dead, a new self rose with him, that is what it means to be in Christ, your identity is no longer anchored in your history, it is anchored his. And that is why Paul can say what he says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, not because you feel new, because you are his and in him old things have passed away. That is not a feeling you manufacture, it is a fact you are invited to live out of and here is what that fact looks like when it lands on a real person, what the declaration does, it does not erase the struggle, it changes who is standing in it.
So, what are the old things that have passed away? This is where 2 Corinthians 5:17 gets very practical very fast, because Paul is not talking about your memories, he is not saying you will forget your past, the old things that have passed away are the things that used to define you, the old identity, the old condemnation, the old way of being measured before Christ. Your standing before God was based on what you did and what you did was never enough, so you carried a verdict, guilty, not good enough, always behind. That verdict has passed away, in Christ the verdict is no longer the thing that defines you and it is not just your standing before God that changed, Paul says something even more surprising in 2 Corinthians 5:16. Consider what Paul is saying in 2 Corinthians 5:16, the new creation does not just change how you see yourself, it changes how you see other people.
The people in your life right now, the co-worker you have already summed up, the family member you have written off, the person you reduced to their worst moment years ago and you have never let them out of that box since. Maybe you know exactly who it is, the name came to your mind a second ago and here is what Paul says about that person, I stopped knowing people according to the flesh, I stopped putting people in boxes, because if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation. And that means the person who hurt you is not just the person who hurt you anymore. The person who failed you is not just the person who failed you anymore, if they are in Christ, they are a new creation and you are supposed to see them that way. 2 Corinthians 5:17 is not just about you, it is about how you see everyone, the old way of seeing has passed away, behold, all things have become new.
So, what are the old things that have passed away? This is where 2 Corinthians 5:17 gets very practical very fast, because Paul is not talking about your memories, he is not saying you will forget your past, the old things that have passed away are the things that used to define you, the old identity, the old condemnation, the old way of being measured before Christ. Your standing before God was based on what you did and what you did was never enough, so you carried a verdict, guilty, not good enough, always behind. That verdict has passed away, in Christ the verdict is no longer the thing that defines you and it is not just your standing before God that changed, Paul says something even more surprising in 2 Corinthians 5:16. Consider what Paul is saying in 2 Corinthians 5:16, the new creation does not just change how you see yourself, it changes how you see other people.
The people in your life right now, the co-worker you have already summed up, the family member you have written off, the person you reduced to their worst moment years ago and you have never let them out of that box since. Maybe you know exactly who it is, the name came to your mind a second ago and here is what Paul says about that person, I stopped knowing people according to the flesh, I stopped putting people in boxes, because if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation. And that means the person who hurt you is not just the person who hurt you anymore. The person who failed you is not just the person who failed you anymore, if they are in Christ, they are a new creation and you are supposed to see them that way. 2 Corinthians 5:17 is not just about you, it is about how you see everyone, the old way of seeing has passed away, behold, all things have become new.