Truth On Tough Texts
ISSUE
41 - December 2008
What
Does “New Creature” Mean?
II Corinthians
5:17
OUR “TOUGH TEXT” THIS MONTH IS DIFFICULT
only because of those who miss its
critical application: "Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed
away; behold, all things are become
new."
Creature,
then, is ktisis. In Classical Greek it meant the
act of creation, the created thing, or the result of the
act. It (and the verb ktizo) was often used in
the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament)
to translate the Hebrew bara
“to create from nothing.”
So what does
it mean to be a new creature? It
means that the
Christian is not new in the sense of time
(neos)—as in the
date he received Christ as Savior—rather new in
quality (kainos), a creature
that has never existed before, a creature with a new
character. When Christ comes into a life, that
life changes. God’s Word everywhere
declares, in fact, that a change is automatic when someone truly believes.
The issue of
“Lordship Salvation” (an unfortunate term that has been
used to criticize some teachers who are desperately
fighting against today’s continued diluting of the
gospel) has been a subject of much debate. If I may
interject, I find it to be one of the most distressing
debates I’ve witnessed in my 35 years of ministry. It is
a sad state of affairs when many today actually teach
that there is a difference between “accepting Jesus” as
Savior and then at some later date making Him
Lord, when there is
absolutely no such dichotomy or distinction in
Scripture. While their motive is inarguably pure—namely,
they wish to avoid any appearance of salvation by
works—their conclusion is tragically faulty.
Taken to its
logical conclusion, in fact, such a teaching—which is
actually an American invention and not a historical
position of the church—results in a new form of
Universalism, which teaches that ultimately everyone
will be saved. The teaching is that all one must do is
“believe in Jesus” (whatever that means) to be saved. No
repentance is necessary, no change of life is expected,
and no responsibility is demanded. What is this if not a
form of Universalism? How many people do you know whom
you could in some way persuade to say, “Oh, yes, I
believe in Jesus.” That’s easy. Why? Because He was a
historical figure, just as real and easy to believe in
as Abraham Lincoln. He lived, He taught, and He had a
“religion.” You might even get a Buddhist to say, “Sure,
I believe in Jesus,” and it’s certainly easy to get a
Roman Catholic or a Mormon to say it. But does that mean
they are saved? Further, one could even believe in
Jesus’ teachings and accept His resurrection as
authentic, but does that mean he or she is a true
Believer?
After all, we
should also add, “the devils also believe, and tremble”
(Jas. 2:19). They believe in the facts concerning
Christ, and that is exactly what many today view
salvation to be. How many people are relying on some
vague “profession,” “commitment,” or some prayer they
recited in Bible School when they were seven years
old?
Our text,
therefore, cuts to the very heart of this issue. All
so-called “Lordship Salvation” means is that true
salvation results in an automatic change in the person
who believes. Is it not silly to talk about a
“conversion” that doesn’t change anything? The word
“convert” is from the Latin convertere, “to turn
around, transform.” True salvation is, indeed, a
conversion. This verse (and its context) says the
believer (obviously from the moment of salvation on) is a new
creature, not will be a new creature.
The story is told
of a missionary who asked a Chinese merchant, “Have you
ever heard the Gospel?” The merchant replied, “No, but I
have seen it. I know a man who was a terror in this
region. He was as fierce as an animal. He was an opium
addict. But when he accepted the Jesus religion, he
changed completely. Now his wickedness is gone. He is
quiet and gentle.”[i] Countless
illustrations like that one demonstrate the automatic
change that comes in the true
believer.
It is the
height of contradiction to say that a person can believe
in Jesus as Savior but reject Him as Lord simply because
a change of life
automatically results in a change of lordship.
Before salvation, we were lord,
but after salvation, Christ is Lord,
not because we make Him Lord by
some subsequent “decision,” but because He is Lord. That is what the Scripture says. If there
hasn’t been a change of lordship, there has been no
change at all.
One of the
most vivid examples of this principle appears in Acts
19:8–10, where we read that Paul encountered many
“hardened” (skleruno, to make
hard or stiff) hearts while
preaching the Gospel in the synagogue for three months.
But there were also those in Ephesus who believed. As
verses 18–20 recount, the Gospel turned Ephesus on its
ear; it changed that society. Those who were involved in
occult practices burned their books on spells, sorcery,
and other such things. Their life change was
dramatically demonstrated by the value of those books.
Five thousand pieces of silver today would be worth
hundreds of thousands of dollars. (We’re reminded here
of how even some Christians today ignorantly dabble in
such things as horoscopes and Ouija boards, things that
ought to be burned.)
Verses 23–29 go on to say that believers
no longer invested money in pagan practices or
paraphernalia, which was a devastating blow to local
commerce. Silversmiths were being driven out of business
because people no longer bought silver shrines of Diana,
which were household idols. Paul’s statement that these
were “no gods” at all and the stir churned up by the
silversmiths combined to trigger a riot. So serious was
the situation that there was the danger of Diana worship
being destroyed altogether.
That
is what the Gospel does. It changes lives. If one
chooses to call this “Lordship Salvation,” so be it, but
the fact is: true conversion means real
change. Christianity is not a creed, code, or a
system of ethics. Christianity is a life, a new
reality that comes when we trust Christ as Savior
and
Lord.
Another
point that many overlook is that justification and
sanctification are inseparably linked together, for they
occur at the same time. We are not justified at
conversion and then sanctified at a later date by some
other “decision” or “experience.” While sanctification
is in a sense progressive as
we grow in grace and knowledge of Christ (II Pet. 3:18),
it is first and foremost positional. When
we come to Christ and are, therefore, justified in Him,
we are at the same moment made holy, “set apart,” as we
receive the righteousness of Christ (Rom 3:22; 4:11;
5:18; II Cor. 5:21). There is then an outworking of this
holiness in everyday living: “But now being made free
from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit
unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Rom.
6:22). After all, what does it mean to “be saved”? It
means being saved from sin and
unto
holiness.
So, contrary
to the “easy believism” that is prevalent today, there
is no such thing as being justified without being
sanctified. There is no such thing as spiritual
life without
spiritual living. Some
immediately object by saying, “But you are adding to the
Gospel; all one must do is believe.” On the contrary, we
are not adding to the
Gospel, that is the Gospel.
Yes, all one must do is “believe,” but such belief
always results in obedience (Rom. 1:5; 16:26; I Pet.
1:2). Faith and obedience are, in fact, so inseparable
that we often find them used synonymously. Hebrews 5:9,
for example, declares: “And being made perfect, he
became the author of eternal salvation unto all them
that obey him” (cf. 11:8). What’s more, as we will
detail later, the Greek behind “faith,” contrary to
modern teaching, clearly and irrefutably implies
obedience. Good works never save (Eph. 2:8–9;
Tit. 3:5), but good works are always a result, an
evidence of salvation (Eph.
2:10; Jas. 2:14–26).
It is, therefore,
totally incongruous to say that we can believe in Christ
but have absolutely no intention of following Him,
obeying Him, or surrendering to Him. Certainly there is
growth and an ever deeper understanding of what
discipleship is, but to say that we can believe in
Christ without becoming disciples is not only illogical,
it borders on the heretical. While there are some
disciples of Christ who are not true believers (Matt.
7:21–22; 8:21–22; Jn. 6:66), there is no true believer
who is not a disciple, a follower, an imitator, an
obedient servant of Jesus Christ. An acid-test of true
salvation is a desire to obey Christ. If that desire is
not present, something is seriously
wrong.
Still there are
those who want to divorce Christ’s Saviorhood from His
Lordship, but the Apostles certainly didn’t do so. Paul
echoes our Lord’s words when he writes of salvation in
Romans 10:9–11:
That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be
ashamed.
Verse 9
clearly emphasizes that salvation involves two actions:
confessing (homologeo, “declare the same thing”) Jesus as Lord, and
believing in the resurrection of Christ. But is this
principle unique to the New Testament? No. It is rooted
in Old Testament thought. To emphasize Lordship even
more, Paul adds in verse 13, “For whoever calls on the
name of the LORD shall be saved,” which is actually a
quotation of Joel 2:32. In the Old Testament, the phrase
“call upon the name of the Lord” was specially
identified with worship of the true God. It spoke of
worship, adoration and praise and drew attention to
God’s holiness, power, and majesty.
Please read
and consider how it is used in the following verses:
Psalm 79:5–6; 105:1; 116:4–5. Those verses emphasize
that calling on the name of the Lord is to recognize who
God is and to submit to His power, authority, and
holiness. To say, as many do today, “Just call on Jesus
to be saved,” betrays an ignorance of what that phrase
means. It means to call on Him as God, as
Sovereign, and as Lord.
Still there are
those who insist, “All you have to do is believe in
Jesus,” but this again shows a total ignorance of the
meaning of the words they’re using. I have read several
Bible teachers who say such things as, “Faith does not
mean obey,” or “Obedience has no part in believing
something.” This, however, is patently false and
demonstrates the increasing lack of study of the
original languages by Bible teachers today. It is no
wonder that there is so much false teaching on so many
issues.
“Believe”
and “faith” translate the Greek verb pisteuo. Its basic meaning is “to have faith in, trust;
particularly, to be firmly persuaded as to
something.”[ii] But as one
Greek authority points out, pisteuo also implicitly and indisputably carries the
idea “to obey”:
The fact
that “to obey,” as in the OT, is particularly emphasized
in Heb. 11. Here the pisteuein
[faith] of OT characters has in some instances the more
or less explicit sense of obedience. . . . Paul in
particular stresses the element of obedience in faith.
For him pistis [faith] is indeed
hupakon [obey] as
comparison of Rom. 1:5, 8; I Thes. 1:8 with Rom.
15:18; 16:19, or II Cor. 10:5 with 10:15 shows. Faith is
for Paul to hupakouein to euangeilo
[literally, “obedient to the good news”], Rom. 10:16. To
refuse to believe is not to obey the righteousness which
the Gospel offers by faith, Rom. 10:3. . . . He coins
the combination hupakon pisteuo [literally,
“obedience of faith”], Rom. 1:5.
[iii]
It is, therefore,
an incontrovertible fact that the word “believe”
immediately and fundamentally demands lordship, because
it has the underlying foundation of obedience,
commitment, and submission.
It should be
clear from such language that this issue should not
be an issue at all. It is truly
puzzling why some evangelicals argue otherwise. It
should deeply grieve all of us, for it most certainly
grieves our Lord. It is ludicrous, if not even
blasphemous to the very character of Christ, to teach a
distinction between His Saviorhood and His Lordship. To
“believe” fundamentally demands Lordship because it
includes the desire to submit and
obey.
We can put
this in the form of an axiom: when someone
believes something, regardless of what it is, that
belief somehow changes them and results in some action
or behavior that is characteristic of the
belief. In other words, true
belief results in actions that reflect that belief.
How can one
read Hebrew 11 and miss this truth? Every one of those
characters had “faith,” but that faith always, without
exception, resulted in an outward action. Noah did not
say, “Well, if God said it’s going to rain, then I
believe it’s going to rain, but that doesn’t really
affect me or demand anything from me.” No, Noah built an
ark as a result of believing what God said. Was Noah and
his family saved because he built a boat? Absolutely
not, because God could have destroyed the boat like
everything else. Noah was saved because He believed what
God said, and that belief resulted in obedience. Works
do not save us, but when we believe our works
prove it. That is what the
book of James is all about: faith without the evidence
of works is a dead faith.
Columbus,
for example, believed the earth was round and that he
could sail to the New World, so he acted upon it and
left Spain. To make it even more practical, all of us
believe in gravity, and we act upon it by not jumping
off tall buildings. We can put the matter another way:
truly believing
something, being fully persuaded of it, and trusting in
it automatically demands behavior that conforms to the
belief. To deny this, if I may
be brutally frank, is just plain
foolishness.
Applying
this to salvation, to “believe in Jesus” means three
things. First, it means to believe in Who He is, that He is
God incarnate, Savior, and Sovereign Lord.
Second, it means to believe in what He did, that He
died for your sins and rose again from the grave.
Third, it means to believe in what He says, to trust Him and His Word implicitly and desire
to obey Him in all respects. To obey Him means we
acknowledge His lordship and submit to His
authority.
Before going
on, let me make something clear. Lordship teachers are
not saying
“belief plus works equals salvation,” as some teachers
blatantly accuse us of saying. We are
not saying that to be saved
you must not only believe but also obey. Such an idea is
unscriptural because it says that salvation is not all
of grace. This was, in fact, the issue in Galatia, as
the Judaizers were teaching that not only did one have
to believe to be saved but also had to obey the Law.
Rather, what
the Lordship view is saying is that believing results in
obedience and an intention to obey. If you are truly
born again, if you truly believe, then there will be
evidence of this in your life. Obedience does not cause your
salvation, rather it proves your salvation.
How clear the
Apostle John was when he wrote:
And hereby we do
know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. (I
Jn. 2:3).
And he that
keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him.
And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit
which he hath given us. (I Jn. 3:24)
There is one sure
way to know if someone is a true believer, a true
disciple of Jesus Christ: whether or not he (or she)
obeys the Word of God. There are countless people
walking around today who claim to be “Christian,” but
they no more obey the Word of God than a thief obeys
laws about burglary. Certainly, there are many who don’t
know the Word of God (often because preachers aren’t
telling them), but the numbers are increasing of those
who, when they hear the Word, do not obey. Such willful
and continuous disobedience, a lack of any intention or
desire to obey God’s Word, indicates a lost condition.
Turning to
our Lord Himself, He constantly emphasized that before
someone believes, they must “count the cost” and then
follow Him unconditionally (Lk. 14:26–33; see also Matt. 7, in which the
whole context is a progression concerning salvation;
10:34–39; Lk. 6:46–49; etc.). People are being told
today to, “Just believe in Jesus,” but Jesus said, in
effect, “Stop and count the cost before you believe;
following Me will cost you
something.”
Our Lord also made
it clear that just saying you are a Christian doesn’t
make it so. In Matthew 7:21–23 He makes this sobering
and frightening statement:
Not every
one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth
the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have
cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful
works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew
you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
What a
terrifying passage! This is why Paul writes elsewhere
that we need to “examine [ourselves], whether [we] be in
the faith; prove [our] own selves” (II Cor. 13:5), and
why Peter wrote that we should “give diligence to make
[our] calling and election sure” (II Pet. 1:10) and
lists the evidences of that in the context (vs. 5–9).
It’s not enough to call yourself a
Christian or even say Jesus is
Lord. What proves you are a
Christian? Doing
“the will of My Father in heaven.” As the old
expression goes, “Words are cheap,” and they seem to get
cheaper every day as the Gospel is redefined in
increasingly broad terms. But our Lord is in no way
ambiguous—the proof of salvation is
obedience.
Earlier in Matthew
(7:14) our Lord says that few go through the
narrow gate that leads to life. He also adds that
there are many wolves that look like sheep (v. 15) but are not, and that we can
identify them by their fruits (vs.
16–20).
Indeed, the two
greatest evidences of true conversion are obedience to
God’s Word (Jn. 14:15, 23; I Jn. 2:1–5; 3:21–24) and
holiness of life (Eph. 4:24; I Thes. 4:3–4, 7; etc.).
Those who do neither one are simply not true believers.
If one chooses to call this “Lordship Salvation,” so be
it, but the fact remains.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
well says:
We must emphasize
that you cannot separate the Lord and Jesus. The person
is one and indivisible. He is always the Lord. There is
no such thing as “coming to Jesus.” In one sense, a man
cannot even come to Christ. He can only come to the Lord
Jesus. . . . A man cannot accept Him as Saviour only,
and then perhaps later decide to accept Him as Lord, for
He is always the Lord. . . . We do not “come to Jesus,”
and we do not believe in Jesus: we come to the Lord
Jesus, we believe in Him as He is.[iv]
The New Testament
nowhere separates Jesus as Savior from Jesus as
Lord. He is either both, or He is neither. We say
again in closing, the so-called “Lordship Salvation”
controversy shouldn’t even be a controversy. The true
believer knows Christ not only as Savior but also as
Lord. The true Christian is a new
creature.
Dr. J. D.
Watson
Pastor-Teacher
Grace Bible
Church
NOTES
[i]
Cited in Roy L. Laurin, Life Matures! Devotional
Exposition of the Book of First Corinthians
(Stationers Corporation, 1941), p. 93.
[ii] Spiros Zodhiates The Complete
Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (AMG
Publishers, 1992),
p. 1160.
[iii] Gerhard Kittle (Editor).
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
(Eerdmans, 1964; reprinted 2006), Vol. VI, p.
205.
[iv] God’s Ultimate Purpose:
An Exposition of Ephesians 1 (Baker Book House,
1983), p. 321.
