Newness

Jesus had a parable about putting new in old and the improbability of that succeeding which adds context to today’s text.

No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” ¹

Paul reminds the disciples that what they are in Christ is vastly different from what they were before Christ entered their lives. The old life is not to be dragged along as a corpse while we walk in Christ; the old life is to be ‘put to death’ as we now live in Jesus:

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. ²

See what typifies the ‘old’ nature and how incompatible it must be to life in agreement with the LORD? These are two entirely different characters and the writer then draws the line with what is former to what is new:

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. ³

What is ‘old’ is typified by lies and deception while what is ‘new’ is in the image of Creator Jesus. Such a contrast! Things have changed, priorities are renewed after the heart of God, even the view of others is dynamically turned upside down. The disciples lived in a world of divisions, of them vs. us, free or slave but the ‘newness’ redefines all relationships—not just relationship with the LORD but also all personal relationships. Among the disciples, ALL are in Christ and Christ is all that matters.

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. ⁴

This is what should be the true New World Order but it can only be foundationed and functioning in Jesus with each disciple being willingly, faithfully, committedly new in Christ.