Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:  old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.   — 2 Corinthians 5:17

Big changes came to you when you were born again and born of God.  You are no longer the person you used to be.  Although you look the same in the natural and think the same in your soul, you were totally recreated in your spirit.  You are a new creature, or a new species of being which never existed before.  You will now spend the rest of your life discovering who you have become by the grace of God!  Notice in this verse that old things have passed away.  Along with the new birth there was a death that took place.  The old person that you used to be “passed away.”  The sinner, the weak person, the person subject to sin, sickness, demons, fear, and worry has passed away, and all things are become new and all things are of God (2 Cor. 5:18a).  You have been born into a kingdom and into an inheritance that are of God.  You are now His child and have the ability to grow up to be like Him.  Dominion and authority have been restored to you, the same as Adam had before his fall.  You are not who you used to be.  You are a new creature, not becoming a new creature, not struggling to be a new creature – you are a new creature!  As you renew your soul (your mind, will, and emotions) to the Word of God, the “new you” will start to come out of the inside of you.  You will one day be totally transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2)-–you will slowly become in your soul who you really are in your spirit because of the new birth and the renewing of your mind.

But God commendeth [shows and clearly proves] his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

— Romans 5:8, 9

While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Jesus went to the cross for us and shed His blood when we did not deserve it.  He did it through the unconditional love He had for us.  Notice, it was while we were sinners.  You were a sinner, but because of His death, you are no longer a sinner.  The sinner died or passed away, and you are now justified by the Blood!  Is it possible to be justified, yet believe I am still a sinner?  A failure?  Unrighteous?  Because of lack of knowledge, many Christians, even though born again, claim to be “a sinner saved by grace.”  They choose to believe that who they really are is based on their performance, rather than basing who they really are on the Blood.  You are now justified, or can live “just as if you never sinned.”  Here’s where your delegated right to “choose and become” comes in.  You must believe who the Word says you are–-and you can.  You are not a recovering alcoholic, an angry man, a non-practicing drug addict, or a sickly person.  The alcoholic, the angry man, the drug addict, the sickly person died the day you were born again.  That person has passed away and you have become new –-justified by the Blood.  But you have been given the right to choose–-the sinner or the saint, the sick or the healed, the bound or the free.  You can be a new creation, justified by the Blood, and still claim and believe you are the old sinner you were!  What you believe, you will get.  Choose to grow up to be what the Word says you are, simply by believing the promises provided by the Blood.  The choice is yours!

 and no relationship-–they cannot co-exist together.  He is telling us to not believe we are one part born of God and the other part born of the devil, one part a sinner and the other part righteous, one part of Christ and the other part of the devil.  This will cause a dual-personality Christian-–one who is righteous today but a sinner tomorrow, Christ-like today but the old sinful flesh tomorrow.  Why?  Because this person chooses to judge who he is by his own performance that day.  You must never judge who you are by your performance, but you must believe who you are by His performance.  Your believing in what the Blood has made you will change your performance.  You cannot claim to be a sinner and then live righteous, claim to be like the devil and live like Christ–-there is no fellowship or communion between the two.  When you sin, it does not make you a sinner, any more than if I put on a dress would I become a woman.  You are the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21) and the more you believe it, the more sin will leave your life.  If you sin, do not claim to be a sinner, but renounce the sin and reclaim your righteousness.  You are who God says you are.  If you believe it, you will live like God says you can live.

For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.   — 2 Corinthians 6:16b-18

Can you believe that?  Can you believe that you are the temple of God?  That He dwells and walks in you?  You can claim that you are who God says you are.  You are not claiming it so that you become it, or so God will do it, but you are claiming it because that is who you really are!  You are a temple of God-–not going to be, hoping to be, trying to be-–you are!  You will either claim the old man and his traits or the new man and his traits.  Whatever you claim, you will associate and identify with.  Claim to be a sinner and you will live like one.  Claim to be a righteous man and you will live like one.  You can choose your new nature!  Nobody can claim your new nature for you but you.  You were sickly, you were a failure, you were subject to sin, anger, impatience, fear, worry, and doubt-–but now you are a new creation, the righteousness of God, the temple of Almighty God.  When you believe and claim this identity, your relationship with God will change.  You will go from a “God and His people” (2 Cor. 6:16b) to a Father and son (2 Cor. 6:18) relationship.  You will begin to act like God is your Father, to think like God is in you, and to treat the devil and demons like you are a new creature, a son of God.  The Son, Christ, in you, will be manifested to the world, and you will begin to destroy the works of the devil (Col. 1:27; 1 John 3:8).  Just through believing, associating, and identifying with the new person He has made you to be by the new birth will cause you to grow up in Him in all things.