...he is a new creature:  old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

— 2 Corinthians 5:17b

On the day you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you became a new creature.  Spiritually you were born again; in your spirit you were made new.  You became a new creation, a new species of being which never existed before.  For most of your Christian life, you will be gradually discovering who God made you to be at the new birth.  As you find out who you are now and start to identify with your new nature, you will start to change into a brand-new person.  This is accomplished, not by your efforts, but by faith in the Word and in the promises that tell you who you are. Old things have passed away and all things have become new!  Your old nature, with its old habits, has passed away; it is dead and gone.  Until you know this, you will identify with your old nature and your old thought-life and will live like the old being.  Put off the old creature and allow him to be put to death in your mind once and for all, and believe who God declares you to be, what He has made you.  You are a new creature, born of God.

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.   — Romans 6:6

This is something that every Christian must know!  The old man is crucified with Christ.  The old man is not being crucified, is not in the process of dying; he is dead!  We have been taught in the body of Christ to “die to self,” but in order to be dying, you must still be alive!  You (the old man) are not alive; the old man you were is dead and has passed away!  Until you “know” this, you will be fighting with the old man, struggling against the old man, acting like the old man.  Know this:  he is dead!  He was crucified with Christ!  You are no longer an angry man, an insecure person, a failure trying to become a success.  The angry man is dead; the insecure person is gone; the failure has been made a success!  You now have God’s life and God’s divine nature in you–-you are a new spiritual creature.  Do not identify and associate with the old man.  He is crucified with Christ.  There is now a new man in town–-one who no longer will serve sin, one who is able to serve God!

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.  — John 3:7

When you received Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Bible declares you to be “born again.”  Jesus told Nicodemus that you must be born again.  Nicodemus did not understand how you could go back into your mother’s womb and be born once more.  He was thinking about a physical rebirth; Jesus was talking about a spiritual rebirth.  Man is a spirit being; he has a soul and lives in a physical body.  The spirit of man, or the real man, can be born from death to life (Ephesians 2:1) by making a decision to make Jesus his Lord.  When this happens, he then becomes born of the Spirit and born of God (John 1:13; 3:6).  His spirit is instantly born into the image and likeness of God Himself, with authority and dominion to rule on this earth (John 1:12; Ephesians 4:24).  He can then see the kingdom of God (John 3:3), and enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5).  This brings a whole new lifestyle and a new position to a person.  He can now choose and claim what is legally his, because he has been born into the family of God.  You are either born again or you are not--there is nothing in between.  Going to church will not save you, being good will not save you, your denomination will not get you into the kingdom.  You, personally, must be born again.  You must understand that Jesus freely paid the price for your deliverance from death to life and confess Him as your Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9, 10).  You must be born again!

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.