New Creation

New Creation

Nicky Cruz grew up in New York's most violent gangs in the 1950s, feared even by his own gang. David Wilkerson, a young country preacher, approached him on the street and told him God loved him. Cruz mocked him and threatened him. Wilkerson replied: 'You could cut me in a thousand pieces and every piece would say God loves you.' Cruz came to faith at a rally months later and wept like a child. The transformation was so complete that former gang members who encountered him years later could not believe they were the same person. He said: 'I was not reformed. I was made new. Those are completely different things.'

Paul's declaration in 2 Corinthians 5:17 is stunning in its scope: the new creation has come. The Greek is kaine ktisis — not renovated, not improved, not rehabilitated, but new creation. Paul uses the same word used in Genesis 1 for God creating the cosmos. When someone comes to Christ, something of creation-magnitude happens in them. The old things passed away — aorist tense, completed action. The new has come — perfect tense, completed with continuing results. This is not just positional theology; it is experiential. The person who is in Christ is genuinely different in their orientation, their identity, their direction. The old patterns and identities don't disappear automatically — but they no longer define. There is a new reality to grow into. You are already new. Now live it.