THE PRICELESS CREATION: A REBIRTH & RESURRECTION
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. The Priceless Creation
a) Although we became dead in sin, God made it possible for us to be "raised up" created anew in Christ (Ephesians 2:5-6,10).
b) This is the main point about the Priceless Creation. Paul later speaks of this new creation as putting on a new self (Ephesians 4:22-24).
c) Paul makes three connected statements:
i) "We were dead" (Ephesians 2:1,5).
ii) "God... made us alive" (Ephesians 2:4-5).
iii) "We are his workmanship created in Christ" (Ephesians 2:10).
d) When God created our souls in the first place, they were a priceless creation. Yet we destroyed that priceless creation through sin. That has led us to see our need of the "washing of water with the word" which Paul elsewhere calls "the washing of regeneration (rebirth)" (Ephesians 5:26, Titus 3:5).
2. A Rebirth And Resurrection
a) It is in baptism that we are washed in the blood of Jesus because we are "baptized into his death.. buried with him through baptism into death" [meaning his death and death to sin] "so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:3-8). How wonderful it is that we can be raised from death in sin and be made alive again with Christ! (Ephesians 2:5).
The End ...
1. The Priceless Creationa) Although we became dead in sin, God made it possible for us to be "raised up" created anew in Christ (Ephesians 2:5-6,10).
b) This is the main point about the Priceless Creation. Paul later speaks of this new creation as putting on a new self (Ephesians 4:22-24).
c) Paul makes three connected statements:
i) "We were dead" (Ephesians 2:1,5).
ii) "God... made us alive" (Ephesians 2:4-5).
iii) "We are his workmanship created in Christ" (Ephesians 2:10).
d) When God created our souls in the first place, they were a priceless creation. Yet we destroyed that priceless creation through sin. That has led us to see our need of the "washing of water with the word" which Paul elsewhere calls "the washing of regeneration (rebirth)" (Ephesians 5:26, Titus 3:5).
2. A Rebirth And Resurrection
a) It is in baptism that we are washed in the blood of Jesus because we are "baptized into his death.. buried with him through baptism into death" [meaning his death and death to sin] "so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:3-8). How wonderful it is that we can be raised from death in sin and be made alive again with Christ! (Ephesians 2:5).
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