This is the transcript of Restitutio episode 632: New Creation in Christ with Sean Finnegan This transcript was auto-generated and only approximates the contents of this episode. Audio file 632 Sean Finnegan - New Creation in Christ.mp3 Transcript 00:00 Hey there, I'm Sean Finnegan, and you are listening to Restitudio, a podcast that seeks to recover authentic Christianity and live it out today. 00:12 Is new creation here now, or must we wait until Christ's coming to experience it? 00:16 If new creation is here now, what does that even mean? 00:20 How can you participate in it? 00:22 Join me as we consider what it means to be in Christ today. 00:26 We'll see that not only has God created a whole new realm through Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension, but also that this new creation spans both heaven and earth. 00:38 Here now is episode 632, New Creation in Christ. 00:50 So I've been working on Colossians a lot, and I'm really interested in this concept, new creation. 00:56 And so my title for this morning is New Creation in Christ. 01:01 And it's not just a doctrine or a concept, it's a worldview, this new creation. 01:09 It's a way of looking at the world, a way of thinking about reality, like glasses, they're lenses through which you perceive reality. 01:20 And I believe that new creation is one of those lenses that we find in scripture for you to understand yourself, for you to understand your brothers and sisters in Christ, for you to understand the lost, for you to understand what is happening with governments and authorities on earth, for you to understand spiritual authorities that are some on earth and some not on earth. 01:50 So I think this is really big. 01:52 It's not super complicated, and for many of you this will be a review, but I just want to lay it out there. 01:58 And I have seven points. 01:59 They say a good preacher should have three. 02:03 We'll see how that goes. 02:04 And really, my first six points are introduction. 02:09 I really just want to get to the seventh point. 02:11 But I can't get there until I lay the understanding out for you of 02:16 how to think about reality. 02:18 And then once we get to that 7th point, I'm hoping that it's just going to fit in there and it's going to make sense and it's really going to inspire you. 02:24 So that's our plan. 02:26 But just let me briefly explain how it works. 02:28 All right, so you have this age, sorry for people on this side, but you're... 02:34 You're in the present evil age, okay, where the world is fallen and sin is just so common and dysfunction and jealousy and bitterness and unforgiveness and bad corrupt leaders and all the things that characterize the badness of our world. 02:53 That's this age, okay? 02:55 And then you have the age to come. 02:57 Look at you, you're so blessed to be in the age to come on this side of the room. 03:02 So you're in the age to come on this side, and that's the future. 03:05 That's when Jesus comes back. 03:07 That's when everything wrong with the world is made right. 03:09 When there's righteousness and justice and peace and equity and wholeness and love and fellowship and healing, all of that is in the age to come. 03:19 We call that the kingdom of God. 03:21 And we call this over here. 03:23 the present evil age, the PEA, present evil age, and then this is the age to come, the kingdom of God. 03:31 And so Jewish people at the time of Christ, at the time of the apostle Paul and so forth, they understood time as having two sections. 03:39 There's the current age, and then there's the age to come when the Messiah comes. 03:42 You talk to a Jew today, a non-Christian Jew, they will still believe in Olam Haba, which is Hebrew for the world to come, or the age to come. 03:52 They're still thinking this is an age to come. 03:55 Now, here's the crazy thing. 04:00 Because of the Christ event, something new, something from the future is already here now in the present evil age. 04:13 We're still in the present evil age. 04:15 If you're not sure about this, check any news source of your preference. 04:22 And you will confirm that we are in a world of dysfunction, of brokenness, of sadness. 04:27 We know that. 04:29 I don't have to preach on that. 04:30 But because of the Christ event, something new has arrived. 04:33 It says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. 04:41 What it actually says in the Greek is, So if anyone is in Christ, new creation. 04:47 It doesn't say there is a, it's just sort of like, 04:51 an excited sentence where you can't wait to get to the punchline, right? 04:56 So if anyone is in Christ, new creation. 05:00 And then we get a behold. 05:03 I'm sure you have seen beholds in the Old Testament, in the New Testament. 05:08 We don't say behold much in American English. 05:12 I don't say behold my wife Ruth, and when I introduce her to others. 05:17 But whatever, it's like, look, look at this, look up. 05:21 It's an excitement word, and that's what we have here next, where it says, Look, new things have come into being. 05:29 Everything old has passed away. 05:31 Look, new things have come into being. 05:34 So, because of the... 05:37 Christ event. 05:37 When I say the Christ event, I mean the whole shebang, the birth of Christ, the life and ministry of Christ, the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the ascension of Christ. 05:47 That whole series of events, I'm just shrinking down to a shorthand, calling it the Christ event. 05:53 Because of the Christ event, something new has come into existence in the midst of the old present age. 06:01 And 06:02 I wanna explain it with six main points. 06:04 Okay, my first point is number one, you exit old creation through death. 06:11 This is not an obvious point, but if you've been reading the Bible, it should feel familiar to you because we talk about death. 06:18 This is not physical death. 06:19 Nobody kill anybody, nobody die here. 06:22 But we're talking about spiritual death. 06:25 20, If with Christ you died, 06:29 What do you mean, if with Christ you die? 06:31 Christ died 2,000 years ago. 06:33 What do you mean, you died? 06:34 You weren't even alive when Christ died. 06:37 Yet there is some sense in which you can die with Christ, even though you were born after he already died. 06:45 This is a mindset. 06:47 It's a spiritual understanding of really the death of the old you. 06:53 You understand, right? 06:54 And we use this term born again. 06:58 So you died and then you were born again. 07:01 20, once again, If with Christ you died to the elementary or the elemental principles of the world, why do you live as if you still belong to the world? 07:11 That's a powerful verse. 07:12 I don't preach just by itself. 07:14 I gotta move on, but that would preach. 07:17 So much going on there. 07:19 Chapter three, verse three says, For you have died and your life is hidden. 07:25 with Christ in God. 07:26 So to exit the old creation, you die. 07:30 We exit the old creation through death. 07:31 Number 2, we enter the new creation through resurrection. 07:35 Colossians 2.12 says, when you were buried with Him in baptism, you were also raised with Him through faith in the power of God who raised Him from the dead. 07:45 Again, you died with Christ, you were raised with Christ. 07:49 Verse 13, and when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him. 07:55 When he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with his legal demands, he set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 08:05 So with Christ, you can die. 08:08 With Christ, you can rise. 08:10 And that's how you exit the old creation and you enter the new creation. 08:15 Number 3, we become one new humanity. 08:21 Colossians 3.11 says, in that renewal, new creation, right? 08:25 In the renewal, there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, enslaved and free, but Christ is all and in all. 08:37 If you are part of new creation in Christ, 08:40 You are part of the new humanity. 08:42 In the new humanity, we have oneness across ethnic, status, gender, all the divisions that our world loves to divide us into. 08:56 And it infuriates me as a Christian. 09:00 When the journalists and the politicians say, White evangelicals, da, da, da, da, da, and young black men, da, da, da, da, da, and Hispanic women, da, da, da, it's like, 09:10 Why are you just doing all that? 09:13 If you're in Christ, you're in one new humanity. 09:18 Yes, you're still white or black or Hispanic. 09:20 That's all still true. 09:21 It's not going away. 09:23 But the fact that you're part of something in Christ is so much bigger than your politics, your race, your gender, or whatever else you got going on, your distinctiveness. 09:35 And look, God is not gonna wipe your distinctiveness out and make you the Borg where you say resistance is futile and you just like all think the same thought at the same time, like in Star Trek, right? 09:46 That's not at all the vision for the future. 09:48 You're gonna bring your distinctiveness into God's kingdom. 09:52 But that's not the most important thing. 09:54 What's the most important thing is our oneness in Christ. 09:57 And so he says, once again, 10:00 11, In that renewal, there is no longer all these divisions, but Christ is all and in all. 10:08 Isn't that beautiful? 10:11 We had a lady come to our church and she said to us, Wow, look at all the diversity you have in your church. 10:20 I can't believe it. 10:21 You know, there's this and there's that, and we have people from this country and that country. 10:25 And I'm like, Yeah, it's the body of Christ. 10:29 We've been doing this for 2,000 years. 10:34 Seriously, you read the book of Acts in like chapter 11 in Antioch and they've got people from Africa and Israel and Greeks and like some high power individuals from the Roman government that are fairly well connected and they're all having table fellowship with each other. 10:51 Like we've been literally doing this for 20 centuries and I see it here today, isn't that beautiful? 10:58 So we are a new part of new humanity. 11:01 We are one in Christ, part of a whole new human race. 11:06 Point #4, with a new way of life. 11:11 We have a whole new way of life. 11:13 It says in Colossians 3, 1, so if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 11:20 Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 11:29 When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with Him in glory. 11:35 I realize that was a lot, but just take away this. 11:37 It's about your mind and it's about what you think about. 11:41 Set your mind on things that are above where Christ is. 11:46 If you died with Christ, if you rose with Christ, then where is Christ? 11:51 He's at the right hand of God. 11:52 So that's where we set our mind. 11:54 And it says in verse 5, put to death therefore 11:57 because you set your mind on what is above, put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly. 12:01 Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. 12:08 On account of these, the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. 12:11 These are the ways you once followed. 12:15 when you were living that life. 12:16 But now you must get rid of all such things, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 12:22 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off, this is a key part, verse nine here, you have stripped off the old self. 12:31 The Greek word here is anthropos, which is the word for human. 12:36 It's also translated man, but it can also mean, in a collective sense, humanity, mankind. 12:43 You are to strip off, and you recognize these things. 12:46 You recognize these behaviors. 12:48 Wrath, malice, greed, idolatry, all these things. 12:52 These are just like all of our TV shows that we watch, right? 12:56 I mean, this is just like the behaviors that characterize our world. 13:00 We recognize them. 13:01 And what this is saying is, okay, that's the world, but you are not of the world anymore if you are in Christ. 13:06 If you are in Christ, you strip off the old way of being and thinking and living as a human being. 13:14 And you put on a new humanity. 13:17 Okay, let me read it to you again. 13:18 Verse 9, do not lie to one another. 13:20 seeing that you have stripped off the old humanity or the old human with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge according to the image of its creator. 13:33 Paul uses creation language to describe salvation. 13:39 This is just something that he does because it's that big. 13:42 It's as if God said once again, let there be light and there was light. 13:47 You know, it's that big of a transition. 13:50 The old humanity is patterned on Adam. 13:55 Adam was the first man. 13:57 Adam is the prototype of the old humanity. 13:59 What did Adam do? 14:02 Not so well. 14:02 You know, I mean, he was like, I'm sure he was like, had some good days in there too. 14:07 But how he's known to us is that he fell and Eve. 14:13 Adam and Eve both fell. 14:14 So this is not a sexist thing. 14:15 It's not like guys are just the problem. 14:17 Eve was the problem too. 14:18 Adam, together, 14:20 They represent humanity and they fell into sin. 14:25 And you died to that old humanity. 14:30 But here's the problem. 14:33 We died to it, but we still got our grave clothes on. 14:39 We came out of that tomb, we came back to life, but we still got our grave clothes on. 14:45 Dead men walking. 14:46 Can you imagine how gross that is just for a second? 14:48 Like somebody dies, if you've been to a funeral, they usually put them in a nice suit or something. 14:54 Could you imagine coming back to life and being like, you know what, I'm just going to keep wearing the clothes they buried me in. 15:01 They're comfortable. 15:03 Like gross, you were dead in that. 15:05 You probably got like body fluids from being dead all over it. 15:11 Gross, take off your grave clothes. 15:15 Strip off that old way of thinking and living. 15:18 That's not you anymore. 15:19 If you have died with Christ, then that is dead, and then you have been brought to life into a new creation. 15:25 What are you going to do? 15:26 Wear your grave clothes around? 15:28 Nobody wants to see that. 15:31 Put on the new clothing that is in Christ Jesus, that is renewed in the image of its Creator. 15:38 We are created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 15:44 We are created in Christ Jesus for good works. 15:48 All right, so point number five, led by the Spirit, led by the Holy Spirit. 15:53 Jesus told his disciples after he was raised from the dead, he said to them, stay in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit is coming. 16:01 Their immediate response, this is Acts chapter one, their immediate response was, is now the time to restore the kingdom to Israel? 16:08 Because for the disciples, 16:10 to hear about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit just meant that the kingdom is about to arrive, the age to come, the judgment, the resurrection, everything is about to happen. 16:21 Because when you look at the Old Testament prophecies of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah, in Ezekiel, and other places, Joel, some of you will be familiar with Joel's prophecy about the, in the last days, God will pour out His Spirit on all flesh, and the old men will dream dreams, and the young 16:39 You know, this idea is that it's something that belongs to the age to come. 16:43 The pouring out of the Holy Spirit belongs to the age to come. 16:47 It's part of the future. 16:48 It's part of God's ultimate plan for restoration. 16:51 It's an end times reality. 16:54 And Jesus says to them, it's coming soon. 16:56 And they're like, all right, so it's the end. 16:59 And he's like, well, not quite. 17:03 He says, it's not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father has put in his, you know, so in other words, 17:08 No, the end isn't here, but the Spirit is. 17:12 It says in Galatians chapter five, verse 16, it says, Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17:22 For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to prevent you from doing what you want. 17:31 The Holy Spirit is the future breaking into the present. 17:35 The Holy Spirit should not be poured out yet. 17:40 You read the prophecies. 17:41 Go ahead and read them in Isaiah and Ezekiel and Joel. 17:43 You read them. 17:43 The Spirit's poured out and the whole land gets rejuvenated. 17:46 There's no more deserts. 17:47 You know, like, hey, we still have deserts. 17:48 So what is going on? 17:50 What's going on is that the Messiah has come and He has established a beachhead of the future in the present. 17:59 And part of that is the indwelling of the Spirit. 18:02 So the spirit is part of this new creation, and it's associated with the future. 18:08 When you read about it, it's a pledge of the future inheritance, but it's something that we already have now. 18:15 You have the flesh, you have that old way, and then you have the spirit, you have that new way. 18:19 If all we had was the flesh and the example of Christ, we'd be like, I really want the example of Christ, but the flesh just keeps pulling. 18:26 But it's not just like that. 18:28 We also have the spirit now to enable us to live the new way. 18:34 All right, Galatians 5, 24 says, and those who belong to Christ, anybody here belong to Christ? 18:38 I want to see if anybody belongs to Christ in the house today. 18:41 Thank you. 18:42 If those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh, that is a violent verb. 18:50 Crucify your flesh. 18:53 What they did to Jesus, you do to your flesh. 18:58 Crucify it. 19:00 If you belong to Christ, you have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 19:05 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. 19:09 Point number six, until Christ returns to renew all creation. 19:14 New creation entered our world when God raised Jesus from the dead. 19:18 That was the moment when the future broke into the present. 19:23 People had been raised from the dead before Christ. 19:26 Can you think of any examples? 19:28 Lazarus, any other examples come to mind? 19:32 Before Christ? 19:34 Like Old Testament? 19:35 Elijah raising a young child? 19:38 Yeah, Elijah raised a young child, right? 19:40 There was one really weird one where they were burying a guy, and a raiding party of the enemy was coming by, and they're like, oh, we better go hide. 19:50 And they just tossed him in a grave, and he accidentally hit Elijah's bones. 19:54 And he popped back to life and he's just like, yo, where's going on, guys? 19:58 Right? 19:59 But my point is, if you look at these resurrections before Christ or even other ones that happened after Christ, they're what I would call resuscitations. 20:08 You know, they're healings. 20:10 Okay? 20:11 That's not what happened to Christ. 20:13 Christ's resurrection was not just like, and I'm back. 20:17 You know what I mean? 20:18 And maybe he's got another 40 years to live and then he dies. 20:20 No, that's not what happened with Christ. 20:22 What happened with Christ was the future reality, the future resurrection is going to happen to all of God's people. 20:29 We're not just going to be brought back to life. 20:30 We're going to be made immortal so we can't die again. 20:34 That already happened to Jesus. 20:38 You understand? 20:38 So that's new creation breaking in through Christ at that moment of resurrection when some major things changed. 20:47 And then Christ will return to renew all creation like that. 20:53 When Christ comes, he will resurrect his people. 20:55 Jesus says, many of those who are in the tombs will hear my voice. 20:59 People, I don't know if you've spent any time near tombs, but like they don't hear anything. 21:05 You know, they're just dead. 21:07 Well, when the Son of God speaks, they hear his voice and they will come out of their graves to the resurrection of life. 21:15 And at which point, when Christ comes back, new creation will aggressively take over the old creation. 21:22 That's the plan. 21:23 Ephesians 1.9 says, he has made known to us the mystery of his will according to the good pleasure that he set forth in Christ. 21:30 He's talking about God as the architect, as the tactician that put the whole plan together. 21:36 as a plan, verse 10, for the fullness of time to gather up all things in him, in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. 21:44 That's the ultimate goal of God is to gather everything up in Christ. 21:49 It's a beautiful vision. 21:51 All right, so let's review. 21:52 I just wanna finish my introduction here. 21:55 My first six points, simply this. 21:59 We exit the old creation through death, we enter the new creation through resurrection, 22:05 to become a whole new humanity with a new way of life led by the Spirit until Christ comes to renew all creation. 22:18 That's a synopsis of the new creation understanding, the new creation model, the lenses through which I'm trying to perceive reality. 22:28 So if you see somebody that's not a Christian 22:30 and they're sinning, you're not like surprised, like, oh, I can't believe they did that. 22:34 Be like, well, that's old creation. 22:35 That's what old creation always does. 22:39 So, all right, let's get to my main point. 22:44 Everything you experience in Christ now foreshadows the future. 22:49 With that introduction in mind, let's look at Colossians 1:13 and talk about the powers. 22:55 I wanna talk to you about the powers, understanding the powers, spiritual powers, 22:59 is actually really important for you in your walk with the Lord. 23:03 It says in Colossians 1, 13 that God has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son. 23:12 Unless Jesus has a son, this has got to be God, right? 23:14 So we got the pronoun, right? 23:16 God has rescued us from the power of darkness. 23:19 Do you hear me? 23:20 God has rescued you from the power of darkness, from the authority of darkness. 23:25 There is an authority in a realm in our world today of darkness, and it has authority over human beings, OK? 23:33 I don't think we really necessarily grasp this fully because we think we are so great and so capable, and we're all the exception. 23:42 And like, oh, yeah, yeah, the power of darkness, yeah, but I'm not like everybody else. 23:45 I can fight against it if I want-- no, you can't. 23:48 That's not how authority works. 23:51 Authority means authority. 23:53 It means that you're under that power structure. 23:56 And because of Christ, you've been transferred out of that power structure into the kingdom of his beloved son. 24:06 That's true for Christians. 24:07 Other people, it's not like they can't ever do anything right. 24:11 Even a broken clock is right twice a day, right? 24:14 Somebody can do something good or virtuous, but like overall, they're under that authority power structure. 24:21 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 24:23 So we are now in the domain and the authority of the kingdom of his beloved son. 24:30 Verse 15, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 24:35 I'll be quick with this, but image of God makes me think of Adam again, because it says in Genesis 1, let us make man in our image and after our likeness and let them have dominion. 24:45 over the birds of the sky and over the fish of the sea and over the land animals. 24:49 So the idea of image of God is the idea of humanity as it's supposed to be, the prototype of humanity, which was Adam and Eve given dominion. 25:01 That's Christ as well. 25:03 He's the image of the invisible God. 25:05 And he did a heck of a lot better job than Adam and Eve did, amen? 25:11 Number two on this verse is the firstborn of all creation. 25:15 All right, you could take this a couple of different ways. 25:17 If you think this is talking about old creation, you would have to say, well, this is, he existed then. 25:24 But I think this is actually talking about new creation. 25:28 That this is talking about how Jesus is the firstborn from the dead, as it says in verse 18, the second-half of verse 18, that he's the firstborn from the dead. 25:39 It says in another place that all die in Adam, all will be made alive in Christ, Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to him. 25:49 So Christ is the firstborn of all creation. 25:52 Christ's resurrection was the beginning of new creation. 26:00 That's what I'm trying to say to you. 26:02 It was the starting point that then from there it expanded. 26:07 It says in verse 15, once again, I'll just read it. 26:10 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 26:14 For in Him all things in heaven and earth were created things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers. 26:20 All things have been created through Him and for Him. 26:24 He Himself is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 26:27 He is the head of the body, the church. 26:30 So when we look at the creation specified here in this section of scripture, it says, in him, in Christ, were created all things. 26:46 And it says, it gives three sets of qualifiers, in heaven and on earth, invisible and visible. 26:56 And then the last one, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. 27:00 Okay, so it's like a triple explanation of what we mean by all things here. 27:06 I think this is talking about new creation, the idea that God initiated new creation in Christ on earth by raising him from the dead. 27:18 That's the starting point of the new creation. 27:20 But then every single person that converts, every single person that says, yes, Jesus is Lord. 27:26 is part of that new creation. 27:27 So that's a creation that's expanding out on earth. 27:31 But there's also a new creation in heaven. 27:34 The most obvious example of it is Christ himself going to heaven. 27:38 He was on earth and now then he went to heaven. 27:40 And so he's now in heaven in a new role. 27:44 But there are also spiritual authorities. 27:46 I'll get to that in a second. 27:46 On earth, there are authority structures. 27:48 There are pastors and elders and deacons and prophets and apostles and all these different titles we read about in the Bible. 27:57 These are thrones and dominions and rulers and powers. 28:00 These are the same on earth. 28:01 And then you also have it in heaven with Jesus himself at the top. 28:07 Now, here's the thing. 28:08 When we think about the Christ event, I don't want you to think of it as 28:13 only something that is individual to you, I want you to look at the big scope, the big picture, the cosmic aspect of the Christ event. 28:25 It says in Hebrews 9, 12, he entered once for all into the holy place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 28:35 When it says Christ entered the holy place, you are automatically going to think, oh, he went to the temple. 28:42 Because in the temple, in Jerusalem, 2000 years ago, there was a place called the Holy Place. 28:47 But Hebrews makes it clear, this is not talking about the temple on earth. 28:52 Christ did not bring his blood into the temple on earth. 28:56 They rejected him on earth. 28:57 They crucified him on earth. 28:59 This is talking about something really cosmic and heavenly. 29:06 Not something that is just going into a building on earth. 29:09 He entered once for all into the holy place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 29:16 I'll show you another verse in this. 29:17 Verse 24, For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 29:30 Something happened in the spiritual realm with the crucifixion of Christ, with his death. 29:36 It wasn't just the Romans, 29:38 that killed him. 29:39 And that's as simple as it is. 29:40 And if you had a video camera there, you'd be like, all right, I got the whole picture. 29:44 No, you didn't get the whole picture. 29:46 You didn't. 29:46 There's a spiritual dimension. 29:48 There's a physical dimension. 29:50 There's a heavenly reality. 29:51 There's an earthly reality as well. 29:54 Something happened in the spiritual realm with his death. 29:57 Something happened in the spiritual realm with his resurrection. 30:00 Something happened in the spiritual realm with his ascension. 30:03 Are you with me? 30:04 All right, take a look at this verse in Ephesians chapter one. 30:08 Very similar language to what we just read. 30:10 Ephesians one, verse 20 says, God put his power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. 30:20 That's no big deal. 30:21 You understand that, right? 30:22 Look at this next part though. 30:24 Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but that which is to come. 30:32 Hello. 30:34 This is the same collection of power structures that we just read, and this is talking about this age and the age to come. 30:42 This is tying it all together. 30:43 Let me read it again. 30:44 God has put him far above, verse 21, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the age to come, and has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. 31:03 Christ Jesus is exalted to the right hand of God far above all the different authorities that are in heaven and the authorities that are on earth with reference to the church. 31:18 Christ is not ruling over the whole world. 31:21 You notice that, right? 31:22 Either He's the worst ruler of all time, or He's not ruling over the whole world. 31:27 He's ruling among those who say, Jesus is Lord. 31:33 It's optional. 31:34 It's voluntary. 31:35 If you say Jesus is Lord, now you're in Christ. 31:37 I want you to think of this carpet as in Christ. 31:40 It's a domain where you're inside of his sphere of influence. 31:45 You understand? 31:46 And then over here, I'm not in Christ. 31:49 I'm just in the world. 31:51 I'm in old creation. 31:52 In Christ, I'm still living in old creation, but living as a new creation created in Christ. 31:58 You understand? 32:00 All right, so 32:01 Christ, just before he ascended, he's talking to his disciples, and he says to them, after the resurrection, he says to them, Matthew 28:18, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 32:21 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. 32:24 Go take over the world. 32:27 I mean, that's what he's saying, like not with a sword, but like, make converts of all nations. 32:32 Hold on a second. 32:35 Jesus said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 32:38 Jesus didn't have all authority on heaven and on earth. 32:42 He said it was given to him. 32:45 Because of the Christ event, of his death and his resurrection, and now he's just about to ascend, he has now been given that authority. 32:53 That's what he said. 32:54 All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. 32:56 We think to ourselves, okay, this only applies to Christians. 33:02 It's bigger than that. 33:03 There are heavenly realities that Christ is now in authority over that he wasn't before by virtue of his ascension. 33:12 This is huge. 33:13 And here is where it really, the rubber hits the road for us, is that when it comes to the powers, when it comes to spiritual powers, there are ones that are blessed and that serve God and that are administrating his will. 33:26 And then there are bad ones. 33:28 There are malevolent spiritual powers. 33:31 Both exist. 33:32 And it says in Ephesians 6:10, finally, 33:37 Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 33:39 Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 33:44 For our struggle is against flesh and blood. 33:48 That is not what it says. 33:50 That's what we think. 33:51 That's how you live. 33:53 But that's not what it says. 33:55 What it says is our struggle is not against blood and flesh. 34:00 It says that it's against the rulers 34:03 against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. 34:11 There are both positive and negative spiritual powers. 34:14 Christ is above them all. 34:15 And if you are in Christ, he gives you protection. 34:19 Are you in Christ? 34:23 Are you in Christ when you're watching ****? 34:28 No. 34:28 Are you in Christ when you're telling a lie because you don't want to get in trouble for something? 34:33 No, you're not in Christ. 34:35 Are you in Christ when you're cheating? 34:37 When you're shading the truth? 34:39 When you're doing a shady business deal? 34:41 No, you're over here. 34:43 Are you crazy? 34:47 Are you crazy? 34:47 Are you going to step outside of Christ? 34:51 Have you lost your mind? 34:52 Do you think if there are spiritual, malevolent, evil spiritual powers? 34:59 You think they care about the poor slob over here that has never heard of Christ, is just like trying to live life? 35:07 No, no, no, no. 35:09 They're looking for the brother of Christ, the sister of Christ who just stepped outside for a minute. 35:16 The spiritual powers are licking their lips for that one, because that is fresh meat. 35:21 That's somebody that they can really go after. 35:26 You want to leave-- 35:27 the sphere of Christ and new creation and jump into old creation, it's not gonna be like old times. 35:35 It doesn't work like that. 35:36 You've been touched, you've been sanctified, you've been redeemed. 35:39 You're a target now, or you're protected. 35:44 You understand? 35:46 You think you could last one round against the authority, this is a direct quote, The authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. 35:57 No, you can't outside of Christ. 36:02 Inside of Christ, he already is above all of that. 36:07 He's already above all principalities and powers of might and dominion, every name that can be named, not only in this age, but also in the age to come. 36:13 In Christ, you're safe. 36:14 You got it. 36:17 There is no playing with sin once you're a new creation in Christ. 36:23 So new creation 36:25 is not just individual salvation with improved morality. 36:30 Individual salvation is important. 36:32 Improved morality is important, okay? 36:36 But it's not just that. 36:37 It's a whole new reality, a whole new humanity, which includes the church, the capital C church, all Christians worldwide, but it also includes heavenly realities that I don't even really know exactly how they work other than they exist, and they're called authorities and dominions and thrones and powers. 36:54 And that's all part of this in Christ realm that we call new creation. 36:58 So let's review. 37:00 We exit old creation through death. 37:02 We enter new creation through resurrection to become a new humanity with a new way of life led by the Spirit until Christ returns to renew all creation. 37:14 And in the meanwhile, stay in Christ so that you can fulfill the work 37:22 that God has prepared. 37:24 You are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He has prepared beforehand that you would walk in them. 37:33 Well, that brings this message to an end. 37:36 If you have any comments, questions, or feedback, come on over to restitudio.org, find episode 632, New Creation in Christ. 37:45 and leave your thoughts there. 37:48 On episode 629, debating Al Garza is Jesus Yahweh with Mike Temporado. 37:54 On one of the shorts from that episode, Dr. 37:57 Al Garza wrote in saying, this is the type of response you get when they can't deal with the substance of the argument. 38:05 Nobody was claiming that Paul wrote it in Aramaic. 38:08 When you examined a specific text or verse, you look at the most earliest languages to see how the scribes understood the context. 38:18 This is sad to watch when you have untrained individuals who have no real linguistic or exegesis training. 38:27 And then he inserted some sort of cartoon emoji picture, which I have no idea what it means. 38:34 So I just want to offer a couple of thoughts on what he said. 38:37 Now, the short in question was called Paul never wrote to Corinth in Aramaic, exclamation point. 38:43 And this is where I took Algarza to task on his insistence on chucking the Aramaic translation and making his arguments on the basis of that. 38:56 And essentially what he did in 38:59 First Corinthians, I believe it was maybe 12, is he found a verse where Jesus is called Lord, and he went to the Aramaic translation, a translation that came centuries and centuries and centuries after the New Testament was written, and made the case that because the Aramaic scribe interpreted the word Lord there as Yahweh, that therefore that's what Paul meant. 39:21 And such an argument is typically used by Aramaic primacists, 39:26 These are the people who believe the New Testament was originally written in Aramaic. 39:31 Now, I assumed that Al Garza was one of these such people. 39:37 Why else would he go to a late translation to make a point about what Paul thought? 39:43 But I guess I was wrong about that. 39:45 He's not an Aramaic primacist. 39:46 He doesn't believe that the New Testament was written originally in Aramaic. 39:51 He believes it was written in Greek, like pretty much everybody else. 39:54 At which point we have to ask the question, Dr. 39:57 Al Garza, why in the world do we care how a translation done centuries later interpreted a text? 40:04 Why do we care? 40:06 The Greek is clearly ambiguous. 40:09 That's a funny turn of phrase. 40:10 Clearly ambiguous. 40:12 What I mean by that is it's the word Kyrios, and the word Kyrios just means Lord. 40:17 And the word Lord can reply to God or it can reply to humans. 40:21 Abigail called David Lord a bunch of times in the Old Testament. 40:25 People called Jesus Lord. 40:26 Jesus had people call others Lord in his parables that were clearly just regular humans of authority. 40:34 So it's perfectly ambiguous and we need to just leave it there. 40:38 I mean, honestly, this is all we have to make the case that Jesus is Yahweh is an Aramaic translation. 40:47 I mean, we're talking about the Syriac Peshitta, which is a translation dating to four centuries or five centuries after Christ. 40:56 I mean, who cares? 40:58 We know that the scribe was probably Trinitarian by that time because the Trinity had already swept most of the Christian church and that this was already the period where they were working out the Chalcedonian definition of 431 41:15 ironing out the details and complexities of the two natures of Christ. 41:19 So we would assume that all the scribes would have interpreted Lord as Yahweh at this point in time, because the Trinity controversy had already occurred and by force of the emperor's decree, everyone had to believe in it or else face the consequences. 41:35 So yeah, if there were any official translations made at this point, we would expect them to have Trinitarian bias, just like translations done today have Trinitarian 41:45 Tobias, if they're done by evangelicals especially, but by lots of different Christians. 41:49 So this absolutely befuddles me. 41:53 If Algarza did not believe the New Testament was originally written in Aramaic, who cares that five centuries later scribes were Trinitarian? 42:02 Of course they were. 42:03 What's the point in even bringing that up? 42:05 And this comes back to the problem with Algarza's opening statement where he did not explain his position on the Aramaic. 42:15 He just started quoting from this late Aramaic translation and citing it as evidence for what the authors of the New Testament believed. 42:25 So this is really on him for not explaining his position or how it works in any kind of detail. 42:32 But anyhow, back to his comment. 42:34 He said, when you examined a specific text or verse, you look at the earliest languages. 42:39 Yes, agree. 42:41 What's the earliest language, Al Garza? 42:44 The earliest language is Greek. 42:46 It's not a 5th century Aramaic translation. 42:51 Come on. 42:52 We have much earlier translations in Coptic, Latin, Ethiopic, Gothic. 42:59 Why doesn't Algarzi use any of them? 43:01 They're earlier than the Syriac Peshitta. 43:03 So, and besides, there's still translations. 43:06 We're always going to prioritize the Greek manuscripts over translations into other languages because it was originally written in Greek. 43:14 As I made the case that Paul would never have written to a city like Corinth in Aramaic because in Corinth, people didn't speak Aramaic. 43:22 And then Al Garza's last point is sad to watch when you have untrained individuals who have no real linguistic or exegesis training. 43:32 This to me is just an ad hominem attack. 43:35 He has no idea what my training is one way or the other or Mike's training one way or the other. 43:40 And look, arguments function on the basis of reasons. 43:45 We weigh reasons against each other and apply logic to see if the reasoning is valid. 43:52 We don't just attack people and say, oh, you don't have the right training. 43:56 You don't have the right credentials like I have. 43:59 Well, 44:00 That's, to me, that's an indication that you lost the argument, is that you start attacking people's credentials. 44:07 Now, as far as training in linguistics and exegesis, I actually do have legitimate training in linguistics. 44:17 Well, not in linguistics as a field, but in the biblical languages and in exegesis. 44:23 I've taken many different classes on ancient Greek, including a year at my church to learn Koine Greek, and then a second year at Boston University, 2 semesters of intermediate Greek, and then three more semesters of advanced Greek, learning classical Greek at Harvard Divinity School. 44:42 And then lots of time in Hebrew as well, but not in a university setting, just with a teacher from a local synagogue. 44:52 and then some online instruction and just personal study. 44:56 So his accusation is not even true. 44:59 I do actually know what I'm talking about. 45:01 I do read my Bible in Hebrew and Greek. 45:03 So these accusations are just, they're just false. 45:07 He's just lobbying them out to see what sticks. 45:10 And I do also have degrees, a bachelor's degree in theology and also a master's in theology. 45:16 But honestly, none of that really matters for the sake of this argument. 45:19 What matters for the sake of the argument, he made a case based on a translation done 4 plus centuries after Paul wrote his epistle. 45:31 This somewhat reminds me of the preacher who, having come to a weak point in his sermon, wrote in his manuscript, weak point, slam pulpit and shout here. 45:44 It's just 45:45 Shouting and waving your hands around does not strengthen your point. 45:48 And so anyhow, if anybody is interested in watching that debate, you can just type in Al Garza, Mike Temperato, and you'll be able to find it that way. 45:58 Or you can watch or listen to the debate review. 46:01 I have a video of it on YouTube, Restitudio YouTube channel, and certainly the audio here is a podcast on episode 629, Debating Al Garza. 46:11 that's going to bring this episode to a close. 46:13 Thanks everybody for listening to the end here. 46:16 If you'd like to support us, you can do that at restitudio.org. 46:20 Thanks so much to all of you who are supporting. 46:22 We will be getting out the year-end tax information to you in early January, primarily by e-mail. 46:28 And if you do prefer a written statement for the IRS through the snail mail, we can certainly do that as well, but you just need to let us know. 46:36 and you can do that by emailing me, shron@restitudio.org, and I'll be sure to make sure that gets done. 46:43 I'll catch you next week, everybody, and remember, the truth has nothing to fear.