Your New Identity (Victory Series Book #2): A Transforming Union with God (10 page)

Ephesians 4:1–16

Key Point

Fellowship in the family of God affirms our identity in Christ.

Key Verses

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

1 Peter 2:9–10

I
n sanctification we not only “participate in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) but also allow God to restore our true nature as human beings. The true nature of humanity is realized in Christian community. An individual becomes fully human only in relationship to God and His people. It is clear from God’s statement that “it is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18) that we as humans were not designed to live in isolation from others. To be human is to be co-human.

Our community nature as humans is also evident from the fact that we were created in the image of God, who is triune. The Trinity is a fellowship of three persons, making God a social being. The Father would not be the Father except for His relationship to the Son and the Spirit. The Son would not be the Son without being related to the Father and the Spirit.

We exist, then, not as separate entities but as a part of humanity. The Bible’s often-used metaphor of the Church as a body makes this apparent. If we were to find a part that was separated from the rest of the body and we have no knowledge of its relation to the body, we would be unable to identify what it really was—its nature, purpose, and function. A toe or kneecap by itself would appear to serve no useful purpose. We would simply identify it as a useless blob of flesh. It acquires its identity only in relation to other parts of the body. We not only have a personal relationship with God but, being part of the family of God, we also have a corporate relationship with our heavenly Father.

We require community to know fulfillment as humans, and our Christian growth also requires community for us to reach our full God-designed potential as born-again humans. To accomplish this, God “gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the Body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11–13). We absolutely need God, and we necessarily need each other.

When we come to Christ, we come with all the others who are alive in Christ. Paul wrote, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). This oneness is expressed repeatedly in the book of Ephesians. We are all “fellow citizens” (2:19). We are “joined together . . . to become a holy temple in the Lord” and “built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (2:21–22). The gospel has made us all “heirs together,” “members together,” and “sharers together” (3:6).

Solitary sainthood is unknown to the New Testament. Sanctification is not just a matter of
I
or
me
. The New Testament commonly speaks of holiness using the terms “we” and “our.” The word “saint” is used 60
times in the plural, but only once in the singular. Therefore, dear Christian, welcome to the family of God.

Can a believer have a good relationship with God in exclusion of other believers? Explain.

How does fellowship in the family of God affirm our true identity in Christ?

In what ways are we in need of each other?

How is your relationship with God being helped or hindered by other believers?

Do you presently sense that you are part of the family of God? Why or why not?

This title of honor [see 1 Peter 2:9], which God gave to His ancient people through Moses, the apostle Peter now applies to the Gentiles, and rightly so, because they have believed in Christ who was the true cornerstone of Israel’s faith. The Gentiles are therefore a chosen race, in contradistinction to those who have been rejected because they themselves rejected the living stone. They are a royal priesthood because they are joined to the body of Him who is both the king and the true high priest. As their king, Christ grants them a share in His kingdom and as their priest He purifies them with the sacrifice of His own blood.

Bede (AD 673–735)

Jeremiah 31:23–34

Key Point

Under the New Covenant of grace, we live by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Key Verse

I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Jeremiah 31:33

G
od made a covenant with the nation of Israel at the time of the Exodus from Egypt. This conditional Mosaic Covenant (detailed in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) stipulated that the Israelites would receive God’s blessings if they obeyed Him but would be punished if they didn’t (see Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28). Because they disobeyed and rebelled against the Law, their final judgment came with the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The Temple was destroyed and the Jewish people were deported to Babylon, where they remained in captivity for 70 years.

However, God had not forgotten His people. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God made a new covenant with the Israelites. God said, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33). According to this New Covenant, God’s law would be written on their hearts rather than on stone tablets (see Exodus 34:1). They would have the ability to live up to His righteous standards and enjoy His blessings because of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

This New Covenant also made a provision for our sin. God said, “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). By making this covenant, God was not overlooking our sin, nor was He forgetting it. God couldn’t forget it, because He is omniscient. “I will remember your sins no more” means “I will not take the past and use it against you in the future.” Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

In order for the New Covenant to be efficacious, a sacrifice would be required. Before His crucifixion, Jesus announced in the Upper Room that the New Covenant would be inaugurated through the shedding of His blood (see Matthew 26:27–28; Luke 22:20). The permanence of this New Covenant was underscored by the promise that the descendants of Israel would continue to exist (see Jeremiah 31:35–36). The power God displayed in creating the universe was the same power that would ensure the preservation of His Chosen People.

Although this covenant was made with Israel and Judah (see Jeremiah 31:31), the Church would also receive the benefits of it (see Hebrews 8:8–12). The New Covenant was inaugurated on the Day of Pentecost when all the Jewish believers were gathered to celebrate the fiftieth day after the Sabbath of Passover week. Thus, the Early Church believers were all Jewish. John wrote, “Salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22), and the unconditional covenant God had made with Abraham ensured that “all peoples on earth” would be blessed through Abraham (Genesis 12:3). As the book of Acts tells us, the gospel first came to the Jews and then to the Gentiles.

The Church has been grafted into the original “branch,” which is Israel (see Romans 11). All New Testament believers, both Jew and Gentile, live under the New Covenant that guarantees spiritual life and the forgiveness
of sins. Consequently, believers no longer relate to God on the basis of the old Mosaic Covenant that required strict observance of the Law. The New Covenant is one of grace that calls for believers to live by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.

What were the terms and conditions of the old Mosaic Covenant that God established with Israel?

How was the law a taskmaster that would lead us to Christ?

How are Gentiles included with Israel in the New Covenant?

How would you describe your relationship with God in terms of law or grace?

How have you personally struggled with legalism?

Inasmuch as the apostle says to the Hebrews, “A will takes effect only at the death of the one who made it,” he therefore asserts that, with Christ’s death for us, the new covenant has become valid. Its likeness was the old covenant, in which the death of the testator was prefigured in the sacrificial victim. Therefore, if one should ask how it is that we, in the word of the same apostle, are “Children and heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,” since of course the inheritance is made valid by the death of the deceased and since an inheritance cannot be understood in any other way, the answer is this: He Himself having in fact died, we have become heirs because we were also called His sons.

Augustine of Hippo (AD 354–430)

2 Corinthians 5:11–21

Key Point

We have been grafted into Christ, and He will prune away our old nature that doesn’t bear fruit.

Key Verse

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:18

A
s born-again believers, we are all new creations in Christ. Although we may not always feel like it or act like it, Scripture clearly teaches that we have a new identity: we are children of God (see 1 John 3:1–3) and no longer children of wrath (see Ephesians 2:1–3). This immediate spiritual transformation and continuing growth will be easier for us to understand if we are familiar with a particular agricultural technique that is used in the semitropical climate zones where a frost can severely damage citrus crops.

In these regions, horticulturists have learned to use the bitter-tasting ornamental orange as rootstock because it can take a moderate freeze without damage. When the ornamental orange tree has grown to the right stage, they cut the stem just above the ground and graft in a sweet orange, such as a navel orange. The new growth above the graft has a new nature.

Nobody looks at a navel orange grove and says, “Actually, all those trees are nothing but rootstock.” They were at one time, but they no longer are. Now, people identify the orchard by the type of fruit the trees are bearing. The same is true for us. Jesus said, “By their fruit you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:16). Believers are identified for who they are “in Christ,” not for who they were “in Adam.”

“Suckers,” or small green sprouts, can continue to grow from the old roots, but they need to be trimmed off. If they are allowed to grow, they will divert the growth of the tree away from the new graft. In the same way, the gardener cuts off every branch that does not bear fruit and prunes every branch that is bearing fruit so it may bear even more (see John 15:2).

We have been grafted into Christ, and He will prune away our old nature that doesn’t bear fruit. This transformation from who we were “in Adam” to who we are now “in Christ” may be summarized as follows:

The apostle Paul consistently identifies the believers according to who they are in Christ and never identifies them by their old nature/flesh. “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh” (2 Corinthians 5:16
ESV
). In other words, we shouldn’t perceive other believers as natural people who derive their identity from their physical origin and natural existence.

Returning to the tree illustration, that which grows above the graft has only one nature, but the total tree has two natures (rootstock and navel). The believer still lives in a mortal body and is confronted with the choice of living according to the old sinful nature (flesh) or according to the Spirit.
However, the apostle Paul says, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). We are new creations in Christ, and we belong to Him. Someday, we will leave our physical body, receive a resurrected body, and live forever—with only one righteous nature—in the presence of God.

When a navel orange is grafted into an ornamental orange, the tree takes on a new identity. How is the same true when we are grafted into Christ?

Small green sprouts called “suckers” can divert the growth of a tree from the new graft. How is this similar to what can happen in our lives?

Why shouldn’t believers identify themselves as sinners, alcoholics, addicts, co-dependents, and the like?

In what way is God pruning your life so that you may bear more fruit?

What labels have you worn that are not consistent with who you really are?

We ought to live for Christ not just because we belong to Him, not just because He died for us and not just because He rose again on our behalf. We ought to live for Him because we have been made into something different. We now have a new life. Old things which have passed away refer to our sins and impiety, as well as all the observances of Judaism.

John Chrysostom (AD 347–407)