Articles

Newness of Life

‘We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.’

– Romans 6:4

‘ ‘Newness of life’—what does it mean? It means this. When we are born again, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ—which things take place at the same time—we receive a life which we never before possessed. We begin to feel, to think, and to act as we never did before. The new life is something foreign to our fallen nature: an exotic, a plant of another clime.’

– Charles Spurgeon

Do you share in this newness of life?

I’m not asking: ‘do you share in forgiveness of sins?’,  or ‘will you share in heaven forever?’ These are important questions, but they’re not the one I’m asking.

I’m asking: ‘do you have newness of life?’

It amazes me that the very best we humans can do for weary members of our species, for the lives of broken-down people, is to carry them from here to there, from one patch of turf to another, to change their circumstances, to convey them to a place where money can be thrown at their withered state! (Acts 3:1-10)

It shows you how superficially we address the problems of humanity. We don’t try to cure them. We try only to manage them. We try to make people slightly less miserable, never addressing the cause of their misery, never expecting to change them from being beggars, but just trying to improve their prospects as beggars.

We don’t expect change in our lives – not big change, not cures for what ails us. We expect life to be wearying. We anticipate a large amount of discouragement and despair. We accept our fears and worries as unavoidable features of our existence. We are resigned to broken relationships. We even accept the approach of our own deaths.

But God’s plan was to kill sin in the death of his Son. His plan was to kill the cruel bondage suffered by all humans, in which they try to make a life for themselves and by themselves. By putting an end to that bondage, he re-introduces us to life. Resurrected life. Life back from the dead.

Wholeness of life, in which we look to God to fill us up with all the fullness of his very own life.

 All things are going to be restored. Life is going to be made full and perfect. And everything needed to make it so has already been accomplished in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We’re not there yet. Human lives are not perfect. They won’t be until the return of Christ. But, then, all the fullness of human life will be restored for those God has called to himself.

Who are those whom God has called to himself?

They are the people whose lives are changing right now.

They are the lame who are beginning to walk.

They are those who lust but are being purified.

They are the discouraged who are leaping for joy.

They are the broken who are being put back together.

They are the lonely who are being comforted.

They are the depressed, who are praising God.

They are those once dead, now risen to newness of life.