Fallen Creature or New Creation?

Photo by shannonkringen

Here are a couple of Scripture verses for you to consider:

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: Although we are still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:6-8)

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a hybrid creature; the old things have not quite passed away; but behold, some new things have come! (2 Cor 5:17)

Unless you glossed over the verses above, you probably realize that that’s not how they read… I changed a few words.

Before you start picking up stones, let me explain.

You see, despite how those verses really read, most of us think and act as if my rendition were true. And it doesn’t help when theologians and Bible scholars publish books that say as much. Case in point:

When we pray, we pray not only as saints but also as sinners, very much inclined to use prayer to advance our own selfish interests, even when we pray out of desperation. Prayer for that reason is highly complex. On the one hand, the very act of praying reminds us that we are children of God. On the other hand, that same act of praying exposes us for the fallen creatures we are. (Italics Mine)

Jerry Sittser, When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayer (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), pp 67-68.

And:

This prayer is simple and profound: “Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The most basic concerns that true prayer should address are found in this prayer: It identifies Jesus as God’s son, acknowledges that we are sinners, and asks God for mercy. (Italics Mine)

Ibid, p 105.

But is that what scripture really says about us? Are we some kind of hybrid creature — part sinner, part saint? Let’s look at the correct rendering of Romans 5:6-8 and 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Romans 5:6-8
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (AMP)
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

Romans 5:8 says that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. “Were” is past tense! Otherwise, the verse would read like I rewrote it: “Although we are still sinners…” but it doesn’t.

Romans 5:10 goes on to say that we “were reconciled to him [God] through the death of his Son.” To reconcile is to change or exchange. According to Vine’s, it denotes “to change from one condition to another.” When you balance your checkbook and find an error, it’s your checkbook, not the bank that makes the adjustment, the change. By reconciling us, God didn’t change; he didn’t decide to accept us in spite of us being sinners. Instead, he changed us from sinners to righteous-ers — that is, the righteousness of God. He re-made us back into his own image, created in true righteousness and holiness (see Eph 4:24). If, as Romans 5:19 says, that through the obedience of Jesus we were made righteous, how then can I be both righteous and a sinner at the same time? Am I a righteous sinner?

In the Scriptures, “sinners” is never used as a description of the church. The Bible refers to the church as saints, or holy ones, but never sinners. If you identify yourself as a sinner, you are separating yourself from Christ — because Jesus, our resurrected high priest, can have nothing to do with you:

Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners… (Heb 7:26; Italics mine)

You are not a “fallen creature,” as Sittser claims — you are a new creature!