Commentaries:
Each Christian is a new lump of clay—being molded and shaped by a Master Potter! We are already physical and mortal, so He must be forming, creating something else in the image of God!
God's creative efforts did not end in Genesis 1. He merely reached a stage, a platform, from which springs the most important aspect of the creation. The new creation is the creation of a new order, a Family in His image—and not just physically, but also spiritually. He wants our minds and hearts in His image as well.
Ephesians 4:13 says that we to grow to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
John W. Ritenbaugh
We Shall Be God! (Part 1)
Christians are to be in union with Christ. This explains why it is so important to study the Bible, to meditate on it, to spend time trying to understand it, to communicate with one another with the Word and with the Father. What are we doing as we absorb God's Word? God's Word is part of His mind, His personality, His character. It is the way He thinks.
We cannot be in union with someone we do not know or who we have no relationship with. We cannot be in union with someone we never think about.
The more we think about Him, the more we carry His word in our mind. The more experiences that we have with Him, the deeper, stronger, sharper, clearer, and more real the union becomes. It all pivots around the Word of God. Jesus says, "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63).
They are an invisible force and power because, if we believe His words, they begin to work in our lives because we use them. They begin to produce what God intends them to produce. As we use them, we become more one with Him because we are becoming like Him. Our lives begin to be operated by His mind expressed in His Word. The more we use them, the more we become like Him.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Image and Likeness of God (Part 4)
In verse 18, Paul explains that he, and by implication other Christians, have a "ministry of reconciliation" to serve as "ambassadors for Christ" (verse 20). It is, the apostle continues in verse 20, as if God is "pleading through us" to "be reconciled to God." Jesus Christ brings this reconciliation about, and the new man is the result.
Charles Whitaker
Choosing the New Man (Part Two)
If a person truly believes, he will repent, and the consequence is reconciliation with God. Our relationship to Him changes; it is entirely new. Our point of view, our world view, changes. We no longer look at life in the same way. Now we view everything from the perspective of God, His Word, and His Kingdom. We no longer look upon people as we did before.
Before our reconciliation we had a superficial view of Christ. Now we view Him as the Eternal Creator, Lord, Savior, and High Priest who lives in us by His Spirit and with whom we are now in fellowship. This has a tremendous impact on how we conduct our lives.
We understand that God is creating a new race beginning with Christ, the second Adam. A man in Christ is a new creation, not merely improved or reformed, but remade. Reconciliation is not just politely ignoring hostilities. It is the total removal of hostilities so there can be a relationship, a fellowship, between God and man that will produce sanctification leading to holiness and complete and total at-one-ment with the great God.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Separation and At-One-Ment
Paul uses very strong language here. Not one part of this system will be carried over into the World Tomorrow! The whole thing is unclean, something that contaminates and defiles, rendering unholy those who are touched by it (Haggai 2:10-14). The world is most dangerous to a Christian when it is not persecuting them. It seems friendly, tolerant, even producing good, but God says even then it is still unclean. It is God's judgment that counts.
John W. Ritenbaugh
This Is Not God's World
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Matthew 9:16
Mark 2:21
Luke 5:36
Romans 6:4
Romans 6:6
Ephesians 2:8-10
Ephesians 2:15
Ephesians 4:24
Colossians 3:10
Library resources that contain this verse:
Articles |  |
Choosing the New Man (Part One) |
Choosing the New Man (Part Two) |
Choosing the New Man (Part Two) |
Sex, Sin and Marriage |
The Christian Fight (Part Four) |
The Christian Fight (Part Six) |
The Elements of Motivation (Part Three): Hope |
Bible Studies | |
Parable of the Cloth and Wineskins |
Booklets | |
Guard the Truth! |
Why Were You Born? |
Sermon Transcripts | |
Are You Being Brainwashed? (Part 2) |
Faith and the Christian Fight (Part 2) (2) |
Faith and The Christian Fight (Part 6) |
Faith Overcomes the World |
Forms vs. Spirituality (Part 6) (2) |
Four Views of Christ (Part 5) |
God's Creation and Our Works |
God's Creation and Our Works |
God's Rest (Part 1) |
God's Rest (Part 1) |
God's Workmanship (Part 2) (3) |
Government (Part 3) |
Image and Likeness of God (Part 4) |
Pentecost and the Holy Spirit |
Preparing Your Heart |
Reconciliation and the Day of Atonement |
Sanctification and Holiness (Part 1) |
Sovereignty, Election, and Grace (Part 1) |
Sovereignty, Election, and Grace (Part 1) (2) |
Sovereignty, Election, and Grace (Part 2) (2) |
Sovereignty, Election, and Grace (Part 6) (3) |
Sow for Yourself |
Testing the Spirits (Part 2) |
The Cost of Reconciliation |
The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 3) |
Together We Stand--But on What? |
Truth (Part 4) (2) |
We Shall Be God! (Part 1) (2) |
We Shall Be God! (Part 2) |
What We Can Learn From This Day of Atonement |
What's the Problem? |
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