Day 2 – From Death to Life

One of the foundational Scriptures about being in Christ is found in 2Cor 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. This provides a great starting point for our study because it states one very important reality we must have in our thinking: when we become Christians, we move from one state of being to another – from one realm to another. The old is gone, and the new has come.

This is true for anyone who becomes a Christian. It doesn’t matter how old you were when you received Christ, or bad (or good) you were before you received Christ. The old is gone, and the new has come.

 Eph 2:1-5 accurately describes this change: we were dead but now God has made us alive.

This refers to spiritual life and death, and so this is the spiritual reality. Now we must be careful not to think, “Oh it’s spiritual, so it’s not really real.” Instead, let’s remember that the spirit is very real – the spirit world will outlast this natural, physical world (2Cor 4:18). The spirit is at the core of who we are.

So we were dead but now God has made us alive. Think about that for a minute – this is a radical thought. It is difficult to imagine a greater contrast than life and death. You can contrast rich and poor, or healthy and sick, but alive and dead is on a whole different level. Death changes everything! And that’s the point: “behold, all things have become new.” This is a truth we see throughout the New Testament:

 Jn 5:24“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Rom 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

2Tim 1:10…our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

So before we can begin to know who we are in Christ, we must first acknowledge two things: we were dead and we are now alive. We must acknowledge that we are new beings alive in Him, and yet outside of Him we would experience only death. Thank God for our salvation!

Consider:

What does it mean that I have passed from death to life?

When I got saved, was I aware of that transition?