By: Didi Bacon

The apostle Paul ends his letter to the Christians in Galatia with these emphatic words:

Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.
– Galatians 6:15 NIV

What had happened to these Galatian Christians is that their faith in Jesus had been shaken. Men from the “big church” in Jerusalem had come to them saying that faith in Jesus alone was not enough to be made right with God. These men taught that what was needed for them, as non-Jews (Gentiles), to be saved was for them to first commit to becoming Jews religiously before accepting the Messiah of the Jews, Jesus. Paul summarized their whole doctrine on the Jewish requirement to be circumcised. These Christians were being led astray with a temptation that is common to those who follow Jesus – we want to “add on” to our faith because we really don’t have confidence that what we read in scripture is enough for us to be right with God. As my good pal, Tim Peace, put it, it’s Jesus AND – fill in the blank. For them, it was Jesus AND the Law. For us, it could be Jesus AND having the right kind of religious experience, or Jesus AND using the correct version of the English Bible, or Jesus AND allegiance to a political party, or Jesus AND good deeds to help society.

The trouble is that Jesus AND is not the Gospel that brings salvation. The scripture tells us that the message of life is Jesus ALONE. Faith in Jesus ALONE is what is needed to be right with God. Trust in Jesus as our Forgiver and obedience to Jesus as our Leader – ALONE, is the Gospel that saves. Following Jesus ALONE in our day-to-day living by being in sync with the Holy Spirit is how we have new creation. New creation means being a changed person – it means becoming a person who lives in the Jesus way. A way that can be simply summarized as loving God, loving people. The way we know that a person is living right with God is by seeing this new creation.

I came across a story of what new creation in Jesus looks like from a recent issue of CT magazine. Fady Ghobrial tells his powerful story of immigrating to America from the Middle East, falling into the bondage of sex and drugs, and how he came to faith in Christ.

“I was born to religious parents in Cairo. At 40 days old, I was baptized like every good Coptic Orthodox Christian. Growing up in this kind of religious atmosphere leaves its mark on your soul forever. I can still recall the much-dreaded confession times with the priest.”
“I remember finishing confession, being instructed to do some penance and then inevitably returning to my same old sins. My attitude toward God was that he was mean, like my teachers from Jesuit school who would physically punish me for falling short of their academic or behavioral standards.

“In 2002, my family moved to America but my heart quickly soured on the church of my youth. By the time I reached high school, I was so disillusioned with the faith that I swung from being a “good religious kid” to the opposite extreme. High school afforded opportunities to hang out with new friends, experiment with dating and drugs. Before long, I had given myself over to a lifestyle of partying, fornication, and drug addiction.

“I still recall arriving at home one night at around two in the morning. My mom was awake, crying to God and praying for Jesus to save me. Then my best friend, George with his brother Mark, started going to Arabic Baptist Church, so naturally I was apprehensive about a sudden invitation to visit the youth group. But Mark was relentless. Every Friday night, without fail, he would pick me up for the hourlong drive to the church. There I found a very different breed of Christian. The people there sincerely loved God. They were kind and not hypocritical. They actually loved and welcomed me. Wow, I thought, these Christians are having fun and enjoying their relationship with God.

“Before my sophomore year in college, my dad forced me to attend the church’s annual Fourth of July conference. Dragging my feet, I went along. But I discovered that weekend that even the fiercest resistance or the coldest indifference is irrelevant once God decides to act in your life. I heard the gospel with new ears. I heard that God loves me so much that he sent Jesus to die for my sins. And I understood that by trusting in Jesus, all of my sins would be forgiven, and that I would be accepted by God and made right with him.

“My life today is a testimony to God’s goodness and grace. This past July, I celebrated another year of walking with and serving Jesus Christ. I have been celebrating my spiritual birthday every Independence Day for the past 11 years, and the symbolic overlap isn’t lost on me.”
– Fady Ghobrial, “My Spiritual Independence Day,” CT Magazine, (October 2020), pp. 95-96

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
– 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV