Maturity In Christ

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
I refer to this verse often when I speak of the Christian life. Without the understanding of this verse’s meaning, no one can reach maturity in Christ. It is as simple as that. Who you are is entirely a function of the cross, through faith and baptism. If a person does not know how the cross changed him, he will forever struggle with sin and God’s love for him. And he will be unable to move on to loving others—the Holy Spirit’s work in him.
The writer of Hebrews was inspired to say, “Therefore, let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, no laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.” -Hebrews 6:1-2
The list of things above are teachings that every Christian should already know and be able to rest upon. They are foundational truths about how we got to where we are now—the power of God that saved us. He brought us through repentance from sin while we were yet sinning against Him. As God brought us through repentance from sin, we received the gift of faith in God, through His Son’s death on the cross. Furthermore, we were baptized into Christ’s death in order to do away with the body of sin—the sinful nature that ruled over us—that we might belong to another, to the One who saved us and called us out of darkness into His wonderful light.
But just as no one lays a foundation and then never builds a building upon it, God did not lay Christ into the grave without then raising Him. Likewise, each of us has also been raised with Him, up from death and the grave so that we might rest upon the foundation of everything God has revealed to us in what He did through His Son. We ourselves have become part of the foundation- the rock of those who believe in Christ alone for salvation and life. Upon us He will build His church by spreading the Gospel through those who are mature, able to rest upon the elementary teachings of faith.
So then: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” You are not what you once were. You are not associated with sin. You have been set apart from all that is sinful, set free, and brought into His kingdom of love.
“The old has gone.” Not only are your sins gone, but so is your sinful nature. Though it once determined the very identity of your soul, it does so no longer. “The old” is the old Adam, the fall of mankind spiritually embedded into your body so that it bore fruit for death. This was not something you, or anyone else, could undo or overcome. Salvation is a miracle of God. Do not claim sin as your own. Do not pretend or believe that the sinful nature has somehow been resurrected, or that you are not already completely free. This is a lie, and denies the very work of Jesus on the cross.
“The new has come.” This is a reference to the Holy Spirit. He has come, just as Jesus promised us! His authority has filled the vacuum left by the sinful nature, now dead and buried. “The new” is His power, authority, teaching, protection, guiding, healing, and comforting.” “The new” is the fruit of the Spirit and the joy of the Lord. “The new” is peace at times when it makes no sense, power when you did not know you needed it, and words you suddenly received and spoke (in the same instant). “The new” is the revelation that everything about your humanity is unfit for work in the kingdom, but that this knowledge—by faith—makes it possible anyway.