In Christ the Other Side
The newness of creation in Christ is one of the most profoundly stated doctrines in the New Testament. Though the verses are common, many people struggle to understand what Saint Paul really meant when he said "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Cor 5:17). Many times our everyday life does not reflect this "new creation" and doubt steps in about what Paul truly meant.
But what we see in Scriptures is a spiritual reality in which Christ has reconciled the old creation to Himself "so that He might create in Himself one new man" (Eph 2:15). There is a sense in which old creation is still to be reconciled and confirmed to Christ. There is a slow transformation occurring in the community of the church. This "new man" that Paul refers to is exclusively the resurrected and glorified God-man Jesus Christ — whom we "put on" through baptism (Gal 3:27).
In another effort of postmodern lyric reading, one of Gileah Taylor's songs (Album Review) reminded me of this breaking forth of our eschatological reality into our present life. Though the song "The Other Side" is possibly just about human love, I couldn't help but gaze upward with these words,
There is a Hand, throws wide the gates
And breaks the chains that bound me to a fading world
I dream awake
All my life
Only now to break through
Only Your love to wake me
Oh, and how You take me to the other side
It is sometimes hard to see at any given time, but pre-Christ life is miraculously dark. The apostle John was not kidding when he spoke of men loving darkness (John 3:19). We are less then what we were truly meant to be. Our relationship to God is severed. Our reflection of His glory is muted if not completely absent. We seek reality outside ourselves in the worst of places,
I am so dull
All my life
I’ve been getting my pleasure in at the wrong side of the world
I count this as a poetic way to potentially describe life in the darkness without Christ. But thankfully in Christ, the pull out of the dark is not our doing. God through Christ reconciles us back to God. Salvation is not merely the imputation of righteousness, but restoration of God's intended nature and relationship with His creation. We truly are dragged over to the other side in Jesus Christ. As the apostle Paul says,
He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves." - Colossians 1:12-13, HCSB
