“Therefore If Any Man Be In Christ, He Is A NEW CREATURE (CREATION): Old Things Are Passed Away; Behold, All Things Are Become New.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

In the case of my own salvation, in November of 1968 I visited a church in New Jersey. I was intending to protect and keep my wife from becoming a religious “holy roller.” Having never seen a Bible, it was there that day that I first heard the words of the above verse.

Unknown to me then, though my heart knew, I was seeking a new beginning already, at the age 23. The words wrung powerfully in my heart with the hope of a new life, a new beginning. Somehow, though I already had a wife who loved me, two children, a new company car, and a house, I knew something was missing and that in myself I was not a good person. Clearly, God had prepared my heart for that day when I would say "yes" receive His love and His “Spirit of life.”

Today, having had nearly 45 years of learning at His feet, I have understanding to match and explain what occurred on that eternally fateful day for me.

The truth is, as Bible tells us, we as human are all related to the first man, Adam, and bear the imprint of his failure in the form of the sinful nature that indwells every person.

“Wherefore, as by one man (Adam) sin (a “noun,” Sin as a NATURE) entered into the world, and death (came) by sin… so death passed upon all men…” (Romans 5:12)

“Wherein in time past ye (the believers) walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3Among whom also we all had our conversation (manner of living) in times past in the lusts (desires) of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by NATURE the children of wrath, even as others.” (Ephesians 2:2-3)

These verses clearly indicate that every child born into the world since Adam is a partaker of Adam’s sinful nature that dictates our desires – which are almost totally of self- interest. We may cover this ugliness with external niceness but this self-interested nature is always there as one who is a self-lover. Of course this is the very opposite of God, whose nature is other-interested as a lover of others.

Parents sometimes wonder why their wonderful children disappoint them and surprisingly act out as they may do. The answer is simple. Every born child is related to rebellious Adam by their physical birth. All ultimately rebel against the external constraints of culture, law, and their knowledge of right and wrong, just as Adam did in disobeying God.

Yet, in view of man’s pathetic and helpless condition, Scripture tells us of God’s good news for us, that He “commendeth His love toward us, in that, While We Were Yet Sinners, Christ Died For Us” (Rom. 5:8).

None of us inherently love God, but here is where it starts. When you’re in trouble and someone comes to your aid, aren’t you automatically drawn to that person? Shouldn’t we be attracted to the One who cared so much for us that He “(Jesus) made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He (Jesus) humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:7, 8)?

Through natural birth we partake of the sinful nature of our parents, back to Adam, just as we may also have the same physical features as our parents. How wonderful to know that the Lord Jesus Christ took on Himself that very same “likeness of men,” and as the God-man who never sinned, He Died For Our Sins Upon The Cross, where sinful men (people like us) nailed Him!

As we recognize this and “receive Him,” by placing our faith in Him, a spiritual birth takes place and we become the literal "children of God” (John 1:12). We thereby become members of “the Body of Christ,” as God’s new creation. “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). “created in Christ Jesus…” (Eph. 2:10a).

Now, though I may still occasionally sin, I know I am accepted and loved just as I am, in Christ.