Resurrection as New Creation for Humanity
In Christ's risen body a new creation begins: a second birth, a heavenly inheritance, and a life hidden with Christ in God.
He Created It with a New Nature in His Resurrected Body
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.” — 1 Peter 1:3–4
This expresses that the resurrection of Christ established in Him and for our sake a new nature—a second birth to another new heavenly life with entirely new characteristics, where there is no power of death over it, nor sin, nor sorrow, nor gloom, nor sighing.
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive, but each in his own order.” — 1 Corinthians 15:22–23
This expresses that the new life possesses superior ranks in its essence; but it derives its nature entirely from the body of Christ, the glorified:
“The first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit... And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.” — 1 Corinthians 15:45,49
The expression regarding Christ, considering Him designated by resurrection as the second Adam from heaven, implies the obtainment of spiritual offspring and progeny upon the ruins of Adam’s offspring—but it is in the image of its parent in reality . And thus it was given to man by the resurrection of Christ from the dead to replace all his Adamic inheritance, which begins from dust and ends in it, with a heavenly inheritance kept for him in the heavens.
“For if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” — 2 Corinthians 5:14–17
Meaning that the second birth which man received by faith and from water and the Holy Spirit has been accomplished on the basis of the resurrection of Christ, to begin a new life from now on that takes on the characteristics of the new creation and derives its future and goals—but also derives power from the only Son who sits at the right hand of the Father, in His capacity as having begotten us for Himself according to His image.
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” — Colossians 3:1–4
It is noted here that faith in the atoning death of Christ—and by obtaining the sacrament of baptism—we will have truly participated or become connected in the death of Christ. As for His resurrection, we receive its pledge and its essential connection through the Holy Spirit, whom we also receive through baptism, to accompany us and dwell in us as a power of resurrection and life that remains hidden from our eyes now, but works in us as a permanent connection with God. Let us seek the requirements of the living , not the dead. We seek what is above, not what is on earth, until, when the appointed time comes, this power—meaning the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of resurrection—will raise us with Christ and appear with Him in glory by the manifestation of the glory of resurrection in us.
Therefore, all the requirements and components of the new life are made complete through the manifestation of the Resurrection now within us: faith and the sacrament . It works in us through the Holy Spirit, and we taste it as a pledge.