What, actually, is "new" about you?

How many times have we heard that we are “a new creation” in Christ and yet felt a vague sense of confusion? Perhaps even disqualification?

“I know I’m supposed to be a new creation but I really don’t feel any different. There must be something wrong with me.”

If we're honest, many of us think that "new creation" means God will change us...at some point in the future.  What if that "new creation" change has already taken place to a large degree?

So what exactly changed when we came to Christ? What became "new?" Is this just a quaint metaphor for 'new life' or has something actually happened in us, something worth talking about?

For centuries, theologians have rightly upheld the idea of “regeneration,” or the drastic transformation of heart Christ brings about. Sometimes, this is called the “new birth,” a spiritual re-creation of our deepest self. It therefore includes a re-creation of the heart. This restored heart is exactly what Paul means when he says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17) We should “put off the old self … and put on the new self.” (Eph. 4:22-24)

That ‘new self’ is a new heart given to us at conversion. Our radical goodness is an already-established fact, a gift given when we trusted Jesus. The new heart is the fulfillment of God’s promise to us in Ezekiel 36:26 and Jeremiah 31: 31-34.

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you …” (Ezekiel 36:26)

You now have a supernaturally-good and noble heart.