Things That Matter Most . . . No. 10

THE NEW WORLD

When anyone is united to Christ, there is a new world; the old order has gone, and a new order has already begun. (2 Cor. 5:17 NEB)

Can human nature be changed? Some psychologists insist that it cannot be, for man’s drives, instincts and impulses move him in predetermined channels, so that no man can help being the way he is. This deterministic view is, of course, a denial of human freedom, which believes that man is at the mercy of his environment, that he can behave only in ways consistent to the ways he is conditioned to behave.

An interesting illustration of this kind of thinking is the research of B. F. Skinner, a Harvard psychologist who is known as a behaviorist. He contends that man is like the pigeons in his laboratory. Prof. Skinner has taught pigeons to play ping-pong, to dance, to distinguish between colors, and even to pilot a missile. This he does by what he calls reinforcement, which means rewarding the pigeon whenever he makes a move in the desired direction, all dependent on the pigeon’s desire for food. Recently I showed a film on Skinner’s experiments to a class of high school seniors, a very impressive and convincing film I must admit. When it was over one intelligent lad remarked: “Well, if I am like those pigeons . . .” and his voice fell as if to suggest that freedom would be no more than an illusion.

Oh, yes, man can be changed, Skinner would admit, just as pigeons or dogs can be transformed from peaceful to warring animals, but only by conditioning from without. Skinner contends that one can take babies and by a controlled environment make them into whatever kind of persons one wishes them to be. Change is not, therefore, a change of will and affection from within, but through a manipulation of forces from without.

To such a man as Skinner the spiritual experience of conversion can be explained only in psychological terms. Redemption can have no meaning except as may be realized through the improvement of social conditions. Transformation of character in any real sense would be but an illusion, for all such changes come about by a control of the person’s environment. They are only passing experiences.

How remarkable it is, therefore, for Paul to speak to our generation of “the new world” that is in Christ.

Even Paul would agree with modern psychologists that absolute change of one’s nature is impossible. Paul Tillich is right in saying that human nature could not change if there were not something unchangeable in it. Paul was aware that even as a new man in Christ he still had the old Adam within him. The experience of the new birth does not remove man’s basic humanity: his needs, drives, fears, impulses. What Tillich calls his “centered self” never changes—or at least it is always present and must be dealt with. So Paul says of himself: “I do not even acknowledge my own actions as mine, for what I do is not what I want to do, but what I detest” (Rom. 7:15). He goes on to say, “Miserable creature that I am, who is there to rescue me out of this body doomed to death?”

He concludes by giving that great Christian response to the problem of being human: “God alone, through Jesus Christ our Lord! “Thanks be to God!”

The new world in Christ is not, then, a life free of human foibles. Man’s essential nature does not change. Aggressive instincts, complexities and anxieties are ever present. Fears continue to haunt him even in Christ. The big difference—and it makes all the difference in the world, which indeed makes it a new world - is that now he has the strength of Christ. Thus we hear Paul saying, “For me to live is Christ. . . “ (Philip. 1:21). Paul did not mean that he was any less human, or not even any less Paul, but that he had a Person within him that made life different.

Men like Prof. Skinner cannot take this kind of thing seriously simply because they do not know Christ. There is no way to give a psychological explanation of one being “in Christ.” While the idea of an indwelling Christ may not contradict any known truths in psychology, just as true religion never contradicts true science, it goes beyond anything psychology has to offer.

The new world of the Christian makes him no less a citizen of an earthly kingdom. He is indeed a man of two worlds, for he is a servant of men as well as a slave to Christ. He loves the world and desires to make it better through devoted service. He may not be of the world, but he is in the world. He is a part of it, and in a sense he belongs to it, and yet he is at war with it. When one is “in Christ” his earthly concerns take on an entirely different meaning, for the end of all activity is to glorify God through devotion to Christ. In becoming dead to the world (in the sense that its allurements no longer entice him) he who is a part of the new world of Christ is all the more ready to die for redemption of the old world of sin. One is never so much like Christ as when he loves the sinner and passionately longs for his salvation.

Paul writes along these lines to the Galatians. “I have been put to death with Christ on his cross, so that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (2:20). He further says to them: “I will boast only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; for by means of his cross the world is dead to me, and I am dead to the world” (6:14). And yet in becoming dead to the world he went on to die in order to help save that world. It is in this context that Paul uses an expression very similar to the title of this series on things that matter most: “It does not matter at all whether or not one is circumcised. What does matter is being a new creature.” (6:15).

The new world is a world of the Spirit-yea, it is a Spirit-producing world. “The Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). By no power of our own can these qualities be cultivated. They are the fruit of the Spirit-controlled life. Indeed, the new world is life in the Spirit. Rom. 8:5 as rendered in Good News for Modern Man makes the point so well: “Those who live as their human nature tells them to live, have their minds controlled by what human nature wants. Those who live as the Spirit tells them to live, have their minds controlled by what the Spirit wants.”

The philosopher Nietzsche talked about how “Man must be surpassed,” and this is what Paul is saying about human nature. While it remains with us and cannot be changed, it can be surpassed by life in the Spirit. It is in this context that Paul solemnly warns: “Those who obey their human nature cannot please God.” Is it not true that we do indeed obey our human nature, which accounts for so much evil among us. We must learn that it is only a mind controlled by the Spirit and living in the Spirit that surpasses human nature.

The new world is a world of fellowship with all God’s children. When Paul speaks of “the old order” being gone he refers to such things as racial hatred and sectarian prejudice. Faction is a work of the flesh; division and partyism are carnal. This is human nature, not divine nature. When one is motivated by love for Christ he does not see another as a woman, or a Baptist, or a Democrat, or a premillennialist, or a liberal, but as a person for whom Christ died. We could paraphrase 2 Cor. 5:17 to read: “When people are in Christ together, they share a new world together.” There will of course be diversity in that world just as there is diversity in every world. But the point is that men are one in the new world, not because they pass on each other for entrance into it, but because they are called of God into the relationship. We do not choose our brothers in God’s family anymore than we do in our earthly families.

In the new world we grow toward maturity in Christ. The purpose of Christianity is to make us imitators of God, to conform us to His image (Eph. 5:1). The point of it all is “to present every man mature in Christ” (Col. 1:28). Col. 3:9 (GNMM) says it so well: “This is the new man which God, its creator, is constantly renewing in his own image, to bring you to a full knowledge of himself.”

In this new world a man’s sense of values undergoes radical transformation. He may continue at his same job, drive the same car, live in the same house, rear the same family, and even read the same books and vacation at the same places, but when one is “in Christ” all such things are seen in a new light. There is no stronger evidence of transformation of character than a change in one’s values. It is motive that makes the big difference. In the old order the motive is self; in the new order the motive is God’s will. The new world is ruled by God. Self is dethroned. This brings about a dramatic change in the things that are important to us.

The beatitudes serve to summarize the change in values that takes place in the new world. The paraphrases of William Barclay are most helpful. “Blessed are the poor in spirit” is explained as “O the bliss of the man who has realized his own utter helplessness, and who has put his whole trust in God, for thus alone he can render to God that perfect obedience which will make him a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.”

“Blessed are they that mourn” is given as “O the bliss of the man whose heart is broken for the world’s suffering and for his own sin, for out of his sorrow he will find the joy of God.”

“Blessed are the meek” is expanded into: “O the bliss of the man who is always angry at the right time and never angry at the wrong time, who has every instinct, and impulse, and passion under control because he himself is God-controlled, who has the humility to realize his own ignorance and his own weakness, for such a man is a king among men.”

“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness” is rendered as “O the bliss of the man who longs for total righteousness as a starving man longs for food, and a man perishing of thirst longs for water, for that man will be truly satisfied.”

When changes in values such as these do not occur we can only conclude that one is not really in the new world of Christ. The presence of Christ in one’s life brings about a dramatic change in his desires and ambitions, his affections and his habits. To refer to the psychologists again, they point to the need of an adequate “philosophy of life” in the cultivation of ideal personality. This may be wise thinking for this world, but it is so different from the new world in Christ. It is not a change in “philosophy of life” that makes one a Christian, nor is this even part of it. In the new world Christ is life. Christ cannot be merely an addition to one’s life, something like ham being added to flavor the beans. He does not merely inspire one’s life. To be a new creation in Christ means to move into an atmosphere that absorbs the whole of personality.

This is the new humanity, the purpose of God throughout the ages. It is not a philosophy nor a way of life. It is life itself in Christ.

This is what Paul is telling us when he says: “It is no longer I that live. It is Christ who lives in me.” This is the new world, God’s intention for every man.—the Editor