In the books of Galatians and Colossians we see that the believers have been freed from the religious world and its elements. Galatians 1:4 says that Christ “gave Himself for our sins, that He might, rescue us out of the present evil age.” In this verse the present evil age refers to the religious world. Galatians 6:14 and 15 confirm this: “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” The world in verse 14 refers mainly to the religious world. “For” at the beginning of verse 15 indicates that this verse is an explanation of the foregoing verse. Circumcision, being a religious matter, indicates that the world in verse 14 must be mainly the religious world from which the believers in Christ have been released.
By the cross we are separated from the religious world. If we are still involved with the religious world, we shall not be able to live a new creation. We should be able to say that the religious world has been crucified to us and that we have been crucified to the religious world. We should be able to testify that even if we tried to go back to that world, we would be rejected by it, for we have been crucified to it. If Paul had desired to return to Judaism, the religionists would not have accepted him. Rather, they would have commanded him to leave, for he was in another realm. To Judaism Paul had been crucified, and Judaism had been crucified to him. Between him and the religious world there was the separation of the cross. It is this separation which qualifies us to live a new creation. Everything practiced in the religious world is part of the old creation. But through the cross of Christ we are finished with religion and are in another world, another realm. In this realm we live a new creation by the Spirit, not the old creation by the flesh.
Colossians 2:20 indicates that as those who “died with Christ from the elements of the world” we should no longer subject ourselves to ordinances. The elements of the world are the elementary principles of worldly society, the rudimentary principles invented by mankind and practiced in society. With Christ we have died to these elements of the world. When Christ was crucified, we were crucified also. In His crucifixion we were released from the elementary principles of the world.
Finally, the believers have been freed from their vain manner of life handed down from their fathers. First Peter 1:18 reminds us that we have been redeemed from our vain manner of life handed down from our fathers. A vain manner of life is not necessarily sinful. On the contrary, in certain respects it may be quite moral. Nevertheless, it is still vain—having no goal, no aim, no purpose. Anything without goal or purpose is vanity. The believers should live a life without vanity. Everything we do and say should have God’s goal in view. This kind of life is weighty and full of content; it is a life with purpose, goal, and aim.
According to 1 Peter 1:18 and 19, the blood of Christ has redeemed us from our vain manner of life. This vain manner of life is in contrast to the holy manner of life (v. 15). Christ’s redemption and the Spirit’s sanctification (v. 2) are for this— to separate us from our vain manner of life handed down from our fathers. Knowing that this was accomplished with the highest price, the precious blood of Christ, we should be encouraged to live a holy life, a life to express God in His holiness.
We have seen that the believers have been made a new creation by being regenerated, by receiving the Spirit of God, by having the eternal life, by being renewed, by being transferred, and by being released. These six matters constitute the making of the new creation.