Circumcision is an ordinance of law; the new creation is the masterpiece of life with the divine nature. The former is of dead letters; the latter is of the living Spirit. Hence, it counts, it avails. This book exposes the inability both of the law and of circumcision. Law cannot impart life (3:21) to regenerate us, and circumcision cannot energize us (5:6) to live a new creation. But the Son of God who has been revealed in us (1:16) can enliven us and make us a new creation, and Christ who lives in us (2:20) can afford us the riches of His life to live the new creation. Law is replaced by Christ (2:19-20), and circumcision is fulfilled by Christ’s crucifixion (6:14). Hence, neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation with Christ as its life.
The new creation spoken of in 6:15 is the old creation transformed by the divine life, by the processed Triune God. The old creation was old because God was not part of it; the new creation is new because God is in it. We who have been regenerated by the Spirit of God are still God’s creation, but we are now His new creation. However, this is real only when we live and walk by the Spirit. Whenever we live and walk by the flesh, we are in the old creation, not in the new creation. Anything in our daily life that does not have God in it is the old creation, but what has God in it is part of the new creation.
God’s intention is that we become a new creation. This new creation is composed of sons. In a very practical sense, the corporate sonship is God’s new creation. Those in the old creation are sons of Adam in the fall. But through God’s redemption and regeneration and through the dispensation of Himself into us, we who once were sons of Adam have now become sons of God. Here in this divine sonship we are the new creation.
If we would be in the new creation, we must enter into an organic union with the Triune God. Apart from such a union, we shall remain in the old creation. But now by the organic union with the Triune God we are in the new creation. Here in the new creation neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything or avails anything.
Apparently Paul wrote the book of Galatians to deal with the law. Actually this book deals with the old creation. Although Paul tells us that we are justified by faith, the main point is not justification, but the new creation. When we were in the flesh, we were very much involved with the law and we were, of course, in the old creation. But when we are in the Spirit, we are not under the law and we are in the new creation. Thus, Paul’s concern in Galatians is not merely with the doctrine concerning the law and justification by faith; it is with the revelation that we are God’s new creation. Here we are no longer involved with law-keeping, circumcision, and religious practices. In the new creation only one thing is vital and crucial to us—the Triune God who has been processed to become the life-giving Spirit so that He may be our life, our nature, and our everything through the organic union between us and Him. How wonderful it is that in this organic union we are a new creation!
Many readers of Galatians have missed this crucial point. They have seen that in this Epistle the law is set aside and that justification by faith is emphasized. But Paul’s burden in this book is not merely justification by faith; it is to unveil to his readers the matter of sonship by the divine life, by the Triune God becoming everything to us in our experience. When considered corporately, the sons of God are the new creation. The main issue in Galatians is not circumcision or uncircumcision, religion or no religion. It is an issue of whether or not we are the new creation through an organic union with the Triune God.
If we would live the new creation, we need to experience the cross. According to 6:14 and 15, the cross deals with the religious world. It is unfortunate that many Christians regard the world in 6:14 as only the secular world. But as we have already indicated, the context makes it clear that the world in this verse is primarily the religious world. This understanding fits the basic concept of the whole book of Galatians. This book was written not to deal with the secular world; it was written to deal with religion, with Judaism. In this book Paul deals with religious people, with those who are concerned for the things of God, but who express their concern in a wrong way. To them, religion has become a world. Hence, we have both the secular world and the religious world.
Today millions of Christians are occupied even more by the religious world than by the secular world. Take Christmas as an example. The celebration of Christmas is certainly related to the religious world. If you still observe Christmas, it is doubtful that you are living a new creation. The celebration of Christmas has nothing to do with God’s new creation.
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. Even 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 world. 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.