[2.] Where the new creation obtaineth there is likeness ; and to be new creatures is to be made like God, or to have the soul renewed to God's image : 2 Cor. iii. 18, ' Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory ; ' ' Christ is formed in you,' Gal. iv. 19 ; made ' partakers of the divine nature,' 2 Peter, i. 4. It is for the honour of Christ that his people should bear his image and superscription, that he should do as much for the renovation of the soul, and the restitution of God's image, as Adam did for the deformation of the soul, and the forfeiture of it ; therefore in the new creation his great work is to make us holy, as God is holy. The Spirit is sent by him from the Father to stamp God's image upon the heirs of promise, whereby they are sealed and marked out for God's peculiar ones ; they are sanctitied and cleansed, and made more like God and Christ, and are in the world such as he was in the world. Nothing under heaven so like God as a holy soul.
4. This new state of life and likeness to God is fitly called a new creature ; partly to show that it is God's work, for he only can create, and therefore in scripture always ascribed to him: Eph. ii. 10, 'AVe are his workmanship in Christ Jesus, created unto good works ; ' so, Eph. iv. 24, 'Put on the new man, which is created after God;' so, James i. 18, • He hath begotten us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits amoiig his creatures.' We are so far dead in trespasses and sins, that only an almighty, creating power is requisite to work this change in us , nothing less will serve the turn. And partly because this change thus wrought in us doth reach the whole man, the soul and all the factilties thereof, the body and all the members thereof are also renewed and changed: 1 Thes. v. 23, 'I pray God sanctify your whole body, spirit and soul' A man hath a new judgment, esteeming all things as they tend to promote God's glory and our eternal happiness ; a new will and affections, inclining to and
236 SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. [SeR. XXXII.
desiring all things to this end, that we may please, glorify, and enjoy God ; and the body is more ready to be employed to a gracious use and purpose. There is a change wrought in our whole man, and the inclination and bent of our lives is turned another way; so that the good we once hated we now love, and the sin that we loved we now hate, the duty that was tedious is now delightful.
Secondly. How are we united to Christ ? ' If a man be in Christ,' it is said in the text. In the scripture Christ is sometimes said to be in us : Col. i. 27, ' Christ in you, the hope of glory.' Sometimes we are said to be in him, as here, as he is also said to live in us, and we in him. Gal. ii. 20. Being in Christ noteth our union witl) him, and interest in him. Now a man is united to Christ two ways —
1. Externally.
2. Internally.
1. Externally, by baptism and profession: John xv. 2, 'Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away.' These branches are in him only by external covenanting, and professing relation to liim, and visible communion with him in the ordinances.
2. Internally ; when we are ingrafted into the mystical body of Christ by his Spirit, and have the real effect of our baptism and pro- fession : 1 Cor. xii. 13, ' By one Spirit we are all l)aptized into one body.' These two unions may be resembled by the ivy, that adhereth to the oak, and the branches of the oak itself, which live in their root; the ivy hath a kind of life from the oak by external adhesion, but bringeth forth fruit of its own ; the branches grow out of the root, and bear fruit proper to the tree. All that are in Christ by external adhesion are bound de jure to be new creatures ; but those that are in Christ by mystical imi)lantation, not only ought to be, but are, new creatui-es.
Tliirdhj. How the new creation floweth from our union with Christ.
1. They that are ingrafted into Christ are made ])artakers of his Spirit. And therefore by that Spirit the}'' are renewed, and have another nature put into them : Titus iii. 5, 6, ' Not by works of right- eousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, by tlie washing of regenei-ation, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, whicli he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour ; ' are fitted to live a new life. It is not meet the Spirit of Christ should work no otherwise than the bare spirit of a man. If one had power to put the spirit of man into a brute beast, that brute beast would discourse rationally. All that are united to Christ partake of his divine Spirit, who doth sanctify the souls of his people, and doth mor- tify and master the strongest corruptions, and raise tliem to those inclinations and affections to which nature is an utter stranger. The impressions left upon the soul by the Spirit may be seen in the three tlieological graces which constitute the new creature, mentioned 1 Cor. xiii. 13, ' But now abideth faitii, hope, and charity ; ' and 1 Thes. v. 8, ' Putting on the breast-plate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation ; ' and elsewhere, ' Faith, love, and hope.' Now the operations of all these graces imply a new and strange nature put into us.