What does it mean to become a "new creature in Christ"?

Question

Does it mean that its okay for me to go back to the lifestyle I once lived, once God saves me?

Answer 1

When we are in Christ and He in us, we are regenerated, renewed, and born again, and this new creation is spiritually minded, whereas the old nature is carnally minded. The new nature is in fellowship with God, obedient to His will and devoted to His service. These are things the old nature is incapable of doing or even desiring to do. The old nature is dead to the things of the spirit and cannot revive itself. It is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), and can only be made alive by a supernatural quickening which happens when we come to Christ and are indwelt by Him. He gives us a completely new and holy nature and an incorruptible life. Our old life, previously dead to God because of sin, is buried, and we are raised “to walk in newness of life” with Him (Romans 6:4).

Answer 2

To become a new creature or new creation in Christ is making reference to being born again.
A baby being born has never existed before, that is a new person. The old heart of stone that was dead to the things of God is removed and replaced with the new heart of flesh which is now sensitive to God because it is alive to God. You have become a child of God now so, you have a new Father, God. The devil was your father before and that is old now and passed away. Your affections and desires are new. You are translated from the old kingdom of darkness and are now in the new kingdom of light of His dear Son. You want to serve the Lord and not serve the devil and self. The Spirit of Christ or the Holy Spirit (the same) indwells you where before He did not and He will open your eyes to understand the bible where as before you could not understand the bible. The bible will become precious to you because you will recognize it for what it really is, but most important of all God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit will be precious to you. You will not want to sin against God but when you do it will grieve your heart but not as much as it grieves His. He will bring you to maturity in His time and His way. Last but surely not least, you will learn to trust Him and believe Him instead of calling Him a liar through unbelief, which is the greatest sin of all. I hope this anwers your question.

Answer 3

You won't want to! Once you are saved, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your heart. You become increasingly aware of the sin in your life and actively work to weed it out. When I accepted Christ I was a drug abusing alcoholic that assumed death was around every corner. I accepted Christ assuming that He would forgive me for who I was, not that He would change me into someone different. You won't change overnight, it is a lifelong process. One day you look back at who you were and are shocked at how far away that person seems to be. People that knew me before, can't believe who I am now. People that know me now can't believe who I was before! He will change you little by little, weeding out one sin at a time

Answer 4

It's not OK "new means u have a blank slate" so u should want to put the old behind u and walk the right way

Answer 5

2Co 5:
Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Clearly not, as "the old things have passed away". If they haven't - why, then, you're not *really* a new creature, are you?

Jim, http://www.jimpettis.com/wheel/