I still remember the day in 1989 when “cold fusion” became a reality. I was working with the Blacktown congregation and was on my way to the local shops when the announcement was made. Two American scientists, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons, had successfully produced “cold fusion” in a laboratory experiment.

The discovery promised, without the extreme heat of nuclear fusion, an endless source of energy and was hailed as initially met with great rejoicing which was soon replaced with silence. What went wrong? Whatever those two men had created was just not reproducible, try as they might, they just could not make the same thing happen again.

Paul tells the Corinthians (and us) that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor.5:17) and most of us can recall a period, usually just after our conversion, when we felt just that way, cleansed, forgiven of our sins and ready for eternity. Unfortunately that utopian state didn’t last being overwhelmed by a renewed awareness of our sins. Worse, just as in the “cold fusion” experiment, we find ourselves unable to recreate that feeling again.

Fortunately the same passage which reminds us of just what we were also, if we trace Paul’s argument back to its source, provides us with the means to feel that way again. Two things assist us in this search, Paul’s use of the term “ministry” and the use of the word “therefore”. Every therefore in the text links the thoughts which follows with what came before and if we follow the word back we find the “trail” leads us back to chapter 3 where Paul begins his discussion of his ministry. We have our source!!

5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant- — not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? (2 Cor 3:5-8)

How do we recreate the sensation and reality of being a “new creation” despite our inability to live up to the description?

We accept that the letter kills. The letter here is the Law and, by extension, any system which causes us to rely upon ourselves. Paul argues that such a system will kill us because all it does is put the focus back on us and our inability to be what God wants us to be. If we would be once again “new creations” we must accept that self reliance is simply wrong.

We must resist the pull of the “Law”. Despite its inability to deal with sin the law and the self reliance it represents is attractive to us as it make us the masters of our own lives. It ma be gelorious but it can’t help us feel like new creations and must be resisted.

We must replace the letter with “the Spirit”. The Spirit of God, says Paul is the new standard which provides life. Paul suggests that the Spirit achieves his purpose when we concentrate on His glory allowing ourselves to be filled with Him. Just what this means is made clear by 2 Corthins 3:17 where Paul tells us that we will be transformed into Jesus likeness. In other words the Spirit leads us to become like Jesus. Instead of seeking to save ourselves we accept the salvation offered by God and live in the Spirit by imitating Jesus.

This is how the “new creation” was made in the first place and this is how it will be recreated in us. Replicating the experiment which produced cold fusion remains an illusive goal but reproducing that which made us into new creations is well within our grasp.