Are all human beings New Creations in Christ?
‘Create’ from ‘creo, creare, creavi, creatum’ vt to create,
produce,
beget; to elect (to an office);
to cause, occaision.
But compare:
‘Beget’ from ‘gigno, gignere, genui, genitum’ vt
to beget, bear,
produce;
to cause.
There is a huge amount of overlap in the classical meanings of these two verbs, especially when used in respect of the production of human beings.
This overlap then produces huge difficulties to those reading the Gospel of John, and teachings based on that Gospel, for the difference in these two verbs is called upon to differentiate between the origin of Our Lord, and the rest of us. The common inference is that Our Lord is begotten of G_D, whereas the rest of us are created of G_D, but as I said, the two verbs are alike in meaning in this context.
Now the first three Gospels, report that Our Lord was definite that any of his disciples could, with faith, do any of the deeds which HE did, and indeed, when Peter failed to complete his walk on the water, he was not rebuked for his presumption, but for his lack of faith.
Clearly Our Lord was telling them that physically HE was no different from them, it was only his faith, and certain knowledge which set him apart, and that was within their reach to gain.
Again, then what do we mean when we use the verb ‘create’ in this context, as opposed to ‘beget’
In context, the usual differentiation is:
Creation is production, ex nullis, or from nothing but the Will of G_D, whereas,
Begetting is modification, by effort, of something already created.
Now are we a new creation?
Plainly No.
We are begotten of the creation, as indeed was the physical presence of Our Lord. However, the spiritual entity of Our Lord, the spirit which inhabited the temple of HIS BODY is a different matter. That is the Divine Presence Incarnate. For the rest of us, the spiritual presence is just the keeper of the temple. That is not to say that the temple of Our Lord did not have a keeper, but that that keeper knew his place, unlike ours, which considers itself to be the master of the universe!
Now if we set the keeper in its place, and invite in the Divine Presence, is that a creation or a begetting. Yes it is from nothing but the will of G_D, but then, how is that different from Our Lord?
But is that Divine presence separate from Divinity, No.
It is just an extension of the Divinity, so is that a creation, or is it better seen as a begetting, as life begotten is not truely new life, but rather it is life extended.
