Section 7
for Him, His mother said, "Child, why did You treat us like this? Behold, Your father and I are greatly distressed seeking You." (Luke 2:48). The Lord Jesus replied, "Why is it that you were seek ing Me? Did you not know that I must be in the things of My Father?" (v. 49). Here we see that even at the age of twelve the Lord was living a crucified life. Through His mother, Mary, He had received the life of the old creation. But instead of living according to this old creation life, He died to it and lived according to another life, according to the life of His Father.
John 6:57 helps us to understand this. Here the Lord Jesus said, "The living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father." Yes, the Lord Jesus lived, but He lived by the Father. The Father lived in Him, and He lived the Father. He lived a life which is divine and eternal, God's life lived out in the old creation. Such a living is the ele ment of the new creation.
Paul speaks twice of the new creation. In Ga latians 6:15 he says, "For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new crea tion." In 2 Corinthians 5:17 he declares, "So that if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation." When did this new creation begin? The old crea tion began in Genesis 1:1, a verse which says, "In