God’s plan of salvation, while primarily concerned with humanity, encompasses the whole created order (cf. Rom. 8:21). When people are in Christ, they have already become part of the new creation. It is true, of course, that for the time being the old still persists and the new has not yet fully come (cf. Rom. 8:18–25; Gal. 5:15–26). However, in the present passage, it is the newness of life in Christ now which is being stressed, rather than the limitations and the tension involved in participating
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