If all the sins of the world have been paid for, why is salvation still conditional?
Although Christ's death paid for all sins, salvation remains conditional because a person must be in Christ. Scripture says if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the Holy Spirit must do that new creative work, baptizing every believer into one body.
Les explains that since believers no longer hang on Christ's earthly ministry but on His death, burial, and resurrection, verse 17 uses if, a conditional. Even though all the sins of the world have been paid for, salvation is conditional: a person must be in Christ. Les says if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. He notes the Greek word can be rendered creation or creature, but creation fits better because believers are not merely made a new creature; they are a whole new creation of God. That new creative work of the Holy Spirit is what makes a believer a believer, and unless one has experienced it, one is not a believer. Les then connects this to I Corinthians 12:13, where by one Spirit, the Holy Spirit, all believers, not just the best, most spiritual, or those with a particular experience, are baptized into one body.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.