If all sins were paid for, why isn't everyone saved?
All sins were paid for through Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, yet salvation is conditional. Scripture states, 'if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation.' Only those who experience the Holy Spirit's new creative work, being baptized into one body, are believers. The payment is universal, but being in Christ is required.
Les explains that we no longer hang on Christ's earthly ministry but on His death, burial, and resurrection. In verse 17, 'therefore, if' introduces a condition: even though all the sins of the world have been paid for, salvation is conditional. The condition is being in Christ: 'if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation.' Les notes the Greek word for creation and creature is the same, but creation fits English better because we are not just a new creature but a whole new creation of God. That is what makes a believer a believer, and unless we have experienced it, we are not a believer. There must be that new creative work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Les then points to 1 Corinthians 12:13, where by one Spirit—the Holy Spirit—all believers, not just the best or most spiritual or those with a particular experience, are baptized into one body. So while the payment for sin is universal, salvation is not automatic; it requires the Spirit's work of placing a person in Christ.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.