The concept is suggested in 1 Thess 5.5-6, “You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober” (TNIV). Previously in 4.13-18, those who are physically dead are referred to as asleep, but will be resurrected, here in 5.5-6, Paul uses a synonym for sleep to describe the spiritually dead, contrasting those awake with those asleep.
Corinthian Correspondence
Within Paul’s letters to Corinth, the first clear allusion to the theme of old and new is in 1 Corinthians 15.42-58, which is a clear instance of a death/life motif. The development of these verses comes directly from the reality of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead previously, where Paul develops his previous thoughts about the salvific implications of Christ’s death and resurrection. Within this section, the theme of new life is expanded with a reference to Adam in verses 44-49. Paul gives a direct correlation between Adam who sinned, and Christ who saved.[1] Adam becomes the representative of those who die physically. Christ becomes the representative of those who will be raised.
2 Corinthians follows in the same vein with verse 5.17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”[2] Contextually, this verse fits within the passage of verses 5.11-6.2, dealing with reconciliation, contrasting the status of the believer before and after salvation. From a broader perspective, Paul has, in the previous chapters, compared the Old and New Covenants to each other in order to show that the new covenant, instituted by Christ, is greater than the old in chapters two and three.
Chapter four continues admitting that in spite of the consummation of the New Covenant, the believer continues to live in the old physical body for the presenting of the gospel. The fourth chapter then flows into the fifth with the anticipation of the resurrection and looks forward to receiving a new body. Just as in 1 Corinthians, the metaphor of “new creation,” develops from Paul’s perspective of the resurrection in view of Christ.[3] Thus, for Paul, being a new creation, contrast to the old, is a direct result of Christ’s reconciling work, which in turn is a direct result of his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection. Paul writes in 5.17, “ἰδοὺ,” Behold! His declaration is emphatic, demanding the attention of his audience.[4] “The tense is perfect (γέγονεν)—a new set of standards and attitudes ‘has come to stay.’”[5]
Some translations render “ὥστε εἴ τις ἐν Χριστῷ, καινὴ κτίσις” as “he is a new creation.”[6] The NRSV translates, “there is a new creation.” The former emphasizes the individual, while the latter, the eschatological shift. Neither interpretation is definite. One cannot say confidently which Paul had in mind. The τις suggests the individual, but also elsewhere, Paul never uses κτίσις to refer to the individual.[7] But to say that because Paul has not used to refer to the individual that he cannot. A better road would be to translate the verse to allowing for both understandings since they are not dichotomous. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ: New creation! Behold! The old is gone the new has come!”[8]
[1] “The first Adam became a living being’; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit” (TNIV, 1 Cor 15.45).
[2] TNIV, 2 Cor 5.17.
[3] “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (TNIV, 2 Cor 5.15).
[4] Cf. Walter Bauer, et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (3rd ed.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 468.
[5] Linda L. Belleville, vol. 8, 2 Corinthians (IVPNT; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 155, citing Murray J. Harris, 2 Corinthians, Vol. 10 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Frank E. Gaebelein, ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1976), 353.
[6] Cf. NASB, NIV, NET.
[7] Cf. Rom 1.20, 25; 8.19, 20, 21, 22, 39; Gal 6.15; Col 1.15, 23.
[8] So David E. Garland, “The eschatological reality of the new creation effected by Christ’s advent makes possible that subjective change in individuals who become new creations in Christ.” David E. Garland, vol. 29, 2 Corinthians (NAC; Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 287.
Paul’s Letter to the Galatians
Galatians marks a shift in the manner that Paul introduces the theme of the old and new. In the Corinthians letters, Paul’s discussions are precipitated by discussions of the resurrection. In Galatians, Paul’s view of the new era results from ethnic tension between Jews and Gentiles as related to following the Mosaic Law. The change does not ignore the train of thought in previous letters. The essential point still continues because his understanding of the new era is founded in Christ’s death and resurrection.[1]
In Galatians 2, Paul defends his gospel, arguing that salvation cannot come through the Law, but only though Christ.[2] What we find in the next four verses is the foundation of Paul’s assertion of being justified by faith. “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.[3] These words, which contrast life and death (the old era and the new era), epitomize the following discussion. The polemic setting of Galatians, dealing with the Judaizers, sets up for Paul a new lens to view the event of Christ’s death.
Paul represents the old and new eras by two new metaphors: Law/faith in Galatians 3, and then by analogy, children of slavery/freedom in four through six. The latter section describes the believer being adopted in parallel with the law and faith in the previous chapter. In 3.24, the Law is a custodian until the coming of Christ, whereas in 4.3, the before Christ the believer was “in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world.”[4] Verses 3.25 and 4.4 parallel each other: “Now that this faith has come…. But when the set time had fully come…” This parallelism continues through 3.29 and 4.7.[5] Within these corresponding paragraphs a similar pattern occurs. Verses 3.23-24 and 4.1-3 speak of the old era. Verses 3.24-29 and 4.4-7 speak of the new era that has come with Christ, with the climax being 3.29 and 4.7, which describe those who belong to Christ, God’s children, also his heirs.[6]
Galatians 5-6 is Paul’s discussion of salvation history in light of two phrases: “κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος” and “κατὰ τῆς σαρκός.” The shift described in chapter four introduces the necessity of discussing the practical life changes in the following chapters. Paul gives the Galatians two options regarding how they can live, by the Spirit or by the flesh. These verses deal with the fact that, “those who ‘walk by the Spirit’ … will not carry out the ἐπιθυμία (‘desires’) of the flesh, precisely because those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its ἐπιθυμία (‘desires’; v. 24).”[7]
Translations such as the TNIV, NIV, and NLT inadequately translate the word “σαρκός” in these passages as, “sinful nature.”[8] But Paul’s view of the flesh (σαρκός) is thoroughly physical in nature. While at first this might appear to be a Gnostic perspective of the physical and the spiritual, rather Paul considers the physical body negatively because of the Adam’s fall, the corruption of the world and the anticipation of resurrection, as has been seen especially in the Corinthians correspondence.[9] Thus, Paul’s perspective of the old and new eras, of the Spirit and of the flesh, are in the present age portrayed as currently residing together in tension. The physical body is the only remaining element for the believer that has not yet been redeemed.
The translation “sinful nature” implies sin is natural. If so, there is no need for “new creation” caused by Christ’s death. “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.[10] Circumcision and uncircumcision have no value there are part of the old era of the flesh. New creation is everything. It is best to understand καινὴ κτίσις as similar to 1 Corinthians 5.17.[11] The syntax of the verses is identical, dealing with the spiritual change resulting from Christ’s death.
[1] See especially Gal 2.19-20, as noted below.
[2] “So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified” (TNIV, Gal 2.16).
[3] TNIV, Gal 2.19-20. Richard N. Longenecker aptly states, “In vv 19–20 Paul presents in encapsulated form the essence of his own theology vis-à-vis Jewish nomism” (Richard N. Longenecker, vol. 41, Galatians [WBC; Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002], 91).
[4] TNIV, Gal 4.3.
[5] Cf. Trevor Burke, Adopted in to God’s Family: Exploring a Pauline Metaphor (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 112. Also James D. G. Dunn, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (BNTC; Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1993), 210.
[6] Gordon Fee appropriately describes the eschatological shift described in these verses: “The entire passage is ‘enclosed’ by Paul’s basic theocentricity: God sent his Son, and at the end we become heirs ‘through God.’” Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2007), 232.
[7] Gordon D. Fee, God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1994) 421).
[8] Gal 5.13, 16, 17, 19, 24; 6.8; also especially in Romans.
[9] Note the resurrection passages in 1 Thess 5.4-10; 1 Cor 15.42-58; 2 Cor 5. “In Paul’s thought especially, all parts of the body constitute a totality known as σ. or flesh, which is dominated by sin to such a degree that wherever flesh is, all forms of sin are likewise present, and no good thing can live in the σάρξ.” BDAG, 915.
[10] TNIV. Gk, “οὔτε γὰρ περιτομή τί ἐστιν οὔτε ἀκροβυστία ἀλλὰ καινὴ κτίσις.” ἀλλὰ καινὴ κτίσις is an ellipsis of contrast. Paul’s emphasis “falls more heavily not upon the missing verb, but on the different subject, compliment, or adjunct.” Such ellipsis functions to remove those clause element of continuity between the two clauses so that the contrast between the clauses becomes increases (Cf. Me, “Syntax and Submission: Translating Ephesians 5.22” [Unpublished Paper for Logos Bible Software and SBL Technology Paper Awards, 2006], 21-22).
[11] Moyer V. Hubbard sees a link between καινὴ κτίσις and the death-life symbolism of Paul, especially in light Gal 2.19-20. Indeed, that “καινὴ κτίσις expresses the ‘life’ side of Paul’s death-life equations should be regarded as more than merely prima facie evidence for an anthropological interpretation.” (Moyer V. Hubbard, New Creation in Paul’s Letters and Thought [SNTSMS; Cambridge: University Press, 2002], 226-28).
