From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts:
So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:
the old things have passed away;
behold, new things have come.
2 Corinthians 5:17 from Sunday’s second reading
Creation is presented to us in Genesis as God’s orderly work in 6 steps, beginning with “Let there be light!” on day 1 and crowned by the creation of humanity on day 6. That was followed by the 7th Sabbath day of rest when Creation was all done.
The prophet Isaiah spoke of a new creation to come:
Behold, I create new heavens and new earth …Isaiah 65:17
For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, says the Lord; so shall your descendants and your name remain. Isaiah 66:22
With various nuances, the idea of a “new” creation runs through the New Testament:
“For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” Galatians 6:15
“But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells.” 2 Peter 3:13
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…” Revelation 21:1
Now Paul tells the Corinthians (and us) that the “new creation” is not simply something we are to wait for. It has already begun.
Begun, with a crucial difference: the original Creation ended with the creation of human beings, but human beings begin the New Creation. That is, the beginning of the New Creation is the bringing into being of human beings who are “in Christ.” Christ’s own humanity has already gone through the new-creation process, so to speak, and he is fully human in the redeemed fashion his followers will enjoy.
Insofar as a man or woman joins Christ by baptism and faith and becomes part of the vast “Body of Christ” Jesus is head of, that man or woman is already undergoing Creation to a new level of life, joy, permanence, goodness, etc., that will be completed by the Resurrection on the Last Day. (Which is the Last Day of this, our current Creation, the Universe we live in.) Then begins our everlasting life in the New Creation.
For further reflection:
By “old things” Paul is referring to the older (and his own) understanding of life as lived by the Torah. While not destroyed, that “Way” has been “updated” or transformed by the new “Way” which is Christ himself. Certainly the old basic moral teachings of the Way have not been abolished, but rather strengthened and much more widely applied. At the same time, even with the gift of the Holy Spirit, not all the “old” problems that beset human nature have passed away. We have new abilities and aids with which to struggle against them, but Christ and Paul are quite clear it will be remain a perennial battle until our Lord returns. Our victory is assured. It is not complete.