How do these two phrases differ in your mind: “you are a new creation” and “there is a new creation”? What images come to mind for both? The Pauline phrase “new creation” is well known. Was he thinking of a changed person as new creation, or more than that? Or both? Does it matter? I address these questions in the following excerpt from my book on Galatians, Freedom from Religiosity and Judgmentalism.
At the end of Galatians, Paul boldly states: “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation” (6:15). Although most translations of Galatians 6:15 do not explicitly interpret “new creation” as referring to an individual, many readers may hear the words as the equivalent of “new person” because they bring that meaning with them from 2 Corinthians 5:17. Does that verse actually equate new creation with an individual person?
Following the lead of the King James Version, many translations do state that Paul is referring to an individual person.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (ESV).
“Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new” (CEV).
Reading translations like these, Christians generally interpret the verse as explaining what happens when a person experiences salvation. The saved person is a “new creation” who acts differently. They have left behind their old behavior and now practice a new morality. This translation and interpretation are not necessarily the most obvious or the best. The New American Standard Bible makes the subjectivity of the translation clearer by putting in italics the words that are not in the Greek original. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” For the sentence to flow and make sense in English some words, including a verb, must be put into the sentence where there are none in Greek. The original does not identify the new creation as a person; that is an interpretative move. The following two translations are just as appropriate.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” NIV.
“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” NRSV.
In the Greek, 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Galatians 6:15 are much closer than they appear in English. The ESV translation comes close to a literal Greek translation of 6:15: “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”
Let us review what we have learned. Neither in 2 Corinthians 5:17 nor in Galatians 6:15 does Paul explicitly identify the new creation as an individual Christian. Versions of the Bible that do equate new creation with an individual are interpreting what they think Paul meant, but not translating actual words he wrote. Therefore, 2 Corinthians 5:17 does not actually provide extra insight on how to interpret Galatians 6:15. In Greek they are quite similar—both simply state “new creation” without description of what those words refer to.
Before giving my opinion on how to interpret this phrase I will offer some observations on why it matters. The there-is-a-new-person interpretation leads the reader to think of transformation of the individual and look inward. The there-is-a-new-creation interpretation leads the reader to look out and conceive of Christ's work in a broad way. The broader, or less individualistic, interpretation does not rule out significant changes occurring in individuals' lives, and it points to much more. The there-is-a-new-person reading, however, does rule out broader implications and limits the impact of the gospel to the individual.
For three reasons I think we do best to interpret “new creation” in a broader sense that includes transformation within and also a sense that the world has changed for those in Christ. First, it is a more restrained, less speculative translation. It does not add interpretative words.
Second, in a setting much more individualistic than Paul’s we should be extra cautious of a translation that adds an individualistic emphasis that was not in the original. Recognizing that our default is to interpret things individualistically calls for us to be on guard for imposing that on the text.
Finally, the context of this verse in Galatians, both the immediate context and especially the letter as a whole, points to the broader interpretation. Paul has just made a statement that includes a sense of change in him and his world (6:14), and in the first lines of the letter (1:4) he writes about the cross dealing with personal sins and changing lived reality (rescue from the present evil age). To speak of rescue from the present evil age points to the world-changing, or cosmic, impact of the cross and resurrection. This points to Paul’s already-but-not-yet view of the new age. He does not write of release from the present evil age as being a future-only liberation. It has happened in the present. This language at the beginning of the letter calls us to see “new creation” as a similar cosmic change which is unfolding now. Between those two points in the letter, there are numerous references to individual transformation and to a community of believers living in ways radically different than the world because of the work of Christ and the presence of the Spirit. The united table at Antioch is a concrete example of new creation that includes transformed individuals living according to new realities which are manifest in corporate actions. In Galatians, “new creation” is best interpreted as both individual and broader, not just one or the other.
The above is an excerpt from, Mark D. Baker, Freedom from Religiosity and Judgmentalism: Studies in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (237-240), Kindred Productions, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 2023. Used with permission. Explore the riches of Galatians through reading the rest of the book. It includes reflection questions for group discussion. More information on the book here.