As it Was in the Beginning
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The meaning of Paul's comments about the new creation in 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Galatians 6:15 has long been obscured. Debate has raged for years, with some arguing that the phrase "new creation" solely refers to the inward transformation believers have experienced through faith in Jesus Christ, and others that this phrase should be understood cosmologically and linked with Isaiah's "new heavens and new earth". Still more advocate an ecclesiological interpretation of this phrase that centres Paul in the new community formed around Jesus Christ. In As It Was in the Beginning, Mark Owens argues that the concept of "new creation" should be understood within the realm of Paul's anthropology, cosmology, and ecclesiology. Paul's understanding of new creation belongs within an Urzeit-Endzeit typological framework, especially within 2 Corinthians 5-6 and Ephesians 1-2. Owens's reading of "new creation" gives due weight to the use of Isaianic traditions in Paul's letters, and to demonstrate that the vision of new creation in 2 Corinthians and Galatians is in striking harmony with that of Ephesians.
Mark D. Owens (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Luther Rice College & Seminary in Georgia, USA.