Theme · eschatological
New Creation
Isaiah first envisions new heavens and a new earth where former things are not remembered. Ezekiel sees a renewed land with living waters flowing from a restored temple. Jesus's miracles — healing, calming storms, raising the dead — are signs that the new creation is breaking into the old. Paul declares that anyone in Christ is a new creation and that the whole creation groans in labor waiting for the renewal. Revelation 21 brings the vision to its climax: God makes all things new, death is no more, and the dwelling of God is with humanity in a city that needs no sun, for the Lord God is its light.
Related doctrines
Passages expressing this theme
- 1Cor 15:45 — And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
- 1John 3:9 — Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
- 1John 5:1 — Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
- 2Cor 4:16 — For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
- 2Cor 5:17 — Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
- 2Pet 3:13 — Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
- Col 2:13 — And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
- Col 2:20 — Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
- Col 3:10 — And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
- Eph 1:10 — That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
- Eph 2:10 — For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
- Eph 4:24 — And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
- Ezek 11:19 — And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
- Ezek 18:31 — Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
- Ezek 36:26 — A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
- Ezek 48:35 — It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.
- Gal 4:26 — But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
- Gal 6:15 — For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
- Hos 14:5 — I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
- Isa 4:2 — In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
- Isa 6:13 — But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance
- Isa 11:9 — They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
- Isa 32:15 — Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
- Isa 35:1 — The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
- Isa 35:2 — It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the exce
The Church Fathers on New Creation
"If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, the former things have passed away." The "new creation" is the apostolic rule. And what this is Paul makes abundantly clear in another section, saying: "In order that I might present to myself the church in all her glory, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,…
He will build a world that is inundated with the torrent of iniquity, will restore it and will make it a new creation. Hence blessed Paul also cries aloud, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation."
Whoever believed in Christ became another creation and became a new creature. Therefore, we must not live in the old way. What is the ancient? The sinful and the Judaic. For the ancient sin has ended and we have gained a new soul and a new body, and in place of everything Judaic we have all things new: in place of…
Then when he says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he concludes from the foregoing that a certain effect follows, namely, newness in the world. Hence he says, if anyone is in Christ, i.e., in the faith of Christ, or through Christ, he is a new creation: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision…
— [OECUMENIUS] "but a new creation." A new creation, he says, of all things; for all who were circumcised and those uncircumcised alike, having believed, have become a new creation, having buried the old man, and we having been regenerated by the washing of baptism. [end of the excerpt by Oecumenius] —
Do you see why faith in Christ and the return to virtue are called a new creation? I exhort you, therefore, both you who have previously been initiated and you who have just now enjoyed the Master's generosity, let us all listen to the exhortation of the apostle, who tells us: "The former things have passed away;…