New Man – New Creation in the Theology of Paul
New Man – New Creation in the Theology of Paul

Summary/Abstract: God had congratulated himself for creating the universe and humankind (Gen 1,31),a “very good” creation brought to nought by human sin. However, human nature stillsighs and longs for the goodness and image of God within. God’s creation yearns to becreated anew. Paul’s understanding of “new creation” and “new man” looks to the wiseplan of God negated by sin. For Paul, the new era, in which the new creation reachesits aim in perfection, is the time of the parousia, the new and future coming of JesusChrist. The Apostle of the Gentiles understood “kainē ktisis” in a soterio-cosmologicalsense, as the event consequent upon the redemption brought about by Christ Jesus thatwill be fulfilled in the parousia. New creation, new mankind in a new covenant takesplace in communion with the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus in Baptism. Thefundamental condition by which the revelation of the mystery of God takes place is thenew covenant fulfilled in the blood of Christ and its effects: the outpouring of the HolySpirit, upon those who believe, as even the prophets had foretold. One can observe thedevelopment of the Pauline thought in his Letters: from a theological perspective andits legitimacy in the Major Letters, to the practical consequences in the daily life of theChristian assemblies in the Deutero-Pauline Letters, that emerge from the applicationof these theological arguments.

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