ACC ~ 2 Corinthians 5 v17

WE HAVE A NEW LIFE. CHRYSOSTOM: We ought to live for Christ not just because we belong to him, not just because he died for us and not just because he rose again on our behalf. We ought to live for him because we have been made into something different. We now have a new life. The old things which have passed away refer to our sins and impiety, as well as all the observances of Judaism. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 11.4.

BORN AGAIN IN BAPTISM. THEODORET OF CYR: Those who believe in Christ have entered a new life. They must be born again in baptism and renounce their former sins. COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 317.

THE ODOR OF LIFE. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: The Old Testament was good, but without spiritual understanding it dies with the letter. The New Testament, through grace, restores the odor of life. SERMON 168.4.

ORDERED FREEDOM. AUGUSTINE: We are then truly free when God orders our lives, that is, forms and creates us not as human beings—this he has already done—but as good people, which he is now doing by his grace, that we may indeed be new creatures in Christ Jesus. Accordingly the prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” ENCHIRIDION 9.31.

THREE CREATIONS. BASIL: But, if we must go on with our discussion and make a deeper study, let us from this point contemplate especially the divine power of the Holy Spirit. We find three creations mentioned in the Scripture; the first, the education from nonexistence into existence; the second, the change from worse to better; and the third, the resurrection of the dead. In these you will find the Holy Spirit cooperating with the Father and the Son. … Now, humanity is created a second time through baptism, “for if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature.” LETTER 8.

A NEW AND SHINING CLOAK. CHRYSOSTOM: You heard today that the blessed Paul … told us in his letter to the Corinthians: “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature.” To prevent us from interpreting the text as applying to a visible creation, he stated: “If any man is in Christ,” teaching us that if any man has gone over to the side of those who believe in Christ, he is an example of a new creature. Tell me, if we see new heavens and other portions of his creation, is there a profit in this which can match the benefit we gain from seeing a man converted from evil to virtue and changing from the side of error to that of truth? This is what the blessed Paul called a new creature, and so immediately he went on to say: “The former things have passed away; behold, they are all made new!” By this he briefly showed that those who, by their faith in Christ, had put off like an old cloak the burden of their sins, those who had been set free from their error and been illumined by the light of justification, had put on this new and shining cloak, this royal robe. This is why he said: “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the former things have passed away; behold, they are all made new.” BAPTISMAL INSTRUCTIONS 4.12.

CITIZENS OF A NEW WORLD. CHRYSOSTOM: 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; behold, they are all made new.” Let us forget the whole past and, like citizens in a new world, let us reform our lives, and let us consider in our every word and deed the dignity of him who dwells within us. BAPTISMAL INSTRUCTIONS 4.16.

THE APOSTOLIC RULE. GREGORY OF NYSSA: “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, but that she might be holy and without blemish.” A new creature he called the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a pure and blameless soul removed from evil and wickedness and shamefulness. For, when the soul hates sin, it closely unites itself with God, as far as it can, in the regimen of virtue; having been transformed in life, it receives the grace of the Spirit to itself, becomes entirely new again and is recreated. ON THE CHRISTIAN MODE OF LIFE.

2 Cor