ACC ~ Galatians 6 v15

THE SOUL RENEWED BY BAPTISM. CHRYSOSTOM: Do you see the power of the cross, to what a height it has raised the apostle? For not only has it made all the things of the world dead to him, but it has set him far above the older way of life. What equals the strength of the cross? Paul at one time was willing to be slain and to slay others for the cause of circumcision. Now he has been persuaded by the cross to let circumcision fall to the level of uncircumcision. Now he seeks new and strange things which are above the heavens. By the new creation he means our own new way of life, both on account of what is past and what is to come. We are renewed by what is past, because our soul, having grown old in sin, has been immediately renewed by baptism. It is as if recreated again that we seek a new and heavenly way of life. We are being renewed by what is to come, because the heaven and the earth and all creation will be changed into incorruption along with our own bodies. HOMILY ON GALATIANS 6.15.

A NEW CREATION. THEODORET: Paul also mentions a new creation in his letter to the Corinthians. … The strict meaning of new creation is the transformation of all things which will occur after the resurrection from the dead. For then the creation will be freed from sin’s burden and redeemed. Paul demonstrates that saving baptism is an image of things to come. In it we put off the old nature and put on the new. And we, ridding ourselves of sin’s burden, receive the grace of the Spirit. Yet neither the most holy baptism nor the life to come recognizes any difference between circumcision and uncircumcision. By world he means the affairs of life—honor, glory and wealth. To these he declares himself dead. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 6.15.

Gal