ACC ~ Revelation 21 v1a

WHEN THE SOUL IS RESTORED TO ITS INTEGRITY. AUGUSTINE: Every rational soul is made unhappy by its sins or happy by its well doing. Every irrational soul yields to one that is more powerful, or obeys one that is better, or is on terms of equality with its equals, exercising rivals or harming any it has overcome. Every body is obedient to its soul so far as permitted by the merits of the latter or the orderly arrangement of things. There is no evil in the universe, but in individuals there is evil due to their own fault. When the soul has been regenerated by the grace of God and restored to its integrity and made subject to him alone by whom it was created, its body too will be restored to its original strength, and it will receive power to possess the world, not to be possessed by the world. Then it will have no evil. For the lowly beauty of temporal changes will not involve it, for it will have been raised above change. There will be, as it is written, a new heaven and a new earth, and there souls will not have to do their part in toiling but will reign over the universe. “All things are yours,” says the apostle, “and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.” And again: “The head of the woman is the man, the head of the man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God.” Accordingly, since the vice of the soul is not its nature but contrary to its nature and is nothing else than sin and sin’s penalty, we understand that no nature, or, if you prefer it, no substance or essence, is evil. OF TRUE RELIGION 23.44.

TERRESTRIAL FIRES. AUGUSTINE: Having concluded his prophecy of the judgment awaiting bad people, John has to speak of what is to befall the good. … [The new heaven and earth] will happen in the order which he indicated, by anticipation, in the earlier verse where he said he saw sitting on a throne one from whose face heaven and earth fled away. First, to be sure, will come the judgment of those uninscribed in the Book of Life and their consignment to eternal fire. … Afterwards, this world as we see it will pass away, burned away by terrestrial fires, just as the flood was caused by the overflowing of terrestrial waters. This conflagration will utterly burn away the corruptible characteristics proper to corruptible bodies, as such; whereupon our substance will possess only those qualities that are consistent with bodies immortalized in this marvelous transformation—to this end, that the world, remade into something better, will become fit for people now remade, even in their bodies, into something better. CITY OF GOD 20.16.

ALMIGHTY GOD ESTABLISHES HEAVEN AND EARTH. CASSIODORUS: This passage announces the power and strength of the Lord with the words “He has established them forever, and for ages of ages: he has made a decree, and it shall not pass away.” This is to remove all doubt that God is almighty, for what he has established continues in being without change, since this conclusion is applied to the things of heaven. But we read of the world to come: “There will be a new heaven and a new earth,” so how can one say of the present heaven “He has established them forever”? There is however no doubt that all things have been established by God. Though man himself dies, he is “established” in God’s eyes when he rises again; similarly heaven and earth remain in God’s sight when they are made new. Once they have laid aside their roughness or corruptible character, nature itself is made better and abides, since it has been bidden to exist in eternity. As Paul says about the transformation of our bodies: “When the corruptible has put on incorruption, and the mortal puts on immortality.” A “decree” means a law or condition, so that we may realize that all things are in his power. It cannot pass away because the Almighty established it, and Truth has promised it in return. EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 148.6.

HEAVEN AND EARTH WILL PUT OFF THEIR FILTH. OECUMENIUS: In his second letter Peter speaks in a similar way: “According to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth.” They do not say this as though heaven and earth and sea are destroyed and pass into nonexistence and that other things come into being in their place. Rather, they mean that the present realities have cast off their corruption and become new, putting off their filth as though it were an old and dirty garment. For that is called “new” which is not such as it was formerly but is as it has now become. The creation shall then be free of every corruption that it contracted through the transgression of humankind. The holy apostle is also a very trustworthy witness to these things when in his letter to the Romans he writes this about the [new] creation: “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope, because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay unto the glorious liberty of the children of God.” And not only he, but also the holy prophet sang of the heaven and the earth in the testimony just presented: “They will all wear out as a garment, and as a vesture you will fold them, and they will be changed.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 20.13-21.2.

THE RENEWAL OF THE OLD. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: This passage does not speak of the obliteration of creation but of its renewal into something better. For as the apostle says, “this creation will be freed from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Also the holy psalmist says, “You change them like a raiment, and they pass away.” The renewal of that which has grown old does not involve the annihilation of its substance but rather indicates the smoothing out of its agedness and its wrinkles. It is a custom among us to say concerning persons who have in some way become better or have become worse, “someone has become someone else.” And so it is indicated concerning the heaven and the earth that they have “passed away’’ instead of have”changed.” And this is also the same with us who have received death; we will change from a former condition to a better lot. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 21.1.

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