New Creation in Paul's Letters and Thought

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Dec 2003 by Redmond, Calvin D

New Creation in Paul's Letters and Thought. By Moyer V. Hubbard. SNTSMS 119. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, xiii + 293 pp., $60.00.

This work, a revision of Hubbard's Oxford dissertation, examines the meaning of the "new creation" motif in Paul's writings. Hubbard is Associate Professor of New Testament at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. Hubbard's purpose is to argue for the soterio-anthropological understanding of "new creation" in Paul, emphasizing that the believer has been made new. In the twentieth century, a cosmological understanding of the phrase, emphasizing a new and renewed world, has displaced the anthropological view. Kasemann's emphasis on the priority of apocalyptic and more recently the writings of J. C. Beker on the centrality of apocalyptic in Paul's thought have helped give popularity to the cosmological view.

Hubbard focuses his view of new creation in the OT on Isaiah 40-66 and portions of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Following von Rad, Hubbard sees that creation is background and secondary to redemption in this section of Isaiah. Jeremiah and Ezekiel speak of "new covenant," "new heart," and "new Spirit," which refer to God's work within the individual.

Hubbard next examines the new creation motif within the Jewish writings of Jubilees and Joseph and Aseneth. In contrast to many interpreters who focus on the cosmic aspects of Jubilees, Hubbard finds both cosmological and anthropological renewal present. In Joseph and Aseneth, the key passage 8:1-19 contains a number of verbs with the sense of renewal or regeneration, although the phrase "new creation" is not found in this section.

Hubbard's chapter examining insights from cultural anthropology argues that a foundational context of the new creation statements in Paul is drawn from Paul's "death-life" imagery. Anthropologists find "death-life" and transformation ideas to be common in initiatory and transitional rites.

In a short survey of Paul's thought in Romans 6 and 7, Hubbard finds in Rom 6:1-11 repeated uses of the death, suffering, and transformation themes. Rom 7:1-6 stresses the newness of the work of the Spirit, contrasted with the oldness of the letter, as well as developing new covenant ideas.

Hubbard argues that both 2 Cor 5:17 and Gal 6:15 are to be understood anthropologically. He skillfully reconstructs the situations in Corinth and Galatia and analyzes Paul's responses. Hubbard further develops a relationship between new creation and the role of the Spirit and connects new creation with Adam and image concepts. He also sees death-life imagery in the context of both passages. Finally, Hubbard points to a number of parallels between 2 Cor 5:17 and Gal 6:15.

Despite many strong elements in this work, I was not persuaded that the anthropological view is correct. Failure to consider evidence that might weaken his position, poor definition of what constitutes "new creation" language, and an aversion to the manner in which the apocalyptic motif has been used by interpreters of the last century all reduce the persuasiveness of Hubbard's thesis. These weaknesses will be discussed in more detail in the following paragraphs.

Hubbard's exploration of the motif of new creation in the OT is inadequate. Not all of Isaiah 40-66 equates creation and redemption; some passages, such as Isa 44:24-28, cite God's creative work as evidence of God's ability to accomplish great tasks, usually of national restoration. The creation motif in the OT also is used doxologically or apologetically in the Psalms in many places, including Psalms 19, 89, 102, 104, and 136. In the OT, creation is not always synonymous with or even subordinate to redemption, and these other uses of the creation motif are left unexplored in Hubbard's work. One also wishes that explicitly cosmological language, such as "new heavens and new earth," had been given more prominence in his study of new creation in the OT and NT.

Hubbard must defend his use of statements of "new covenant," "renew," "new heart," "regeneration," and similar terms as new creation terms. His failure to do so is especially telling when the phrase "new creation" itself is absent from the passage being studied, as in Joseph and Aseneth. It is not self-evident why these passages should be considered as new creation texts.

In Hubbard's treatment of 2 Cor 5:17, some of the specific arguments advanced against the cosmological view are not persuasive. For example, Hubbard narrows the possible interpretations of the cosmological view to make it unpalatable, citing a statement from Furnish, "if someone is in Christ, then the creation 'has been totally refashioned'" (p. 179). Equally possible and far more plausible would be, "if anyone is in Christ, he enters into a new creation."

There are also difficulties with Hubbard's view of Gal 6:15. While Hubbard criticizes J. Louis Martyn and others who see apocalyptic in many places, Hubbard fails to acknowledge the strongly apocalyptic character of Gal 4:4, "when the fullness of time came, God sent his son. . . ." He also does not accept the relevance of Rom 8:18-24 to the discussion, arguing that all of creation groans while waiting for the still future new age.