Fathers

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What the Fathers say

2 Corinthians 5:17

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

For seeing he had exhorted unto virtue from His love, he now leads them on to this from what has been actually done for them; wherefore also he added, "If any man is in Christ," he is "a new creature." "If any," saith he, "have believed in Him, he has come to another creation, for he hath been born again by the Spirit." So that for this cause also, he says, we ought to live unto Him, not because we are not our own only, nor because He died for us only, nor because He raised up our First-fruits only, but because we have also come unto …

Homily 11 on 2 Corinthians ↗

Basil of Caesarea

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. …

Letter 8

Theophylact of Ohrid

Whoever believed in Christ became another creation and became a new creature. Therefore, we must not live in the old way. What is the ancient? The sinful and the Judaic. For the ancient sin has ended and we have gained a new soul and a new body, and in place of everything Judaic we have all things new: in place of the law – the Gospel, in place of Jerusalem – heaven, in place of the temple – "the inner place behind the veil" (Heb. …

Commentary on 2 Corinthians ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

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 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Then when he says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he concludes from the foregoing that a certain effect follows, namely, newness in the world. Hence he says, if anyone is in Christ, i.e., in the faith of Christ, or through Christ, he is a new creation: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love" (Gal. 5:6). Here it should be noted that renewal by grace is called a creature. For creation is a change from nothing to existence. …

Commentary on 2 Corinthians ↗

Hippolytus of Rome

This Logos the Father in the latter days sent forth, no longer to speak by a prophet, and not wishing that the Word, being obscurely proclaimed, should be made the subject of mere conjecture, but that He should be manifested, so that we could see Him with our own eyes. …

The Refutation of All Heresies - Book 10 ↗