Walking with St. Paul At the intersection between old and new

Sep 24, 2008

Oddly enough, I would  like to start a series of columns on the thought of St. Paul, during  the “Year of St. Paul,” with a quote from St. Peter. Referring to St.  Paul’s writings, he tells us, “In them there are some things hard to  understand…” (2 Peter 3:16).

In many ways, two  millennia later, there are still some things hard to understand.  However, there is one theme that runs through St. Paul’s thought that  will help us understand other themes, making them at least easier to  understand. It is the distinction between the old creation and the new  creation, the present age and the age to come, the present world and  the world to come. (cf. Dr. Brant Pitre’s CD set, The Apostle Paul: Unlocking the Mysteries of His Theology, www.brantpitre.com)

St. Paul realizes that there is the old creation, and then there is the new creation inaugurated by Christ.

As a result of the  sinful disobedience of Adam the creation that God created “very good,”  is now “subject to futility…We know that all creation is groaning in  labor pains even until now” (Romans 8:20, 22). But Christ, the new, or  last, Adam, through righteous obedience, ushers in the new creation,  leading us to a new heavens and a new earth.

This notion is rooted  in the Old Testament, through the prophet Isaiah, who proclaimed, “Lo,  I am about to create a new heavens and a new earth…” (65:17). However,  the definitive fulfillment of this by Christ comes only in heavenly  glory. St. John, who was “caught up in the Spirit on the Lord’s day,”  “saw a new heavens and a new earth…” (Revelation 1:10, 21:1).

St. Paul is also  undoubtedly drawing from rabbinic sources. The Jewish rabbis spoke  about this present age and the age to come. But, they also spoke about  overlapping period between the old and the new, and they referred to  this as the days of the messiah, or the era of the messianic kingdom.

If we think of all of  this in terms of two overlapping circles we might get a clearer idea of  what is being considered. (cf. diagram above). We have one circle  representing the old creation, one circle representing the new  creation, and the overlapping period representing the era of the  messianic kingdom. This overlapping period begins with the incarnation,  moving along with Christ’s redemptive acts in the Paschal Mystery and  then to the definitive entering into the new creation with Christ’s  second coming and final judgment. In the Nicene Creed, we profess  belief in “the life of the world to come.”

The messianic kingdom  the rabbis spoke of is none other than the kingdom of heaven Christ  established by giving the keys of the kingdom to Peter. Upon this rock,  Christ built his church, or kingdom.

St. Paul repeatedly  emphasizes how the Christian life is lived at the intersection of the  old and the new. We very much live in the old, which is passing. St.  Paul said “...creation is groaning in labor pains even until now,” now  meaning even after the death and resurrection of Christ. However,  through Christ and his sacraments we truly participate in the new  creation. St. Paul tells us, “So whoever is in Christ is a new  creation…” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Also connected with  this is the theme of the Exodus. Isaiah, throughout chapters 40-66,  prophesies a new exodus. “When you pass through the water, I will be  with you; in the rivers you shall not drown…Thus says the Lord, who  opens a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters, who leads out  chariots and horsemen, till they lie prostrate together, never to rise,  snuffed out and quenched like a wick” (43:2, 16-17).

When the Messiah  comes, he will inaugurate the new creation by means of a new exodus. It  is not a coincidence that during the Transfiguration Jesus speaks to  Elijah and Moses, the inaugurator of the old Exodus. And what does  Jesus talk to Elijah and Moses about? They “spoke of his exodus that he  was going to accomplish in Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31).

For St. Paul, the Christian life is a participation in this exodus from the old to the new.

Getting a handle on  this will help us understand St. Paul when he writes about redemption,  marriage, the sacraments, flesh and spirit, law, the first Adam and the  last Adam, Christ, etc.

On the one hand, this  overlapping period of the messianic age is much like the 40 years of  wilderness wandering after the old exodus. On the other hand, it is  also very much unlike those 40 years. The new Adam has come and we can  truly participate in the new exodus, which brought about the new  creation.

Those who crossed  through the Red Sea were merely “baptized into Moses in the cloud and  in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:2). During the 40 years they ate the old  manna. We who crossed through the water of baptism are baptized into  Christ, thus participating in Trinitarian life and love, thus we are  able to partake of the new Manna – the body, blood, soul and divinity  of Christ.

Printed with permission from the Northern Cross, Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota.