The crucifixion of Paul and all believers to the world occurred when they were crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). A radical disruption has taken place so that the love for the present world has been severed at the cross. Old polarities, such as whether one is circumcised or uncircumcised are fundamentally irrelevant. What matters is whether someone is part of the new creation that has dawned in Jesus Christ. Such a perspective accords with what Paul affirms in 2 Corinthians 5:17. The arrival of the new creation means that the old has passed away.

New Creation

Paul only uses the expression “new creation” once in his letter to the Galatians (Gal. 6:15), but the notion isn’t restricted to the phrase. Indeed, the new creation surfaces in the first verse, which affirms that God raised Jesus from the dead (Gal. 1:1). The resurrection in Jewish thought means that the new age has arrived and that the old age of evil and death has come to an end.1 Isaiah prophesies that the Lord “will swallow up death forever” and tears will be a distant memory (Isa. 25:8). Similarly, those who are raised from the dead will experience “everlasting life” and will shine “like the stars forever and ever” (Dan. 12:2–3; see also Isa. 26:19).

On the day of the resurrection the Lord’s promises to his people will be fulfilled, and the people of God will be restored and unified (Ezek. 37:1–14). The resurrection of Jesus means that the old age has ended, and thus Paul foreshadows the argument of the entire letter. Circumcision is no longer required because it was a permanent ordinance in the old era while the old creation persisted. Now that the new creation has come, the ordinances of the old age have passed away. Commands like circumcision only apply under the old covenant and in the old era, but the resurrection represents the apocalyptic irruption of the new age, and thus the regulations of the former age have expired.

Paul has died and now he lives to God (Gal. 2:19). In other words, he has “been crucified with Christ,” and now Christ “lives in” him (Gal. 2:20). Paul speaks representatively so that what is true of him applies to all believers in Jesus everywhere. They have died and come to life again. This is another way of describing an apocalyptic inbreaking through Christ Jesus. The new creation has come, and this is evident since Paul and all believers have died and come to life again. The power of the resurrection has, like a sneaker wave, washed up into the old age and taken over the shoreline of the beach. Now believers live in the new creation inaugurated by Christ’s resurrection. The new age has broken in and the old age is set aside. The arrival of the new creation in Christ’s resurrection affects every theme in Galatians, whether it is justification, the law, the people of God, or life in the Spirit.

The eschatological and apocalyptic dimensions of Paul’s gospel are apparent in Galatians 1:4 where Christ “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age.” The term “deliver” (exaireō) presents Jesus’s death as an exodus type of rescue (see Ex. 3:8; 18:4, 8, 9, 10 LXX). The same verb is used for the Lord’s promise to liberate his people in a second exodus foretold in the prophets (Isa. 31:5; 60:16; Ezek. 34:27 LXX).2 A distinction between this age and the age to come was common in Jewish thought (see 1 En. 71:15; 4 Ezra 4:27; 7:12–13, 50, 113–14; 8:1; 2 Bar. 14:13; 15:8; 44:8–15; CD 6.10–11, 14; 12.23; 1QpHab 5.7–8), and we find it fairly often in Jesus’s teaching as well (Matt. 12:32; Matt. 13:39, 40, 49; Matt. 24:3; Matt. 28:20; Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30; 20:35).

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