M Hubbard: New Creation as Personal Conversion

In stark contrast to Martyn and in conversation with the influential work of Ulrich Mell, Hubbard argues that καινη` κτι'σις in 2 Cor 5:17 and Gal 6:15 refers to an inwardly transformed person; thus, he asserts an exclusively anthropological reading. Because Hubbard’s work has been received with some enthusiasm and is the view countered here, I give more attention to his work than to Martyn or Jackson. This extended treatment provides a context from which to provide exegetical and methodological critique.

Hubbard identifies a variety of texts for consideration but gives special attention to the themes of new heart/new Spirit present in Jeremiah and Ezekiel.18 _{He also incorporates a new}

methodological twist by including Joseph and Aseneth as the primary Second Temple Jewish text most suited for a comparative analysis.

Additionally, Hubbard’s reading of Paul is informed by cultural anthropological studies that analyze ‘death-life symbolism’ from a variety of cultural groups and time periods. Drawing primarily from the work of Arnold van Gennep, yet including others (V. Turner, L. La Fontaine, M. Douglas, M. Houseman, and M. Eliade), Hubbard provides an informative discussion of the wide-ranging practices related to conversion and initiation rites observed when a neophyte passes from death-to-life. He includes this material as an anthropological framework for better understanding the religious context and phenomenology of Paul’s death- to-life statements, statements which Hubbard fundamentally equates with new creation.

Hubbard aptly evaluates three Pauline passages in light of these studies: Rom 6:1-11 (chapter 6), Rom 7:1-6 (chapter 7), and Gal 2:19-20 (chapter 10), as well as an excursus on

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17 _{Martyn, Theological, 121.} 18 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 11–25.}

the function of the Spirit within Pauline eschatology (chapter 9). These Pauline texts, as informed by Hubbard’s cultural anthropological studies, provide an interpretive lens for understanding new creation in 2 Cor 5:17 and Gal 6:15 as limited to individual conversion. Three foci emerge as interpretive hooks for Hubbard: the focus on the internal spiritual

conversion of the human heart, Paul’s defense of his apostolic ministry as grounded in the

work of the Spirit, and finally, Paul’s self-understanding of his conversion. In the sections below, I summarize Hubbard’s thesis as it intersects with these three foci, particularly in regard to 2 Corinthians.

(a) Internal Spiritual Conversion of Human Hearts

To frame 2 Cor 5:11-17 within the broader concern of the internal spiritual conversion of the heart, Hubbard identifies 2 Cor 1:20-21 and 5:5 as thematic verses that define and clarify Paul’s pneumatological and salvation-history agenda in these chapters. Hubbard connects the similar phrases δου`ς το`ν α’ρραβωñνα τουñ πνευ'ματος ε’ν ταιñς καρδι'αις η‘μωñν (2 Cor 1:22) and κατεργασα'μενος η‘μαñς ει’ς αυ’το` τουñτο θεο'ς, ο‘ δου`ς η‘μιñν το`ν α’ρραβωñνα τουñ πνευ'ματος (2 Cor 5:5), highlighting the theme of a renewed spiritual heart, a theme that is accentuated when juxtaposed with corresponding themes found in the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel.19 _To

further extend this reading to emphasize renewal as a divine creative act, Hubbard suggests that the force of κατεργα'ζομαι is best translated as ‘to fashion’ or ‘create’, leading to his conclusion: ‘These two passages bracket and summarize the major themes of chapters 3 and 4 and provide access to the theological corridor which leads to 2 Corinthians 5.17’.20

Hubbard reads the Adam-Christ typology in Rom 5-8 as a key theological substructure of 2 Cor 5: ‘The failings of the first Adam are rectified by the second (Rom. 5.12-21) who restores the ει’κω'ν (Rom. 8.29) and δο'ξα (Rom. 8.30) lost by the former (cf. Rom. 3.23)’.21

This ‘grand salvation-history metaphor’ interfaces with 2 Cor 5:14-17 where Paul shifts from the universality of Christ’s salvation (παñς) to a more defined group (τι'ς), leading Hubbard to conclude that ‘soteriology — specifically, conversion — forms the basis of the transformation

--- 19 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 236.} 20 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 137–39.} 21 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 172–73.}

which Paul describes in verses 16-17’.22 _{These conclusions draw upon soteriological death-}

to-life imagery that symbolizes the transition of a person from one status to another (e.g., Rom 6:1-11).23 _{In this transition, we see the new spiritual life of those in Christ as positioned}

antithetically to the life shaped by the flesh (e.g., Rom 7:1-6).24 _{Thus, Hubbard closely aligns}

new creation motifs with the pneumatological restoration of an individual person, as ‘the Spirit gives life’ (2 Cor 3:6; cf. Rom 8:2, 6, 10; 1 Cor 15:45; Gal 5:25).25 _{Hubbard further}

suggests that the new creation should be interpreted within the antithesis of internal/external ‘new covenant’ language in Jeremiah and the ‘new heart and new Spirit’ language of

Ezekiel.26

(b) Paul’s Defense of his Apostolic Ministry

The rhetorical question ‘And who is sufficient for these things?’ (2 Cor 2:16) provides the second critical motif for understanding what is at stake for Paul in this letter. Based on socio- historical studies and hints throughout the Corinthian correspondence (e.g., 1 Cor 1-4; 2 Cor 2:17; 5:11; 10:10; 11:6; 12:19; 13:3), it can been determined that those opposing Paul at Corinth valued sophistry-for-pay, eloquent words, and rhetoric, each external qualities that one can demonstrate in the sarx. Hubbard draws upon this comparison and concludes that Paul contrasts new creation with sarx, creating an important antithesis. This prompts Hubbard to read 5:11-17 primarily as a Pauline defense against the complaint of his unimpressive rhetorical skills.27 _{He supports this thesis in part by drawing a comparison between rhetorical}

terminology from Hellenistic literature and the language Paul uses in this text, suggesting that Paul intentionally selects rhetorical and political language ‘in order to correct their own misunderstanding of his apostolate’ (e.g. πει'θω, 5:11; ε’ξι'στημι - σωφρονε'ω, 5:13; πρεσβευ'ω, 5:20; καταλλα'σσω, 5:18-21).28 _{Thus, the antithesis between Spirit and flesh becomes}

important in Hubbard’s analysis of these chapters, especially as it relates to Paul’s ministry.

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22 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 174.} 23 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 91–103.} 24 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 104–12.} 25 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 235.} 26 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 17–25.} 27 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 140–49.} 28 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 161–70.}

In an effort to convince this church that the earthen vessel of his ministry concealed the very δυ'ναμις of God (4.7), Paul directs their attention back to the inner dynamic of the Spirit. From this pneumatological basis Paul

articulates his perception of his New Covenant ministry and the transformation which it entails. These two closely related items, Paul’s New Covenant

retrospective and the motif of transformation must be explored in order to grasp adequately 2 Cor. 5.11-21.29

Important to Hubbard’s conclusion is an adjectival reading of κατα` σα'ρκα in 5:16, which he interprets as a ‘veiled exhortation’ for those opposed to Paul’s ministry based on judgments of the flesh.30 _{Thus, this text rhetorically functions to juxtapose Paul’s former}

misunderstanding of the mission of the human Jesus with the Corinthians’ current misunderstanding of the mission of Paul.31

(c) Paul’s Own Conversion

Through select, careful exegesis Hubbard outlines what he considers motifs of personal conversion throughout the central chapters of 2 Corinthians. For example, 2 Cor 4:6, which says that ‘The same God who said, “Let light shine from darkness”, made his light shine in

our hearts’,32 _{provides Hubbard with the guiding theme for this passage: the inner}

transformation of the human heart. He also reads this text as a clear allusion to Paul’s own conversion experience on the Damascus Road, providing ‘further reference to conversion, and one in which the apostle offers his own experience as somehow typical of believers

generally’.33 _{Hubbard links this theme to the pericope of Moses and the veiled glory where}

Paul writes, ‘Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is removed’ (3:16). Hubbard suggests that Paul’s citation of Exod 34:34 confirms that conversion is referenced in this text. ---

29 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 150.}

30 _{Hubbard’s adjectival reading of κατα` σα'ρκα is one important distinction from Martyn. Hubbard translates as}

“Christ, in so far as his human lineage is concerned.” See Hubbard, New Creation, 175. In agreement with Martyn, O’Connor disagrees with Hubbard: “This line of interpretation (adj) is excluded by the fact that when Paul uses kata sarka as an adjective, it follows the noun (cf. 1 Cor. 1:26; 10;18; Rom 4:1; 9:3). Here it precedes the noun, and so it must be understood as an adverb qualifying ‘to know’.” J. Murphy-O’Connor,

The Theology of the Second Letter to the Corinthians (NTT; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1991), 58.

31 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 177. Hubbard suggests that “Paul’s reflective glance at his past” in this text is a}

self- confession. As Kreitzer points out, Paul begins this clause with a plural pronoun, “if we regarded Christ according to the flesh” which calls into question Hubbard’s interpretation. L. Kreitzer, 2 Corinthians (NTG; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996), 108.

32 _{Emphasis Hubbard, he also notes that Paul did not say, “in the world” (4:6; cf. 3:18). See Hubbard, New}

Creation, 153.

In citing this passage from Exodus, Paul changes the verb ει’πορευ'ετο to ε’πιστρε'φη, and leaves the subject nonspecific; Hubbard considers the subject to be anyone, as the passage seems to imply, and he takes this to be an allusion to ‘the hearts of his (Paul’s) unbelieving kinsmen’.34

Narrowing his attention to 5:11-17, Hubbard carefully develops a number of other exegetical points to crystallize his conclusions, including an analysis of the governing τι'ς (5:17, anyone), ε’ν Χριστωñ (5:17 as soteriological transformation), and κο'σμος (5:19), which Hubbard translates as ‘the world as mankind’.35 _{These exegetical conclusions are supported}

by offering Isa 43:15-21 as the closest OT parallel text to 2 Cor 5:17. In particular Paul’s phrase τα` α’ρχαιñα παρηñλθεν, ι’δου` γε'γονεν καινα', is read as an echo of Isa 43:18: τα` α’ρχαιñα μη` συλλογι'ζεσθε ι’δου` ποιωñ καινα'. Hubbard argues that this motif is generally viewed as

‘soteriological and depicts God’s impending action on Israel’s behalf as a kind of second exodus’.36 _{These contextual and exegetical pointers lead him to conclude that the term καινη`}

κτι'σις is ‘an anthropological motif relating to the situation of the individual “in Christ”’.37

Using a similar methodology, Hubbard also collects a web of interrelated texts that each contribute toward an interpretation of new creation in Gal 6:16 as ‘individual renewal’. As with 2 Corinthians, Paul’s personal conversion experience serves as an interpretive crux within a former-now antithesis. Hubbard again sees Paul intentionally contrasting his ‘former life’, which was shaped by nomistic observation (ancestral traditions; law; under law;

observance of ‘days, months, seasons and years’; ‘circumcision and uncircumcision’), with his ‘now’ internal experience of the Spirit (‘his son in me’; ‘Christ lives in me’; ‘the Spirit of his son in our hearts’; ‘until Christ is formed in you’), and these latter points are equated with new creation and as analogies they provide background to Paul’s statement, ‘I no longer live’.38 _{The death-life symbolism in Galatians is thus understood by Hubbard as}

‘anthropologically oriented’ and focused on the ‘individual’.39 _{Hubbard understands the}

dichotomy woven throughout this letter as one of external appearance (6:12) in contrast to

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34 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 155–56.} 35 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 181.} 36 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 182.} 37 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 183.} 38 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 194.} 39 _{Hubbard, New Creation, 129.}

internal renewal of the Spirit, and thus, when Paul states, ‘neither circumcision nor

uncircumcision, but new creation’, his words stands as an explicit rejection of the external nomistic framework of the agitators.40 _{Hubbard concludes that because ‘world’ in 6:14 is in}

close literary proximity to ‘boasting in the flesh’ (6:13b) and ‘circumcision and

uncircumcision’ (6:15a), it is legitimate to interpret Paul’s intended meaning of the term

world as the ‘flesh’ and even more narrowly as ‘circumcision of the flesh’.41

2.1.3 T. Ryan Jackson: New Creation as Inclusive of Personal, Communal, and Cosmic