Galatians 6:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see to what height the power of the cross raised the Apostle? It not only made all worldly things dead for him, but also set him incomparably above his former life. What power can equal this power of the cross? He who formerly submitted to death and put others to death for circumcision was taught by the cross to count circumcision the same as uncircumcision. He was taught to seek new, wondrous, and heavenly works. By "new creation" he means our life, both in relation to what has already taken place and in relation to what is still to take place. In relation to what has taken place, our soul, grown old in sin, was suddenly renewed through baptism, as though created anew. Therefore a new and heavenly manner of life is also required of us. In relation to the future, heaven and earth, and finally all creation together with our bodies, must pass into the state of incorruption.

Do not point me, he says, to circumcision, which has no power and is useless, as is uncircumcision. For Christ has renewed all things and requires from us a new life. Life according to Christ is a new creation because your souls, grown old through sin, have now been renewed through baptism. It is also because in the age to come, when we are renewed in body and made incorruptible, we shall be counted worthy of incorruption and glory.

They forget this: in You, Lord Jesus Christ, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What has power and meaning is an entirely new creation, a purely Christian life. The difference of rites and national tastes, when faith is one, constitutes the beauty of outward, truly Christian life. It is like springtime, when amid the prevailing green in a meadow the variety of flowers increases the beauty of nature. Every true Christian, whatever tribe he may belong to, Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Arab, or Greek, stands out from the society of his own people if only he truly preserves Orthodoxy. He appears as a new creation. He lives by the better impulses of pure love toward all and each, without distinction of tribe. He lives by higher aims, taking care to serve the one true Church.

Truly, in Christ Jesus neither circumcision can accomplish anything, nor uncircumcision, but only that a man is a new creation.

He said the same in the Epistle to the Corinthians: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Cor 5:17). Strictly speaking, by "new creation" he means the future transformation of things after the resurrection from the dead. For then creation will be freed from the corruption lying upon it, and human nature will be clothed in immortality. Saving baptism shows, as it were, an image of the future. In it we put off the old man and put on the new. Having laid aside the burden of sins, we receive the grace of the Spirit. Therefore neither all-holy baptism nor the future life knows any distinction between circumcision and uncircumcision. The Apostle called everything worldly "the world": honor, glory, and wealth. He said that he was dead to them.

Whoever has begun to live the life in Christ has surpassed both the righteousness under the Law and natural righteousness. The divine Apostle indicates this when he says: "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision" (Gal 6:15). By "circumcision" he means righteousness under the Law. By "uncircumcision" he alludes to the similar righteousness according to the law of nature.

There is no great merit if something is done by us outwardly, in the body. It is most necessary to attend to what is done in the soul. To despise the present world, not to love what passes away, sincerely to humble the soul before God and neighbor, to preserve humility when insults are inflicted, and while keeping patience to remove from the heart the sorrow of malice. To distribute one's possessions to the poor, not to desire what belongs to another, to love a friend in God, and for God's sake to love even those who are enemies. To weep over an offense against one's neighbor and not to rejoice at the death of an enemy.

What is the new creation? Those who have believed in Christ lay aside in holy baptism "the old man, which grows corrupt according to deceitful desires." They "are renewed in the spirit of their mind" and "put on the new man, created according to God, in righteousness and holiness of truth" (Eph 4:22-24). The divinely speaking Paul taught this to the Ephesians. He also wrote of this to the Corinthians: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Cor 5:17). These words teach that the new creation is the laying aside of the old, fleshly, sinful life, and the building up of a new, spiritual, evangelical life in imitation of Jesus Christ.

By a new creature, or more accurately, a new creation, the Apostle means the state of the baptized person illumined by the Holy Spirit, in which he lives only for God, in God, and by God (2 Cor. 5:17).

For I am convinced with my whole being of the truth of my preaching. Its chief theme is precisely this: "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but a new creation." That is, the new and heavenly life of the soul after renewal in baptism, as Chrysostom says. Whether someone accepts the Christian faith as a Jew by origin or as a Gentile is altogether the same.

As the Galatian false teachers placed everything in circumcision, so the Apostle places everything in the cross. Concerning circumcision, he affirms that it has no such power in Christianity. Here, through Jesus Christ, a new spiritual life is given, not merely a visible sign of faith, such as circumcision was. According to St. John Chrysostom's explanation, "by 'new creation' the Apostle means our life, both in relation to what has already taken place and in relation to what is still to take place. In relation to what has taken place, our soul, grown old in sin, was suddenly made alive through baptism, as though created anew. Therefore a new and heavenly life is required of us.

In Christ Jesus, in the new grace, in the gracious divine economy of salvation, it is not counted whether one is circumcised or uncircumcised. Only this matters, that each become a new creation. We fell and lost true life. The Lord came to grant us this life again, and He ordered everything toward this end. Whoever approaches the Lord with faith dies to sinful life in holy baptism and comes alive to spiritual life. He becomes entirely new. Whoever has been counted worthy of this has nothing more to seek. He has everything. Go and live in the renewed life, and you are saved. This is what it means to crucify oneself to the world, and the world to oneself. This is the cross in which everyone should boast.