Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
All Commentaries on 2 Corinthians 5:17 Go To 2 Corinthians 5
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. If any one is with me regenerate in Christ, and recreated and changed, as it were, into a new creature, even as I am not what I was, Saul being changed into Paul, then the old rites of Judaism, the old former affections and judgments, such as knowing any one according to the flesh, have all passed away. In such an one all is made new: he has new affections, new thoughts about the realities and hopes of Christianity, a new life, a new hope of the resurrection, new grace, sanctification, and justification. On this newness, cf. S. Anselm and S. Augustine (de Cantic. Novo. vol. ix.).
S. Bernard (de Assumpt. B. Mari) assigns its cause He says: "All things are made new, i.e, the old fortress is overturned, a new one raised. Lust having been banished, the heart expands with a mighty longing; and after its arrival the mind yearns far more for heavenly things than it had ever before longed for earthly. Now is the wall of continence raised up, the bulwark of patience. But this work rises on the foundation of faith, and grows by1ove of one"s neighbour till it reaches even to the love of God."
