the new creation in John

i was in durham again 2 weeks ago for a christian workshop on climate change. one of the keynote speakers was n.t. wright - after observing that the default windows xp wallpaper depicts a new heaven and a new earth, he went on to unpack the new creation in John.

beginning

it is well known that the first creation account in John mirrors the first creation account in Genesis.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light." - Genesis 1:1-3 (NIV)

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." - John 1:1-5 (NIV)

new beginning

it is less well known that the new creation account in John also mirrors the first creation account in Genesis. having finished His work of the first creation in Genesis, God rested on the seventh day. similarly, having finished His work of the new creation in John, Jesus rested (in the abode of the dead) on the Passover Sabbath.

"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." - Genesis 2:2-3 (NIV)

"Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." - John 19:28-30 (NIV)

furthermore, the unfolding of the new creation in John mirrors the unfolding of the first creation in Genesis. the first creation in Genesis unfolds with the first Adam in a garden. similarly, the new creation in John unfolds with the new Adam in a garden.

"Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed." - Genesis 2:8 (NIV)

"At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there." - John 19:41-42 (NIV)

*****

"But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

"Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." - Romans 5:15-19 (NIV)

"So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven." - 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 (NIV)

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" - 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

*****

John 20 stresses twice (in vv. 1 and 19) that Easter is the first day of the new week. John has so ordered his gospel that the sequence of seven signs, climaxing in the cross of Jesus on the sixth day of the week and his resting in the tomb on the seventh, functions as the week of the old creation; and now Easter functions as the beginning of the new creation. The Word through whom all things were made is now the Word through whom all things are remade.

So far from Jesus' resurrection being an odd or isolated 'supernatural' event, breaking in as a sign of what God could do if he chose but normally doesn't, it is to be seen as the beginning of the new world, the first day of the new week, the unveiling of the prototype of what God is now going to accomplish in the rest of the world.

Mary supposes Jesus is the gardener; that's the right mistake to make, because like Adam he is charged with bringing God's new world to order. He has come to uproot the thorns and thistles, and to plant myrtle and cypress instead, as Isaiah promised in his great picture of the new creation that would result from the Word of God coming like rain or snow into the world.

- N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope

*added on 8 jan 09*