The Renewal of Creation and of Man
For He is also the giver of the good things we expect to come. He will refashion creation and renew the whole universe, and He will set it free from slavery into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8:21). And if this is true, how could it not be wholly necessary that the one for whose sake creation exists, I mean man, should be renewed together with creation?
Man too had to be seen as new: not tyrannized by the first corruption, not overpowered by fleshly pleasures into sins, but raised instead in incorruption, in strength and in honor, and clothed with a divine glory (1 Corinthians 15:42–43). For the inspired Isaiah also says somewhere, “Your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God shall clothe you” (Isaiah 58:8).
And indeed our Lord Jesus Himself plainly affirmed that at the time of the end of this age the dead will come back to life (Matthew 13:40–43; Daniel 12:2), but “those who understand will shine like the brightness of the firmament” (Daniel 12:3). Yet the grace of such honor and glory will not be set before all without distinction. It would rather befit those who have been chosen out from the rest, who have also been conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).
Greek
διανομεὺς ἀγαθῶν· αὐτὸς μεταστοιχειώσει τὴν κτίσιν, καὶ καινουργήσει τὸ σύμπαν, καὶ ἀπαλλάξει "δουλείας εἰς "τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῆς δόξης τῶν τέκνων τοῦ Θεοῦ." καὶ εἰ ταῦτα ἀληθῆ, πῶς οὐκ ἔδει πάντη τε καὶ πάντως συνκαινουργεῖσθαι τῇ κτίσει τὸν δι' ὃν ἡ κτίσις, φημὶ δὲ τὸν ἄνθρωπον; ἔδει καὶ αὐτὸν ὁρᾶσθαι καινὸν, οὐ φθορᾷ τῇ πρώτῃ τυραννούμενον, οὐ σαρκικαῖς ἡδοναῖς εἰς ἁμαρτίας πλεονεκτούμενον, ἐγηγερμένον δὲ μᾶλλον ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ τε καὶ ἐν εὐσθενείᾳ καὶ ἐν τιμῇ καὶ θείᾳ τινι δόξῃ περιεσταλμένον. ἔφη γάρ που καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Ἡσαΐας "Καὶ προπορεύσεται ἔμπροσθέν σου "ἡ δικαιοσύνη σου, καὶ ἡ δόξα τοῦ Θεοῦ περιστελεῖ σε·" καὶ μὴν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς διεβεβαιοῦτο· σαφῶς, ὡς ἐν καιρῷ συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἀναβιώσονται μὲν οἱ νεκροὶ, "οἱ γεμὴν συνιέντες ἐκλάμψουσιν ὡς "ἡ λαμπρότης τοῦ στερεώματος." πλὴν οὐχ ἅπασιν ἀδιακρίτως ἡ τῆς τοιᾶσδε τιμῆς καὶ δόξης προκείσεται χάρις· πρέποι δ' ἂν μᾶλλον ἀπολέγδην τοῖς τῶν ἄλλων ἐξῃρημένοις, οἳ καὶ σύμμορφοι γεγόνασι "τῆς