Stan as I have stated I look to the whole of Scripture to gain my understanding of the particular verse. We apparently disagree with our understandings.
As you have stated literal translations are not always practical. You seem to want a concrete English translation from an ambiguous Greek text. If the Greek was definitive in this regard then there would not be several translations...
I have already posted partially from this commentary, yet it technically deals with the Greek...hope this helps.
5:17 ὥστε εἴ τις ἐν Χριστῷ, καινὴ κτίσις· τὰ ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθεν, ἰδοὺ γέγονεν καινά· “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order has passed away; see, a new order has begun.” The Vulgate, taking τις with κτίσις, reflects an alternative punctuation: “So if any new creature is in Christ, old things have passed away: look! everything has become new.” Héring, too, would place a comma after κτίσις and a period after παρῆλθεν. “If anyone is a new creature in Christ, then—for him—the old order has passed and a new world has arisen” (43). But this punctuation (1) converts a pungent aphorism into a trite truism; (2) destroys the symmetry of the four balanced elements; and (3) ill accords with the position of ἐν Χριστῷ.
Of the four units that comprise the verse, the first two are elliptical. We could supply (italics supplied):
(1) γίνεται … ἔστιν, “So, if anyone comes to be in Christ, there is a new creation” (Martin 135; similarly Moffatt);
(2) ἐστιν … ἔστω, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, let him be a new creature” (KJV mg);
(3) ἐστιν … ἔστιν, “So, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation” (Furnish 306);
(4) ἐστιν … ἐστιν, “Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation” (RSV, NIV).
Regarding (1), it is awkward to supply two different verbs, although the verb γίνομαι does occur in v. 17b; to supply γίνεται … γίνεται (“comes to be … comes into existence”) or even γέγονεν … γέγονεν (“has come to be … has come into existence”) would be easier. Against (2) is the observation that an exhortation is out of place in the midst of a series of Christian verities (vv. 14–19). Most translations and commentators supply ἐστιν … ἔστιν.
ὥστε states a second consequence of vv. 14–15, although some relate the consequence to v. 14 alone, or to vv. 15–16, or to v. 16. One result of Christ’s death and resurrection (vv. 14–15) is the possibility (cf. εἰ) of a καινὴ κτίσις. εἴ τις, “if anyone,” standing without qualification, must be all-embracing, excluding no one. It is equivalent to ὅστις (“whoever”) or πᾶς … ὃς ἄν, “everyone who” (cf. Rom. 10:12–13) and points to the eradication of any distinction between Jew and Gentile with regard to receiving God’s mercy and salvation. In status before God through Christ, and in accessibility to all the spiritual benefits that flow from that status, “there is neither Jew nor Greek” (Gal. 3:28; cf. Eph. 2:11–22; Col. 3:11). “The dividing wall that formed a barrier (τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ)” separating Jew and Gentile has been demolished in the person and work of Christ (Eph. 2:14).
The phrase ἐν Χριστῷ is so ubiquitous in Paul’s writings (over 160 uses) and the person of Christ so central that, not surprisingly, some scholars regard this as the central or unifying motif in Pauline theology.53 Of the main interpretations of the phrase—the local or “mystical,” the ecclesiological, the eschatological, the soteriological, the representative, and the personal—the approaches that accommodate the largest number of uses seem to be the personal and the ecclesiological. That is, “in Christ” often means “in personal union with the risen Christ” or “in the body of Christ” (= the church). Neither the individual nor the corporate dimension of the phrase should be ignored. In addition, we should not overlook the fact that the preposition ἐν in this phrase expresses (in different contexts) a wide range of ideas or relationships—incorporation (“in the person or body of Christ”), union (“in fellowship with/united to Christ”), sphere of reference (“in Christ” = “Christian”), agency (“through the work of Christ”), cause (“as a result of solidarity with Christ”), mode (“by being in Christ”), location (“centered/concentrated in Christ”), or basis (“on the authority of Christ”). In 5:17 ἐν Χριστῷ may be paraphrased “united in faith to the risen Christ.”
Were it not for the conditional and individual cast of the sentence (“if anyone”), we might readily find in the phrase καινὴ κτίσις a reference to a cosmic and ontological reality brought into existence by the Christ-event. As it is, the εἰ and the τις combine to give καινὴ κτίσις a personal reference relating to an individual’s faith-union with Christ. It would make no sense to render εἴ τις by “since anyone”; then “since everyone” would be εἰ πᾶς/πάντες. So the existence of the καινὴ κτίσις is conditional upon a person’s coming to be “in Christ.” Whether κτίσις here means “act of creating” or “creature” (= κτίσμα)/“being,” the focus is on divine agency (cf. v. 18a), be it the agency of Christ or (as is more probable) of God. Already in this letter Paul has depicted conversion as a creatorial act of God, comparable to the initial creation of light (4:6). Now, with the adjective καινή, he emphasizes the altered nature of the converted person or the newness of God’s creatorial action. The rendering “there is a new creation” (REB) reproduces the ambiguity of the Greek, which could mean “there is a newly-created being” (Thrall 400)/“he or she is a newly-created person” or “there is a new act of creation” (Barrett 162). Like the Johannine γεννηθῆναι ἄνωθεν (John 3:7) and the Petrine ἀναγεννηθῆναι (“to be born anew/again,” cf. 1 Pet. 1:3, 23), the Pauline καινὴ κτίσις refers to individual rebirth or regeneration (παλιγγενεσία, Tit. 3:5) as God’s sovereign and creatorial act. Yet it is true that the renewal of the individual in conversion prefigures the renewal of the cosmos at the end (cf. ἐν τῇ παλιγγενεσίᾳ, Matt. 19:28; also Rom. 8:19–23) (Harris 166–71). If, then, the emphasis in v. 17a is anthropological and personal, not cosmological and eschatological, we may perhaps discover the background for Paul’s use here of καινὴ κτίσις, not in the Isaianic passages that describe the restoration of Israel and cosmic renewal when the new age dawns,62 but in the Jewish apocalyptic and rabbinic description of the sinner who repents or the Gentile who converts to Judaism as a “new creature” (beriyyâ ḥadāšâ).
The theology of the NT—or indeed Pauline theology—could be written around this theocentric concept of “newness” (καινότης, Rom. 6:4; 7:6), which is summed up in the statement, ἰδού καινὰ ποιῶ πάντα (Rev. 21:5; cf. Isa. 43:19, LXX), “See! I make everything new!”64 In the new era brought by Christ, there is the new wine of the new age (Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37–38), the new covenant (Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:6; Heb. 8:8, 13; 9:15; 12:24), the new creation/creature (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15), the new man/humanity (Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10), the new song of redemption (Rev. 5:9; 14:3), the new name for believers (Rev. 2:17; 3:12), and the new commandment of love (John 13:34; 1 John 2:8). In the consummated kingdom there will be the new wine of the heavenly banquet (Mark 14:25), a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1; cf. 2 Pet. 3:13), and a new Jerusalem (Rev. 3:12; 21:2).
Verse 17b, which is reminiscent of Isa. 44:18–19 in terminology (but not content), explains καινὴ κτίσις first negatively (τὰ ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθεν), then positively (ἰδοὺ γέγονεν καινά). Many translations indicate this relationship of v. 17b to v. 17a by placing a colon after “new creation/creature/being.” The change from the articular τὰ ἀρχαῖα to the anarthrous καινά may be represented in translation by “the old order” and “a new order” (NEB, REB), or, taking τά as possessive (cf. τις), “his old life” and “a new life” (NEB mg, REB, mg). The rendering “the old … the new” (NIV) presupposes τὰ καινά. τὰ ἀρχαῖα, “things of the past,” cannot refer to the cosmos, for its renovation or annihilation (or re-creation by purification) lies in the future (Rom. 8:21; cf. 2 Pet. 3:7, 10–13) and παρῆλθεν could not be a proleptic aorist. Rather, it refers to the whole set of conditions and relationships that marked believers in their unregenerate state when they behaved κατὰ σάρκα, that is, they were governed in thought and action by the desires of the σάρξ (cf. Rom. 8:2, 4; Eph. 2:3) and so were under the dominion of sin and death (cf. Rom. 8:2), and when they made value judgments κατὰ σάρκα (cf. 5:16), that is, assessed others by external and worldly standards. In parallelism with τὰ ἀρχαῖα, although placed last for emphasis, καινά is the subject of γέγονεν, not a predicate adjective with either τὰ ἀρχαῖα or τὰ πάντα understood. If καινά picks up the phrase καινὴ κτίσις, then εἴ τις ἐν Χριστῷ may be understood before ἰδοὺ γέγονεν καινά. That is, καινά, as well as εἴ τις and καινὴ κτίσις, refers principally to individual experience rather than to corporate or cosmic realities. When a person becomes a Christian, he or she experiences a total restructuring of life that alters its whole fabric—thinking, feeling, willing, and acting. Anyone who is “in Christ” is “Under New Management” and has “Altered Priorities Ahead,” to use the wording sometimes found in shop windows and (in Britain) on roads. And the particle ἰδού (“behold!” “see!”) functions like such a sign, stimulating attention; but here it conveys also a sense of excitement and triumph. Nor should we overlook the difference between the aorist παρῆλθεν and the perfect γέγονεν: one set of conditions and relationships has come to an end or passed out of existence; another brand new set has already begun or has come to stay. Here Paul is clearly emphasizing the radical discontinuity between the pre- and post-conversion states, but in other contexts he implies the coexistence or interpenetration of the present age and the age to come (e.g., 1 Cor. 10:11; Gal. 1:4) and speaks of the ongoing renewal of the believer (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18; Col. 3:10). Nor could he ever forget that all of humankind was currently subject to the ravages of decay and death and that release from our bondage to mortality would come only with the resurrection (cf. Rom. 7:24; 8:19–23; 1 Cor. 15:42–44, 53–54; Phil. 3:20–21).
The relation of v. 17 to what precedes is significant. Christian conversion, that is, coming to be in Christ (v. 17a), produces dramatic change (v. 17b): life is no longer lived κατὰ σάρκα, but κατὰ πνεῦμα. Paul implies that a change of attitude toward Christ (v. 16b) brings about a change of attitude toward other people (v. 16a) and a change of conduct from self-pleasing to Christ-pleasing (vv. 9, 15), from egocentricity to theocentricity.
New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Second Epistle to the Corinthians by Murray J. Harris
This commentary speaks to the difficulty due to the language supplied in the Greek.
He is a new creation: the pronoun he may have to be made more explicit in some languages, since some readers may think it refers to Christ. In those cases translators may have to say “that person is a new being.” New creation is literally “new ktisis.” The Greek word ktisis nearly always means “creation” in Paul’s letters, rather than “creature”; “creature” would make it refer to an individual person. The Greek has no pronoun and no verb, so the verb phrase that translators supply (“he is” or “there is”) depends in part on the meaning of the noun ktisis. According to TEV and many other versions, the individual person “is a new being.” But according to Mft, AB, NJB, and NRSV, “there is a new creation,” meaning not just that the individual person has been made new but also that a new situation has been created. The majority of English versions, however, seem to prefer the individual interpretation reflected in RSV and TEV. Translators may choose to place the alternative translation in a footnote, as RSV does.
A Handbook on Paul's second Letter to the Corinthians by Omanson and Ellington
Here is another look at the text technically...
2 Corinthians 5:17
ὥστε (Root: ως + τε, LN: 89.52; conjunction, logical, inferential)
so then, therefore
Contained in: Segment Clause
Syntactic Force: Inferential conjunction
εἴ (Root: ει, LN: 89.65; conjunction, adverbial, conditional)
if
Contained in: Subordinate Clause
Syntactic Force: Conditional subordinate clause
Words Implied by εἴ
• The syntactic structure implies that ἔστιν is necessary to be read in conjunction with εἴ.
τις (Root: τις, LN: 92.12; pronoun, indefinite, nominative, singular, masculine)
anyone
Contained in: Subordinate Clause
Syntactic Force: Indefinite pronoun functioning as Subject.
ἐν (Root: εν, LN: 89.119; preposition)
in
Contained in: Prepositional Phrase
Syntactic Force: Preposition of location
Words Implied by ἐν
• The syntactic structure implies that ἔστιν is necessary to be read in conjunction with ἐν.
Χριστῷ (Root: Χριστος, LN: 93.387; noun, dative, singular, masculine)
Christ
Contained in: Prepositional Phrase
Syntactic Force: Prepositional object
καινὴ (Root: καινος, LN: 67.115; adjective, nominative, singular, feminine)
new
Contained in: Segment Clause
Syntactic Force: Attributive adjective
Words Modified by καινὴ
• adjectival relation: The word καινὴ modifies κτίσις (noun) in 2Co 5:17, word 7 (κτίσις is within the current clausal unit, after καινὴ).
κτίσις (Root: κτιζω, LN: 42.35; noun, nominative, singular, feminine)
creation
Contained in: Segment Clause
Syntactic Force: This word may be read as either Subject or Predicate nominative.
Words That Modify κτίσις
• adjectival relation: The word κτίσις is modified by καινὴ (adjective) in 2Co 5:17, word 6 (καινὴ is within the current clausal unit, before κτίσις).
τὰ (Root: ο, LN: 92.24; article, nominative, plural, neuter)
the
Contained in: Segment Clause
Syntactic Force: Attributive article
Words Modified by τὰ
• articular relation: The word τὰ modifies ἀρχαῖα (adjective) in 2Co 5:17, word 9 (ἀρχαῖα is within the current clausal unit, after τὰ).
ἀρχαῖα (Root: αρχω, LN: 67.98; adjective, nominative, plural, neuter)
old
Contained in: Segment Clause
Syntactic Force: Substantival adjective functioning as Subject.
Words That Modify ἀρχαῖα
• articular relation: The word ἀρχαῖα is modified by τὰ (article) in 2Co 5:17, word 8 (τὰ is within the current clausal unit, before ἀρχαῖα).
παρῆλθεν (Root: ερχομαι, LN: 13.93; verb, aorist, active, indicative, third person, singular)
to pass away
Contained in: Segment Clause
Syntactic Force: Finite verb
ἰδοὺ (Root: ειδος, LN: 91.13; interjection)
behold
Contained in: Segment Clause
Syntactic Force: Interjection
γέγονεν (Root: γινομαι, LN: 13.48; verb, perfect, active, indicative, third person, singular)
to come, to take place
Contained in: Segment Clause
Syntactic Force: Finite verb
καινά (Root: καινος, LN: 67.115; adjective, nominative, plural, neuter)
new
Contained in: Segment Clause
Syntactic Force: Substantival adjective functioning as Subject.
The Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament, SBL Edition: Expansions and Annotations
Finally the New American Commentary
5:17 In this next verse Paul makes four crisp antithetical statements. They are launched by a condition, “If anyone is in Christ.” This phrase, “in Christ,” can mean several things that are not mutually exclusive: that one belongs to Christ, that one lives in the sphere of Christ’s power, that one is united with Christ, or that one is part of the body of Christ, the believing community. Paul’s assumption is that being in Christ should bring about a radical change in a person’s life.
The next statement is very terse and reads literally “new creation.” The subject and the verb must be supplied. Translations usually choose between two options: “he is” (NIV), implying that the person is a new being, or “there is” (NRSV), implying that a new situation has come into being. The pronoun “anyone” seems to imply that Paul has individuals in mind. In the context, he is talking about changing one’s way of looking at things; and this change, which occurs at conversion, is a subjective experience. Later rabbinic texts refer to proselytes becoming new creatures, and a similar idea may have been part of Paul’s thinking.
On the other hand, Paul also conceives that Christ’s death and resurrection marks a radical eschatological break between the old age and the new. Christ is the divider of history.”780 Paul also never uses the noun “creation” (ktisis) to refer to an individual person (see Rom 1:2, 25; 8:19–22, 39), and the concept of a new creation appears prominently in Jewish apocalyptic texts that picture the new age as inaugurating something far more sweeping than individual transformation—a new heaven and a new earth. The translation “there is a new creation” would mean that the new creation does not merely involve the personal transformation of individuals but encompasses the eschatological act of recreating humans and nature in Christ. It would also include the new community, which has done away with the artificial barriers of circumcision and uncircumcision (Gal 6:15–16; see Eph 2:14–16) as part of this new creation.
Christians see the world in a new way and become new when they are joined to Christ. Beasley-Murray comments: “United to the risen Lord, the believer participates in the new creation of which Christ is the fount and the life.” Translating the words literally, “new creation,” without inserting a pronoun would allow for both options since the eschatological reality of the new creation effected by Christ’s advent makes possible that subjective change in individuals who become new creations in Christ. Paul’s declaration is the corollary to his earlier affirmations that we are being transformed (3:16, 18; 4:16–17)—so much so that the believer becomes a new creation. The new heaven and new earth and the complete transformation of believers remain a future hope, but for Christians they are so certain to be fulfilled that their lives are controlled by this new reality that still awaits consummation. For individuals to become a part of this new creation, they must choose to be in Christ.
“The old has gone!” Again, this phrase can be interpreted to refer to the “old order” or to everything that controlled the individual’s pre-Christian existence. Both are true. The old order is passing off the stage (1 Cor 7:31). The individual’s whole being, value system, and behavior are also changed through conversion. We are dead to sin but alive to God in Christ (Rom 6:11). Denney writes of Paul: “The past was dead to him, as dead as Christ on his cross, all its ideas, all its hopes, all its ambitions were dead in Christ, he was another man in another universe.”
“The new has come!” Paul believes that the “new thing” that Isaiah foretold God would do has come to pass in Christ. It is greater than the exodus from Egypt (Exod 14–15) and greater than the deliverance from Babylon (Isa 48:18–19). God has now delivered us from the bondage of sin and led us back from the exile of our estrangement from God to a new reconciled relationship. The NIV omits the particle “behold” (idou) that prefaces this statement, probably because it sounds archaic, and inserts an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence instead. This word, however, “is ordinarily used by biblical writers to mark an unusual moment or deed” (cp. Rev 21:5, “Behold, I make all things new”). “Behold” also prefaces Paul’s interpretation of Isa 49:8 in 6:2: “Behold, now is the time of God’s favor, behold now is the day of salvation.” The important new thing is God’s reconciliation that enables us to become the righteousness of God (5:21) and brings us salvation (6:2). This new thing not only begets new values, it also begets new behavior (1 Cor 6:9–11).
Really long cut and paste post I know, but my attempt is to be helpful, not confrontational. Sorry if I was coming off that way in my previous posts.
God Bless!
