G.K. Beale, «Peace and Mercy Upon the Israel of God. The Old Testament Background of Galatians 6,16b», Vol. 80 (1999) 204-223

This essay has contended that Paul’s reference to "new creation" and the pronouncement of "peace and mercy" on the readers in Gal 6,15-16 is best understood against the background of Isa 54,10 and the surrounding context of similar new creation themes elsewhere in Isa 32–66, which are echoed also earlier in Galatians, especially in 5,22-26. The analysis confirms those prior studies which have concluded that "the Israel of God" refers to all Christians in Galatia, whether Jewish or Christian. Lastly, the demonstration of an Isaianic background for the concept of new creation in Gal 6,15-16 falls in line with Paul’s other reference to "new creation" in 2 Cor 5,17 and John’s allusion to new creation in Rev 3,14, where Isa 43 and 65–66 stand behind both passages. Isa 54,10 was likely not the sole influence on Gal 6,16, but such texts as Psalm 84 (LXX), the Qumran Hymn Scroll (1QH 13,5), and Jub 22,9 may have formed a collective impression on Paul, with the Isaiah text most in focus; alternatively, the texts in Qumran and Jubilees may be mere examples of a similar use of Isaiah 54 on a parallel trajectory with that of Paul’s in Galatians 6.

herself. Paul understands that this Isaiah prophecy began fulfillment in Christ: Gentiles and Jews participate in the blessings promised to Israel in the eschaton by identifying with Jesus, the true Israel and true seed of Abraham.

        In summary, the probability of an Isaiah 54 background for Gal 6,16 is validated by the following criteria for recognizing allusions³⁹: (1) the source text (the Greek or Hebrew OT) must be available to the writer; (2) there is close resemblance of wording; (3) there are references in the immediate context to the same OT context from which the purported allusion derives. In this respect, the following echoes from the context of Isaiah 54 are found elsewhere in Galatians: Isa 53,1 in Gal 3,2; Isa 64,10 in Gal 3,10; Isa 44,1-3 and 54,21 in Gal 4,4-6; Isa 54,1 and 66,6-11 in Gal 4,25-26; the Spirit’s fruits of Isa 32,15-18 (as well as Isa 27,6; 37,31-32; 45,8; 51,3; 58,11; cf. 55,10-13 with 56,3; 60,21; 65,8.17-22) in Gal 5,22-25. In addition, Paul alludes to Isaiah 43 and 65 in his other well-known reference to the "new creation" in 2 Cor 5,17, contexts which are not far from Isaiah 54 in location and pertain to the same theme of Israel’s restoration pictured as a new cosmos. John alludes to the same texts for the same idea of new creation in Rev 3,14, and specifically alludes repeatedly to Isaiah 54 in his depiction of the new creation in Revelation 21. (4) The alleged OT allusion is suitable in that it fits into Paul’s argument. Isaiah 40–66 contains the same major themes which Paul develops in Galatians: the Abrahamic covenant, Abraham’s seed, the inheritance⁴⁰, the return of a sinful people to God, and the new creation. (5) There is plausibility that Paul could have intended such an allusion and that the audience could have understood it. Jobes has argued that it is plausible that Paul taught the Galatians from the Greek of Isaiah and that his citation of Isaiah 54 in Galatians 4 is intended to remind the audience of that prior teaching⁴¹. If so, the same could be said