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.

in Gal 4,25-27, and stoixe/w likewise directly precedes "peace and mercy" in Gal 6,15-16 (and the two words overlap semantically); (3) the "peace" and "mercy" of Isa 54,10 is seen in vv. 11-12 to have its concrete expression in the coming conditions of new creation at the time of Israel’s restoration: "I will set your stones in antinomy, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones" (this is consistent with Isaiah 54 in that God is the one who is "making" Israel again [54,5] and who "has created" her in order that she be restored [54,16]¹⁹). In fact, Isa 54,9 compares the coming state of restoration to the conditions directly following Noah’s flood, which is associated with new creation motifs in Genesis²⁰ and which some sectors of Jewish tradition termed a new creation²¹. Then Isa 54,10a portrays the cosmic dissolution which must precede the coming new creation: "the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake". All of this material in Isaiah 54 is part of a larger pattern of new creation prophecies in Isaiah 40–66 which refers to the restoration of Israel as a new creation²².

II. Qumran, Jubilees and Revelation 21

        In this connection, Qumran also uses a phrase strikingly close to Isa 54,10 to introduce a discussion about the coming new creation,