Colossians 3:10

and have put on See the last note but one. Cp. Ephesians 4:24; and Colossians 3:12 below, with note.

the new man Practically, the new position of acceptance and the new spiritual power of the regenerated self; with a reference in the phrase to the believer's connexion with "the Second Man," Christ [85].

[85] In the Ignatian Epistles (Ep. ad Eph. c. xx.) occurs the phrase, "the dispensation of the New Man, even Christ." If this was written as early as a.d. 110 it is an important comment here.

By union with Him his members become (be it said with reverence and caution) repetitions of Him the glorious Archetype. To come to be "in Him" is thus to "put on(Him as) the New Man," in sharing His acceptance and His life and power. See further, our note on Ephesians 4:24.

is renewed Lit. and better, is being renewed; a present not aorist participle. In the parallel place in Eph. "the new man" "was created," as a definite fact; here he is continuously "being renewed," maintained as it were by a continuous creative act. (Cp. for the verb in a kindred context, 2 Corinthians 4:16.) Practically, the thought is of the believer's maintained union with His Lord, and his realization in that union of continued peace and spiritual power. As if the Head, for the member, were evermore "made new," and so always newly reflected and as it were reproduced in the member. Lightfoot compares, in contrast, Ephesians 4:22; "the old man is being corrupted, is decaying."

in knowledge Lit. and better, unto knowledge. The daily "renewal" is such as to result continually in the regenerate man's spiritual vision of Christ, intimacy with Him, insight into His will. On the word epignôsis, see on Colossians 1:9.

after the image of him that created him I.e., so as to be like God, who "created," constituted, the new creation as He did the old. Cp. the close parallel, Genesis 1:26-27; a passage no doubt in St Paul's mind here.

The reference is to the Father, not the Son, as the Creator; cp. the parallel, Ephesians 4:22, "created after God;" and the place in Genesis. He is the eternal Original; "the new man" realizes his ideal in likeness to Him, generated by communion with Him in Christ.

Even here, we think, may be traced reverently an allusion to Christ as "the Second Man." He, truly, is not "created" as to His Being and Person, which is necessary and eternal; but as Son of Man, and as Head of His Church, in respect of His Work and Office, Scripture represents Him as the willing Result of the Father's will. In this respect He, as well as His followers in Him (Ephesians 2:10), "lives because of the Father" (John 6:57). But while this reference lies, as we think, in the depths of the passage, its manifest practical import is that the regenerate member of the blessed Head needs and receives daily "renewal by his Holy Spirit," leading to a fuller knowledge of, and so a truer likeness to, the Father of Jesus Christ.

The suggestion that "the image" is in fact Christ, (so Chrysostom; cp. above Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 4:4) is not likely in view of the parallel, Ephesians 4:24, with its simple phrase "according to God." See Lightfoot's note.