Ephesians 4:24

Ephesians 4:24. And that ye put on; once for all.

The new man. ‘ New,' not ‘young,' as in Colossians 3:10. Comp. Romans 13:14: ‘Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ'

Which after God hath been created. The allusion to Genesis 1:26-27 is unmistakable (comp. also Colossians 3:10: ‘after the image of Him that created him'), but the immediate reference is to the new creation in Christ, the new human personality into which the believer is transformed. ‘Hath been created' suggests this reference, better than ‘was created.' More than was lost in Adam has been given in Christ, but both creations are ‘after the image of God,' This ‘new man' we can be exhorted to ‘put on,' since ‘once for all in the Person of Christ is that created and prepared for us, which we are to put on' (Stier). In Colossians 3:12, the Apostle exhorts, in consequence, to put on the several virtues which characterize the new man.

In righteousness and holiness of the truth. ‘In' these, with these endowments or characteristics, the new man hath been created; the former points to moral rectitude, external and toward men; the latter, to the internal quality of spiritual life, its relation to God. The two combined express moral perfection. ‘Of the truth' is added, as the ground of both, ‘truth' being personified. There may be an antithesis to ‘deceit' (Ephesians 4:22), but God's truth is indicated as the ultimate source of these moral perfections, since the creation is ‘after God' Hence ‘truth' is more than our true knowledge of God. It appears from this verse that the image of God in which man was originally created consisted in moral likeness, not merely in rational powers, immortality, or dominion over other creatures.