What is the new man in Colossians 3:10?

Answer

In Colossians 3:5–11, the apostle Paul enumerates various vices that believers should “put off,” as if removing articles of clothing: “sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry” (verse 5), and “anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language” (verse 5). These transgressions are associated with our former “earthly nature” (verse 5). Ultimately, Paul instructs, “Do not lie to one another, since you have discarded the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” (verses 9–11, NKJV).

The new self represents the freshly regenerated spiritual essence of the reborn Christian. It is the inner being brought to life in Jesus Christ and subsequently revitalized daily by the Holy Spirit’s power (2 Corinthians 4:16; Romans 7:22; Ephesians 3:16). As indicated in Colossians 3:11, the new self is not just the individual Christian’s evolving identity but the collective identity that we, as members of the body of Christ, are developing together in Him, who is “all and in all.” Paul employs the analogy of changing clothes to depict the Lord’s transformative process of molding believers into His likeness: “But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh” (Romans 13:14; NKJV; see also Galatians 3:27).

Referring to Genesis 2:7, Paul elaborates, “‘The first man, Adam, became a living being.’ The last Adam—namely, Christ—is a life-giving spirit” «And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was ma

He is a life-giving spirit. , (1 Corinthians 15:45, NLT). Jesus is the new man, the last Adam. Ultimately, the newly created community of born-again believers, being transformed into His likeness, is the new man: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” «Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. », (2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT).

The Bible teaches that humans were created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27;5:1). When Adam sinned, the perfect image of God in us was distorted or marred by sin (Genesis 3:1-24;Romans 1:21;Romans 3:23). The fall separated humankind from God (Isaiah 59:2;Ephesians 4:18;Colossians 1:21) and brought death into the world «Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: », (Romans 5:12). Nevertheless, humans still bear God’s image (Genesis 9:6;James 3:9).

Thankfully, through Jesus Christ and the new life believers receive in Him, our fallen, sinful natures can be renewed into God’s image (Colossians 1:22;Ephesians 5:27;Hebrews 10:14). Conforming to the new man is God’s purpose for oOur lives in Jesus Christ: “For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:29; see also 1 Corinthians 1:2).

Becoming the new man begins at the cross when we accept Christ’s gift of salvation (1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 2:13). Before salvation, we were “dead because of [our] sins and because of [our] sinful nature,” but then “God made [us] alive with Christ, for He forgave all our sin” «And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; », (Colossians 2:13, NLT). Our old man—our unregenerated, sinful selves—was crucified, died, and buried with Christ. Our new man is raised to new life in Christ (1 Corinthians 6:11; Romans 6:4-6; Galatians 2:20). From then on, the process of sanctification, or internal transformation, continues for the rest of our lives on earth.

The Holy Spirit begins to renew our minds, thoughts, and attitudes, changing us and shaping us to be more like Jesus (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23; 2 Corinthians 3:18). As we spend time in the Lord’s presence, growing in the grace and knowledge of Him and studying His Word, we become “in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of His body, the church” (Ephesians

4:15; NLT; see also John 17:17; Ephesians 5:25-26; 2 Timothy 3:16).

Becoming the new man is a lifelong process “until Christ is fully developed in [our] lives” «My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, », (Galatians 4:19, NLT). It is the goal we should always be pressing toward by the power of the Holy Spirit, casting off the old man’s clothes and putting on the garments of the new man (Philippians 3:12; Ephesians 4:13; Hebrews 6:1). Only when we stand face to face with Jesus in eternity will our metamorphosis into the new man be complete (1 John 3:2-3; Philippians 3:21; Hebrews 12:23; 2 Peter 1:4; Jude 1:24).