and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,
Parallel Translations
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and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,
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and the new put on which is renued in knowledge after the ymage of him that made him
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And haue put on the newe, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him,
Cross-references (29)
Passages linked to Colossians 3:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ephesians 4:23-24 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
- Romans 12:2 Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
- Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
- 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
- Colossians 3:12 Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;
- Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.
- Ezekiel 11:19 I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;
- Ezekiel 36:26 I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
- Colossians 3:14 Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.
- Romans 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.
- 1 John 2:5 But God’s love has most certainly been perfected in whoever keeps his word. This is how we know that we are in him:
- 1 John 2:3 This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments.
- Romans 8:29 For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
- 2 Corinthians 4:6 seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
- Ezekiel 18:31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Israel?
- John 17:3 This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
- Ephesians 2:15 having abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace,
- 1 Peter 1:14-15 as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance, but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior;
- 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.
- Galatians 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
- Genesis 1:26-27 God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.
- Romans 13:12 The night is far gone, and the day is near. Let’s therefore throw off the deeds of darkness, and let’s put on the armor of light.
- Revelation 21:5 He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He said, “Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.”
- Isaiah 52:1 Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city: for from now on the uncircumcised and the unclean will no more come into you.
- 1 Corinthians 15:53-54 For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
- Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
- Job 29:14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem.
- Isaiah 59:17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle.
- Hebrews 6:6 and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and put him to open shame.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 10. Which is renewed in knowledge. He shews in…
10. Which is renewed in knowledge. He shews in the first place, that newness of life consists in knowledge — not as though a simple and bare knowledge were sufficient, but he speaks of the illumination of the Holy Spirit, which is lively and effectual, so as not merely to enlighten the mind by kindling it up with the light of truth, but transforming the whole man. And this is what he immediately adds, that we are renewed after the image of God. Now, the image of God resides in the whole of the soul, inasmuch as it is not the reason merely that is rectified, but also the will. Hence, too, we learn, on the one hand, what is the end of our regeneration, that is, that we may be made like God, and that his glory may shine forth in us; and, on the other hand, what is the image of God, of which mention is made by Moses in Genesis 9:6, the rectitude and integrity of the whole soul, so that man reflects, like a mirror, the wisdom, righteousness, and goodness of God. He speaks somewhat differently in the Epistle to the Ephesians, but the meaning is the same. See the passage — Ephesians 4:24. Paul, at the same time, teaches, that there is nothing more excellent at which the Colossians can aspire, inasmuch as this is our highest perfection and blessedness to bear the image of God.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He speaketh of an effectual knowledge.
He speaketh of an effectual knowledge.
Newness of life consisteth in knowledge, which transformeth man to the image of God his maker, that is to say, to the sincerity and pureness of the whole soul.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 10 And have put on the new man, which…
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Ver. 10. After the image] If moral virtue could be beheld with mortal eyes, saith the philosopher, it would stir up wonderful loves of itself. How much more would the image of God in the hearts of his people! {See Trapp on "Eph 4:24"}
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Of him that created him] Adam and Eve were not then created simple and stupid, and without the use of reason; else they would not have been so deceived; as the Rabbis, and, after them, the Socinians have dreamed.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain And have put on the new man: (To see…
And have put on the new man: (To see number 1: See Poole on "Col 3:9").
2. Vivification, or renovation; this he connecteth with the former, continuing the metaphor. As in natural generation the expulsion of the old form is attended with the introduction of the new, so in spiritual regeneration, having put off the old Adam they had put on the new, i.e. Christ, not only sacramentally, Col 2:12,13; Ga 3:27, but really, being new creatures in Christ Jesus, 2Co 5:17; Eph 2:10, renewed in the inward man, Rom 7:22; 2Co 4:16; See Poole on "Eph 3:16", See Poole on "Eph 4:24"; and endowed with a new frame of heart and a new spirit, Eze 11:19; Joh 3:5,6, new qualities and affections.
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Which is renewed in knowledge; the understanding being savingly enlightened, and the will powerfully inclined by the victorious working of the Spirit, Eph 1:18-20; See Poole on "Eph 4:23", with Phi 2:13; 2Th 2:13,14; and brought to more than a speculative, even to a lively and effectual knowledge, 1Jo 2:3.
After the image of him that created him; agreeable to the impress of him that had new framed or created them in Christ Jesus, 1Co 15:49; 1Pe 1:15,16, by the renewing of the Holy Ghost, Tit 3:5; for as the natural image of God consisted in knowledge and righteousness; so it was requsite that the spiritual image restored by grace should consist in the rectifying of the faculties of the soul, the understanding with spiritual knowledge, and the will with a spiritual inclination to embrace the things that please God; in communion with whom sanctified souls do take in hand a new course of life, and move therein, in a spiritually natural way.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And have put on the new man,.... Concerning which,…
And have put on the new man,.... Concerning which, and the putting it on; see Gill on Eph 4:24,
which is renewed in knowledge; this man, or principle of grace in the soul, is a new one, which never was there before; and there is a daily renovation of it in the spirit of the mind, by the Spirit of God; for as the outward man decays, the inward man, which is the same with this new man, is renewed day by day, increases in holiness and righteousness, grows in grace, and particularly in "knowledge"; light and knowledge of a man's self, of his lost state and condition by nature, of his need of Christ, and of his salvation, is what appears at the first formation of this new man; and the daily renovation of him lies in an increase of spiritual, experimental, and saving knowledge of God, and Christ, and divine things; and indeed, until a man becomes a new creature, he neither knows, nor is he capable of knowing, the things of the Spirit of God; so that this new man, or principle of grace, begins with spiritual knowledge, and is formed in order to it, and its increase lies in it:
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after the image of him that created him; the new man; for this is a creation work, and so not man's, but God's; and is made not after the image of the first man, no not as innocent, and much less as fallen; but after the image of Christ, to which the elect of God are predestinated to he conformed, and which is stamped in regeneration; and more and more appears by every transforming view of Christ, and will be perfected in heaven, when they shall see him as he is, and be perfectly like him, who is not only the pattern, but the Creator of it, even the author and finisher of faith.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain In knowledge - The knowledge of God, his will,…
In knowledge - The knowledge of God, his will, his word.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 10. And have put on the new man]…
Verse 10. And have put on the new man] See on Ro 12:1-2 (note).
Is renewed in knowledge] IGNORANCE was the grand characteristic of the heathen state; KNOWLEDGE, of the Christian. The utmost to which heathenism could pretend was a certain knowledge of nature. How far this went, and how much it fell short of the truth, may be seen in the writings of Aristotle and Pliny. Christianity reveals God himself, the author of nature; or, rather, God has revealed himself, in the Christian system with which he has blessed mankind. Christianity teaches a man the true knowledge both of himself and of God; but it is impossible to know one's self but in the light of God; the famous γνωθισεαυτον, know thyself, was practicable only under the Christian religion.
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After the image of him that created him] We have already seen that God made man in his own image; and we have seen in what that image consisted. See Clarke on Ge 1:26, and on Eph 4:23; Eph 4:24. Does not the apostle refer here to the case of an artist, who wishes to make a perfect resemblance of some exquisite form or person? God in this case is the artist, man is the copy, and God himself the original from which this copy is to be taken. Thus, then, man is made by his Creator, not according to the image or likeness of any other being, but according to his own; the image τουκτισαντος, of the Creator. And as the Divine nature cannot exist in forms or fashions, moral qualities alone are those which must be produced. Hence the apostle, interpreting the words of Moses, says that the image in which man was made, and in which he must be remade, ανακαινουμενον, made anew, consists in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Which is renewed in knowledge - In Eph 4:24,…
Which is renewed in knowledge - In Eph 4:24, it is said that the new man is “created after God in righteousness and true holiness.” In this place it is added that to the renewed soul knowledge is imparted, and it is made in that respect as man was when he was first created. This passage, in connection with Eph 4:24, proves that before man fell he was endowed with “righteousness, true holiness, and knowledge.” The knowledge here referred to, is not the knowledge of everything, but the knowledge of God. Man was acquainted with his Creator. He resembled him in his capacity for knowledge. He was an intelligent being, and he had an acquaintance with the divine existence and perfections; compare the notes at Rom 5:12. But especially had he that knowledge which is the fear of the Lord; that knowledge of God which is the result of love. Piety, in the Scriptures, is often represented as the “knowledge” of God; see the notes at Joh 17:3; compare the notes at Eph 3:19.
After the image of him that created him - So as to resemble God. In knowledge he was made in the likeness of his Maker.%%
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain According to the image of him who created him.…
According to the image of him who created him. We are created in the image of God, inasmuch as our souls are spiritual and immortal, but here we are put in mind to imitate God by sanctity and justice, as God is holy and the fountain of justice. (Witham) --- The image or resemblance of our Creator was effaced by sin, but is retraced by Jesus Christ, who forms in us this new man. (Bible de Vence)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain the new man--(See on Eph 4:23). Here (neon) the…
the new man--(See on Eph 4:23). Here (neon) the Greek, means "the recently-put-on nature"; that lately received at regeneration (see on Eph 4:23-24).
which is renewed--Greek, "which is being renewed" (anakainottmenou); namely, its development into a perfectly renewed nature is continually progressing to completion.
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in knowledge--rather as the Greek, "unto perfect knowledge" (see on Col 1:6; Col 1:9-10). Perfect knowledge of God excludes all sin (Joh 17:3).
after the image of him that created him--namely, of God that created the new man (Eph 2:10; Eph 4:24). The new creation is analogous to the first creation (Co2 4:6). As man was then made in the image of God naturally, so now spiritually. But the image of God formed in us by the Spirit of God, is as much more glorious than that borne by Adam, as the Second Man, the Lord from heaven, is more glorious than the first man. Gen 1:26, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." The "image" is claimed for man, Co1 11:7; the "likeness," Jam 3:9. ORIGEN [On First Principles, 3:6] taught, the image was something in which all were created, and which continued to man after the fall (Gen 9:6). The likeness was something towards which man was created, that he might strive after it and attain it. TRENCH thinks God in the double statement (Gen 1:26), contemplates both man's first creation and his being "renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 10. And have put on the new man—The regenerate…
10. And have put on the new man—The regenerate nature, attained in the new birth, which is a new creation. Their action was a free submission of themselves to God’s working in them by his renewing power. This state, utterly incompatible at the outset with a life of selfishness and impurity, is one of growth and development. It is a characteristic of the new man that it is continually being renewed more and more after the image of Christ, the creator of this new man, who in himself (Col_1:15) “the image of the invisible God.” His likeness is more or less perfectly created in every regenerate heart.
In knowledge—Rather, unto full knowledge, namely, of God. As the new birth gives us our first knowledge of him, growth increases our knowledge. As Olshausen (followed by Alford) points out, the intellectual aspect of the divine image is here put forward, while Eph_4:24 exhibits its ethical character. Perfect knowledge of God is, then, the end of the new creation.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. and have put on] See the last note…
10. and have put on] See the last note but one. Cp. Eph_4:24; and Col_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].
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[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 Eph_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, 2Co_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, Eph_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 Col_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, Gen_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, Eph_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 (Eph_2:10), “lives because of the Father” (Joh_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 Col_1:15; 2Co_4:4) is not likely in view of the parallel, Eph_4:24, with its simple phrase “according to God.” See Lightfoot’s note.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) The new man, which is (being) renewed.—There are…
(10) The new man, which is (being) renewed.—There are here the same two different words which are found in the parallel passage. (See Notes on Eph_4:22-24). “The new man” is here properly the youthful man “which is renewed,” that is, to which is given a nature really fresh and new.
(10-17) In these verses we have the corresponding positive exhortation, connected with the idea of resurrection with Christ, through which we put on the new man, holding Christ to be our all in all. Of the new nature there are two marks—towards man love in all its various forms, towards God thanksgiving and living to His glory.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And having put on the new (man), which is…
And having put on the new (man), which is being renewed unto (full) knowledge, after (the) image of him that created him (Eph_4:23, 24 2:15; Rom_6:4 Rom_7:6 Rom_8:1-4 Rom_13:12-14; 2Co_5:17; Gal_6:15; Col_1:9 Col_2:2, Col_2:3; Gen_1:26-28; Mat_5:48; Heb_12:10; Rom_8:29) New (neov) is "young," "of recent date". (compare the "once," "but now" of vers. 7, 8; also Col_1:5-8; 1Pe_2:1, 1Pe_2:2) whose birth was well remembered, and which presented so vivid a contrast to the "old man with his deeds." "Being renewed" (ajnakainoumenon, derived from the adjective kainov) sets forth the other side of this newness, its novelty of quality and condition (compare "newness of life,". (Rom_6:4) And this participle is in the present tense (continuous), while the former is in the aorist (historical). So the notions are combined of a new birth taking place once for all, and a new character in course of formation. In Eph_4:23, 24 these ideas are in the same order (see Trench"s "Synonyms"). "Full knowledge" was one purpose of this renewal, the purpose most necessary to be set before the Colossians. The nature and objects of this knowledge have been already specified. (Col_1:6, Col_1:9, Col_1:27, 28 2:2, 3, 9, 10: comp. Eph_1:18, 19 3:18, 19; Php_3:8-14; gnwsiv, 1Co_1:18-31; and on ejpi see note Col_1:6) "After (the) image" is clearly an allusion to Gen_1:26-28; so in Eph_4:24 ("after God"). It is adverbial to "renewed," not to "knowledge." Man"s renewal in Christ makes him what the Creator at first designed him to be, namely, his own image. (compare note on "reconcile," Col_1:20) Chrysostom and others take "Christ" as "him that created," in view of Col_1:15, Col_1:16; but then it is said that all things "were created in through for Christ," not absolutely that Christ created them. But "the image of God after which" man was created and is now recreated, is seen in Christ (Rom_8:29; 2Co_3:18 2Co_4:4; Joh_1:18)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain And have put on the new man.
Col_3:10
And have put on the new man.
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In allusion to the white garments with which the primitive converts having first laid aside their heathen vestments, were wont to be arrayed, St. Paul exhorts the Colossians to put off the old man with his deeds, and to put on the new man. Christians should no more dishonour God and disgrace religion by any of the vices and passions of their natural state, than a courtier should insult his prince by appearing before him in squalid and ragged attire. But this is not enough--this is negative merely. The Christian must also actually array himself in the white and becoming dress of his new character and relation; as a courtier would not only abstain from insulting his prince by wearing defiled and mean garments, but would also be studious to attire himself, when approaching his presence, with the suitable and ornamental dress which he knew was required. (Bishop D. Wilson.)
Which is being renewed.--Divine creation is not a mere mechanical work. It is wholly different from all work of ours. The builder builds a house, and when it is built he has done with it, and may never see it again; still the house stands. An artist paints his picture; it passes from the easel, it is hung in the gallery; he has done with it; he does not stand there day by day, with brush and palette, keeping the yellows brilliant, and the purples rich, and the browns mellow. A poet writes his verses, prints them, and he has done with them. The pathos, beauty, music remain; they touch the heart, charm the ear, kindle the imagination of millions in many ages and lands long after his own heart has ceased to throb, and the fire of his own genius is quenched. This is not the kind of relation between God and His creatures. He transcends the universe, but is immanent in it; it only exists as long as He sustains it. If He were to let it go it would pass into chaos--into nothing. Its enduring forces are the witnesses of His eternal power. The universe, this vast temple which God has made for Himself, would not stand if the Builder were to leave it; its foundations would shake, its walls be rent, it would sink in ruins. The glory of the mountain, lake, and river would not remain like the artists picture, if the Divine Artist were to leave it, every outline would lose its firmness and grace, every colour its softness or its strength, and the canvas would forget the beauty which had covered it. The revelation of thought which God has given in all created things would not remain if He, the great Teacher and Poet, ceased to live or ceased to speak; the great poem would perish, it remains only as long as living inspiration is in it. God creates, and, as we are accustomed to say, sustains. But the word is inadequate; it suggests too mechanical and external a relation between God and what He has made. His action might almost be described as a continuous creation. His power is within every created thing, active, persistent, or what He has created would cease to be. His thought is within every created thing, determining, maintaining its form, the characteristic mode of its existence. The sun rises over sea and land, and creates the day; but the sun renews the day from moment to moment, or the day would pass back into night. So were it not for the great power of God ever active, all things would cease to be. The new man was created by Him; day by day the new man is kept new by the fresh and continuous activity of the same power that brought it into being. Every moment, in a true sense, we are born again, just as the stream has the continuous birth from the mountain, and the light from the sun; every moment we are arising anew from the dead, every moment there passes into us afresh the energy of the creative power; we are being renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created us, And, therefore, as we begin to live in answer to our faith, so we continue to live in answer to our faith. We never stand apart and alone. Yesterdays inspiration gives us no light to-day; the power of the Holy Ghost that was active in us yesterday is unavailing for to-days righteousness. And this new life is also a life of continuous prayer. What is the real meaning of indisposition to prayer? It means that the spirit of independence is mastering us, and for us independence means death. We are living only as God lives in us. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
The Image of God restored to men
I. Man was created in the image of God. Righteous as God was righteous he saw God in his own nature; other intelligent creatures saw God in him; and God in His offspring saw Himself.
2. The image of God is now defaced. The substance remains, but its glorious attributes are gone. The form abides but the glorious features are not there.
3. To be right and blessed men must recover this image. Without likeness to God we are unable to appreciate His revelations, and incapable of filial intercourse.
4. By his own power or with the assistance of his fellows, no man can recover it. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, therefore he must be born not of blood, etc., but of God.
I. God has made provision for the renewal of his image in man.
1. This provision consists in--
(1) The atonement which justifies Gods interposition for mans regeneration. If without a sacrifice God had restored man, the idea of misfortune, not guilt, would have been associated with mans fallen state. But now sin appears exceeding sinful.
(2) The living Mediator is the way for man to God--as the source of life and light.
(3) The testimony of Gods Word informs men of the atonement and Mediator. How can they avail themselves of what they have not heard?
(4) The Holy Spirit so acts upon the heart as to produce sympathy with the testimony of the gospel; and under His influence men believe Gods Word and are born again.
2. There is provision: the recovery of Gods image is possible. The aged cannot become young, the diseased healthful, the mutilated whole; but man may be renewed. Nature illustrates this. Trees shed their leaves in autumn, and remain in winter as though dead. In the spring the sap rises and circulates, the branches extend, and the foliage returns. The plumage of the bird loses its vigour and gloss, but moulting recovers strength and restores beauty. The human body is exhausted through the waste of its functional operations, and for its renewal we have provision in feed and sleep. And for the soul there is as real a provision. Let none despair. There is balm in Gilead, etc.
3. This provision is of God. He first thought of making it, not man; and He has carried out this design.
(1) The creative power of God is unlimited. The things which are impossible with men, etc.
(2) Power connected with malevolence is a fearful combination, but how changed the aspect of power when the hand and arm of love. What benevolence is here. Behold what manner of love, etc.
This proves--
(1) That God is faultless concerning the entrance of evil.
(2) That He has no complacency in the evil of men.
(3) That he has no pleasure in the death either of holiness or joy.
(4) That He delights in mercy.
4. There is but one provision. If men could have restored themselves or each other, God would not have made provision. As you cannot respire by the light, nor see by the air, but vice versa, so you cannot be regenerated by intellectual or social education.
II. Men are, through the Divine provision, actually regenerated into the image of God.
1. Its sphere.
(1) Not the body, although regeneration does effect salutary changes here. Where vice has reigned, regeneration arrests disease and restores health. Where passions have been dominant, the countenance is changed. It also affects temporal circumstances by improving habits.
(2) The soul is its true seat, and the change consists in the leading forth Godwards of all its powers, and the awakening of all its susceptibilities.
(a) A renewed man thinks, and his knowledge is of God and Christ.
(b) He feels, and his affections are led away from the unlawful and are fixed on the good.
(c) His conscience is rectified and made sensitive, and His will and actions are brought under its control.
(d) Over the world he is a conqueror.
(e) He is made like Christ, and through Christ like God.
2. Its nature.
(1) It is radical and general. It penetrates to the core of the soul, and spreads itself over the entire surface. The likeness of a statue to its subject is merely on the face of the marble; as you get below you reach the unlike.
(2) Its perfection is a work of time. A man is born again so soon as he believes in Christ; but into the likeness of God he grows up. Conclusion: Such changes are ejected, and cannot be questioned. Joh_1:13, Jam_1:13, and 1Pe_1:23 hold good to-day everywhere.
1. When the provision of Gods mercy for the regeneration of the race is unknown, no such change is observed to take place.
2. When regeneration does take place, the remedial dispensation of the gospel is acknowledged as the means. (S. Martin.)
Religious affections arise from spiritual enlightenment
In order to have the love of Divine things, in the exercise of which religion consists, the soul must be spiritually enlightened so as to apprehend them.
I. The Scriptures teach that gracious affections arise from spiritual understanding (1Jn_4:7; Php_1:9; Rom_10:2; Psa_93:3-4; Joh_6:45; Luk_11:52).
1. Affections which arise from external impressions on the imagination are not gracious.
2. The same is true of those which are awakened by texts of Scripture which come to the mind without carrying any instruction in them. When Christ makes the Scriptures a means of the heart burning with gracious affections, it is by opening tile Scriptures to mens understandings (Luk_24:32).
3. Affections that have their ground in bodily sensation, freedom of speech in prayer, aptness of thought, and the like, are not derived from spiritual instruction. Hence the affection is not gracious, unless the light in the understanding, which is its origin, be spiritual. There is, therefore, a spiritual, supernatural understanding of Divine things that is peculiar to the saints, and which those who are not saints know nothing of (1Co_2:14; 1Jn_3:6).
II. This spiritual enlightenment consists in a sense of the heart of the supreme beauty and sweetness of the holiness or moral perfection of Divine things, together with all that discerning and knowledge of the things of religion that depends upon and flows from such a sense.
1. There is tans a difference between speculative knowledge and that which is experimental (Rom_2:20; 2Co_2:14).
2. He is led by the Spirit who is first instructed in his duty, and then powerfully inclined to comply with such Divine instruction.
III. some conclusions.
1. This spiritual sense will enable the soul to determine what actions are right and becoming to Christians more readily than the greatest abilities without it.
2. This sense will be distinguished from forms of enthusiasm and supposed discoveries of truth and communications other than those which the Scriptures have always contained.
3. Satan and evil spirits have power to tempt us through the imagination. We need to guard against vain imaginations.
4. We need to distinguish between lively imaginations that spring from strong affections, and strong affections that arise from lively imaginations. What is external and natural in its origin cannot be spiritual and gracious. (L. O. Thompson.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 10. Have put on the new man. Are born…
10. Have put on the new man. Are born again (John 3:5) and become new creatures in Christ. The new man has a new heart, new thoughts, a new life. Is renewed in knowledge. With the new man there is a growth, a renewal. He grows continually in knowledge of Christ and into his image.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (See Scofield "Eph 4:24").
created
(See Scofield "Eph 4:24").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.