COLOSSIANS (20) The New Self

“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your 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. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Col 3:9-13)
 
Review
The book of Colossians can be largely divided into two parts. In the first two chapters, Paul focuses on who Jesus is and what we have become in Him. It is important to know the proper knowledge about Christ because that’s what guards our hearts and enables us to fight against all kinds of false teachings.
 
The most wonderful, amazing change we experience when we believe in Jesus is union with Him. By faith, we died to sin, and were raised and seated with Christ who is in heaven.
 
And since this is the most amazing change in our lives, it will naturally show in our relationships. That’s what Paul says in the second part of Colossians.
 
For the last two weeks, we’ve discussed the most important relationship we have as Christians—our relationship with Christ.
 
If we really believe that we have been raised with Christ, we should set our hearts and minds on things above, not on earthly things.
 
Paul added, “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Col 3:3-4).
 
Here, the key word is life, zoe. We discussed three ways this word is used in the New Testament.
 
First, zoe refers to the eternal life that belongs to God and His Son, Jesus. God is the only One in the universe who has true, eternal life. And this life was revealed when the Son of God, Jesus, came to the world in human form.
 
Second, zoe refers to the life that believers come to have in Jesus. One of the most remarkable truths we find in the Bible about this life, zoe, is that we also join in it through Jesus. That was the purpose of Jesus coming into the world—to allow us to believe in Him and have the light of life (Jn 8:12).
 
However, even though all believers can enjoy this eternal life in Jesus from the moment they believe in Him, the Bible also says that this life hasn’t been brought to fulfillment yet. 
 
We’re still waiting for the time when we will fully join in His life. That will happen when Christ comes back and allows us to join in His resurrection and be like Him. On that day, our natural lives will disappear along with our mortality, weaknesses, desires of the flesh, and sinful nature. And we’ll be complete in Christ, fully participating in Jesus’ divine nature. That’s the third usage of zoe in the New Testament. 
 
Until then, our union with the eternal life of Jesus will be hidden. But what we put our hope in is the promise that “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Col 3:4)
 
Take off Your Old Self with Its Practices
If we really believe all these things as truth, they must be applied in our lives in practical ways because even though knowledge is important in Christianity, it is not a religion of knowledge, but a religion of obedience and experience.
 
This means that what we know doesn’t guarantee our salvation. The genuineness of our faith must be proven by what we actually do in our lives out of our faith in Jesus—namely, our fruit.
 
There are practical ways to live out our faith in Jesus, including eagerly setting our hearts and minds on things above and intentionally getting rid of every aspect of our lives that’s not in line with the new life we have in Christ.
 
So, we’re also urged to “Put to death whatever belongs to [our] earthly nature” (Col 3:5) because being united with Jesus Christ means that “[we] have taken off [our] old self with its practices” (Col 3:9).
 
Paul specifically lists things that we must rid ourselves of. They are “Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry” (Col 3:5), “anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language” (Col 3:8).
 
These were the things we used to walk in before we met Jesus. These were the characteristics of our old selves.
 
Then, if there are things that we must get rid of, there must also be things that we need to fill our lives with. These are what I want to focus on today.
 
The New Self in Christ
Now, let’s read verses 9-10 together again.
“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” (Col 3:9-10)
 
Here, Paul defines what it means to become a Christian. It means to take off one’s old self and to put on the new self instead. A similar passage is found in Ephesians 4, in which Paul said,
 
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Eph 4:22-24)
 
Here, the defining characteristic of the ‘old self’ is that it is corrupted by its deceitful desires, namely desires of the flesh or sinful nature. We already read about some of them.
 
Then, how can we define the ‘new self’ we are to put on in Christ? The most important characteristic of the new self Paul mentions is the image of God. Christians are those who put to death their old selves with the crucifixion of Christ and are renewed or recreated in His image.
 
This is who we have been transformed into in Christ. This change is so remarkable that Paul calls Christians new creations (2 Co 5:17).
 
The Image of God
We talked about the image of God before. I said that humanity can be categorized in three ways—created humanity, fallen humanity, and new humanity in Christ.
 
God created human beings in His image that reflected His characteristics such as love, holiness, mercy, goodness, graciousness, justice and more in their relationships with God, other people, and His other creations.
 
But the great fall came to all human beings when Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating from the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil.
 
They did so with the desire to make themselves “like God,” and as a result their relationship with God was severed, which also led to the brokenness of other human relationships. The image of God which they had been created in was lost and distorted by sin. That’s what fallen humanity is. That’s the ‘old self’ Paul talks about.
 
But, when we couldn’t find any hope within ourselves and “were dead in [our] transgressions and sins” (Eph 2:1), Christ came to the world to solve the very problem that had severed our relationship with God—sin.
 
He bore all our sins in His body and paid the ransom for them by shedding His precious blood and even laying down His life on the cross. And as a result, the curtain in the temple was torn in two, which means that we have been reconciled with God through Him.
 
The restoration of our relationship with God enabled us to recover a very precious thing that we had lost for a long time—the image of God.
 
Since “The Son is the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15), He showed us the new way of life that could reflect the image of God. And all those who believe in Him and sincerely follow His steps experience the image of God being renewed in them every day, replacing their old selves. That’s what new humanity in Christ is.
 
And that’s what Paul constantly emphasizes and urges Christians to continue to pursue. Paul was never satisfied with his readers merely starting their salvation by believing in Jesus. He constantly urged them to “[grow] in the knowledge of God” (Col 1:10) by continually “[being] conformed to the image of his Son” (Rm 8:29)
 
This is the essence of Christianity. Christianity is all about us becoming more like the image of the Son of God. So, we also shouldn’t be satisfied with simply believing in Jesus.
 
If we’re not interested in recovering the image of God that we were created in by becoming like Jesus, the Son of God, who is “the exact representation of his being” (Heb 1:3), we should check whether or not we really have faith in Jesus. We call this process of being transformed sanctification, and it is one of the essential steps of salvation.
 
The New Self
That’s the new self we must put on as new creations in Christ. Paul lists some characteristics of the new self. Let’s read Col 3:11 together.
 
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” (Col 3:12)
 
Here, Paul intentionally used some words that are also used in the Old Testament to remind readers of who they became.
 
Words such as “chosen,” “holy,” and “loved” were words God used when He explained the reason He chose Israel as His people.
 
Let’s read Deuteronomy 7:6-8 together.
“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you…” (Dt 7:6-8)
 
The reason God chose Israel wasn’t because they were strong enough to achieve God’s plan. The people of Israel weren’t chosen because they deserved it. If there’s just one word to explain the reason God chose Israel, it’s ‘love.’ God chose them because He loved them.
 
And we also find that the purpose of God choosing Israel was to make them His holy nation so that they could reveal His holiness through their lives and bring others back to Him.
 
The reason for God’s choice is still the same. That’s what Paul is reminding the Colossian Christians of. They were chosen by God not because they deserved it but because God loved them. And God’s purpose for choosing them was to make them His holy people who could reflect His image through their lives.
 
Then, how could they show that they “have put on the new self… in the image of its Creator” (Col 3:10)? How could they carry out God’s purpose in choosing them?
 
Paul urged them to clothe themselves “with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Col 3:12).
 
These are the characteristics that we’re to have as new creations in Christ. And, when we think carefully, we will notice that these were the representative traits of God that the people of Israel experienced when God rescued them from Egypt, guided them in the wilderness, and allowed them to settle in the promised land.
 
If God hadn’t shown such characteristics to the Israelites, they would have never made it to the promised land. We can find many stories of Israel’s rebellion in the Old Testament.
 
These five characteristics reflect God's heart toward His people. They are shown through the actions He took to bring His people salvation despite their sin and rebellion.
 
Therefore, Paul’s exhortation to have compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience is no different from his instruction to put on the new self created in the image of God.
 
We are to have the compassion that Jesus has. As Mt 9:36 says,
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mt 9:36)
 
 
We are to have kindness like God does. As Romans 11:22 says,
 “Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.” (Rm 11:22)
 
We are to humble ourselves, as “[Jesus] humbled Himself by becoming obedient to...death on a cross” (Php 2:8).
 
We are to have Jesus’ gentleness. As Jesus said in Mt 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Mt 11:29)
 
And, we’re to have the kind of patience that God has for us. As the apostle Peter said,
 
“He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2Pt 3:9)
 
Peter also said, “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation” (2Pt 3:15)
 
When we consider all these characteristics and their meanings, we realize that Paul is urging us to treat others the way God and Jesus have treated us. Jesus has done great things for our salvation.
 
So, if we truly believe that we have been saved by His grace, if we really profess that Jesus lives in us right now and that we’re new creations in Him, and if we really want to put on our new selves created to be like God, we are also to make every effort to have and reflect God’s holy characteristics in our lives.
 
That’s the only way we can be used for God’s purpose to lead those around us to Him.
 
Today, we talked about what it means to put on the new self in Christ. It means to get rid of everything in our lives that’s not in line with the new life we have in Him.
 
It means to recover the image of God that we’ve lost because of our sin. And it means to treat others the way Jesus treated us, showing His compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience through our lives.
 
If we’re truly committed to our new lives, with confidence of becoming new creations in Christ, we’ll be conformed to the image of the Son of God, glorify God, and be used by Him to lead those around us to Him.
 
I want every one of us to think deeply about who Jesus is, what great salvation He has given us, and what He sacrificed to give us His great love so that we could live lives worthy of the calling we have received.
 
Let’s wrap up with prayer.
 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for everything You’ve done to save us. We thank You for not giving up on us, but constantly taking care of us and loving us even when we were against You. We profess that only because of Your great love, can we be where we are now.
 
Lord, we want to live lives worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We want to respond to Your great love by reflecting who You are and following Your will for us.
 
Please come and fill our minds and hearts with Your compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience so that we can get rid of every evil desire in us that’s against Your will and so that we can glorify You by showing others Your goodness.
 
Help us to put off our old selves and put on the new self, created to be like You, and conform us to the image of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Please change us and guide us.
 
We thank You and love You, Lord.
In the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, we pray, Amen.
 
 
Reflection Questions
Today, we talked about how to live out our new lives in Christ. 
 
1) What do you think you need to remove from your life to put off your old self? How can you do this?
 
2) Out of the 5 characteristics of God that we’re urged to put on as new creations (compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience), what do you think you need to work on the most? How do you think these characteristics can be used to reflect God and lead others to Him?