WHY it matters//

What does it mean to put on the “new self”? The Bible makes a distinction between the old self born in sin and the new self that comes alive in us through the Spirit of God. As we grow in maturity we become more like Jesus as we change the way we think. The way we think then changes the way we live.

WHAT it's talking about//

Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians around 60 AD. He was addressing issues of heresy that had the potential to derail the community. In this passage of scripture he is addressing that the holy lives God wants us to live are different than the way that we lived when we belonged to the world. He is also making an important emphasis on the supremacy of Christ as the source of the ability to live a changed life.

Colossians 3:1-10 NIV

1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 

3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 

4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 

6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 

7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 

8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 

9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 

10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.