Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Colossians · About this commentary
Christ Is All, and in All
Colossians 3:10-11
10 and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator, · WEB
The new man is being renewed toward the image he was made in — and in that renewal the categories people sort each other by disappear.
And have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator. The clothing metaphor completes: the old off, the new on, both reported as done.
But the participle being renewed is present and continuous. The garment is on and the wearer is still being remade, which is how this letter consistently holds a finished standing together with an unfinished process.
The standard is stated as a restoration rather than an innovation: after the image of his Creator. That reaches back to the beginning, where humanity was made in God's image Genesis 1:27, and forward to the one who is that image Colossians 1:15. Renewal is not becoming something new but becoming what was intended.
Then verse 11 lists what the renewal dissolves, and the pairs cover everything a person could be sorted by. Greek and Jew — culture. Circumcision and uncircumcision — religion. Barbarian, Scythian — the outsider, and the byword for the most savage outsider of all. Slave and free — status.
And the replacement is not a further category but a person: Christ is all, and in all.
settled What this mark means