‘But now you, also, put away all these: anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking from the mouth. Do not lie, the one to the other, seeing you have put off the old man with his doings, and have put on the new man, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created him.'
Would you do these things in Christ' presence? Would you not be deeply ashamed? Then you cannot do them in the spiritual realm. For that is where you are as the new man, and you live in the presence of Christ. And surely, if we were more aware of living in the presence of Christ we would find harder to sin.
These sins are more related to wrong attitudes towards others and wrong speaking, while the previous ones were more basic to ourselves. ‘Anger', a settled feeling of hatred, compared with ‘wrath', a more passionate anger. Both are to be avoided. ‘Malice', the kind of attitude which seeks harm for others.
These then result in ‘railing', in evil speaking and blasphemy, and words that are intended to hurt and do harm. This is then amplified as ‘shameful speaking out of your mouth', which involves verbal abuse and filthy talking, and includes suggestive words and comments. These are all to be ‘put away', thrust from us. The idea of putting off wrongdoing in this way is found regularly in Scripture, see Romans 13:12; Ephesians 4:22; Ephesians 4:25; Hebrews 12:1; James 1:21; 1 Peter 2:1.
Many a man cringes at the thought of what he is saying being heard by good and pure person, especially a woman. How much more should we cringe at the thought of what we say when we live in the heavenlies, in the presence of Christ.
These aforementioned sins are then extended to speaking dishonestly and deceitfully.
‘Do not lie the one to the other.' Jesus emphasised that a man's words should always be so trustworthy in the normal course of events that there should never be the need for an oath to confirm them (Matthew 5:34-37). The Psalmist judges a man by whether he keeps his word even when it is to his own disadvantage (Psalms 15:4). The Christian's word is his bond. He is bound by it as much as if he had sworn it on oath. Nor will he seek to deceive others, for it is the Devil who is the ‘father of lies', and by deceiving others men become his sons.
‘Seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings.' This describes the man that they were. They indulged in all these sins because they followed the ‘flesh'. But coming to Christ means that they desire to put off what they were and become something new, a ‘new man'. Indeed by it they have acknowledged that the old man deserved to be crucified, deserved a sinner's death. How then can they hold on to him?
The thought of putting on righteousness and putting off sins as clothing occurs elsewhere in the Bible. See Job 29:14, ‘I put on righteousness and it clothed me'; Psalms 109:29, ‘let my adversaries be clothed with dishonour, and let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a mantle'; Romans 13:12; Romans 13:14, ‘let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armour of light --- put on the Lord Jesus Christ'. It is a constant theme of Paul (see above).
‘And have put on the new man, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of Him who created him.' When they were born again of the Spirit of God, receiving His new life, so that Christ became their life (Colossians 3:4; Galatians 2:20) they were putting on a new man, a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), one that was destined to have a true knowledge of God, and to be made like Him (1 John 3:2). They were starting the process of being transformed by the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:2).
‘Which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of Him who created him.' This describes the process of the perfecting of God's people in terms of what man once was. He was created ‘in the image of God' (Genesis 1:27). This essentially described him as a spiritual creature, like the angelic world and in contrast with the animals. And as such he knew God spiritually. But that was sadly lost at the fall. Now, however, the ‘new man' is in process of having that full knowledge (epignosis) renewed and is being restored to full communication with the Creator as ‘in His image'.
So this growing into a new and increasing ‘true knowledge' (epignosis) of God and of Christ, will then result in their becoming like Him. They will become the ‘image of God, the image of the Creator' (compare Ephesians 4:24), and like Him Who is also the image of God (see Colossians 1:15). They will become Christlike. The more we know Christ in spirit, and worship Him in spirit (John 4:23), the more we will be like Him. The more we behold and reflect Him the more we will grow in glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).