2 Corinthians 5:17

5:17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away ¹  – look, what is new ²  has come! ³ 

Ephesians 2:10

2:10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. ⁴ 

Ephesians 4:24

4:24 and to put on the new man who has been created in God’s image ⁵  – in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth. ⁶ 

Colossians 3:10-11

3:10 and have been clothed with the new man ⁷  that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. 3:11 Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave ⁸  or free, but Christ is all and in all.

Revelation 21:5

21:5 And the one seated on the throne said: “Look! I am making all things new!” Then ⁹  he said to me, “Write it down, ¹⁰  because these words are reliable ¹¹  and true.”

[5:17]  ¹ tn Grk “old things have passed away.”

[5:17]  ² tc Most mss have the words τὰ πάντα (ta panta, “all things”; cf. KJV “behold, all things are become new”), some after καίνα (kaina, “new”; D² K L P Ψ 104 326 945 2464 pm) and others before it (6 33 81 614 630 1241 1505 1881 pm). The reading without τὰ πάντα, however, has excellent support from both the Western and Alexandrian texttypes (Ì⁴⁶ א B C D* F G 048 0243 365 629 1175 1739 pc co), and the different word order of the phrase which includes it (“all things new” or “new all things”) in the ms tradition indicates its secondary character. This secondary addition may have taken place because of assimilation to τὰ δὲ πάντα (ta de panta, “and all [these] things”) that begins the following verse.

[5:17]  ³ tn Grk “new things have come [about].”

[2:10]  ⁴ tn Grk “so that we might walk in them” (or “by them”).

[4:24]  ⁵ tn Or “in God’s likeness.” Grk “according to God.” The preposition κατά used here denotes a measure of similarity or equality (BDAG 513 s.v. B.5.b.α).

[4:24]  ⁶ tn Or “in righteousness and holiness which is based on truth” or “originated from truth.”

[3:10]  ⁷ sn Put off all such things. The commands in vv. 8-9 are based on two reasons given in vv. 9-10 – reasons which are expressed in terms of a metaphor about clothing oneself. Paul says that they have put off the old man and have put on the new man. Two things need to be discussed in reference to Paul’s statement. (1) What is the meaning of the clothing imagery (i.e., the “have put off” and “have been clothed”)? (2) What is the meaning of the old man and the new man? Though some commentators understand the participles “have put off” (v. 9) and “have been clothed” (v. 10) as imperatives (i.e., “put off!” and “put on!”), this use of participles is extremely rare in the NT and thus unlikely here. It is better to take them as having the semantic force of indicatives, and thus they give an explanation of what had happened to the Colossians at the time of their conversion – they had taken off the old man and put on the new when they trusted in Christ (cf. 1:4). While it is difficult to say for certain what the background to Paul’s “clothing” metaphor might be (whether it is primarily Jewish and comes from the OT, or primarily Gentile and comes from some facet of the Greco-Roman religious milieu), it is nonetheless clear, on the basis of Paul’s usage of the expression, that the old man refers to man as he is in Adam and dominated by sin (cf. Rom 6:6; Eph 4:22), while the new man refers to the Christian whose new sphere of existence is in Christ. Though the metaphor of clothing oneself primarily reflects outward actions, there is a distinct inward aspect to it, as the rest of v. 10 indicates: being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. Paul’s point, then, is that Christians should take off their dirty clothing (inappropriate behavior) and put on clean clothing (behavior consistent with knowing Christ) because this has already been accomplished in a positional sense at the time of their conversion (cf. Gal 3:27 with Rom 13:14).

[3:11]  ⁸ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[21:5]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[21:5]  ¹⁰ tn The words “it down” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[21:5]  ¹¹ tn Grk “faithful.”