Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Ephesians 4:24

καὶ ἐνδύσασθαι, the Aorist again. ‘Putting on’ is the natural antithesis to the ‘putting off,’ cf. Ephesians 4:22. Cf. Galatians 3:27; Romans 13:14 and esp. Colossians 3:10; Colossians 3:12. In Gal. and Rom. ‘Christ’ or ‘the Lord Jesus Christ’ is the new vesture. Here and in Colossians 3:10 it is the ‘New Man.’ In Colossians 3:12 it is ‘pity, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering.’

τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον κ.τ.λ. This describes in detail what St Paul expresses in the earlier epistles by the concise phrase ‘καινὴ κτίσις’. It is the character produced in the man who realizes his position in Christ and yields himself to be moulded by His Spirit after His likeness, that is after the likeness of God.

κατὰ θεὸν. In justification of the rendering ‘after the likeness of God’ see Hort on 1 Peter 1:15 κατὰ τὸν καλέσαντα.

κτισθέντα. Cf. on Ephesians 2:10; Ephesians 2:15. The new Creation like the old is regarded as ideally complete. Though it needs all the ages for its realization, the pattern has been perfectly expressed in the humanity of Jesus Christ.

ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ὁσιότητι τῆς�. Cf. Luke 1:75. In Wis 9:3 Man is fashioned to administer the world ἐν ὁσιότητι καὶ δικ. ὁσιότης is rare in LXX., once for ישֶׁר ‘uprightness,’ twice for תֹּם ‘integrity.’ ὅσιος is constant in the Psalter for חָסִיד. See Lightfoot on 1 Thessalonians 2:10.

τῆς�. Appropriate to and springing from the truth revealed and lived. So in John 17:17 sanctification is in the truth.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Ephesians 4:24

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