Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Colossians 3:10

τὸν νέον. In Ephesians 4:24 we have καινός, “fresh” (as opposed to “worn out”); νέος is new as opposed to old. The idea contained in κ. is here expressed by ἀνακ. Some (including Sod.) regard “the new man” as Christ, according to which “the old man” will be Adam. But this is negatived by the next verse, for if the new man is Christ, Χριστός would be a strange tautology. κτίς. is also against it, though we have μορφωθῇ Χ., Galatians 4:19. It is the regenerate self, regenerate, of course, because united with Christ. ἀνακαινούμενον : “being renewed,” the present expressing the continuous process of renewal (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:16). There is no reference to a restoration to a former state. εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν : not to be connected (as by Mey. and Hofm.) with κατʼ εἰκόνα, which would give a strange and obscure thought, but to be taken as the object of the renewal. The knowledge is ethical rather than theoretical in this connexion. κατʼ εἰκόνα : to be taken with ἀνακαιν. There is a clear allusion to Genesis 1:26-28, the new self grows to be more and more the image of God. There may perhaps be a side reference to “ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” in εἰς ἐπίγ. τοῦ κτίσαντος : i.e., God, not (as Chrys. and others) Christ. Some take κατʼ εἰκ. τ. κτ. α. to mean “according to Christ”. It is true that Christ is the image of God, but the parallel κατὰ Θεὸν, in Ephesians 4:24, makes this improbable, and we should have expected the article before εἰκ.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Colossians 3:10

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