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Colossians 3:10
“and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator;”
Paul is writing to the Christians in Colossae, a city in Asia Minor, likely in the mid-1st century CE. He is urging them to live out their new identity in Christ, which involves shedding old ways of living and embracing a transformed life.
What does 'being renewed in knowledge' mean for understanding yourself and others as created in God's image today?
Then — the setting
This letter was written by Paul from prison, likely in Rome, around 60-62 CE. The church in Colossae faced various philosophical and religious influences, including elements of Gnosticism or a nascent 'Colossian heresy' that emphasized special knowledge, asceticism, and angel worship, which Paul saw as detracting from the supremacy of Christ. Paul's emphasis on being renewed 'in knowledge' is a direct counterpoint to any distorted or false knowledge promoted by these influences, redirecting their understanding to a true knowledge of Christ as the image of God and the source of all wisdom.
Across the Testaments
The Old Testament, particularly Genesis 1:26-27, establishes that humanity was created in the 'image' (Hebrew: *tselem*) and 'likeness' (*demuth*) of God, granting them dominion and reflecting divine attributes. Colossians 3:10, a New Testament passage, recontextualizes this by presenting humanity's identity as God's image not merely as an initial creation but as a *process of renewal* in Christ. While Genesis describes an inherent status, Paul describes a dynamic, ongoing restoration. This 'new man' is not a different creation but the original creation being brought back to its intended form through Christ, who is himself 'the image of the invisible God' (Colossians 1:15). The New Testament thus emphasizes both the preservation of the imago Dei (even in fallen humanity) and its restoration or actualization through redemption in Christ, leading to transformation.
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Read alongside it
This is the foundational Old Testament statement on humanity being created in God's image.
Another Pauline passage calling believers to put on 'the new man, who in God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth'.
Speaks of being transformed into the same image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord.
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