To put on the new self means to live out the new identity we already have in Christ. In Colossians 3:1-11, Paul tells believers that since they died and were raised with Jesus, they should set their hearts on things above, put to death the sinful habits of their old life, and take off old behaviors like dirty clothes. In their place, they put on a new self that is being renewed to look like Jesus. In this new identity, Christ is all that matters.
Setting the Scene in Colossians 3:1-11
In the previous passage, Paul warned the Colossians that religious rules can’t make them holy (Colossians 2:6-23). He reminded them that they had died with Christ (Colossians 2:20) and been raised with him through faith (Colossians 2:12). That naturally raises a question: if rules don’t produce a holy life, what does? Colossians 3 answers it.
This is the turning point of the letter. The first two chapters focus mainly on who Jesus is and what he has done. Now Paul turns to how believers should live. But notice that he doesn’t hand them a new list of rules. He reminds them who they are. Our identity in Christ comes first, and our behavior flows from it. The world tells us to find our identity in what we wear, what we achieve, what we earn, or what other people think. Paul says the most important thing about you is that you belong to Christ. For a topical overview of this passage, see 3 Steps to a New Identity in Christ.
Set Your Hearts on Things Above
Paul begins by telling believers where to look.
Colossians 3:1-2 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
The word “since” is important. Paul isn’t saying, “Try to get raised with Christ.” He’s saying it has already happened. Because it’s true, we should live like it. Christ is seated “at the right hand of God,” the place of highest honor and authority. That phrase draws on Psalm 110:1, the Old Testament verse most often quoted or alluded to in the New Testament.
Paul uses two verbs. To “set your hearts” means to seek, to pursue with desire. To “set your minds” means to think about, to give your attention. This isn’t an escape from real life. The false teachers in Colossae had their own version of “things above,” chasing visions and angelic experiences. Paul points to Christ himself. A heavenly mindset makes us more useful on earth, not less. C. S. Lewis put it memorably: “Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.”
Hidden With Christ in God
Paul then explains why our focus should be above.
Colossians 3:3-4 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
When you trusted Jesus, your old life died. Your new life is now “hidden with Christ in God.” Hidden suggests two things. First, it’s safe. No one can snatch it away. Second, it’s not fully visible yet. Right now, believers still struggle and fail, and the world doesn’t see what God sees. But one day, when Christ appears, our true identity will be revealed in glory.
Notice that Paul calls Christ “your life.” Jesus isn’t just part of our life, like a hobby or a weekly appointment. He is our life. Paul described the same reality in another letter.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
If Christ is your life, then you aren’t defined anymore by your mistakes, regrets, or past. You are a deeply loved child of God.
Putting Sin to Death
Because our identity has changed, our behavior must change too.
Colossians 3:5-7 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
This is fierce language. Paul doesn’t say to manage sin or cut back on it. He says to put it to death. The Puritan pastor John Owen wrote a classic work on this passage and similar ones, summing up his message with the line, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”
The first list focuses on sexual sin and desire. The Greek word porneia, translated “sexual immorality,” covers any sexual activity outside of marriage. Paul then adds greed and calls it idolatry. That may surprise us, but greed puts things in God’s place, trusting possessions to give us what only God can. Because these sins harm people God loves and dishonor him, Paul says the wrath of God is coming. Still, he speaks to the Colossians with hope: “You used to walk in these ways.” That was who they were, not who they are.
How do we put sin to death? Not by sheer willpower, as Paul just explained in chapter 2. It begins with what God has already done. We stop making excuses for sin, we draw on God’s Word and prayer, and we lean on the Spirit’s power. The commands in this passage are also plural. Paul is talking to a whole church. We fight sin together.
Taking Off the Old Clothes
Paul’s second list moves from desires to relationships, especially the way we speak.
Colossians 3:8-9 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices…
Anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language all damage community. Lying does too. Paul explains why these things don’t fit anymore: believers have “taken off” the old self. This is the language of changing clothes. Imagine coming home after a long day of yard work in the heat. You wouldn’t put on your dirty, smelly clothes again the next morning. Those clothes don’t belong to you anymore.
Many scholars think this clothing imagery may connect to early baptism practices. By the third century, Christian writings describe new believers removing their old clothes before baptism and putting on white garments afterward. Whether or not that practice was already happening in Paul’s day, the picture is clear. The old self is something you take off for good.
Putting On the New Self
Then Paul describes the new wardrobe.
Colossians 3:10-11 …and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
The new self is “being renewed.” It’s a continuous process. We are new, and we are becoming new. That renewal happens “in knowledge in the image of its Creator,” echoing Genesis 1:26-27, where God created humans in his image. Sin damaged that image, but in Christ, God is restoring it.
Paul then lists the categories that divided people in the ancient world. Jews and Greeks were divided by religion. Circumcised and uncircumcised were divided by ritual. Barbarian was a Greek term for anyone who didn’t speak Greek, and Scythians, from the region north of the Black Sea, were considered by many Greeks to be the most savage people of all. Slave and free were divided by social status. In Christ, none of these labels define us. Paul makes a similar point in Galatians 3:28. “Christ is all, and is in all.”
What This Means for Us
Every morning, you choose what to put on. Paul invites you to choose your identity the same way. Start each day by remembering who you are in Christ: raised with him, hidden in him, loved by him. Then take off the old habits that don’t fit anymore, and put on the new life he has given you.
This also changes how we see other people. If Christ is all that matters, then race, class, and background can’t divide us in the church. In the next passage, Paul describes what this new community looks like (Colossians 3:12-17).
The Takeaway
What does it mean to put on the new self? It means living out the new identity we already have in Christ. Because we died and were raised with Jesus, we set our hearts on things above, put sin to death, and take off the old self like dirty clothes. God is renewing us to look like Jesus, and in this new life, Christ is all that matters.
