Context: "Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off [ἀπεκδυσάμενοι] the old self [τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον] with its practices and have put on [ἐνδυσάμενοι] the new self [τὸν νέον], which is being renewed [ἀνακαινούμενον] in knowledge after the image of its creator [κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος αὐτόν]." Colossians 3:9-10 is the theological hinge between Paul's indicative and imperative sections: the identity transformation of 3:1-11 (indicative — "you have been raised with Christ," "your life is hidden with Christ in God") grounds the ethical imperatives that follow (3:12-17 — "put on then, as God's chosen ones, compassionate hearts…"). The "put off / put on" vocabulary is clothing imagery — stripping off one garment and donning another — depicting the believer's transfer from Adamic solidarity to Christological solidarity. The "old self" (παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος) is the humanity-in-Adam that Paul has named in Romans 6:6 ("our old self was crucified with him"); the "new self" (ὁ νέος ἄνθρωπος) is the humanity-in-Christ inaugurated at the last Adam's resurrection. But the verse adds a crucial Adamic layer: the new self is "being renewed after the image of its creator [κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος αὐτόν]." This is verbatim Genesis 1:26-27 vocabulary. What was marred in Adam's fall is being restored in Christ's people. The restoration is ongoing (ἀνακαινούμενον — present passive participle), locating believers in the already/not-yet of new-creation life.
Greek Key Terms:
OT-to-OT Development: The image-of-God theme runs from Genesis 1:26-27 through Genesis 5:1-3 (Adam fathering Seth in his own likeness/image — the image marred but not obliterated), Genesis 9:6 (murder prohibited because humanity is made in God's image — image-bearing persists even in fallen humanity), Psalm 8:5-6 (humanity crowned with glory and dominion), and into prophetic visions of renewed humanity. Ezekiel 36:26-27 promises a "new heart" and "new spirit" — anthropological renewal at the heart of the new covenant. Jeremiah 31:33 promises God's law written on hearts. Isaiah 61:10 ("he has clothed me with the garments of salvation") and Zechariah 3:3-5 (filthy garments exchanged for clean, festal robes) develop the clothing-exchange imagery Paul deploys. Isaiah 42:6 (Servant as covenant and light) and Isaiah 49:16 ("Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands") add identity-bearing imagery. The OT trajectory thus prepares Paul's new-creation anthropology: Adam's image-bearing, distorted by the fall, restored through new-covenant renewal of the inner person, culminating in resurrection glorification.
Connections:
Christological Connection: Colossians 3:9-10 is the practical outworking of Adam-Christology applied to Christian ethics and identity. Three Adamic layers operate in the verse. First, the "old self" and "new self" language operates in Adam-Christ terms. The old self is not an "old me" in a merely autobiographical sense; it is the old-Adamic-self — the solidaric identity as constituted-sinner in the first Adam (Rom 5:19). The new self is the new-Christ-self — the solidaric identity as constituted-righteous in the last Adam. Conversion is therefore not merely moral improvement but transfer between federal heads. Paul's clothing imagery captures the transfer: you strip off Adam's fallen garment and put on Christ's resurrection garment. This transfer is definite and accomplished (aorist participles, "having put off / having put on"), yet its outworking in character is ongoing. Second, the "being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator" clause explicitly echoes Genesis 1:26-27 and identifies the creator whose image is at stake — which, read together with Colossians 1:15 ("He is the image of the invisible God"), specifies that the image being restored is the image of Christ Himself. Believers are being reshaped into the likeness of the last Adam, who is the image of God. Paul's parallel in Ephesians 4:24 adds the moral content: "the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." The image-restoration has righteousness and holiness as its core content — precisely the virtues the first Adam failed to sustain. Third, the present passive participle ἀνακαινούμενον ("being renewed") locates this renewal in the already/not-yet of inaugurated eschatology. Believers have put off the old self (accomplished definitively at union with Christ); they are being renewed in image-bearing (ongoing progressive sanctification); and they will bear the full image of the man of heaven at resurrection (1 Cor 15:49). The trajectory from Adam's created-image → fallen-image → Christ's perfect-image → believers' being-renewed-image → consummated-image runs through this verse. What Adam lost, Christ restores; what Christ has inaugurated in His people, the Spirit is completing; what the Spirit completes, the resurrection will consummate. The ethical imperatives that follow Colossians 3:9-10 (put to death what is earthly, put on compassion, etc.) flow from this indicative: "be who you are in Christ because you are no longer who you were in Adam." Christian ethics is Adam-Christology applied.
Connection Method(s): Typology (Direct, Forward-Looking) — the "old self / new self" typology is Adam-Christology in anthropological application; image-restoration language explicitly echoes Gen 1:26-27. All five typological criteria are met, with NT retrospective identification in Col 3:10, Eph 4:22-24, and Rom 8:29. Contrast — the entire structure is old-Adam vs. new-Christ, with the two selves contrasted as garments. Redemptive-Historical Progression — the believer's ongoing renewal advances the image-restoration trajectory from creation through fall to consummation.
ANTI-DEFAULT CHECK: Typology is warranted (not a default) because Paul explicitly deploys Gen 1:26-27's image-of-God language and because the Adam-Christ federal framework is primary to the NT's old/new man theology. Contrast is equally essential — the "put off / put on" binary requires it. Both methods run together here.
Trajectory Table: 005 - Adam (The First and Last Adam)