New Clothes

“Those who come to Christ receive a complete set of clothes— the full righteousness of Christ. But it takes a while to grow into them. ”

When I was a child, my mother took me to the local Sears store at the beginning of each school year to buy clothes. I liked getting new clothes but often felt they belonged to someone else. One reason was that my mother picked sizes that left room for growth. Perhaps it is a stretch (pun intended), but I think something similar often happens when those who are in Christ “put on the new self” (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10).

The metaphor Paul employs to describe the change that comes to us in Christ involves clothing: We “put on the new self.” Paul further describes this as a reflection of God’s “righteousness and holiness.” In Ephesians and Colossians, the apostle describes putting on Christ’s righteousness and uses language that sounds like a single action. There is a sense in which it is a “once for all” experience. But when we compare the related commands associated with “putting off” of the “old self” and “putting on” of the “new self” in Ephesians 4:17–32 and Col. 3:8–17, it is clear there is also a progressive dimension to this change.

This is not a contradiction. The ongoing practice of renewal is based on an event that has already been completed. Those who believe in Christ receive all of His righteousness as a gift. They are given a new nature, which Paul describes as the “new self.” This is the basis for all the subsequent changes that occur in the Christian life. Our present and ongoing obedience in “putting off” the old and “putting on” the new is based on the past fact of Christ’s completed work. As John Stott explains, “It is because we have already put off our old nature, in that decisive act of repentance called conversion, that we can logically be commanded to put away all the practices which belong to that old and rejected life.”

This helps us to understand why Paul also speaks of an ongoing need for believers to “grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (Eph. 4:15). First Peter 2:2 urges believers to “grow up in your salvation.” Those in Christ receive a complete set of clothes—the full righteousness of Christ. But it takes a while to grow into them.

For Further Study

To learn more, read God’s New Society: The Message of Ephesians by John R. W. Stott (InterVarsity).