Lecture 2 — Putting on the new man

^3:8^ But now put you also all away: anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth. [n. 149]

^3:9^ Lie not one to another: stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds,

^3:10^ And putting on the new, him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of him who created him. [n. 155]

^3:11^ Where there is neither gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, slave nor free. But Christ is all and in all.

149. Above, the Apostle warned the faithful about sins of the flesh; here he warns them about spiritual sins. First, he lays down a general admonition;

and second, he divides it into parts.

150. So he says: at one time you walked in sins, but now put you also all away, not only sins of the flesh, but all sin: so put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander (1 Pet 2:1).

151. He divides the spiritual sins into two groups: first, into sins of the heart, second, into sins of the mouth, spoken sins, at blasphemy.

First of all, he mentions anger: for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God (Jas 1:20); and this must be avoided. Second, he mentions indignation, which springs from anger, and occurs when a person considers someone unworthy of what he has, or in comparison with another: I have no indignation (Isa 27:4). Malice then follows after these two, when a person tries to cause injury to his neighbor: put away all filthiness and rank growth of wickedness (Jas 1:21).

152. Then he mentions those sins committed by word; and there are three kinds.

Such sins indicate a spiritual disorder. First, such a sin in relation to God is blasphemy: bring out of the camp him who blasphemed; and let all who hear him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him (Lev 24:14).

And thus all blasphemy is a grievous sin. But what if it is sudden?

I answer that if it is so sudden that a person does not realize that he is blaspheming, it is not a grievous sin. But I believe that however suddenly, if a person realizes that he is speaking blasphemous words, he sins in a grievous way.

Second, he mentions a disorder concerning concupiscence, when he says, filthy speech out of your mouth: let no evil talk come out of your mouths (Eph 4:29).

Third, he mentions a disorder in relation to our neighbor, and that is the lie: a false witness will not go unpunished (Prov 19:5).

153. Then when he says, stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, he shows why the vices he has just mentioned must be avoided, the reason being that when one puts off what is old, he should put on what is new: no one sews an old patch on a new garment (Matt 9:16).

First, he talks of putting off what is old;

second, of putting on what is new, at and putting on the new.

154. So Paul tells us to put off these things, stripping yourselves of the old man, because it has grown old by sin: what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away (Heb 8:13). This old nature, this old self, is approaching decay, because sin is the road to decay. In addition, sin destroys virtue and spiritual beauty. The oldness of our nature, of course, was brought in by the sin of our first parent: therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned (Rom 5:12). This old nature, therefore, or old man, is the oldness of sin: we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed (Rom 6:6). We are to put off this old self with its practices: put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts (Eph 4:22).

The new nature or self is the mind, renewed from within, because before grace our mind is subject within to sin, and when it is renewed by grace it becomes new: your youth is renewed like the eagle’s (Ps 103:5); for neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation (Gal 6:15).

This new creation is renewing grace. Yet, there is an oldness that still remains in our flesh. Nevertheless, if you follow the judgment of the new nature, the new self, you are putting on the new nature or new self; while if you lust according to the desires of the flesh, you are putting on the old self or nature: put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:24).

155. Then when Paul says, and putting on the new, he describes the new self. First, he shows how this renewal takes place; second, where it takes place.

He shows that the inner self, having become old by its ignorance of God, is made new by faith and the knowledge of God: we are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor 3:18).

And where is this renewal taking place? It is taking place where the image of God is, and this is not in the sense faculties, but in the mind. And so Paul says, according to the image, i.e., the image itself of God, which is renewed in us, and this according to his image, i.e., of God, who created him. It is called a new offspring, because the rational soul is not received from a transference but is rather created by God.

156. Then when he says, where there is neither, he shows that this renewal is for every one, otherwise it would not pertain to human nature as such. And this renewal pertains to all because it was accomplished with respect to what is common to all.

Here then we have five ways in which people are different. The first way is by sex, which Paul excludes when he says, where there is neither male nor female, because men and women do not differ in mind, but in their physical sex.

Second, people are made different by their native lands, and Paul excludes this when he says, gentile nor Jew. For although the Jews were believers and the gentiles unbelievers, yet both have rational minds: or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of gentiles also? (Rom 3:29).

The third distinction is based on rite, for some had the law, while others did not; yet the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him (Rom 10:12).

A fourth difference is in language: barbarian nor Scythian. Scythia is toward the North. What is barbarous is what is foreign or alien. Thus barbarians are foreigners, and one is absolutely a barbarian who is alien to human nature as such, that is, insofar as it is rational. And so barbarians are those people who are not ruled by reason and laws; they are slaves by nature. But there is no difference in Christ, because although they do not have the civil law, they still have the law of Christ.

The final difference is based on state: for some are slave, and others free; but in Christ they are all alike: the small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master (Job 3:19).

Therefore, none of these differences exist in Christ, but Christ is all and in all. For circumcision is obtained through Christ alone, and freedom comes from Christ alone. If you are not free, Christ is your freedom; if you are not circumcised, Christ is your circumcision, and so on. And in all, because he gives his gifts to all.