Do not lie to one another begins a long sentence which goes on to the end of verse 11. Paul is talking about relations within the Christian community. The prohibition is enforced by two considerations: you have put off the old … and have put on the new. The two verbs (apekduō and enduō) are used of taking off and putting on clothes. The language probably derives from the rite of baptism, in which a person took off his or her clothes before baptism and put on new, clean clothes after. Some take the two participles as imperatival in force and translate: “put off … and put on” (Lohse, Twentieth Century New Testament Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). The verb “put off” occurs in 2.15; and for the cognate noun see 2.11.

The use of the figurative expression of “putting off” and “putting on” for a type of behavior is often quite meaningful, but it may suggest that one’s personality is something as external as clothing and may even be interpreted to mean that one’s personality is a kind of disguise by which the true self is actually hidden. If such is the case, it may be important to shift the metaphor into another area of meaning, for example, “for you have gotten rid of the old self with its habits and you have acquired a new self.”

The old self (Good News Translation) or “the old nature” (Revised Standard Version) represents literally “the old person,” and refers to the reader’s character before accepting the Christian message.

It may be quite difficult in some languages to speak of “the old self” and “the new self.” Accordingly, the only way in which one can really speak of “putting off the old self” is by saying “ceasing to be what you used to be.” Accordingly, “putting on the new self” may be rendered as “becoming a new kind of person.”

Habits are “actions,” or “deeds,” or “practices” (Revised Standard Version); see also Rom 8.13. With its habits may be expressed in some languages as “the way in which you used to behave” or “what you customarily did.”

Reverting now to language derived from the creation account (Gen 1.26-27; see also 1 Cor 15.45-49), Paul says that God is constantly renewing this new being in his own image. It seems quite clear that the implied actor in the passive participle “is being renewed” (Revised Standard Version) is God, and Good News Translation has made this explicit. Some (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy Bible en français courant) take it as middle, “which renews itself,” but this does not seem very likely. For “renew,” “to make new again,” see also 2 Cor 4.16; for the cognate noun, see Rom 12.2, Titus 3.5.

This is the new being may be expressed in some instances as “this is the new you” or more frequently “you are this new person.”

The appositional its Creator must often be expressed as a clause, for example, “God who created it” or “God who created you as a new person.”

There are certain serious problems involved in a literal translation of constantly renewing, since this might imply that God is repeatedly destroying and remaking. Having already identified the believer as “a new person,” it may be better then to render constantly renewing as “causing to be more and more like,” for example, “this is the new kind of person which God who has created it is constantly causing to be more and more like himself.”

In his own image: the renewal process has as its goal the complete restoration in the creature of the likeness of the creator. The creator is, at the same time, the one who renews, and this process restores the divine image which had been effaced by sin. For image see 1.15. A literal translation of in his own image can be seriously misinterpreted as the reference to an idol of God. Therefore, it may be important to translate in his own image as “like him” or “to act as he acts.”

In order to bring you to a full knowledge of himself translates the Greek eis epignōsin. Some, like Revised Standard Version, have simply “(being renewed) in knowledge,” which is not very clear and which seems to miss the force of the preposition eis. Moule suggests that it may mean “that the process described results in knowledge or perception—that response of the whole person to God or Christ which is distinctive of the Christian experience”f 10 fr 3.9-10 ft Moule, op. cit., p. 121. (see also Beare). It seems better to take the preposition to indicate either purpose or result, rather than the element which is being renewed (as Revised Standard Version suggests). Full knowledge: for epignōsis see 1.9, 10. The object is not expressed, but it seems clearly to be God himself (Moule) or God’s will (Lohse).

In order to bring you to a full knowledge of himself may be expressed as “in order to cause you to know him completely.” Though the context may suggest mere “knowledge about God,” it is more likely that the Greek term implies “experience of” or “coming into a relationship with,” as occurs in so many other contexts, especially in Paul’s writings.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .