Danny Hickman Supporter Believer in The Gospel Of Jesus Christ

Colossians 3:9, 10 declares, 'You have put off the old self... and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.' 

So if it's new, why renew it? What does it mean for a person to be renewed IN KNOWLEDGE? (We can't abbreviate the thought that's being expressed). How are the people whom Paul is writing to being renewed? They, as well as we, are to be renewed in what we are learning about our new nature, which has been created in the image of our Creator. He told the Roman Church they were to be transformed by the renewal of their minds (Romans 12:2). In his letter to the church at Corinth, he writes, "though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day" (2 Corinthians 4:16). He wrote the same thing to the church at Ephesus; that they were to, "put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life... and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:23, 24).

David's prayer, after he'd blown it by committing adultery and murder was, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10). Two verses later in the Psalm, he asked God to restore to him the joy of God's salvation (vs 12). (The JOY of God's salvation, not the application of it).

'Do it again for me Lord,' is what he's getting at.. To restore means to give more of what was initially given. To renew means to keep making what gets used, NEW AGAIN! It is to request that the process stays current; that it continues to play out and reoccur. David was asking for a fresh, new batch of God's Joy.

To Titus, Paul expounded that God saved us, "by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:5-7). (We were made new by being made anew! We're kept that way by the Holy Spirit!)

Nothing stays new; everything ages. And that which is used has to be replenished. When something is generated it's 'put into existence; started; activated; it's given a beginning.' Regeneration for a living organism, is when the newness which has been lost, removed or injured is restored. It is a spiritual rebirth. So if we've been regenerated and renewed (born again), why do we need to be renewed again?

We don't need it for our salvation; that's a done deal!

It's a perk! Look at it like this: technology in the secular world is constantly changing and expanding. Anyone working in a certain field has to continue to learn. So it is for them who are commissioned and sent to present the gospel of light in a dark world. We're to devote ourselves to good works; and keep our registration current!

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