What does putting on the new self actually look like? Paul puts flesh to this lofty spiritual concept with seven specific applications to human relationships. So-called spiritual truth without changed behavior is nothing more than mystical meditation. The gospel that Paul taught was life changing. True, this message is epic in scope, eternal in duration and profound in spiritual insight. But without practical outcomes in day-to-day living, putting on of the “new self” looks more like donning a monk robe. Hardly what God had in mind! The author James would add his Amen! (see James 1:27, 1:14-17).

So in the putting on of the new self, we are to first of all put on a “heart of compassion.” Is not this the heart of Christ when the multitudes came to Him for healing: “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt 9:36)? In New Testament times, the word translated here in the English as compassion, referred to the center or seat of human emotions. According to one lexicographer, compassion “concerns and expresses the total personality at the deepest level.” In Philippians 2:1, Paul treats compassion as fundamental to the foundation of Christian humility. So at the heart of our new life in Christ the new self ought to express itself first and foremost in compassionate actions toward others.

Kindness comes next, and this moves compassion from an inward feeling into action (see Romans 2:4 where “the kindness of God leads you to repentance”). Kindness is how we treat people. Humility is how we present ourselves in social contexts, not as those who crave attention, but who treat others better than ourselves (Phil 2:3). Again, do we not see this in our Lord? (see Phil 2:5-11). Next comes gentleness, which was also characteristic of our Lord: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart …” (Matt 11:29). Patience is one of the seven virtues of the new self. This, too, is modeled in our God Himself: “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The new self, sixthly, is characterized by forbearance (which trait the Lord showed toward us, Romans 3:25). This is the gracious, loving act of putting up with others’ faults and sins. Finally, we are to forgive one another, just as the Lord forgave us.