More literally "and having put on the new" (self is not in the Greek but is added in the NAS).

This verse shifts from the negative (laid aside) to the positive (put on).  With the stripping off of the old nature there has come a new nature, the new man.  We have laid aside the old garment, the "hand me down" rags from Adam and have put on the new garment, the new man in Christ.

Have put on  (1746) (enduo from en = in + dúo = to sink, go in or under, to put on) means literally to clothe or dress someone and to put on as a garment, to cause to get into a garment (eg, Lu 15:22 where the father says "quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him...").

In the middle voice (as here in Col 3:10) it means to clothe oneself with something, in this case the "new man", who is clothed in the robes of Christ's righteousness and now needs to practice what this privileged position entails, i.e., to manifest His righteousness each day toward God and toward men in everyday life.

Aorist tense indicates this putting on is a past completed action and includes the idea that this action was decisive.

When did we put on the new? This "putting on" occurred the moment the old self (old man) died with Christ, at the time of regeneration by grace through faith. In verse 9 above, the "laying aside" is also aorist tense, and one can deduce that the action of both verbs took place at the same time in the past, corresponding to the moment we believed in Christ.

S. Lewis Johnson explains enduo as used in Colossians 3:10 writing that...

The believer, having been severed from his connection with Adam the first, has now been clothed with and joined to Adam the last in all His fragrance and beauty. (Bibliotheca Sacra: volume 121, issue 481, 1964).

And so what is true about every believer is that they have put on the new self, which describes their new position as children of God, His new creations. We now are secure in an inseparable union with Christ and are fully identified with His life. Our old self has been laid aside. Because of our new position, we now are in possession of divine, supernatural power which gives every believer the potential to walk in newness of life (see note Romans 6:4).

The NLT says it this way

"In...place (of the old, evil nature) you have clothed yourselves (this happens at a moment in time) with a brand-new nature that is continually being renewed (this describes the ongoing process known as sanctification) as you learn more and more about Christ, Who created this new nature within you."

THE ARMOR OF LIGHT

Romans 13:12 The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside (cast off, drop, fling away, renounce) the deeds of darkness (all the filthy garments of worldliness—that is, everything associated with unrighteousness and evil -- in the context of Col 3:10 this would include lying) and put on the armor of light. (See notes)

CHRIST HIMSELF AS OUR GARMENT

Galatians 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Comment: This putting on refers to salvation, at which time the Spirit replaced our filthy rags of sin with the righteousness of Christ - this is now and forever our new position before God. He sees us in Christ's righteousness - the theologians refer to this as positional truth = past tense salvation = justification).

Romans 13:14 But put on (our practice = present tense salvation = progressive sanctification - put Him on each morning and every moment of the day - aorist imperative [middle voice = you initiate the action and participate in the result = put Him yourself] ) the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (See notes)

THE NEW SELF

Ephesians 4:24 and put on (not a command - aorist tense) the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. (Comment: As discussed in the notes there is debate between excellent commentators, some favoring this putting on as indicative of positional truth and others favoring it as calling for this to be our practice - progressive sanctification or present tense salvation).

Colossians 3:10 and have put on (past tense salvation = positional sanctification = our position now and forever in Christ - see our practice in Col 3:12) the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One Who created him (See notes)

Colossians 3:12  And so, as those who have been chosen of God (cf notes Eph 1:5), holy and beloved, put on (present tense salvation  = progressive sanctification = our practice - a command be clothed [middle voice = clothe yourself] now = aorist imperative) a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (See notes)

THE BREASTPLATE OF FAITH AND LOVE

1Thessalonians 5:8 (note) But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on (at the time of our new birth = justification = our position = past tense salvation) the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

IMPERISHABLE, IMMORTAL GARMENTS

1 Corinthians 15:53 For this perishable must put on (glorification = future tense salvation) the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory.

What a "wardrobe" God has made available for believers! We're the "best dressed" folks in the world and most of us don't even know it! And the best is yet to come for John writes...

GARMENTS OF FINE LINEN, WHITE AND CLEAN...

Revelation 19:14 (note) And the armies (this is us, those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb) which are in heaven, clothed (enduo) in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him (the Lamb = Faithful and True = the Word of God) on white horses. (Comment: This incredible historical event will occur at the end of the 7 year period, Daniel's Seventieth Week, and marks the defeat of the antichrist and his armies and the inception of Messiah's Millennial Reign)

The garments believers are now wearing (figuratively, spiritually) are a picture of every believer's vital mystical spiritual union with Christ which began at the time of regeneration (the new birth). All believers have been irrevocably, intimately united with Christ at the moment of salvation (past tense salvation = positional sanctification = justification = the new birth). Every believer now stands (our position) before God clothed with Christ's righteousness, complete in Christ.

Thus in Romans 13 Paul writes that

The night (of man's depravity, of this present evil age) is almost gone, and the day (of Christ's return and reign) is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside (cast off, drop, fling away, renounce) the deeds of darkness  and put on (enduo) the armor of light (which equates with the protection that practical righteousness and holy living imparts) (see note on Romans 13:12)

 Paul adds that they are to

Put on (enduo - aorist imperative - do it now) the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision (forethought, thought in advance) for the flesh in regard to its lusts ("don’t think of ways to indulge your evil desires", NLT)." (see note Romans 13 14)

In short, if we are Christians we have already put on the Lord Jesus Christ as stated in (Gal 3:27) Just as a garment which one puts on envelops the person wearing it and defines his appearance, so the person baptized in Christ is entirely taken up in Christ and in the salvation brought by Him. But this passage in Romans has reference to practical day-to-day, repeated putting on of Christ.

Ray Stedman gives the following illustration:

"When I get up in the morning I put on my clothes, intending them to be part of me all day, to go where I go and do what I do. They cover me and make me presentable to others. That is the purpose of clothes. In the same way, the apostle is saying to us (see note Romans 13:12, 13; 14), “Put on Jesus Christ when you get up in the morning. Make Him a part of your life that day. Intend that He go with you everywhere you go, and that He act through you in everything you do. Call upon His resources. Live your life IN CHRIST.” (Stedman, Ray C. From Guilt to Glory. Vol 2. p136. Waco, TX: Word, 1978) (Bolding added)

Kent Hughes interprets the putting on of the new self in Ephesians 4:24 (see note) as follows...

"The fact is, we have this new self if we are Christians. We received the old man at birth, and we were given the new man in our heavenly birth. The new man is not our work — it is God’s creation and gift. Our task is not to weave it, but to wear it. Paul is commanding a daily appropriation of that which we already possess...We have our part to do in dressing ourselves with the divine wardrobe, for here clothes do make the man — and the woman! We must daily set aside the rotting garments of the old man. We must formally reject sensuality and selfish pride and materialism and bitterness. We must read the Word and ask God to to renew our minds through the Spirit. We must work out our salvation by doing those things that will develop a Biblical mind. We must put on our new, shining garments of light. We must put on what we are!" (Hughes, R. K.: Ephesians: The Mystery of the Body of Christ. Crossway Books or Logos)

Because of their privileged position "as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved" Paul calls on the Colossian saints to put this truth into practice and to

put on (enduo - aorist imperative - do it now) a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience... (see note Colossians 3:12)

In Colossians 3:10 (note) Paul explained that believers have put on the new man and here in Col 3:12ff he shows them practically how this new man is to live.

Thayer says that put on here in (Colossians 3:12 [note]) means

to become so possessed of the mind of Christ as in thought, feeling, and action to resemble Him and, as it were, reproduce the life He lived.

And truly, how else is it possible to live out the "put on's" which reflect the lifestyle of the "new self"?

To review this section, the verbs translated put off and put on  both are aorist tense and indicate a completed past event. When any sinner trusts Christ, at that moment they put off the old self and put on the new. At that moment, the old self has been rendered powerless and the new self is now to be in control (read especially Romans 6 - see notes Romans 6). In Christ the believer has been set free from the dominion and power of "sin". Because of our permanent identification and union with Christ, we now have the power of His Spirit and the responsibility to conduct ourselves as a new man in Christ (this is called sanctification and is alluded to in the next part of this verse). We are not told to feel that these things are true or even to fully understand them. But we are told to live them out by grace through faith. That is what Colossians 3 is all about -- walking the talk. Living out the life that is in us - Christ is us the hope of glory. As we walk in a manner worthy we will grow in the knowledge of God (see note on Colossians 1:10) and in so doing we will come to understand more and more the depth of the truth that we are now in Christ. (see also in Christ and in Christ Jesus)

New (3501) (neos) signifies new in respect to time (contrast kainos = new in respect to quality) and describes that which has recently come into existence but for a relatively short time (eg, "new wine" Mt 9:17).

Neos is used 24 times in NT (1x Mt; 1x Mk; 6x Lu; 1x Jn; 1x Acts; 1x 1Cor; 1x Col; 4x 1Ti; 2x Titus; 1x Heb; 1x 1Pe)

Neos can also refer to one who is in the early stages of life (i.e., young) and this use accounts for many of the NT occurrences.

"New [self]" ("self" is added by translators) describes who believers are by virtue of their union with Christ.

The new self continually being renewed describes the process of sanctification. (Click here to compare the "three tenses of salvation")

Vine says that the use of neos

stresses...the fact of the believer’s new experience, recently begun and still proceeding. (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

MacDonald explains that

Just as the old man refers to all that we were as sons of Adam, with an unregenerate nature, so the new man refers to our new position as children of God. There has been a new creation, and we are new creatures. God’s purpose is that this new man should always be growing more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ (Ed note: Practical sanctificaition). We should never be satisfied with our present attainments, but should always press on to the goal of increasing conformity to the Savior. He is our example and the rule of our lives. In a coming day, when we stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, we will be judged not by how much better our lives were than others but rather by how our life measured up to the life of the Lord Jesus Himself. (MacDonald, W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

MacDonald goes on to quote the "Daily Notes of the Scripture Union" which records that

The image of God is not seen in the shape of our bodies, but in the beauty of the renewed mind and heart. Holiness, love, humility, meekness, kindness, and forgiveness—these make up the divine character.

WHO IS BEING RENEWED: ton anakainoumenon: [PPP]: (Ps 51:10; Ro 12:2; Ep 4:23; Heb 6:6)

Now in each believer the new self is a progressively developing entity

who is constantly being renewed, with a resulting advanced and perfect experiential knowledge which is according to the image of the One who created him (Wuest Translation)

Renewed (341) (anakainoo from aná = back or again + kainóō = to make new > from kainós = not recent but qualitatively new and different) is used only here and in (2 Co 4:16) and means literally to make new (in quality) again. It is to cause something to become new and better or superior. To be changed into a new kind of life as opposed to the former corrupt state.

The present tense indicates that we are "constantly being renewed” to a new quality of life. Unlike the ever decaying depraved nature, the new self is continually being renewed by God.

Vine adds that

this is in the continuous present tense, in contrast to the act done once for all in putting on the new man, which is now maintained continually in vigor and growth. The contrast to the worn out garment, the old man, is vividly set forth. (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

The passive voice indicates we are being acted upon by an outside power, the context indicating that it is the supernatural power of God, the Holy Spirit Who sanctifies us.

The new self has a new nature analogous to a growing plant. This growth is the result of being constantly renewed by the Holy Spirit, the result being that the "plant" increases in vigor with a definite goal in mind. The new man is not the end but in a sense the beginning of a life long process. In other words salvation is a process that calls for progress. Beloved, the question for each of us to ask is "Are we growing in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?"

Matthew Henry writes that...

The new man is said to be renewed in knowledge, because an ignorant soul cannot be a good soul. Without knowledge the heart cannot be good, Prov 19:2 (Also it is not good for a person to be without knowledge, And he who makes haste with his feet errs.). The grace of God works upon the will and affections by renewing the understanding. Light is the first thing in the new creation, as it was in the first: after the image of Him who created him. It was the honour of man in innocence that he was made after the image of God; but that image was defaced and lost by sin, and is renewed by sanctifying grace: so that a renewed soul is something like what Adam was in the day he was created.

This section clearly describes the process known as sanctification (or present tense salvation > Click here for discussion of the three Tenses of Salvation) Sanctification is a process that results in increasing likeness to Christ. Possession of the new self brings the believer new life, but not instant spiritual maturity.

Just like a baby is born complete but immature, the new man is complete, but has the capacity to grow. Sanctification is a continual growth in Christ-likeness which is not accidental but associated intimately with our intake of and obedience to the Word. God's way to sanctify His saints is not to take us out of the world, but to progressively take the world out of us. This is a continuous process; the new man has not yet matured and is ever in the state of development. Christians are not sinless, although they should sin less and less!

Paul used anakainóō one other time writing that

we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is (progressively) decaying (diaphtheirō - wasting away like moths destroying clothing Lu 12:33), yet our inner man (the new creation—the eternal part of the believer) is being (continually) renewed (anakainizô - into a new kind of life fit for the new spiritual existence into which we have been ushered in salvation, and constantly being conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus) day by day. (2 Co 4:16)

Paul was not discouraged for even though physically he was decaying, he knew that the inner self of the believer continues to grow and mature in Christ-likeness. Michelangelo put it this way:

The more the marble wastes, the more the statue grows.” Wiersbe cautions that "We must not misunderstand this principle and think that a Christian can live any way he pleases and expect everything to turn into glory in the end. Paul was writing about trials experienced in the will of God as he was doing the work of God. God can and does turn suffering into glory, but He cannot turn sin into glory. Sin must be judged, because there is no glory in sin. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor or Logos)

The noun form of (anakainóō) is used by Paul in Romans to exhort the believers not to be continually

conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing (anakaínōsis - qualitatively and so a renewal which makes one's mind different than it was in the past) of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."  (see note Romans 12:2)

The flesh will continually dangle the garments of the old self in front of the new self and tempting him to put them on. The battle against the flesh will go on throughout this life. The new self is complete, yet has the capacity for growth, just as a baby is born complete and has the ability to grow.

Harry Ironside comments on the new man as

"the man in Christ, just as the old man was the man in Adam. The new man has a new, divinely-imparted nature, and it is to this new nature that God, by the Spirit, appeals; only the new nature is capable of receiving divine instruction. As such instruction is imparted and the truths thus received control the life, the believer increasingly displays the image of Him who is the Head of the new creation, who Himself is “the image of the invisible God” (Col1:15). Man was created in the image and likeness of God in the beginning, but that image became terribly marred through sin. In the new man this image again becomes visible and the characteristics of Christ are seen in His people. This is true regardless of who or what they were before they received the new life—whether they were cultured Greeks or religious Jews; whether they were within the circle of the Abrahamic covenant, marked off from the rest of humanity by the ordinance of circumcision, or outside the circle and strangers to the covenants of promise; whether they were barbarian or Scythian (that is, of the wild tribes outside the boundaries of civilization); whether they were slaves or free citizens. All alike were sinners; all alike were included in the old man."

In an OT passage David asks God to

Create (Hebrew verb bara' used of creation in Genesis) in me a clean (pure, "unalloyed") heart (seat of intellect, motives, moral character - trouble begins in our thought life - evil thoughts precede evil deeds), O God, and renew (restore - place in a state or condition identical or nearly the same as a prior state) a steadfast (idea of inwardly determined, persevering in guarding against future outbreaks of sin and unyielding to temptation) spirit within (Hebrew denotes internal, in the midst, the center - David desires not just external but internal renewal) me." (Ps 51:10 - Spurgeon's note)

Scripture refers to this process as sanctification (present tense salvation) (Click "three tenses of salvation")

TO A TRUE KNOWLEDGE: eis epignôsin: (Jn 17:3; 2 Cor3:18; 4:6; 1 Jn 2:3,5)

in order to cause you to know him completely

Spurgeon rightly says that...

True knowledge (epignosis) (Click study on epignosis) one of the keywords in Colossians.  The true knowledge in Christ is in contrast to the false knowledge of the heretical teachers.

The preposition (epi in epignosis) indicates a knowledge directed toward a particular object which can imply a more detailed or fuller knowledge (thorough knowledge). Though epignosis could refer merely to “knowledge about God,” it can also imply “experiencing of” or “coming into a relationship with” Him. 

Hendricksen addresses both aspects of the two possible meanings of epignosis commenting that

"The new man is being renewed “for full knowledge”... This knowledge excels by far any so-called knowledge in which the false teachers who disturbed the churches of the Lycus Valley were glorying... It pertains to both heart and mind, is experiential, and has God’s holy will as its object (see note on Romans 12:2). A true discernment of that will, particularly with reference to its “good pleasure” (see note on Ephesians 1:5), is very rewarding. It is a means toward a fuller, richer measure of salvation’s joy and peace. A contrast will make this clear. While it is true that here on earth a person’s experience with his neighbor will at times cause him to say, “The better I know him and understand his intentions, the less I trust him,” in the kingdom of heaven the very opposite truth prevails, namely, “The more we know him — that is, the triune God or our Savior Jesus Christ —, and his purposes of grace, the more we trust and love him." (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. NT Commentary Set. Baker Book or Logos)

Wuest writes that Paul is describing the new man, the

"person they were now in Christ Jesus, this new person being constantly renewed with respect to a complete and perfect knowledge which is according to the image of the One who created him." He quotes Lightfoot as saying "Which is ever being renewed unto perfect knowledge, the true knowledge in Christ, as opposed to the false knowledge of the heretical teachers. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos)

Vincent says this section is correctly translated

"unto knowledge, the end to which the renewal tended." (Vincent, M. R.  Word studies in the New Testament. Vol. 3, Page 1-503) Robertson says they are being renewed "Unto full (additional) knowledge." (Word Pictures) Eadie agrees, writing that "In the phrase eis epignosin, the preposition cannot signify the instrumental cause of the renewal, but it denotes the final purpose. The new man is renewed unto knowledge." Pulpit Commentary says that "Full knowledge” was one purpose of this renewal, the purpose most necessary to be set before the Colossians."

ACCORDING TO THE IMAGE OF THE ONE WHO CREATED HIM: kat' eikona tou ktisantos (AAPMADG) auton: (Ge 1:26,27; Ep 2:10; 4:23,24; 1Pe 1:14,15)

According to is a prepositional phrase meaning according to the standard. God's standard is Jesus Christ. God's purpose is to make us like His Son. The new man was created to be like God. God holds up Jesus Christ as the standard to which he wants us to conform. The practical question for each of us to ask ourselves "Is my life day by day becoming more like the Lord Jesus Christ?"

Image involves the two ideas of representation and manifestation. An image is the resemblance of something to a prototype from which it is derived and in whose essence it shares. In Greek thought an image shares in reality what it represents. God made man originally in his own image before Adam sinned (Ge 1:27). Man defaced that image by sin (Ge 9:6). However, God renews that image by Christ's work on the cross. The descendants of Adam bear his image, Paul explaining that

just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." (1Co 15:49)

God's desire for believers now is that they

become conformed to the image of His Son (the One Who created us) (see note Romans 8:29)

MacArthur comments that

It is God’s plan that believers become progressively more like Jesus Christ, the One Who made them (MacArthur, J.: The MacArthur Study Bible Nashville: Word or Logos)

Thomas Constable writes that it is

Only by sanctification can people attain to the full image of God and Christ that God created them to bear (Ge 1:26,27). (Tom Constable's Expository Notes on the Bible)

S. Lewis Johnson adds that

The constant renewal of the new man (the participle is present) is according to the image of Christ, and wrought by the God Who created the new man. Christ is the image of God (cf. Col 1:15), and the new man is undergoing a constant renewal in the likeness of Christ. He is the great pattern for all spiritual life, and God engages Himself to recreate us in His likeness. (Bibliotheca Sacra: volume 121, issue 481, 1964)

The renovation or restoration of the image of God in us is gradual and progressive, Paul explaining that

we all (believers), with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. (2Cor 3:18).

This restoration will be fully completed when we see Christ face to face. John writes

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1Jn 3:2-3)

William Hendriksen writes that

"The standard or yardstick and the aim of the renewal is God’s image, the likeness of the very One who created this new man in the hearts and lives of believers, just as He once created the first Adam as His own image (Ge 1:26-27). Nevertheless, the new man is not simply the restoration of whatever pertained to the first Adam before the fall. (To mention only one point of difference between the original creation and the new creation: in the state of rectitude Adam had no inkling of knowledge concerning God’s redemptive love.) Rather, “Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, so we shall also bear the image of the heavenly One” (1Cor 15:49), in Whom redemptive love is wholly centralized."  (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. NT Commentary Set. Baker Book or Logos)

We were formed in God’s image, and deformed from God’s image by sin. But through Jesus Christ, we are being transformed into His image! We are not being made into "little gods" as some teach but are being made like Him, to act as He acts.

Bratcher and Nida write that

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. (The United Bible Societies' New Testament Handbook Series or Logos)

Christ "is the image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15), and the new man is undergoing a constant renewal in the likeness of Christ. He is the great pattern for all spiritual life, and God engages Himself to recreate us in His likeness

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren. (Ro 8:29)

Vine, commenting on this verse, explains that Paul is not referring