John Calvin Commentary Colossians 3:9

"lie not one to another; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings," — Colossians 3:9 (ASV)

Lie not. When he forbids lying, he condemns every sort of cunning and all base artifices of deception. For I do not understand the term as referring merely to slander, but I view it as contrasted in a general way with sincerity. Therefore, it might be allowable to express it more briefly, and I am inclined to think it might also be a better rendering, thus: Lie not one to another. He develops, however, his argument regarding the fellowship that believers have in the death and resurrection of Christ, but employs other forms of expression.

The old man denotes — whatever we bring from our mother’s womb, and whatever we are by nature. It is put off by all who are renewed by Christ. The new man, on the other hand, is what is renewed by the Spirit of Christ to the obedience of righteousness, or it is nature restored to its true integrity by the same Spirit.

The old man, however, comes first in order, because we are first born from Adam, and afterwards are born again through Christ. And as what we have from Adam becomes old and tends towards ruin, so what we obtain through Christ remains forever and is not frail; but, on the contrary, tends towards immortality.

This passage is worthy of notice, since a definition of regeneration can be gathered from it. For it contains two parts — the putting off of the old man, and the putting on of the new, and Paul mentions these here.

It should also be noted that the old man is distinguished by his works, as a tree is by its fruits. Therefore, it follows that the depravity that is innate in us is denoted by the term old man.