Ephesians 4.23-Replenishing the Believer's Human Spirit is Echoed in Colossians 3.10 and Romans 12.1-2
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday September 11, 2025
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:23-Replenishing the Believer’s Human Spirit is Echoed in Colossians 3:10 and Romans 12:1-2
Lesson # 276
Ephesians 4:23 Each and every one of you as a corporate unit were taught to make it your habit of replenishing your human spirit, that is, your regenerate mind. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 4:23 echoes Colossians 3:10.
Colossians 3:10 Likewise, each and every one of you have clothed yourselves with the new man which is desires to be replenished for the purpose of an experiential knowledge in conformity with the image produced by the One who created him. (Lecturer’s translation)
The verb anakainoō (ἀνακαινόω) means “to replenish, renew, to refresh, to change into something new and different implying superiority.”
Here the word is used in relation to the new man which is the nature of Christ which the church age believer received at justification through the regeneration and the baptism of the Spirit.
This word appears also in the same sense in 2 Corinthians 4:16.
Its cognate is the noun anakainosis (ἀνακαινόω), which appears in Romans 12:2 and Titus 3:5.
Both the noun and the verb are derived from kainos, “new in nature, essence and character.”
Here in Colossians 3:10, the meaning of this verb anakainoō (ἀνακαινόω) is “to replenish” rather than “to renew” which implies restoring from a former state and to change into something new.
To renew implies a restoration of what had become faded or disintegrated so that it seems like new.
The Christian has already been changed into something new at the moment of their justification when they were regenerated and identified with Christ.
Also, the action of this verb is taking place in the context of the Colossians’ experiencing their sanctification and salvation since it is used with noun epignōsis (ἐπίγνωσις). which speaks of an experiential knowledge that is the direct result of experiencing sanctification or fellowship with God.
By exercising faith in God’s Word which results in obeying God’s Word, the Colossians would experience their sanctification and salvation or deliverance from sin and Satan.
Therefore, this verb anakainoō (ἀνακαινόω) means “to replenish” in the sense of filling the new man with power so as to gain greater dominance over the believer.
This empowerment of the new man involves the intake of God’s Word.
Specifically, it involves the Colossians learning God’s Word, then exercising faith in God’s Word and which faith results in obedience to God’s Word.
This replenishing of the new man by the Word of God is related to the command in Ephesians 5:18 to be filled with the Spirit and the command in Colossians 3:16 to let the Word of Christ richly dwell in you.
When the Christian exercises faith resulting in obedience to the Holy Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God, the new man is replenished in the sense that it is filled with power for the purpose of enabling the Colossians to have an experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ.
In Colossians 3:9, the apostle Paul commanded the faithful believers in Colossae to continue making it their habit of not lying to one another.
Then, he gives the first of two reasons why they should do this.
The first reason is found attached to this command in Colossians 3:9 and asserts that the Colossians have stripped off the old man with its practices.
This causal clause is figurative language for the Colossian believers taking off or stripping their old Adamic indwelling sin nature at the moment of justification.
It speaks of the Colossians leaving the state or condition of being enslaved to the old indwelling Adamic sin nature at the moment they were declared justified by the Father through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
Simultaneously, they were identified with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, and burial through the baptism of the Spirit and consequently, this identification freed them from the power of the sin nature.
So this removal of the sin nature took place at their conversion experience.
Therefore, Paul is telling the Colossians with this causal clause that they must not lie to one another because to do so would be inconsistent with the fact that they have been freed from the sin nature since lying is one of the manifestations of the sin nature.
Now, here in Colossians 3:10, Paul presents the second reason why the Colossians must obey the command in verse 9 by asserting that each and every one of them have clothed themselves with the new man.
This new man belongs to the new creation and is the nature of Jesus Christ who reflects the Father’s nature.
The new man speaks of the sinner who has been declared justified by the Father through faith in His Son and has consequently been regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
This justified sinner was not only regenerated at the moment of their justification but they were also identified with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
They were also simultaneously indwelt permanently by all three members of the Trinity and so therefore, the new man belongs to the new creation under the headship of Jesus Christ.
This clothing of themselves with the new man also took place at the moment of the Colossians were declared justified by the Father through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
So like the stripping off of the old man, it took place at justification through the baptism of the Spirit.
However, stripping off of the old man took place when the Spirit identified the Colossians with Christ in His crucifixion, death and burial whereas the clothing of themselves with the new man took place when the Spirit identified them with Christ in His resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
Then, Paul asserts that this new man, as an eternal spiritual truth exists in the state of desiring to be replenished for the purpose of an experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ.
This experiential knowledge involves personally encountering Jesus Christ through the process of experiential sanctification or fellowship as He is revealed by the Holy Spirit in a prayerful study of the gospel.
It also refers to being affected by this encounter with Jesus Christ which in turn will result in the gaining of practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Christ.
This replenishing of the new man speaks of filling the new man with power so that the new man gains greater dominance over the believer.
This empowerment of the new man involves the intake of God’s Word.
Specifically, it involves the Colossians learning God’s Word, then exercising faith in God’s Word and which faith results in obedience to God’s Word.
Ephesians 4:23 also echoes Romans 12:1-2.
In the latter, the apostle Paul spells out for the Roman Christians how they are to please the Lord and emphasizes the importance of a sound mind and the renovation of the Christian’s thinking.
In Romans 12:1, the apostle Paul appealed to his Christian readers in Rome on the basis of the merciful acts of the Father on their behalf to offer their bodies as a sacrifice-alive, holy, extremely pleasing to the Father, which their reasonable service to the Father.
Then, in Romans 12:2, Paul prohibited his Christian readers in Rome from being conformed to the standards of the cosmic system of Satan.
He then issued a command on the heels of this prohibition to be transformed in their character into the image of Christ by the renewing of their minds.
He teaches that this transformation of the believer’s character into the image of Christ by renovating their mind accomplishes what the Father intended in that it provides the believer the capacity to discern what the will of God is with regards to any situation.
In Romans 12:2, Paul is prohibiting his readers from conforming their behavior in accordance with the standards of this present age in which Satan is the ruler of the earth and his world system dominates and controls all of humanity.
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I appeal to each and every one of you spiritual brothers and sisters on the basis of the merciful acts produced by God the Father to offer your bodies as a sacrifice-alive, holy, extremely pleasing and beneficial to God the Father, which is your reasonable service. 2 Consequently, do not conform your behavior in accordance with the standards of this age. On the contrary, permit yourselves to be transformed by renovating your mind in order that each and every one of you may discern what is, as an eternal spiritual truth, God the Father’s will, that which is good as well as extremely pleasing and in addition perfect. (Lecturer’s translation)
“By renovating your mind” is accomplished by the Holy Spirit when the believer prayerfully obeys His voice, which is heard through the Word of God and also involves not only learning and obeying the Word of God but also prayer since prayer must accompany learning the Word and applying it.
Specifically, it involves not only prayer but appropriating by faith one’s new position in Christ and considering oneself crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ.
The apostle Paul teaches in Romans 12:2 that this transformation of the believer’s character, or in other words the reproduction of Christ-like character in the believer begins with his or her thinking or thought process, their manner or way of thinking.
