+III. Involves the renunciation of the corrupting elements of the former life.+--"That ye put off . . . the old man, which is corrupt" (ver. 22). The inward change is evidenced by the outward life. The old man dies, being conquered by the new. Corruption and decay marked every feature of the old Gentile life. It was gangrened with vice. It was a life of fleshly pleasure, and could end in only one way--in disappointment and misery. The new moral order inaugurated by the Gospel of Christ effected a revolution in human affairs, and the corrupting elements of the old order must be weeded out and put away. An excellent man in London kept an institution near the Seven Dials at his own expense. He spent his nights in bringing the homeless boys from the streets into it. When they came in he photographed them, and then they were washed, clothed, and educated. When he sent one out, having taught him a trade, he photographed him again. The change was marvellous, and was a constant reminder of what had been done for him. The change effected in us by the grace of God not only contrasts with our former life, but should teach us to hate and put away its corrupting sins. +IV. Evidenced in investing the soul with the new life Divinely created and constantly receiving progressive renewal by the Spirit+ (vers. 23, 24).--It is a continual rejuvenation the apostle describes; the verb is present in tense, and the newness implied is that of recency and youth, newness in point of age. But the new man to be put on is of a new kind and order. It is put on when the Christian way of life is adopted, when we enter personally into the new humanity founded in Christ. Thus two distinct conceptions of the life of faith are placed before our minds. It consists, on the one hand, of a quickening constantly renewed in the springs of our individual thought and will; and it is at the same time the assumption of another nature, the investiture of the soul with the Divine character and form of its being. The inward reception of Christ's Spirit is attended by the outward assumption of His character as our calling amongst men. The man of the coming times will not be atheistic or agnostic; he will be devout; not practising the world's ethics with the Christian's creed; he will be upright and generous, manly and God-like (_Findlay_). +Lessons.+--1. _Religion is a complete renewal of the soul._ 2. _The soul is renewed by the instrumentality of the truth._ 3. _The renewal of the soul is the renewal of the outward life._ _GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._ Vers. 17-19. _The Gentile Life--a Warning._