“ Which is corrupt,” φθειρόμενον ; “ which tends to destruction.” This latter rendering is to be preferred, because the epithet o/d includes the idea of corruption. It would be, therefore, tautological to say, ‘ the corrupt man which is corrupt.’ It is the old man or corrupt
nature which tends to perdition (qui tendit ad exitium. —Gnrotius), which is to be laid aside, or continually
mortified.
It tends to destruction, κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας THs ἀπάτης, according to the deceitful lusts, or as ἀπάτης has the article and therefore is not so properly a mere qualify- ing genitive—the lusts which deceit has. The apostle says, Rom. 7, 11, sin decewed him, and Heb. 3, 11, speaks of “the deceitfulness of sin.” It is indwelling sin itself which deceives by means of those desires which tend to destruction.
Y. 23. In this and the following verse we have the positive part of sanctification which is expressed by “renewing” and. ‘putting on the new man.” The verb ἀνανεοῦσθαι, to be made new, is passive. This re- newal is always represented as the work of God. “We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works,” ch. 2,10. It is therefore called “a renewing of the Holy Ghost.” Titus 3,5. Both these phrases “to be renewed” and “to put on the new man” may express either the instantaneous act of regeneration, or the gradual work of sanctification. Thus in Rom. 12, 2, we are exhorted “not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” So in this place, and in the parallel passage in Col. 3,