Old Man/New Man
The strange thing about the new life claimed by Christians is that they have it and have it not; they have yet to become what, as they claim, they already are. Not surprisingly, this causes tension within and criticism without.... The Christian claim, if taken seriously, means perplexity for the historian, disturbance for the ethicist, and pain for the believer. He has been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of God's beloved Son (Col. 1:13); and yet, he remains vulnerable to what in Galatians, is called the "present evil age" (Gal. 1:4).
So he is torn in two directions.
The preacher tells him what he could not do for himself has already been done for him by God; and that he has only to accept with gratitude the finished work of Christ. And yet, the same preacher is always exhorting him to do better, and telling him that his performance and present state does not match up to his calling. In a nutshell, the Christian command is a perplexing one: "Become what you are." ...It is paradoxical. It is tension-causing..... If the growth-pains are never felt, it is doubtful whether the new life has begun.
This is not only a quite accurate theological synopsis of the exegetical tension, for example, between Col. 3:9b in its own context of 3:1-4:6 but also between the positional reality of Col. 3:9b (cf. The indicative affirmations of Rom. 6:3ff.) and the ethical demands of Eph. 4:22-24. We are to strip off the remnant dirty rags of the "old man" (e.g. Col. 3:8-9a; Eph. 4:22, 25, etc.) and get dressed up in the ethical clothes of the "new man" (e.g. Col. 3:12ff. Eph. 4:23-24; etc.).
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