---
title: Ephesians 4:24
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/ephesians-4-24/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/ephesians-4-24.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Ephesians 4:24
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Ephesians 4:24

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (1984 edition): "and that YOU should be clothed with the new personality which was created according to God's will in true righteousness and loyalty."
- NWT (2013 revision): "and should put on the new personality that was created according to God's will in true righteousness and loyalty."

## JW Usage

"Put on the new personality that was created according to God's will in true righteousness and loyalty" is treated by the Watchtower as the gradual donning of Watchtower-shaped character through ongoing study, meeting attendance, and obedient participation. The "new personality" is aspirational; it is what the JW is working *toward* through compliance.

## Protestant Usage

The verb Paul uses for "was created" is aorist passive — completed action performed on the believer. God *created* the new self; the believer *puts it on* like a garment already sewn and handed over. The transformation is not self-generated compliance; it is the activation of a new creation identity God has already given. "In true righteousness and loyalty" (or "holiness" in most translations) describes the shape of the new self — it is truly righteous because it is Christ-patterned (Colossians 3:10; Romans 8:29). 2 Corinthians 5:17 — "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away, new things have come into existence." The new self of Ephesians 4:24 is a present reality for every believer in Christ, not a future reward for those who meet organisational expectations. You *put on* what you already are.

## NWT Issue

Where the Greek reads τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον ("the new man / new self"), the NWT renders "the new personality." The same rendering appears at Colossians 3:10. "Personality" in modern English carries connotations of outward demeanour and temperament — the social style a person projects — which shifts the emphasis from ontological renewal (a *new self*, a new identity in Christ) to behavioural conformity (a reformed way of acting). No major English translation uses "personality" here; the standard renderings are "new self" (ESV, NIV, NASB, CSB) or "new man" (KJV). The NWT choice matches the wider Watchtower framework, in which transformation is primarily the accumulation of Watchtower-shaped behaviour rather than Spirit-wrought identity change.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The New Creation — Past Tense, Present Reality](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/ephesians2-new-creation.md) — Ephesians 2:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:17 — transformation as completed fact [Sanctification]