Character

Scripture treats character as the settled disposition of the inner person — what one fears, what one loves, what one will not turn aside from — and reads it off in two long parallel columns. The righteous and the wicked are described not by isolated acts but by the whole grain of a life: the words their mouths speak, the company their feet keep, the ground their heart will or will not stand on. The portrait runs from Genesis through the apostolic letters and is sharpened by the wisdom tradition (Proverbs, Sirach), the Hasmonean witness, and the apologist's address in Diognetus. What follows traces the umbrella through its main movements — the bipolar portrait, firmness and instability, humility against pride, obedience against rebellion, truth against falsehood, holiness as the demand, and the regenerated "new man" who carries that holiness through daily life.

The Two Portraits

The contrast of the righteous and the wicked organizes whole stretches of Hebrew poetry. "Yahweh tries the righteous; But the wicked and him who loves violence his soul hates. On the wicked he will rain snares; Fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup" (Ps 11:5-6). "The righteous will flourish like the palm-tree: He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon" (Ps 92:12), while "the wicked is no more" once the whirlwind passes (Pr 10:25). "But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light, That shines more and more to the perfect day" (Pr 4:18); "When the wicked spring as the grass, And when all the workers of iniquity flourish; It is that they will be destroyed forever" (Ps 92:7). Job stakes the same claim against his accusers: "He doesn't withdraw his eyes from the righteous: But with kings on the throne He sets them forever, and they are exalted" (Job 36:7). And the seed-portion is part of the picture: "I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his seed begging bread" (Ps 37:25); "But the wicked will be cut off from the land, And betrayers will be rooted out of it" (Pr 2:22).

Proverbs presses the same opposition into one-line snapshots. "In the house of the righteous is much treasure; But in the revenues of the wicked is trouble" (Pr 15:6). "The wicked flee when no man pursues; But the righteous are bold as a lion" (Pr 28:1). "The thoughts of the righteous are just; [But] the counsels of the wicked are deceit" (Pr 12:5). "It is joy to the righteous to do justice; But it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity" (Pr 21:15). "The wicked are overthrown, and are not; But the house of the righteous will stand" (Pr 12:7). "Blessings are on the head of the righteous; But violence covers the mouth of the wicked" (Pr 10:6). "The righteousness of the perfect will direct his way; But the wicked will fall by his own wickedness" (Pr 11:5). And the inheritance is laid out in one line of psalmody: "Yahweh loves justice, And does not forsake his saints; They are preserved forever: But the seed of the wicked will be cut off" (Ps 37:28).

The Sirach material absorbs the same antithesis without softening it. "Opposite evil [is] good, and opposite death [is] life; Likewise opposite the godly [is] the sinner" (Sir 33:14). "Good things for the good he has allotted from the beginning; [Even] so to the evil; good and evil" (Sir 39:25). "All these are good to the good, [Even] as for the evil they are turned to evil" (Sir 39:27). "Why will a wolf be joined to a lamb? So it is with the wicked to the righteous" (Sir 13:17). "Praise is not seemly in the mouth of the wicked; For it was not distributed to him from God" (Sir 15:9). "Yahweh hates disgusting behavior and evil; And he will not let it happen to those who fear him" (Sir 15:13). "The unrighteous will not escape in robbery: And he will not cause the desire of the righteous to cease" (Sir 16:13). "A branch of violence has no shoot in it, And the root of the godless is upon a rocky crag" (Sir 40:15).

The Maccabean record carries the same vocabulary in narrative form. Alcimus comes up at the head of "the wicked and ungodly men of Israel" (1 Mac 7:5); after Judas' death, "the wicked began to put forth their heads in all the confines of Israel" (1 Mac 9:23); Bacchides "chose the wicked men, and made them lords of the country" (1 Mac 9:25); and Jonathan, when he comes to power, "destroyed the ungodly men out of Israel" (1 Mac 9:73), with the result that "the sword ceased from Israel."

The apostolic writings carry the same two-column reading into Christ's presence. The wrath of God is revealed "against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness" (Rom 1:18). The believer is told, "neither present your⁺ members to sin [as] instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your⁺ members [as] instruments of righteousness to God" (Rom 6:13). Paul takes the long Roman list of vices — "backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents" (Rom 1:30) — as the standing description of the alienated mind, and stands the believer's life over against it: "filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God" (Phil 1:11). "If you⁺ know that he is righteous, you⁺ know that everyone also who does righteousness is begotten of him" (1 Jn 2:29); "All unrighteousness is sin" (1 Jn 5:17). The Diognetus letter compresses the whole atonement frame into a single antithesis of character: "O sweet exchange! O unsearchable workmanship! O unexpected benefits! That the iniquity of many should be hidden in one righteous; that the righteousness of one should justify many lawless!" (Gr 9:5).

The Reward of Uprightness

The wisdom tradition gives the upright his own running portrait. "He lays up sound wisdom for the upright; [He is] a shield to those who walk in integrity" (Pr 2:7). "He who walks uprightly walks surely; But he who perverts his ways will be known" (Pr 10:9). "The house of the wicked will be overthrown; But the tent of the upright will flourish" (Pr 14:11). "Better is the poor who walks in his integrity, Than he who is perverse in [his] ways, though he is rich" (Pr 28:6). "A righteous man who walks in his integrity, Blessed are his sons after him" (Pr 20:7).

The Psalter blesses the same figure. "My shield is with God, Who saves the upright in heart" (Ps 7:10). "Mark the perfect man, and look at the upright; For there is a [happy] end to the man of peace" (Ps 37:37). "To the upright there rises light in the darkness: [He is] gracious, and merciful, and righteous" (Ps 112:4). "Light is sown for the righteous, And gladness for the upright in heart" (Ps 97:11). "The righteous will be glad in Yahweh, and will take refuge in [his Speech]; And all the upright in heart will glory" (Ps 64:10). Sirach extends the line into the long view: "The gift of the righteous will stand forever; And his favor will prosper forever" (Sir 11:17). And Samuel, on his deathbed, is remembered in the same key: "to the time of his end he was found upright In the eyes of Yahweh, and in the eyes of all living" (Sir 46:19).

Holiness as the Demand

The character of the people of God is fixed by the character of the God who calls them. "For I am Yahweh who brought you⁺ up out of the land of Egypt, to be your⁺ God: you⁺ will therefore be holy, for I am holy" (Lev 11:45); "Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and say to them, You⁺ will be holy; for I, Yahweh your⁺ God, am holy [in my Speech]" (Lev 19:2). The same word is taken up apostolically: "because it is written, You⁺ will be holy; for I am holy" (1 Pet 1:16). Israel is constituted as "a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation" (Exod 19:6), the Christian community as "an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God's] own possession, that you⁺ may show forth the excellencies of him who called you⁺ out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Pet 2:9). Yahweh himself is "glorious in holiness, awesome in praises, doing wonders" (Exod 15:11), and the seraphim's cry "Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isa 6:3) is repeated by the four living creatures around the throne (Rev 4:8).

The shape of the demand is purification. "Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor 7:1). The Father's discipline aims at it — "he for [our] profit, that [we] may be partakers of his holiness" (Heb 12:10) — and the goal is named without reduction: "Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord" (Heb 12:14). The character question is sharpened by eschatology: "Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you⁺ to be in [all] holy living and godliness" (2 Pet 3:11). The end is to stand "unblamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus" (1 Th 3:13). The whole shape is summed in the high priest's plate: "HOLY TO YAHWEH" (Exod 39:30) — the same line later inscribed even on bells of horses in the messianic city (Zech 14:20).

The New Man

Scripture does not describe character as something native to the fallen self that needs only polishing. The character of the godly is the character of a re-created person. "Therefore if any man is in Christ, [he is] a new creation: the old things are passed away; look, they have become new" (2 Cor 5:17). "For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation" (Gal 6:15). The Pauline imperative is to "put on the new man, that after God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth" (Eph 4:24); "and have put on the new man, who is being renewed to knowledge after the image of him who created him" (Col 3:10). The work is the Spirit's: "We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life" (Rom 6:4); "be transformed by the renewing of the mind, that you⁺ may prove what the will of God is — that [which is] good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom 12:2); "though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day" (2 Cor 4:16); the salvation comes "through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Tit 3:5). The renewal answers the old prayer of the Psalter: "Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit inside me" (Ps 51:10), echoed in the prophets as a divine pledge: "And I will give them another heart, and I will put a new spirit inside you⁺; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh" (Ezek 11:19). The Diognetus letter puts the same demand to its pagan reader: "Come, then: cleanse yourself from all the reasonings that preoccupy your mind, cast off the custom that deceives you, and become as it were a new man from the beginning" (Gr 2:1).

Steadfastness and Instability

The pictures of righteous and new-made character tighten into one further demand: that this character hold. The Old Testament names the failure of nerve repeatedly. The people limp "between the two sides" until Elijah forces the question, "If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word" (1 Kgs 18:21). Hosea complains, "your⁺ goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goes early away" (Hos 6:4); and again, "Their heart is divided; now they will be found guilty" (Hos 10:2). Zephaniah names the syncretism of those "who worship, that swear to Yahweh and swear by Milcom" (Zeph 1:5). The covenant demand is to walk straight: "you will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left" (Deut 5:32; cf. Josh 1:7; Pr 4:27); "stick to Yahweh your⁺ God, as you⁺ have done to this day" (Josh 23:8). Hezekiah is praised in one summary line: "For he stuck to Yahweh; he did not depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which Yahweh commanded Moses" (2 Kgs 18:6). Job, under pressure to curse, does not bend: "My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: My heart will not reproach [me] so long as I live" (Job 27:6); "My foot has held fast to his steps; His way I have kept, and did not turn aside" (Job 23:11); "Yet will the righteous hold on his way, And he who has clean hands will wax stronger and stronger" (Job 17:9). The servant of Isaiah gives the image its hardest version: "the Sovereign Yahweh will help me; therefore I have not been confounded: therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame" (Isa 50:7).

Sirach turns the same theme into a sustained address. "Direct your heart aright, and continue steadfast, And do not hurry in time of calamity" (Sir 2:2); "Stick to him, and don't be far, That you may be increased in your latter end" (Sir 2:3); "Woe to fearful hearts and faint hands, And to the sinner who goes two ways" (Sir 2:12); "Do not be scattered in every wind, And do not walk in every path. Be established in your knowledge, And afterward will be your words" (Sir 5:9-10); "[As] timber firmly fixed into the wall Is not loosened by an earthquake, So a heart established on well-advised counsel Will not be fearful in time [of danger]" (Sir 22:16). Wisdom herself is held with a refusal to swerve: "My soul was attached to her, And I did not turn my face away from her... And forever and ever I will not swerve from her" (Sir 51:19). The Maccabean record gives the same character in extremis: those who "accepted death so as not to be defiled by food, and not to profane the holy covenant: and they died" (1 Mac 1:63); Mattathias' charge — "I and my sons, and my brothers will obey the covenant of our fathers" (1 Mac 2:20). Daniel's three friends hold the line where breath itself depends on it: "But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up" (Dan 3:18).

The New Testament is unflinching against double-mindedness. Jesus' word is sharp: "No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62); "No household slave can serve as a slave to two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to one, and despise the other. You⁺ can't serve as a slave to God and mammon" (Luke 16:13); "he who endures to the end, the same will be saved" (Mark 13:13). The apostolic instruction follows. "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be⁺ steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, since you⁺ know that your⁺ labor is not vain in the Lord" (1 Cor 15:58). "stand fast in the Lord, my beloved" (Phil 4:1). "For freedom Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and don't be entangled again in a yoke of slavery" (Gal 5:1). "let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we will reap, if we do not faint" (Gal 6:9). "Don't be carried away by diverse and strange teachings: for it is good that the heart be established by grace" (Heb 13:9). "lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Heb 12:1). Peter ends his letter on the same note: "whom withstand steadfast in your⁺ faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished among your⁺ brotherhood in the world" (1 Pet 5:9), and warns the believer not to be "carried away with the error of the wicked" and "fall from your⁺ own steadfastness" (2 Pet 3:17). Revelation's word is "I come quickly: hold fast that which you have, that no one takes your crown" (Rev 3:11). James names the opposite vice: "a man who is double-minded, unstable in all his ways" (Jas 1:8); the wave-like soul that asks "in faith, doubting nothing" cannot expect to receive (Jas 1:6); the call is to cleansed hands and "purify your⁺ hearts, you⁺ double-minded" (Jas 4:8).

Humility and Pride

Character is read off again at the joint where a person's view of self meets their view of God. The proverb states the principle without softening. "Pride [goes] before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall" (Pr 16:18); "When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the lowly is wisdom" (Pr 11:2); "By pride comes only contention; But with the well-advised is wisdom" (Pr 13:10); "The pride of man will bring him low; But he who is of a lowly spirit will obtain honor" (Pr 29:23); "It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor, Than to divide the spoil with the proud" (Pr 16:19); "The reward of humility [and] the fear of Yahweh [Is] riches, and honor, and life" (Pr 22:4); "A high look, and a proud heart, [Even] the lamp of the wicked, is sin" (Pr 21:4). The principle is theological, not just prudential: "for though Yahweh is high, yet he has respect to the lowly; But the haughty he knows from afar" (Ps 138:6); David's brief Song of Ascents, "Yahweh, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty; Neither do I exercise myself in great matters, Or in things too wonderful for me" (Ps 131:1).

Sirach develops the contrast at length. "Pride is an enemy to the Lord and to men; And to both of them, oppression is a trespass" (Sir 10:7); "A kingdom will turn away from nation to nation Because of the violence of pride" (Sir 10:8); "What is dust and ashes proud about That so long as it lives its nation will be lifted up?" (Sir 10:9); "The beginning of man's pride is [when] he becomes hardened; And of his own heart, he will turn away from what he has done" (Sir 10:12); "the reservoir of pride is sin; And the [reservoir's] fountain gushes out wickedness" (Sir 10:13); "Pride is not seemly for a common man" (Sir 10:18); "My son, in meekness honor your soul; And discretion will be given to you in a similar manner" (Sir 10:28); "Many who were lifted up have been dishonored greatly; And the honored were given into the hand of the lesser" (Sir 11:6); "Like a bird that is caught in a cage, so is the heart of the proud" (Sir 11:30). The opposite lesson is given as direct instruction: "My son, in your riches walk in meekness, And you will be loved more than he who gives gifts" (Sir 3:17); "The greater you are, make your soul lower, And before God you will find grace" (Sir 3:18); "Before you fall humble yourself, And in time of sin show repentance" (Sir 18:21); "Those who fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, And will humble their souls in his sight" (Sir 2:17); "Do not exalt yourself lest you fall And bring upon your soul disgrace" (Sir 1:30). The warning includes those whose humility is only outward: "There is one who walks humbly and mournfully, But inwardly he is full of deceit" (Sir 19:26).

The New Testament fixes the same axis at the heart of the gospel. Jesus' parable closes with the rule: "everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; but he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 18:14); the publican who "would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but struck his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13) is the man who "went down to his house justified rather than the other" (Luke 18:14). The greater in the kingdom is the one who serves: "let him become as the younger; and he who is chief, as he who serves" (Luke 22:26). The model is Christ himself, who "humbled himself, becoming obedient [even] to death, yes, the death of the cross" (Phil 2:8). James and Peter quote the same proverb: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (Jas 4:6; 1 Pet 5:5). "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you⁺" (Jas 4:10); "all of you⁺ gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another" (1 Pet 5:5).

Obedience and Disobedience

The character of the saint is shaped not by feeling but by the trained will to obey. "If any man wills to do his will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or [whether] I speak from myself" (Jn 7:17). "He who has my commandments, and keeps them, it is he who loves me: and he who loves me will be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him" (Jn 14:21); "If a man loves me, he will keep my speech: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make a place to stay with him" (Jn 14:23); "If you⁺ keep my commandments, you⁺ will stay in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and stay in his love" (Jn 15:10). The summary case is Christ himself: "though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered" (Heb 5:8); "Look, I have come to do your will" (Heb 10:9); "as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one will the many be made righteous" (Rom 5:19). Paul rejoices that the Romans' "obedience has come abroad to all men" and adds, "I would have you⁺ wise to that which is good, and simple to that which is evil" (Rom 16:19). The contrary is named with equal precision: those who "do not obey the good news of our Lord Jesus" (2 Th 1:8) and "the sons of disobedience" on whom God's wrath comes (Eph 5:6).

The Hebrew Scriptures give the same binary as covenantal blessing or curse. "if you will listen diligently to the voice of [the Speech of] Yahweh your God, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you this day, that Yahweh your God will set you on high above all the nations of the earth" (Deut 28:1); "if you will not listen to the voice of [the Speech of] Yahweh your God... all these curses will come upon you, and overtake you" (Deut 28:15). Samuel's word to Saul is the prophetic principle: "Does Yahweh have as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in accepting [the Speech of] Yahweh? Look, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams" (1 Sam 15:22). Abraham at Moriah ("And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. And he split the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him," Gen 22:3) and Noah ("Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so he did," Gen 6:22) become the type of an obedience that does not negotiate; Lot's wife the type that does (Gen 19:26). Sirach ties the whole instruction to fear of the Lord: "Those who fear the Lord will not be disobedient to his words, And those who love him will keep his ways" (Sir 2:15); "If it pleases you, you will keep the commandments; And to do his will is understanding" (Sir 15:15); "He who keeps the law multiplies offerings" (Sir 35:1); "He who obeys me will not be ashamed, And those who serve me will not commit sin" (Sir 24:22). The Maccabean refusal to listen "to the words of the king, to transgress our service, to the right hand or to the left" (1 Mac 2:22) is the same character holding the same line. And the apologist of Diognetus describes the Christian community in identical terms: "They obey the public laws, and in their lives go even further than the laws [require]" (Gr 5:10).

Truth and Falsehood

The moral character of speech is part of the umbrella. The God of the covenant is the one "who can't lie" (Tit 1:2; cf. Heb 6:18); his word "is right; And all his work is [done] in faithfulness" (Ps 33:4). The Decalogue's neighbor-clause is plain: "You⁺ will not steal; neither will you⁺ deal falsely; nor lie; a man to his associate" (Lev 19:11). Proverbs reads lying as worship-impurity: "Lying lips are disgusting to Yahweh; But those who deal truly are his delight" (Pr 12:22); "The lip of truth will be established forever; But a lying tongue is but for a moment" (Pr 12:19); "A false witness will not be unpunished; And he who utters lies will perish" (Pr 19:9); "The getting of treasures by a lying tongue Is a vapor driven to and fro by those who seek death" (Pr 21:6); "Buy the truth, and don't sell it; [Yes,] wisdom, and instruction, and understanding" (Pr 23:23). The Psalter prays the same line: "Deliver my soul, O Yahweh, from lying lips, [And] from a deceitful tongue" (Ps 120:2); "He who works deceit will not dwell inside my house: He who speaks falsehood will not be established before my eyes" (Ps 101:7); "You will destroy those who speak lies: Yahweh is disgusted by the bloodthirsty and deceitful man" (Ps 5:6).

Sirach lengthens the same instruction. "Do not speak against the truth, And concerning your ignorance be ashamed" (Sir 4:25); "Until death strive for the truth, and Yahweh will fight for you" (Sir 4:28); "Do not be called double-tongued; And with your tongue do not slander a friend" (Sir 5:14); "Do not delight to tell lie upon lie; For the expectation from that will not be pleasant" (Sir 7:13); "A foul blot in a man is a lie, It is [found] continually in the mouth of the ignorant" (Sir 20:24); "Preferable is a thief to one who continually lies, But both will inherit destruction" (Sir 20:25); "What can be made clean from an unclean thing? And how can that which is true come from a lie?" (Sir 34:4).

The New Testament makes truth the marrow of the new life. Jesus is "the way, and the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father, but by me" (Jn 14:6); the Word made flesh is "full of grace and truth" (Jn 1:14); his birth and his witness aim "to this end... that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice" (Jn 18:37). The believer's wardrobe is built around truth: "Stand therefore, having girded your⁺ loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness" (Eph 6:14); "putting away falsehood, speak⁺ truth each one with his fellow man: for we are members one of another" (Eph 4:25); "do not lie one to another; seeing that you⁺ have put off the old man with his activities" (Col 3:9). The condemnation of the apocalypse falls on the same vice — "all liars, their part [will be] in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone" (Rev 21:8); "Outside are the sissies, and the sorcerers, and the whores, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and makes a lie" (Rev 22:15) — and Diognetus dismisses the idol-tales themselves as "absurdities, and error of impostors" (Gr 8:4).

Character as Inheritance

The character the umbrella describes is finally an inheritance. The upright "will stay in the land, And the perfect will be left in it" (Pr 2:21). The righteous "will be glad in Yahweh, and will take refuge in [his Speech]; And all the upright in heart will glory" (Ps 64:10). "Precious in the sight of Yahweh Is the death of his saints" (Ps 116:15). The "new song" of the Psalter (Ps 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1) becomes the song around the throne: "they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders" (Rev 14:3); "they sing the song of Moses the slave of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, Yahweh, the God of hosts; righteous and true are your ways, King of the nations" (Rev 15:3). The character built in this life is given a name that belongs to it forever: "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more: and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem... and my own new name" (Rev 3:12); "you will be called by a new name, which by his [Speech] Yahweh will name" (Isa 62:2). The summary remains the call: "and put on the new man, that after God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth" (Eph 4:24).