Ephesians 4:17–24

SO I TELL you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

20You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Original Meaning

The Old Life of Futility (4:17–19)

THE GREEK WORD translated “I … insist on it” (v. 17) is literally “I testify” or “I declare.” In contexts like this it has the connotation “urge” (cf. 1 Thess. 2:12). Paul expresses his appeal to his readers with increasing strength as the letter progresses. “In the Lord” adds authority to his appeal and virtually suggests his teaching comes from the Lord. The letter reaches a climax here. Paul’s readers cannot go further without making an ethical decision. Here the die is cast. The rest of the letter will only take care of details.

Paul asks his Gentile readers not to live like Gentiles!4 This sounds strange, but obviously “Gentile” could be used both in an ethnic sense and in a moral sense, somewhat akin to the earlier flexibility of the English word “pagan.” Jews divided humanity into two classes—Jews and Gentiles. While Paul could address them as Gentiles ethnically (2:11), he did not want his readers to be like the Gentiles among whom they lived. In the second century Christians would speak of themselves as a “third race” (a thinking already reflected in 1 Cor. 10:32).

Sin as futility of the mind. Paul’s primary concern is not with a list of specific sins, but with a distortion and disorientation of the mind. Several expressions convey this thought:

(1) “futility of their thinking” (v. 17)

(2) “darkened in their understanding” (v. 18)

(3) “ignorance that is in them” (v. 18)

(4) “due to the hardening of their hearts” (v. 18)

(5) “continual lust” (v. 19)

(6) “deceitful desires” (v. 22).

The parallels with Romans 1:21–32 deserve careful attention. Both texts view sin as a malfunction of the mind. In Romans, a split in the knowing process causes alienation. Although Gentiles “knew God,” they did not acknowledge him (Rom. 1:21). This refusal to “know what they know” is expressed in Ephesians as hardness of heart (contrast Paul’s prayer in 3:19, that his readers will know what they cannot know, the love of Christ). Both Ephesians 4:17–19 and Romans 1:21–32 focus on willful futility, darkness, distorted reasoning leading to alienation from God, and resulting passions and desires that lead to uncleanness and sins. Sins are not the cause of the problem, but the result; the problem lies in the mind and in choices made against God. In Romans God gave people over to the desires of their hearts, whereas Paul uses the same word here to say they give themselves over.

The word translated “futility” (mataiotes) expresses meaninglessness, uselessness, worthlessness, or emptiness. The majority of the occurrences of this word in the LXX are in Ecclesiastes to express the meaninglessness of life. In the New Testament the word occurs elsewhere only in Romans 8:20 (NIV, “frustration”) and 2 Peter 2:18 (“empty”).5 As M. Barth expressed dramatically, “With one single word Paul describes the majority of the inhabitants of the Greco-Roman empire … as aiming with silly methods at a meaningless goal.”6

Four elements in verse 18 trace the problem back to its source. (1) The Gentile way of life is meaningless because the Gentiles have no light to give them life and guidance. They are intellectually blacked out.7 In the ancient world light was a universal symbol for understanding. In Judaism (cf. Ps. 36:9) and the New Testament light is used of life-giving relation with God (cf. Eph. 1:18; 5:8–14). (2) Darkness engulfs the Gentile mind because they are “separated from the life” God gives, who is the source of the light. (3) The Gentiles are separated from God because of deliberate “ignorance,” which has taken up residence in their souls. (4) The Gentiles are ignorant because of their hardness8 of heart. The heart is the source of all loyalties.9 In this case, hardness of heart has prevented all loyalty to God. In sum, hearts made insensitive to God have set off a chain reaction that turned out the light and led to meaninglessness.

If verse 18 traces the problem back to its origin, verse 19 shows its outcome. “Insensitivity” in one direction leads to “sensuality” in another. This play on words in the NIV is not present in the Greek text, but it effectively communicates the intent of the passage. The triad of “sensuality,” “impurity,” and “lust” is paralleled in 5:3, with “sexual immorality” replacing “sensuality.” The word translated “having lost all sensitivity” describes the callousness and numbness resulting from the hardening.

“Sensuality” (aselgeia), by implication, is the idol to which the Gentiles have given themselves. As in Romans 1:21–32, the loss of relation to God leads to uncontrolled, outrageous, sinful behavior, especially with regard to sexuality.10 Although “every kind of impurity” covers numerous sins, the grouping of words in the various vice lists suggests that its primary reference is still to sexual sin (see Gal. 5:19). The translation “indulge” in 4:19 is too strong and may create the wrong nuance; it means merely “working” or “doing.”

The word translated “continual lust” (pleonexia) means literally “the desire to have more.”11 Ephesians 5:5 and Colossians 3:5 equate greed and idolatry, a theme that is implicit here in 4:17–19. These verses reflect a Jewish understanding of idolatry as the root of all sin, and greed as the sin encompassing all sins (cf. Wisdom of Solomon 15:5–6). Impure activity is rooted in greedy desire. This word joined with “deceitful desires” in verse 22 and the “hardening of … hearts” in verse 18 make a strong accusation about the self-centered character of sin.

Bridging Contexts

CHANGE THE WORD “Gentiles” to “Americans” or some other relevant label, and we have little difficulty bringing verses 17–19 into our contemporary situation, for they are like a mirror. We see ourselves all too well. Verses 20–24 do require further examination, for the religious ideas they express are unexpected and almost too good to be true. Can we really do what they ask? We also need to process the theology of these verses, for better descriptions of depravity and conversion may not exist.

Human depravity (4:17–19, 22). Today only the naive doubt human depravity. Wars, conflict, crime, and moral decline provide unavoidable evidence. We may think we are basically good, especially in comparison to others, but all of us readily acknowledge something is out of kilter in the human psyche. Yet most of us do not feel as negative as this text. We do not admit that life is futile, that we are in the dark and cut off from God, ignorant and hard-hearted, and that we are given over to uncontrolled sensuality and passions. At the same time, neither do we think we can put off the old being and put on a new one. We do not admit the depth of the human plight or the wonder held out to us. The mediocrity of our thought neither requires action nor enables success.

Is the description too negative? Are these verses too absolute? How is it possible to think the human mind is futile—worthless—when humans have accomplished so much? And surely not all Gentiles were as bad as Paul says.

This passage does not reject value in humanity, and it must be read in keeping with its purpose. This is not a discussion about human worth, ability, or accomplishment, nor was Paul unaware that some Gentile philosophers wrestled with ethical questions and sought high morals.29 The passage is a rejection of the Gentile way of life, not a rejection of the Gentiles as persons (which would be strange for one who saw himself as the apostle to the Gentiles, cf. 3:1). Paul’s statements here are both a rejection of the dominant lifestyle of the society in which the readers lived and a call for them to reject it. Furthermore, these are generalizing statements that describe the conduct of those who cut themselves off from life with God.

Granted the intent of the text, it is not too negative. It is precisely on target. Christianity is a religion that emphasizes on the one hand the futility and distortion of humanity without God and on the other hand the value of humanity in God’s eyes and with God. Christianity invites us to recognize we are vile, but it also invites us to desire to be like God.30 It knows that human beings need a redemption they do not deserve, but also that God thinks they are worth redeeming. Only in facing the painful truth about ourselves is there hope for healing.

Rather than being too negative, when we are honest, we know this text describes each one of us. The theology of the verses 17–19 requires reflection in two major areas:

(1) Life without God is meaningless, for true life is from God.

(2) The human mind is twisted by an idolatrous self-interest.

(1) Our society usually ignores the age-old question of the meaning of life. We busy ourselves and entertain ourselves so we do not have to think. Diversions such as drugs, alcohol, entertainment, and work keep us from reflecting on life. But as wonderful as it is, life is short, painful, and—viewed from a human perspective—without much significance. If we are merely the accidental result of a “big bang,” human existence is a cruel, cosmic joke, and no reason exists for ethical behavior. As one person put it, “You get sick and you die, so you have to keep busy.” What would it matter if we did not exist? Humans are like grass in the desert, here today and gone tomorrow (Isa. 40:6–8). The writer of Ecclesiastes is right; life is meaningless. Without God in the picture, nothing on this earth can comfort us if we analyze it seriously.

(2) Homo incurvatus in se (“a human being curved in upon self”) was Martin Luther’s definition of sin.31 Separated from God, human beings curl around themselves like shavings planed from a board.32 Pride and self-centeredness cause hardness of heart, which in turn leads to choosing self instead of God. The result is an inversion that distorts. The lights go out and life is lived in futility.

Blaise Pascal’s writings often seem to be reflections on our text:

• Pride takes you from God and lust binds you to yourself.

• The sensibility of man to trifles and his insensibility to great things indicates a strange inversion.

• Our own interest is again a marvelous instrument for nicely putting out our eyes.33

Pascal described a human as a reed, but a thinking reed, all of whose dignity is in thought.34 The mind is the important element, but all dignity is lost when thought omits God and centers on self. Without God the mind is crosswired and without aim. Its energies go in the wrong direction. Pascal saw further that this inversion set up an internal war between the reason and the passions, so that we are always opposed to ourselves.35 Lust is an insubordination of the flesh.36 Our passions are never satisfied; we always want more. Even when we know actions are harmful to our bodies and relations, we still choose them. As ancient philosophers recognized, humans love their vices and hate them at the same time. They hate their sins and cannot leave them.37

By implication this text is about idolatry. We turn from God to the idol of self. We give ourselves to self and end up controlled by desires—desires that deceive by promising happiness, but never provide either satisfaction or fulfillment. Instead, they destroy. As Tom Wright points out, “idols demand sacrifices.”38 The cost is high to wholeness and to relations with people. The judgment of sin—at least in part—is that people are given over to their sins. Sin is its own punishment. Human beings need a higher calling than following passions.

Ancient Greeks like the Cynics and Stoics knew that desires corrupt and destroy life; they therefore sought to be free of desire. In fact, they viewed passions as diseases of the mind.39 Living free of desire was considered the mark of wisdom and maturity. But no one can live free of desire, and the solution is not the rejection of desires, but their subjection to God.

Ephesians 4:19 could have been written this morning as a telling commentary on us. We give ourselves to trivialities and diversions. Our minds are given to sports, movies, and sitcoms to avoid thought.40 Our self-centeredness alienates us from God. We do not acknowledge our need of God, do not have time for him, and if we think about him at all, our thought is juvenile. Having lost sensitivity to God and fellowship with him, we give ourselves to sensuality, trying through pleasure and especially through sexual avenues to recover that intimacy for which we were created. We are caught in an increasing downward spiral of serving ourselves. Pleasure and enjoyment are not illegitimate, but when they become the focus of life, they distort and corrupt.

Life is from God. The text implies that we need life from God. Human beings were never intended to live merely as individuals; we were created for relation with God. We are diminished when separated from what is greater than us—God. Without him, we lose our dignity. Lasting happiness does not exist apart from relation to him. We are restless until we rest in God.41 What we need is not self-expression and self-satisfaction, but self-surrender and self-attachment to God, with whom all things are ours to enjoy (see 1 Cor. 3:21–22; 1 Tim. 6:17).42

Like 2:1–3, this passage is about depravity. The grim picture is not a rejection of humanity, nor a “total depravity” in the sense that nothing of value exists in humans. It is about a pervasive depravity that affects all our being and results from a skewered thinking that ignores God. Once again, by implication, sin is a bad trade. We have traded life with God for a corrupting, meaningless life with self.

The school of Christ (4:20–24). Paul’s words assume that life is different for Christians; they state that an encounter with Jesus has changed things. Unfortunately, too many people claiming the title Christian serve self as fully as non-Christians. Their conversion is a stillbirth. They allow the non-Christian world to define life rather than the God who created them. All of us too often seek conformity to this world’s scheme, or at least recognition from it. We must seek to apply the text both to Christians and to non-Christians. Verses 17–19 are not just descriptive of the “other folks.” The text is addressed to Christians to make sure they do not live such a life.

We must also understand the strong language used here of contact with Christ. Paul’s expressions for the depth of relation and union with Christ assume the kind of faith described in chapter 2.43 This is not belief about Jesus, but an involvement with him and openness to him. Since he is the Lord who leads, the language of learning is natural. The truth that is learned is the truth of the death and resurrection of Christ, from which all other truth is understood. We identify with his death and resurrection by dying to self and rising to new life, which here are expressed as “putting off the old being” and “putting on the new.”

Is conversion possible? This is a text about conversion.44 Can we really put off the old being and put on the new? To ask this is to ask about the truth of Christianity, for if we cannot do so, the Christian faith is meaningless. No matter how nice its teaching, it will not deal with the core of our problem, our own sin. How can I put off what I am, my personality, and my desires?

Once again, this is an issue of our identity.45 Conversion is a renunciation of a self-centered identity in favor of a Christ-defined identity. All that shapes us is given over to Christ, and his mindset of self-giving love becomes our mindset. Conversion is the restructuring of a person’s thinking by the Holy Spirit as the result of a direct encounter with the love of God in the person of Christ (see 5:1–2; cf. Rom. 5:5; 8:5–9). Otherwise, we are not Christians. In effect, we take off what we thought was life and put on Christ. As Robinson commented, “He has displaced me in myself”46 (cf. Gal. 2:20).

Desires are deceitful and powerful, however. Can humans lay them aside so easily? “Putting off” and “putting on” clearly call for us to act, but it is not merely human activity. All is done in union with Christ, the one to whom we are joined and who teaches and enables us, and his Spirit is the agent of renewal.47 The text emphasizes both God’s activity and human responsibility.48 We put on what he has created (4:24). To ask how much is the divine part and how much the human is to misunderstand the process. Salvation is totally the work of God in which we are totally involved. This alone does justice to the thought of being in Christ.

If this “putting off” and “putting on” is a one-time event, something done at baptism, why does Paul seem to imply his readers should do it again? Why is the old self with its selfish desires still so present? We continue as the same person with many of our same weaknesses, desires, and characteristics. Or expressed more poignantly, the old being is drowned in baptism, but the rascal can swim!49

Biblical texts can be produced to suggest that change occurs at baptism, repeatedly throughout life, or at the end of time.50 Once again the now and not-yet character of Christian faith is obvious. A change has already occurred, is occurring, and will be completed at the end of time. What happened at baptism is a real putting off of self and a putting on of Christ. If there is no transformation, there is no salvation. But this is not merely a decision or a one-time event. Conversion is a process, as the present tense of 4:23 shows convincingly. “Putting off” and “putting on” (or dying and rising) is the pattern by which Christians live. The dynamic by which we are saved is the dynamic by which we live and the completion of which we still await.51 As M. Barth put it, change takes place every hour of a person’s life.52

Two wrong turns. (1) If conversion is a process not completed until the end, any thought of perfectionism is misguided. This error fails to take seriously enough the depth of sin in our being or the impact of the sinful world in which we live. At the same time, rejection of perfectionism ought not be an excuse for dealing lightly with sin.

(2) People should not conclude that two equal beings exist in each Christian. Nor is this passage about two impulses, an inclination toward evil and an inclination toward good in each of us.53 The text is about an old way of life and a new way, an old mindset shaped by the world and a new mindset shaped by Christ. Actually, this text is more about eschatology than anthropology, for it is about the newness the risen Lord brings into our present.

Contemporary Significance

THE APPLICATION OF this text is straightforward: Do not live like the Americans do with their futile thinking. Change the label if necessary, but you cannot conform to your society and its system of thought. In general, the more we conform to our society, the less we understand conversion. Paul here provides a theological understanding to motivate ethics, which 4:25–6:9 will apply to specific “practical” issues. Application of this passage, then, should focus primarily on the mind and on broader theological concerns.

Learn to think. If the problem is distorted reasoning, we need a wholesale restructuring of the mind. Other texts in Ephesians have emphasized the role of the Holy Spirit in this process (1:17–18; 3:16–17), so no thought exists of a depraved mind repairing itself. The light of the gospel shows the channels along which new thinking must run, and the Spirit engages our spirit in reordering life. We must learn to think for ourselves along Christian lines.

Our primary ethicists today are popular singers, actors, and talk-show hosts, and they have led us to ruin. Surely Christians have something better to say—if they think through the significance of the gospel. We must therefore analyze life and the gospel and take care of the interior life. The heart, the control panel from which life is ordered, must be continually made conscious of God and not merely of self. We must take time to think in communion with God, to reflect and meditate. Without attention to the interior life, no restructuring will occur.

Assessment of society. If conformity to our society is prohibited, an honest assessment of it is required. What evidence is there of futility and skewed minds, of hardness of heart, and of sensuality and corrupting desires? What is neutral in the society and what fits positively with God’s purpose for humanity? Too often we assume the agenda that society sets is reality and, therefore, is the agenda for Christians as well. But we live in a society that is out of control. Its agenda places the self-interests of pleasure, recognition, and possessions as the goals of life. Concern for God and denial of self—although possibly admired—do not fit the system. But life is not about self-satisfaction; it is about relations both with God and with other people.

Probably the most obvious evidence of futility and sensuality is the entertainment media, which offers itself as the mirror of ourselves. Most of what is offered in movies and on TV is inane, time-consuming weirdness. To buy our time we are offered insipid humor, bizarre talk shows, and endless titillation. Little is instructive in a positive way. But the media do not provide merely a mirror of ourselves; they seek to shape us. In a recent newscast a movie director said his intent with a romantic comedy was that all the viewers would race home and make love to their significant other.54 Most people going to movies are between the ages of 12–24, an important time when they are being shaped morally and spiritually. They are presented with far too much overt sex, promiscuity, sexual deviancy, and violence to women. Modernity—as one person put it—is rationalized sexual misbehavior. Furthermore, humor, which is given such prominence, is no longer healthy and cathartic; it is structured as a defense against depth.

Wilson Mizner reportedly said, “Hollywood is a sewer with service from the Ritz-Carlton.” He is correct. Forty years ago—when movies were relatively innocuous—Christians debated whether they should attend them. Now when they are largely objectionable, we are no longer asking the question. Maybe it is time that Christians just said “No.” Certainly the entertainment media can be used in constructive ways, but it rarely happens. These industries cannot exist without Christian support, and application of this text should influence Christians to withhold support from such a harmful industry. Don’t live like the Americans.

The ignorance in our society is just as painfully evident. Apart from ignorance, how else can one explain addiction to alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and gambling? How else can we explain the way women allow men to use them, incest, abuse, fraud, the billion dollar industry of shoplifting, or numerous other crimes. These and most other problems are the direct result of pleasure and self-interest being given free rein. When desires become masters, they are vices.55

The biggest ignorance of all is the failure to consider God and his claim on our lives. Our society braces itself, occupies itself, and procrastinates to avoid dealing with the “God” question. Any other subject is fair game, but God cannot be dealt with straightforwardly. Education used to include religious instruction, but under the guise of separation of the church and state, religious instruction is now prohibited. In the process we have raised a nation of moral imbeciles. Why do we turn our backs on the reason for which we were created and on our future?

Look to yourself first. Assessing society is not enough. Every person—the Christian first—must be ruthlessly honest about his or her own depravity. We cannot hide from it. Pride and pleasure seek to dominate everything we do, including our most religious acts. Pride and self-interest are marvelous instruments for putting out our eyes so that we never see the truth.56 We need to endure the pain of close self-analysis and tell the truth both to God and to ourselves about our pride and self-interest. This is called confession. Only when we name our self-centeredness and own it can we lay it aside. Until then it owns us.

We must deal with our desires for material possessions. While much of the world does not have enough to eat, we want what we do not need. We gauge success by accumulation of money and possessions—positive and useful in themselves, but heavy baggage for life and terrible masters. We never have enough. The god “Desire” controls us and is never satiated.57 The more control we give to desires, the more corrupting they become. Desires are not bad in themselves. They are God-given assistants for living, but they need a Lord. Give them one.

We must admit that Christians are just as much given to sexual desires as anyone. It is not enough to rail against sexual sin; we have to deal with our minds being crosswired and preprogrammed for sensuality. Christians and their leaders have failed miserably with sexual sin. Too often we have derided non-Christians, but have been embarrassingly mute in discussing sexual failures among believers. Sexual desire is enormously seductive because that is the one place where pleasure, pride, and power concentrate so heavily. We need to deal honestly with our sexuality and bring it too under Christ’s lordship. Sexuality is a wonderful gift from God to be used appropriately, but it is a tyrannical lord if given control. The sacrifices this idol demands are destructive of self, of others, and of relationships, to say nothing of the church’s witness.

Go to school. The focus on thinking is so central that application of this text requires investment in learning. Christians are learners; that is what being a disciple means. We are learners in Christ’s school, learning from him and about him and being made like him. Whether the learning is formal or informal, it must be intentional (cf. also 1:17–18; 3:16–19).

The truth is that too many people claim the name Christian without ever learning what it means. That approach to faith is useless and further evidence of human ignorance. Others reach a plateau deemed respectable and go no further. Adult education among Christians lags and is ineffective, with only a limited percentage of adults being involved. Churches cancel Sunday School for the summer. But without learning, growth stops and worship shrivels.

The hunger for knowledge of Christ should be ever present and ever renewing. We have not been engaging enough, substantive enough, or honest enough to keep people learning. Paul calls for continual renewing of the mind, and both individuals and the church through worship and instruction must see that it occurs. Pastors should be involved in teaching situations as much as they are in leading worship and preaching. This may require other people doing “pastoral tasks,” but as 4:12 indicates, ministry is done by the people, not the leaders. A renewed focus on learning will require rethinking how learning is done best in the context of a specific community. The traditional Sunday School approach may not be the best procedure for many congregations.

Whatever approach is taken, all learning is costly, especially the learning in the school of Christ. Not only does it require time and investment, it requires change—the willingness to give up what we are in order to become what God intends. The subject of the learning is Christ, but two other words serve as commentary: sensitivity and truth. Since insensitivity and deceit are at the root of our problem, we need instruction in sensitivity—both sensitivity to God and to people. And with deceit causing distortion, our learning must focus on truth, on how Jesus is the embodiment of truth and on how all other truth relates to him.

In addition to churches taking seriously their teaching task, Christian higher education needs to be revamped. Despite the existence of several good Christian schools, Christian education in this country is largely a failure,58 for basically it is secular education with food coloring. Christians have been lax about devising an approach that is truly Christian. Mark Noll begins his assessment of the problem by saying, “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.”59 Superficial thought often reduces the gospel to banalities. How this happened in a faith that focuses on the mind and truth is a mystery. But we are at a point where the whole educational enterprise among Christians needs to be rethought. We need schools that do not sacrifice academic standards, but at the same time do not find their respect by jettisoning faith commitments. Intellectually gifted Christians should be challenged to consider academic careers, and donors should be encouraged to provide funds. Education is not peripheral to the church’s mission; it is the church’s mission.

Live your baptism. “Putting off” and “putting on” occur at baptism, but these are also continual activities in our lives as we seek to live our baptism. The mode of baptism is not the important thing; the theology of baptism is—the theology of living a changed life. For most Christians baptism has significance only as a rite of entrance. This is sad. Baptism is to be lived, or, as Martin Luther urged, we daily return to our baptism.60 Christian living requires continually putting off the old being and putting on Christ. This is not an optional element for certain spiritual types; this is assumed for all Christians. Since we must be continually renewed, Christians need to give regular and frequent attention to the process, that is, to keep short accounts with God. Without attention it will not occur.

Unfortunately, we try to exempt certain parts of life from our baptism. We are like soldiers in a previous era who kept their sword hands out of the water when they were being baptized.61 Or if we lay the old being aside, we at least want to remember where we left it. We are like King Claudius in Hamlet: “May one be pardon’d and retain the offense?”62 If clothes make the person, we attempt to keep the uniform of the old being in the closet for quick changes. That will not work. We cannot keep the old being partially alive; Christ—the uniform of the new being—will not hang in the closet. It is never fitting for Christians to be “out of uniform.”

In some ways, “putting off” and “putting on” achieve the same purpose. We put off a self-centered mind and put on the self-emptying mind of Christ. In other words, to live our baptism we need to learn how to die. Paul Minear suggests that instead of looking for evidences of rebirth, we should ask how many times a person has died. Rebirth without dying is Christian nonsense, and so is new creation without crucifixion.63 Death—dying with Christ and to self—is necessary for Christian living. But dying is not the only part of the sequence. In putting on the new self, we participate in Christ’s resurrection. Life is recreated in line with God’s original intention. The new being is not merely absence of self-centeredness; it is taking on the character of God and his righteousness (4:24). What is intended is a life marked by truth and love as found in Christ, as 4:25–5:2 shows. That is not beyond human capability.

By way of summary:

(1) Don’t live like the Americans with their futile thinking.

(2) Get your mind in order and make honest assessments.

(3) Be a Christ-learner ever renewing your mind.

(4) Die continually to self and its desires.

(5) Put on Christ along with his truth and love.

Original Meaning

Learning the Messiah (4:20–24)

THESE VERSES PROVIDE as strong a contrast as possible between his readers’ previous mental distortion and the truth, learning, and renewal of mind that occur in Christ. If the Gentiles’ core problem is a distorted mind, the solution can only be a renewing of the mind, which is exactly Paul’s understanding of salvation (cf. Rom. 12:2). He uses three images to achieve the contrast: instruction of the mind, changing clothes, and new creation. Paul seeks the same thing here as in 2:11—that believers will remember the contrast between what was formerly true and what is now true.

Knowing the Christ and Jesus (4:20–21). The wording of verses 20–21 is unusual, almost harsh, and the nuances of the text are difficult to convey. Literally, verse 20 reads: “You did not learn the Christ this way.”12 No parallel exists for learning a person. More is intended than mere learning facts about Christ. That is, the readers have been schooled in the Messiah. They know him, have firsthand knowledge of him, and know how radically different his life is from that of the Gentiles. The implication seems close to 1 Corinthians 2:16; they have, or should have, the mind of Christ.

In verse 21, Paul goes on to emphasize what they already know:13 They know better than to live the life he described in verses 17–19, for they know the truth that is in Jesus.14 The name “Jesus” standing alone is rare in Paul and seems to refer to the earthly Jesus and his life, death, and resurrection.15 In this verse, Christ is viewed as teacher, subject, and the sphere of learning. “Heard of him” can be translated “heard him”16 as a parallel to “know [the] Christ” in verse 20 (cf. 2:17). Also unusual is the statement they were “taught in him,” but the intent seems to be that the context of their learning was their union with Christ.

“In accordance with the truth that is in Jesus” (lit., “just as truth is in Jesus”) should not suggest information about Jesus. Paul’s point is that Jesus embodies and encompasses the truth. Find Jesus and you find truth. Find truth and you find Jesus. Truth does not exist apart from him. This is not surprising, given the expectation in 1:10 that all things will be summed up in Christ. In sum, verses 20–21 describe encounter with Jesus and instruction from union with him so that truth is found in him. The following verses show that truth is revealed primarily in dying and rising with Christ.

Old being-new being (4:22–24). Verses 22–24 contain three infinitive phrases: “to put off,” “to be made new,” and “to put on,” which may be interpreted in several ways. They could be taken:

(1) As complements of verses 20–21 to explain the content of Christ’s teaching. The NIV has chosen this alternative and inserted the words “You were taught” to facilitate the connection.

(2) As imperatives.

(3) As result (“you were taught so that you put off”).

At issue is whether these transforming actions are viewed as past or still to be performed. Note the parallel in Colossians 3:9–10, where the command not to lie is based in the fact that the old being has already been removed. The intent in Ephesians may be the same, for these words are a theological reminder to motivate the ethical material that follows (note “therefore” in v. 25). Whatever else we say, this passage is evidence of Paul’s frequent blending of the indicative and the imperative. His intent is to buttress his plea in 4:17 for a different lifestyle. Verses 22–24 show what the readers were taught, but the implication is that these words should also be put into practice.

A comparison of several texts demonstrates the strong probability that 4:22–24 is derived from a baptismal liturgy or at least a Pauline baptismal theology. Note the following:

Ephesians 4:22–24: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Colossians 3:9–11: “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

Romans 6:3, 6: “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? … For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”

Romans 13:14: “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”

1 Corinthians 12:13: “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”

Galatians 3:26–28: “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Galatians 3:26–28 is the fullest form of this baptismal theology, but Romans 6:3–6 and 1 Corinthians 12:13 also refer explicitly to baptism. The litany of divisions set aside is present in Galatians, 1 Corinthians, and Colossians. Galatians and Romans 13:14 speak of being clothed with Christ, whereas Ephesians and Colossians speak of being clothed with the new being (cf. Rom. 6:6). The implication is clear: The new being is Christ himself (cf. Eph. 2:15).

This raises a question as to how “old being” and “new being” should be understood. Do these terms refer to the individual before and after conversion? Or should they be seen as corporate expressions for two ways of life?17 While this latter option may sound strange, it merits reflection. Paul’s theology is complex, and consideration must be given to his “spheres of influence” thinking,18 his Adam-Christ typology,19 his language for old and new being,20 outer and inner being,21 and new creation.22 The corporate sense of “new being” in 2:15 and the view of all people as either in Adam or in Christ suggest a corporate understanding. But the other terms suggest an individual understanding, for 4:23 seems to have individuals in view (see also Col. 2:11). In the end, both corporate and individual aspects must be retained, though the individual understanding seems dominant. Even if the terms are taken corporately, the focus is on what individuals do in conforming to the corporate reality.

Paul’s main issue here is transformation—change of identities. The language for “putting off” and “putting on” occurs in a variety of ethical contexts, including non-Christian sources.23 “Putting off” and “putting on” are another way of expressing the ideas of dying and rising with Christ, which also appear in discussions of baptism and ethics (cf. Rom. 6:1–11; Col. 2:11–3:4).

The tenses in these three verses are important. The laying aside the old being (v. 22) and the putting on the new (v. 24) are both described by aorist infinitives. This tense is used for undefined action;24 it is merely mentioned without further specification. The most important issue is the contrast these words provide. The present tense, which shows ongoing action, describes the continual corruption of the old being (v. 22) and the continual renewing of the mind (v. 23).25 Both items are important. The old being is in a state of ever-deepening corruption, and the Christian life is an ever-increasing renewal of the mind (see 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:16).

The old being fit the former way of living, and its ongoing corruption was fueled by “deceitful desires.”26 Paul’s thought is related to 2:3, which spoke of disobedience caused by following fleshly desires, although no mention is made here of the ruler of the air. The old being is the human self without God, deluded and deceived into a downward spiral by fleshly desires. The solution requires ongoing renewal and a new creation—two phrases that we would have expected in the reverse order. But Paul’s emphasis on continual corruption seems to have brought the corresponding emphasis on continual renewal first. Note Colossians 3:10, where the continual renewal follows the putting on of the new being.27

The NIV’s “made new in the attitude of your minds” (v. 23) is literally “being made new in the spirit of your mind.” The word “spirit” can mean “attitude” (2 Tim. 1:7), but more seems intended in Ephesians. Some scholars even take “spirit” as a reference to the Holy Spirit and understand Paul’s intent to be the Christian mind guided by the divine Spirit.28 But this is not his point in verse 23. He is concerned about the human spirit, that controlling center of our being and the means of our relation to God. This is the object of the continual renewal.

The language for the new being (v. 24) recalls Genesis 1:26–27 and the idea of creation in God’s image. The image marred in Eden is being recreated in Christ. This new creation is viewed as a work God has already accomplished and reflects the same ideas as 2:10. Whereas the old being fit the former life of living in lust (v. 19), the new being fits with God in “righteousness and holiness.” These two nouns form a hendiadys—one idea expressed through two words. Literally, the text reads “righteousness and holiness of truth,” which the NIV has understood as an adjectival genitive—“true righteousness and holiness.” However, since truth is emphasized so much in this context (vv. 15, 21, 25) in opposition to lying and deceit (vv. 14, 22, 25), a genitive of source seems likely. Righteousness and holiness have their source in truth, the truth found in Jesus.

What will the new being look like with its righteousness and holiness? The focus on truth here and on Christ who gave himself indicate that the key characteristics of the new being are truth and love. The following sections will verify and illustrate this conclusion.