Context No. 2494 of 4322 · Ephesians

Ephesians 4:17-24: in context

17This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts. 19They, having become callous, gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20But you didn’t learn Christ that way, 21if indeed you heard him and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus: 22that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit, 23and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

Paul draws a hard line between the old life and the new. Do not go on walking as those who live in the futility of their minds, he says, darkened, callous, given over to their cravings. That is not how you learned Christ. Instead, the pattern is threefold: put off the old self, corrupted by deceitful desires; be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and put on the new self, created after God's likeness in true righteousness and holiness.

The image is of changing clothes, but the change runs through the mind. Transformation is not mainly about gritting your teeth against behavior; it is about the renewing of how you think, out of which new conduct grows. The old self is taken off deliberately, the mind is renewed, and the new self is put on, a self already created in God's likeness, waiting to be worn. It is both a decisive break and a daily practice. What I keep putting on in the morning of my mind is what my life will eventually look like.

What old-self garment am I still choosing to wear each day, and where do I most need my mind renewed so the new self can be put on?

Sources

Ephesians 4:22: that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit.
Ephesians 4:23: and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
Ephesians 4:24: and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.