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Put on the new self - Ephesians 4:17-24

By Ike Hughes | April 16, 2007

Statistics today tell us that close to 50% of all marriages end in divorce. They also tell us that drug use is up. We read in newspapers about record numbers of people that are obese in this country. We see on the news the increase in promiscuous sex.

We live in a culture that is obsessed with a life controlled by their passions and appetites. We live in a culture that sees pleasure as the ultimate goal in life.

Unfortunately, we also go to churches where these things are just as rampant. I watched a segment on 20/20 this Friday night about preachers that have been arrested or convicted for molesting children.

The church of Ephesus lived in a situation similar to ours. They lived in a city that was dominated by pagan practices.

Paul reminds the Ephesian Christians in today’s passage that they are to be different. Let’s explore what Paul tells his listeners in today’s passage.

The first thing we can see in today’s passage is that Paul gives his exhortation with passion and authority. In the original language, the verb used for “testify” is in a form that carries a meaning that is more than just a statement of fact. This form, when used by Paul, is used to convey a sense of urgency, a sense of importance. Paul is not just saying, “I told you this before.” He is urging the Ephesians to feel the importance and urgency of the words which are to follow.

Paul is also speaking with authority. These aren’t just his words that he is about to speak. Paul says, “I say and testify in the Lord.” These words that Paul is about to speak come from God. Paul is not just some guy that comes and gives words of encouragement and hope, or words of wrath and judgment. Paul comes to the Ephesians with the very words of God. Paul comes before the Ephesians with passion and authority.

The first thing that Paul tells the Ephesians is to “no longer walk as the Gentiles do…” The city of Ephesus was home to one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the temple of Diana. Ephesus was a city that was filled with people involved in the worship of a pagan god. And with that worship practices came that were contrary to the walk of a Christian, practices such as fornication. Paul is telling his readers to stop acting like the rest of the people of the city. And then he explains why they act that way.

The next thing we see is that the people walked in the futility of their minds. This term that is translated futility is used elsewhere in the Bible to signify vanity or emptiness. Paul was saying that the mind of the Gentile thought futile thoughts. Now, we need to make a distinction here. Paul said that the thoughts were futile; he did not say that these people were stupid.

Like many unbelievers today, the unbelievers in Ephesus did not believe that there was much of a life after this one. This belief led to a clouding of their thoughts. This belief led the people of Ephesus to chase after pleasure rather than suffering and pain. The person who sees no reward after this life, will seek after whatever makes them most happy in this life. This practice leads a person to chase after things that are not good. In Ephesus, the people pursued sexual pleasures. They chased after pleasures of the appetites. They chased after what made them feel good now.

And this pursuit of futile endeavors led to a darkening of their understanding as vs. 18 tells us. The more one chases after the pleasures of the flesh, the more the mind gets muddled into thinking that wrong is right and right is wrong. The habits of futile thoughts lead to even more futile thoughts.

And vs. 18 goes on to tell us that the life controlled by futile thoughts and darkened understanding leads to alienation from God. The ironic thing about this separation is that it would be most dramatically felt after this life. The futile thoughts that led one to believe that there was not afterlife, would lead the gentile to an afterlife that was marked by alienation from God.

And why are they alienated? They are alienated because they are ignorant and their hearts are hard. Verse 18 ends by saying “because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.” The ignorance that Gentiles experience is not a general lack of knowledge but a lack of knowledge of the purposes that God has for mankind. The purposes that God gave to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is what the Gentile is ignorant of. And the ignorance of theses purposes leads to a hardening of the heart.

The heart is hardened by the cycle that we looked at earlier. The futility of the mind leads to darkened understanding leads to ignorance leads to a hardening of the heart leads to futility of the mind leads to… The more that the Gentile walked the path that is dictated by the futility of the mind, the more the Gentile was caught up in this vicious cycle where their life moves farther and farther away from God.

And how can you tell if someone is walking as a Gentile? Look at verse 19. “They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” I mentioned earlier that the pagan culture of Ephesus was characterized by the worship of Diana. And the worship of Diana involved extravagant feasts and drunkenness and sexual promiscuity. The Gentile in Ephesus lived a life of chasing after the sensual pleasures of the flesh. This sensuous lifestyle was an outward sign of what was going on in the heart and the mind.

We have seen that there was a process that leads from the futility of the mind to the chasing after the sensual life. And just like there was a process that led the Gentiles into the sinful practices that marked their lives, there is a process involved in putting off those old practices. That process is called sanctification.

Sanctification is the lifelong process where we set ourselves apart for a holy use by God. And Paul lays out a three fold process of sanctification.

First, Paul tells his readers that this is not the way they should act. In verse 22, he says “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires…” Paul is telling the readers of this letter to stop acting like the Gentiles do. Stop chasing after the “sensualities” of verse 19. Stop being “greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” Paul is telling his audience that this is not the way they were supposed to act. As Christians they were supposed to be different.

Second, Paul tells his readers that they need to fix the problem of their mind. Remember, one of the root causes of the walk of the Gentile was the futility of their thinking. Paul tells his readers to “be renewed in the spirit of your minds.” Paul tells the Christians that they can no longer live a life that is marked by wrong thinking. The Christians in Ephesus needed to have the thoughts, the underlying beliefs of their mind, renewed to take into account what God has ordained as the purpose and goal for the human life. God ordained that mankind multiply and fill the earth. God ordained that mankind have dominion and rule over the earth. And God ordained that mankind receive an eternal reward for faithful completion of these purposes. The Ephesian Christians needed to renew their minds.

Finally, Paul wraps up this small work on the process of sanctification with vs. 24: “put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Not only are we to take off the old self. Not only are we to renew our minds. We are to put on a new self. This is a self that is created in the image of God. This is a self as God intended mankind to be. This is a self like mankind in the Garden.

And although it is not explicitly stated this process leads to life lived with God. Walking as the Gentiles led to alienation from God. The process of sanctification leads to life with God.

That is what Paul tells the people of Ephesus to do. He tells them to stop walking in the way that the Gentiles do and set themselves for God’s holy use. Paul gives the Ephesians a recipe for living the holy life. Right?

Yes, but he doesn’t leave them to work this out on their own.

Paul acknowledges to the Ephesians that there is more than just their power at work in this. Paul reminds the Ephesians of the power that they have to do these things. Read with me vs. 20-21. “But that is not the way you learned Christ! – Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus…”

Paul reminds the Ephesians that he taught them about Jesus. He taught them about Jesus’ life here on earth. He taught them about Jesus’ suffering and crucifixion. Paul taught the Ephesians about Jesus’ resurrection. And Paul taught the Ephesians about Jesus ascension. And it is through the teachings on Jesus that the Ephesians will be able to complete the process of sanctification.

Jesus gave the power to put off the old self in his suffering and his death. Jesus body was beaten beyond recognition by the Romans. The movie, The Passion of the Christ, is the closest representation we have of what Jesus went through in his beatings and his death. His body, which was just like the Ephesians’, was broken and killed so that we might be able to put off the old self.

In his life here on earth, Jesus paved the way for the Holy Spirit to come into this world. At Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit came upon him. It is the Holy Spirit that came upon the lives of the Ephesians and gave them the power to renew their minds. The Holy Spirit illuminated and gave power to the words that the Ephesians were reading in Paul’s letters. These words, empowered by the Holy Spirit could renew the mind

The Ephesians could see that there was power to put on the new self through Jesus’ resurrection. This process of sanctification is a process that would take the Ephesians their entire lives. And that process would never be finished here on this earth. The Ephesian Christians were still struggling with sin’s influence in their lives. And they would struggle with that influence until they died. But as I said earlier, Jesus’ body was beaten and broken. But when he was resurrected, he had a new body. A body that was made in the likeness of God. A body that was not touched by the decay of sin and death. Jesus’ resurrection gave the power to put on the new body.

And Jesus’ ascension gave the Ephesian Christians the hope of a life lived in the presence of God. Jesus returned to the father when his work here was done. And the Ephesians could look forward to living forever with God because of Jesus’ work in his ascension.

Statistics today tell us that close to 50% of all marriages end in divorce. They also tell us that drug use is up. We read in newspapers about record numbers of people that are obese in this country. We see on the news the increase in promiscuous sex.

Our world today looks much like the world of the Ephesians. We live in a culture that is driven by pursuits of sensual pleasures. We live in a society that is driven by futile thoughts.

Today we have the same commands from Paul. Put off your old self. Stop living a life dictated by your sensual desires. Stop living a life controlled by the passions and appetites of your life.

Renew your mind. Stop thinking futile thoughts. Start thinking like God would want you to think. Remember that you were created with a purpose and a goal in your life.

And put on a new self. Set yourself apart for God’s holy use.

If you do all these things, you will live your life in the presence of God.

But, like Paul, if I just stopped there I would sound like too many of today’s TV preachers. Too many times we are told that if we just try harder, if we just think better, we will have all the promises of God in our lives.

But if we are truly trying, we know that we cannot follow these prescriptions on our own.

See, Jesus’ death, life, resurrection and ascension gives Christians today the power to follow through with the process of sanctification.

Jesus’ death gives us the power to put off the old self. Because of his suffering and humiliation, we have the ability to eliminate the sensuous practices from our life.

Jesus life allows the Holy Spirit to come in and renew our minds. The Holy Spirit came upon Jesus and the Holy Spirit will come into our lives to give illumination and power to God’s words so that our minds can be renewed.

Jesus resurrection gives us the promise of being able to put on the new self. We have the promise of a new body when Jesus returns.

And Jesus ascension gives us the promise of an eternal life in the presence of God.

Topics: Ephesians |

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