Here is my commentary on Ephesians 4:22. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 4:22

“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.”

We were not taught about Christ in terms of sin and worldliness. No, we were told about a Christ who was different, and the lifestyle we must follow is also radically different to the old nature.

Our way of life before we knew Christ was self-directed. We did what we thought was right, or more likely, what we wanted to do.

The old way living is now a former way of life. It has passed away because we died in Christ, and therefore have been raised in Him. The former way of life must remain in the past as we follow the way of Christ.

We have to” put off the old self” – literally it says to put off the old man, or old person.

The analogy is to taking off old worn out clothes in order to put on Christ, and our new nature in Him. but here Paul says we have to take off the old person in order to put on the new nature in Christ.

For some people, this is scary, and for most people it is difficult. How can I take off the old person that I was before Christ? I am quite attached to my self, and I can’t imagine being without my self. Does that even make sense?

Before we knew Jesus, our nature was corrupted by sin. Everything we did was polluted by sin. Our old nature is destined for death.

But then we came to know Jesus, and we were attracted to him so much that we asked him to come in and make us new. Part of becoming new is getting rid of the old.

This is not something we have to do ourselves. If we take up our cross to follow him, we will die to ourselves. The Holy Spirit takes our dead old nature and brings us back to life. The old man is gone and the new has come.

To put off our old nature is dying to ourselves, presenting ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. We bring ourselves to God with all of our sinful desires, and we say, “ Lord it is all yours. Do what you will with me.”

It is the Holy Spirit who makes it possible to put off the old self, the old person. All we have to do is die to our own ambitions, and let God do His work in us.

The old nature is being corrupted by its deceitful desires.

If we hold on to our old persona, then its deceitful desires will continue to corrupt us. If we demand that our old nature be allowed to live, then it will corrupt us and destroy our new life in Christ.

Our old nature is a breeding ground for corruption and sin. it is like an incubator for a deadly virus which ultimately kills everyone that touches it.

The corruption comes from the deceitful desires of the old nature.

We all have desires, some of which are healthy, and some of which are not healthy. A desire for food is good, but so easily corrupted into greed and obesity. A desire to be significant is a good thing, but can be switched to arrogance, pride and control .

Our desires are deceitful in a number of ways.

Firstly, they can distract us from what is really important. if I constantly give in to my snacking desire, I get nothing done for the Lord .

Secondly,they deceive us into thinking they cannot harm us. “ A little pawn might liven up my marriage.” “ A glass or two of wine never hurt anyone.” We find ways to justify those deceitful desires.

Thirdly, the desires of the old nature are deceitful because they pull us away from godly things. A favourite TV show does not come with the warning that we could be spending that hour in prayer. My need for social interaction may take precedence over the call of the Holy Spirit to spend a period of time in solitude and meditation.

This old person or former self must be put off. The desires which lead us away from God seem so appealing, until we learn that they take us away from the abundant life in Christ.

Key points in this verse:

• The way to deal with our old way of life is to put off our old self
• We must take up our cross and die so Christ’s life can fill us
• The desires of the old nature are deceitful and will lead us away from our new life in Christ.

Here is my commentary on Ephesians 4:20-21. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 4:20-21

“You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.”

In verses 17 to 19, Paul describes the depravity of the Gentile unbelievers. living in darkness and ignorance, and therefore slaves to every form of sensuality with a lust for more.

Now Paul says, ”You did not come to Christ that way.” In other words, their knowledge of Christ is the light that broke through their ignorance and changed their thinking and behaviour.

Before we were saved, we may not have had any knowledge or interest in the person of Jesus Christ. His name, the Name above all names, may have just been a meaningless swear word. If we thought about Him in anyway, we might have assumed he was just a person like us.

But, Paul reminds us, Jesus was not a person just like everybody else. He certainly was not a person who lived in the depravity of thinking that Paul has described.

As we get to know Jesus, as we are taught in him, so our understanding of Jesus grows. We see a life lived in simplicity and holiness.

Paul now offers us a choice of two lifestyles – that of the unsaved Gentiles marked by sin and self-direction, or the life of Jesus marked by holiness and God- direction. These two diametrically opposed and cannot be mixed together .

To follow Jesus is not to adopt some kind of religious ideology or theory. Christianity must never be understood as merely a set of dogmas. Following Jesus or being “ in Christ” means that our lifestyle and worldview must undergo radical changes so that we live, speak, and think in a way that is consistent with the way of Christ.

To be “taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus” means firstly, a teaching of facts. The historic Creeds were an attempt to describe the basics of what Christians believe.

The facts, by themselves are not enough. We need to remember that we are following a person. This truth that is in Jesus must be seen in the words and actions of Jesus. in particular, we must absorb the reality of his death on the cross. The gospels show this clearly with each one describing incidents from the life of Jesus in the first half, and then moving to detailed descriptions of his trial, death, and resurrection in the second half.

To be a Christian, we must first know who Jesus is and why his death is important for us.

To follow Jesus we must also learn to have an ongoing personal relationship with him. This is the purpose of the Holy Spirit, given to us when we are born again.

Christianity is about imitating Christ, becoming like the “Son of Man.” To do this, we need both the truth about who Jesus is and a personal connection with Him so that He can direct our daily walk.

Key points in this verse:

• We did not come to know Jesus as a sinful person, but as the divine Son of God
• Christianity is more than a set of doctrines
• We need an ongoing personal relationship with Jesus in order to follow him.

Here is my commentary on Ephesians 4:19. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 4:19

“Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality, so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual last for more.”

Paul is continuing his description of those Gentiles who have not been saved .

This section started with an appeal to the Christians at Ephesus to not be like the Gentiles in their thinking. He is now describing how their misguided thinking becomes a lifestyle of sin and depravity.

Paul is not saying that every Gentile is living a lifestyle of sexual sin, but he is making a strong point that when we are apart from Christ, our standards and values are very different to God’s standards. In the same ways, cultures that turn away from God rapidly descend to self- centeredness and sexual immorality.

Paul says that the Gentiles have lost all sensitivity. They have become calloused and hard in their conscience.

When we consistently choose to sin and follow our own desires, the voice of our consciences, and even of the Holy Spirit, become unimportant. We make a decision to disobey God and soon we find ourselves committing acts that we once would have thought beyond our capability, and enjoying them.

An example can be pornography, although the principle applies to any area of sin. Many people feel guilty when they start looking at less explicit videos or pictures. They ignore their conscience and soon are looking at degradation they could never have imagined. While their conscience may still be calling them away from these things, they suppress that to enjoy the experience. Before long, some people are moving beyond the immoral to the forms of pornography such as child abuse.

Whenever we harden our hearts, or allow ourselves to lose sensitivity to sin, then we are on a slippery slope of depravity. Without Christ, we are all depraved and hostage to our fleshly desires.

The Gentiles, Paul says, have given themselves over to sensuality. Sensuality, as the name implies, is the pleasing of our senses, our natural fleshly desires. “If it feels good, do it,” is the mantra from the 1970’s that summarises sensuality .

We have seen this played out in the Western nations over the last two decades in particular. People are keen to have experiences that appeal to the senses. Another thought that expresses this is, “life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but the events that take your breath away.”

So we spend billions of dollars on travel, in exotic food, and so on We have TV shows that tell us where we can go for those breathtaking moments that live with us forever. We have endless cooking and home renovation shows to reproduce breathtaking moments (i.e. sensuality) in our homes.

Every form of sexual deviance is now accepted as normal, and even better than normal marital relations.

We move from sensuality to impurity or uncleanness. There are some things which God has declared to be unclean, that is, not suitable for people who have been made holy by the blood of Christ.

This idea of impurity is not laid down in law like in the Old Testament. It does not relate to what we eat or wear, but to who we are.

What the world says is good does not necessarily line up with what God says is good for us, or suitable for us.

Things that take us away from Him become idols, and are therefore impure. We can find forgiveness for these things, but it is much better to stay in the place of blessing .

Contrary to the world, any form of sexual expression outside of marriage (that is, one man plus one woman united for life) is wrong.

The taking of a life in murder, through slavery, or abortion is wrong.

Putting our trust in the acquisition of material goods is wrong.

We need to ensure that we live in humble dependence on God, trusting Him to meet our needs, and believing that the Bible is God’s word for us. Our values and our conduct must be so different to the world or “the Gentiles.”

Finally ,Paul says there they constantly lust for more. Pursuing the way of the flesh gives a person a thrill that leads to a lust for more of the same.

If you were going to be unfaithful to your wife, why stop at one affair, one lover, or even just women?

Our imaginations can always develop scenarios or pictures or fantasies of how this particular pleasure could be even better.

If you step off God’s path, why even go in the same direction? That is the logic of sensual pleasure- all for the body, and the body alone. Don’t stop with tentative sins. Sin boldly. ”You might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb.”

So who can save the people of the world from this hideous pathway of sin? Thanks be to God- it is Jesus Christ who has paid for our redemption and who calls us back to Him.

Key points in this verse:

• The Gentiles, or unredeemed people of the world, have given themselves to a lifestyle of sin .
• Christians are not to be like this.
• When we sin, our conscience is can be hardened towards God.
• Worshipping the senses can lead to uncleanness.
• Sin tends to take us deeper than we might have thought possible
• Only Christ can take us off this treadmill of hunger for more sin.