Ephesians 4:17-32

Eph 4:17

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

Vanity - Futility or worthlessness

Just because Paul is saying this does not make it any less Scripture than if Christ was making the statement. We are being told here that we are to employ the spiritual gifts that Christ gave us and our thoughts are not to be of gaining greater ground in this world but we need to be using our minds for the greater good of the Kingdom of Christ. There may have been those at Ephesus who were doing nothing but vain things which were of no spiritual value and this may have been what precipitated the letter of Ephesians and this portion about becoming Christians who are in concert with the Word of God and the body of Christ to help build it and no hinder its growth. There are Christians in every congregation who are of no value to the body of Christ. I mean, if they would move to an uninhabited Island in the South Pacific, things would go on as usual. We are being admonished that we need to get busy for the kingdom of Christ.

Too many times Christians are more skillful in the ways of the world rather than the ways of Christ. Their walk seems to reflect that they are not even Christians and the great distinction between unbelievers and Christians is that the Christian is to be sold out to the Lord Jesus Christ and the unbeliever is sold out to the things of the world. Our jobs or social position can never be used to define who we are. If we belong to Christ, then we are to identify with His kingdom, even if it brings persecution here on earth. Christians cannot have mental affinity with unbelievers because our minds have been regenerated.

Eph 4:18

Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Understanding darkened - Darkness or gloom

Alienated - to be estranged or separated

Ignorance - Lack of Knowledge

Blindness - Callousness or lack of feeling

We are told here that the futility of the mind that we saw in verse 17 is triggered by a few things. First, their understanding has been darkened and this happens when we live in sin. Sin always darkens a person’s outlook and perception, which leads to futility in making decisions or assumptions. The unbeliever walks around in a perpetual state of darkness but when the believer begins to adopt the same philosophies and thought patterns of the unbeliever, then they too will have a very skewed outlook.

We are warned that these unbelievers are alienated from the life of God. He is not just speaking of a life with God but speaking about the life that God gives to His children. These people are looking at things through a temporal set of eyes whereas the children of God look at things through eternal eyes. The great separation between God’s children and the children of darkness, besides salvation, is definitely outlook. God’s children are never separated from Him and even if they walk on some dark path, they can return unto Him but the unbeliever has no one to turn to except their own intellect and outlook on each individual situation.

The unbeliever lacks the imputed knowledge that God gives His children. We grow having the knowledge of God but the unbeliever lacks this eternal knowledge which results in a daily hardening. Over time they become callous toward the things of God.

Then eventually a hostility to the things of Christ grows in them and they want nothing to do with the ways of Christ which results in what happens to them in the next verse.

Eph 4:19

Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

Lasciviousness - Excess, immoderation, licentiousness

Uncleanness - Impurity or immorality

Since these people are past any feeling because they are now so hardened, they sink into a life of licentiousness which is a wreck less or wasteful life. They have absolutely no care for the things of God and as a result their life is lived in immorality or impurity. We can see these kind of people today who will kill someone and they are so hardened that they have absolutely no remorse for what they did. Their lives are lived in greed or covetousness because their goal is to live for themselves alone. We might think of the gangsters in the old days who lived in the lap of luxury in big homes and the way they got there, was to kill and steal someone else’s territory. All one needs to do is to read the story of Al Capone and his war with the North Side Gang. You will then get a good historical view of this verse.

Eph 4:20

But ye have not so learned Christ;

Paul then contrasts the evil hardness of the unbeliever with the believer. He says that we did not learn Christ by the ways of the world. We learned of Him through divine illumination of the Word and the indwelling Holy Spirit who not only gives us the gifts but the fruits of the Spirit which are antonymic to the fruits of the flesh. When a person becomes saved out of the world, one thing that happens is He can take the hardest heart and make it soft. A true believer will not continue in such a harsh manner. A softening, in concert with spiritual gifts and fruits of the Spirit, is an outward sign that true salvation has taken place in a hardened individual.

Eph 4:21

If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

Paul continues his thoughts from the previous verse. He states to the Christians that they did not learn about the Lord Jesus Christ and his ways through worldly measures. He now states that if they have heard Him and the word “hear” carries with it the meaning of not only physically hearing but also understanding what is heard. The only ones who can understand the deeper things of Christ are the believers. The unbelievers may hear the teachings of Jesus and just obey them on the scale of moral teachings. A moral lifestyle like an amoral lifestyle can never yield salvation.

He then goes on to say that if you heard the Lord Jesus and have understood Him, then you have been taught by him. Teaching does not take place when the teacher disseminates information, but it takes place only when the student understands what is being taught. He goes on to say that the truth is in Christ. As a matter of fact, Christ is truth personified. Pilate could not see that when Jesus stood before him and Pilate asked him, “What is Truth?” We know that Christ is truth and He is teaching His children through the Word today. “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17)

Eph 4:22

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

Conversation - Conduct or behavior

Corrupt - Destroy, defile, or ruin

Now the Christian is being admonished that we are put off the old life. Sine we have seen such a vast difference between the ways of the world and the ways of Christ, the believer must now strive each day to put off the old ways of doing things. Those old ways are not representing the inner transformation that took place upon salvation. Our former conduct in the world were the ways that were corrupt with sin and sinful values, along with all of the lustful behavior. Unsaved people lust after the things of the world believing that it will bring them security. Our security and our focus must be redirected upon the Lord Jesus Christ. While we are still living in this world, we are susceptible to the same lusts the unsaved folks are, except we have one big difference. We do not have to succumb to temptation because the Holy Spirit indwells us giving us the power to be able to refuse the temptation and walk away.

Eph 4:23

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

Renewed - To make new, to be young again

When a person is transformed in salvation, not only is their sins removed but God now places in us the renewed mind. This is not speaking of the physical aspect of it or is it speaking of the mind in terms of worldly living. Instead, we are speaking of the regenerating of our mind through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. A mind that was blackened by sin is one that is now made light with truth of the Gospel. “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16) Our mind is now new in the Lord.

Eph 4:24

And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

This verse, along with verse 22, gives us an exchange principle that we are to live by. Not only are we to put off the old man, but we are to exchange the ways of evil with the new ways of Christ. As we see in this verse that the new man is made according to righteousness and true holiness. The old man was able to feign holiness by reason of physical gesture. “Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.” (Matthew 6:16) Have you ever seen a false preacher trying to act and look holy by means of wearing religious garb? “Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;” (Luke 20:46)