The Christian Life Series

Scripture

Today I am continuing my sermon series in Ephesians 4:17-32 that I am calling, “The New Life.”

Ephesians 4:17-32 may be divided into three sections. In verses 17-19, the Apostle Paul describes the non-Christian life. In verses 20-24, our text for today, the Apostle Paul describes the Christian life. And in verses 25-32, the Apostle Paul teaches Christians what is involved in living the Christian life.

Let’s read about the Christian life in Ephesians 4:20-24, but to give the contrast with the non-Christian life, I am going to begin reading in Ephesians 4:17:

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:20-24)

Introduction

With the recent royal wedding in Great Britain, I read an article about etiquette rules that Meghan Markle will need to master, now that she has married into the royal family. She has married into a dress code that has been in place for hundreds of years. That means hats during the day, tiaras in the evening, gloves on her hands, and skirts that sit at or below her knees. Black clothing should be avoided unless she is in mourning or attending a remembrance event.

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians, he wanted them to understand their new life in Jesus Christ. In contrast to their former, non-Christian life, he wanted them to understand what it meant to “put on,” as it were, the new garment of Christianity. Over against their non-Christian life that was characterized by emptiness, hardness, darkness, deadness, and recklessness (4:17-19), Paul used three expressions, which described the Christian life.

Lesson

Ephesians 4:20-24 teaches us that Jesus Christ transforms people into new creations.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. Christians Have Learned Christ (4:20)

2. Christians Have Heard Christ (4:21a)

3. Christians Were Taught in Christ (4:21b-24)

I. Christians Have Learned Christ (4:20)

First, Christians have learned Christ.

Paul said in verse 20: “But that is not the way you learned Christ!” The first thing to note is the first word, “But.” Paul is introducing a contrast. In verses 17-19, he described the old way of life of these new Ephesian Christians. He described their non-Christian life. In contrast to that life, he now says, “But,” and it is very important to pay attention to what comes next as he described their new life in Christ. Paul was about to introduce the gospel message in his letter.

The second thing to note is that Paul used a figure of speech called “litotes.” Litotes is an “understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative.” An example of this is in Romans 1:16 where Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel….” In other words, Paul was saying that he was tremendously proud of the gospel, he had absolute confidence in the gospel, and he made his boast in the gospel. Similarly, in our present text, where Paul wrote, “But that is not the way you learned Christ!” he meant that Christians have learned Christ in a way that was completely contrary to their former way of life. As commentator Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes, “The life of the Christian is not to be something vague and indefinite, not something which is difficult to define, and difficult to recognize. According to Paul’s teaching, and the teaching of the entire Bible, it is clear-cut and obvious—it stands out, it is perfectly definite, and anybody should be able to recognize it at a glance.”

And the third thing to note is that the Greek word for learned (emathete) is in the aorist tense. That means that it is a past, completed action with continuing results. Lloyd-Jones writes, “In other words, Christianity is not a vague, indefinite, nebulous kind of feeling or experience; patently it is something which can be defined and described; it is primarily a matter of knowledge…. Christianity is primarily and essentially a matter of knowledge; it is the knowledge to which these people had come.”