Putting On The New Self Series

Ephesians 4:20-24 [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. (ESV)

As seasons and temperatures change, so do our clothing. Even in the course of a single day, we can go from cold darkness, rain, wind, to hot, humid sun. Sometimes we take our cues in what to wear from how others are dressed around us that we need to change. But we may not feel that the attire that we see is really us, for we all have our own style. Putting on appropriate clothing is often like putting on a new you.

Spiritually, "Putting on the New Self" means leaving the old self behind. Between the old and new self, there are clear differences: The old is self–centered and futile, the new is Christ–centered and purposeful. The old is ignorant of God’s truth, the new knows and understands it. The old is morally and spiritually callused and shameless, the new is sensitive to sin of every sort. Finally, the old is depraved in its thinking, the new is renewed.

From Christ the Ephesian Christians, and every true believer is infused with the very antithesis to the downward spiral of the world plunging recklessly after its sin. Instead of hardness and darkness and deadness and recklessness, (believers have) tenderness and light and life and an abandonment to the upward spiral! (Hughes, R. K. (1990). Ephesians: the mystery of the body of Christ (p. 143). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.)

Paul helps us understand what it means to Put on the New Self in showing us:

1) What was Not Put On (Ephesians 4:20), 2) Know what to Put On(Ephesians 4:21), 3) Put off the Old Self (Ephesians 4:22), 4) Put on the New Self (Ephesians 4:23–24).

In order to Put on the New Self, we need to know:

1) What was Not Put On (Ephesians 4:20)

Ephesians 4:20 [20] But that is not the way you learned Christ!-- (ESV)

After reviewing the evils of the pagan world and the self–centered, purposeless, standardless wickedness that both comes from and leads to spiritual darkness and ignorance, Paul declared to believers who had fallen back into such degradation, But that is not the way you learned Christ!. That is not the way of Christ or of His kingdom or family. “You are not to have any part of such things,” He insisted, “whether by participation or association.” When writing to people who were personally acquainted with him, he reminded them of his own example: he himself had been a diligent pupil in the school of Christ and saw to it that he shared with others the lessons he had learned there, by practice as well as by precept (Bruce, F. F. (1984). The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians (p. 356). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).

Please turn to 1 Corinthians 2

The expression that Paul: “Learned Christ” is a direct reference to salvation. To learn Christ is to be saved. While it is true that the verb manthano can be used in reference to the process of learning truth (see Rom. 16:17; Phil. 4:9), it can also mean “to come to know” as a one–time act, particularly when the verb is aorist active indicative, as in this case. (cf. John 6:45, where Jesus spoke to those who had “learned from the Father”—indicating a reference to the saving act of faith under the Old Covenant which would lead them now to Him.) (Walter Bauer, A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament. Translated and edited by W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich. 5th ed. [Chicago; U. of Chicago, 1958], p. 490),

This “learning” of coming to Christ is supernaturally enabled at salvation and is supernaturally continued: Paul explained it like this to the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 2:9-16 [9]But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"--[10]these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. [11] For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. [12] Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. [13] And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. [14] The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. [15] The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. [16]"For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. (ESV)