Ephesians 4:17-24
“Extreme Makeover”

Stories like The Prince and the Pauper have always captured our imaginations. And that particular novel, written by Mark Twain, is quite possibly the epitome of such intriguing tales. Edward Tutor, Prince of Wales, was born into the opulent wealth of the British royal family on the same day that Tom Canty was born into abject poverty as a London commoner. And as their lives developed along very different trajectories, they actually intersected at one point facilitating a change of places that was unable to be reversed for an extended period. Tom became the Prince of Wales—a sort of 16th century extreme makeover—and Edward Tudor was transformed into a despised and abused beggar. Not until Edward’s coronation day following the death of King Henry VIII did the truth finally come out and the rightful king return to his true role. During the extended period of reversal the boys had great adventures living someone else’s life. But there is no doubt that, even if there were some responsibilities of a prince and a king that were repetitive and monotonous, both young men ended up vastly preferring palace life to life on the streets!

Wouldn’t we all! I don’t believe I know anyone who would actually prefer poverty to wealth. Do you? In fact, I don’t know of anyone who would prefer: hardship to ease, sickness to health, foolishness to wisdom, or even death to life. Do you? Of course not! I can’t even imagine having to urge someone toward the more desirable of any of these options? If someone were given a choice between life as a prince or life as a street person, can you even imagine having to say to them: “No, no, I really think you’d be better off in the long run choosing life in the palace to those incessant beatings and abuses in the streets. No, really, I don’t think you’d be happy with the street, even though you can make your own rules. I think you’ll find out that what looks like freedom is really one of the worst forms of oppression. Even with some of the stresses of the palace, the disciplines—if you by-pass it I really think you’ll live to regret it!” Can you even imagine having to say such things—trying to convince someone that the after really is better than the before following an extreme makeover? 

In our passage today, Paul is urging the Ephesians, pressing them, testifying to them with the Lord as his source, the they must no longer live in the darkened futility and ignorance of the Gentiles, but rather to live in the renewal and righteousness and holiness of Christ. What a tragic tendency we have to live in the streets spiritually speaking when were really residents of the palace! It’s like we’re princes aspiring to be paupers! And the question is not so much why we do it—we’re sinful people! The question is more, how do I escape it? How do I move past the tendency? Paul’s teaching in the passage before us this morning offers answer to just those sorts of questions, and he moves us through three important observations along the way.

A Review of What is Rejected – 17-19

The practical teaching that began back in vss.1-3 picks up again here following that extended statement on the unity and maturity of the body in vss.4-16. And from here the rich and exceedingly relevant instruction on living in a manner worthy of our calling continues though the remainder of the letter, right up to the conclusion, which begins in 6:21. We can see right away that Paul has a specific concern on his heart regarding the walk of the Ephesians—the pattern of their day to day life in the Lord. That concern flows, again, from a lack of familiarity with them personally—a state of affairs we mentioned back in ch.1, but which is clearly made again here in vs.21. He has to assume that they have both heard about Christ and were taught certain things about walking with him.

It is sometimes hard for us to understand how he could have been unfamiliar with the Ephesians since he had spent three years teaching there, but perhaps as many as three to five years had passed since that time and certainly there had been new converts whom Paul had not met. And his concern for the walk of these people is made evident in the way he began this paragraph (17): “Now this I say and testify in the Lord….” The first verb, I say or I tell, is simply underscored by the second, I testify or I affirm. We’re told that it “stresses its solemnity and significance, while the additional in the Lord points to the source of its authority” (O’Brien, 319). Paul is giving them an authoritative word from the Lord. The niv captures some of this when it says, “I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord….” And what does he believe that the Lord wants him to insist upon? That they must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds—that these Ephesian princes would stop living like paupers! This word walk is so important in Ephesians, and even in the balance of Scripture. We’ll look at it more in weeks ahead as we get in ch.5, but we shouldn’t miss it here. The idea is the day to day, moment to moment progression and nature and quality of one’s life. 

In your daily walk, don’t live like the Gentiles, the Lord is saying through Paul. That is utter futility. Futility translated into our vernacular would be good-for-nothing. A similar reference in Rom.1:21 (Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.) The context there was one of idolatry (Bruce, 355). The use of that word in the LXX is most often in a similar context (O’Brien, 320). And idolatry is a great picture of futility—praying to a being that you crafted with your own hands. Listen to the words of God from Isa.46(5-7): “To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship! They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble.” Now that is truly futility—serving a God that needs more help from you than it can give back to you! 

Idolatry is likely part of the picture here, as well, but this context is also broader than that; as Paul continues on he makes that clear. In fact, as he does he paints a vivid picture of the decrepit state of the Gentiles—their moral and spiritual bankruptcy. They are darkened in their understanding—as in Rom.1 their hearts were darkened. The light had gone out. 

We use that kind of expression to describe a boxer who’s been knocked unconscious. How much intelligence do you expect to hear from a boxer who has just been knocked unconscious? He lays limp in your arms and drools on you! Even if you could rouse him to consciousness using smelling salts, how much spiritual insight would you anticipate receiving from him at that moment?  He’s blind to it all—his mind has been darkened by the blows he’s received! He’s out of it! Why would we want to walk as the Gentile do? The picture gets worse: they are alienated from the life of God. They’re not just spiritually unconscious, they’re dead—dead in transgressions and sins (2:1-2). But if it could be worse than dead, Paul seems to want to say that. They are alienated, estranged from the life of God. They utterly apart from him. As one writer put it, (O’Brien, 320-1) “This darkness in their thinking was not some temporary condition; … the light of their understanding had gone out so that they were now in a state of being incapable of grasping the truth of God and his gospel.” And the reason is (18) because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. 

Now, this could trouble us a bit, thinking that the problem was ignorance; for us if ignorance is the problem, learning is the solution. It could sound to us like Paul is saying that if they just knew more they wouldn’t be dead. But Paul’s definition of knowledge is a bit more Hebraic than Greek. And in the OT knowledge like he speaks of here is of an intimate, personal, experiential sort. That is how Adam could know his wife with the result that they beget a son (Gen.4:1). He was speaking similarly in ch.3(19) when he prayed that the Ephesians would know God’s love that was beyond being fully known. O’Brien (321) explained, “To know God means to be in a close personal relationship with him. Knowledge has to do with an obedient and grateful response of the whole person, not simply intellectual assent. 

He continued, “Likewise, ‘ignorance’ is a failure to be grateful and obedient. It describes someone’s total stance, and this includes emotions, will, and action, not just ones mental response. Not to know the Lord is to ignore him, to say ‘no’ to his demands. Such ignorance is culpable.” Again, this ignorance is rooted in hardness of heart which essentially just means stubbornness—an outright refusal to acknowledge God’s authority. That quiet voice of conscience has been shouted down so many times that if it even speaks at all anymore, one’s spiritual ears have been too deadened to be able to discern it. They’re not just blind, then, they’re also deaf. Why would we want to walk as the Gentile do?

But the picture gets worse yet (19)! The have become callous. These Gentiles have hardened their hearts for so long that they have lost all sensitivity (niv). There is no experience of life—no immorality, no lust—that can give them any prick of conscience, There’s nothing that can cause them to blush. There is no feeling of guilt regardless of the crime; no remorse regardless of the offense; no sympathy regardless of the suffering. Every inclination of the heart can be pursued because none of them is challenged any longer by that inner voice. All things have become lawful, and profitable has no meaning whatsoever. Sensuality (19) refers primarily to sexual excesses. Impurity carries a similar emphasis, but is also applicable to other sorts of moral evil (Bruce 356). And not only are these pursuits characteristic of the Gentiles, they lust after more of them. Their cravings can’t be satisfied. Sexual sin is like that: the more you obey the longing that is already present in your heart, the less satisfying each successive encounter becomes. Before long, you’re controlled by the monster. You’ve become willing to do absolutely anything to feed him, but no amount of food even takes the edge off his hunger. There is a continual lust for more…. This recalls to our minds the catalog of the earthly nature in Col.3:5-8, or the works of the flesh in Gal.5:19-22. This is essentially what it means to be callous. Literally it means you can’t feel anything any more—anything of genuine intimacy with God. You can’t feel shame or embarrassment. Your conscience is seared. You’ve lost all sensitivity. Why would we want to walk as the Gentile do? 

A Reminder of What is Real – 20

In the midst of all this, then, we need a reminder of what is real. They, nor we, learn Christ in this way. All roads don’t lead us to God. Walking in the way of the Gentiles certainly doesn’t! Learn Christ means to come to know him and there is no other statement like it in Scripture. In no other place is a person the object of the verb to learn. And what a beautiful picture that is. We don’t come to some cold, hard facts, to some creedal statement. We don’t learn some piece of knowledge or some secret formula. That which we learn, that which we come to know, the content of our knowledge is the very being of Jesus Christ himself. We come to know the one whom the creeds and formulas were stammering and stuttering to describe. We came to know God of very God, light of very light—the one in whom the fullness of God dwells! And we didn’t come to know him by pursuing our own lusts—by becoming callous. My friends, that is what is real. We know God in Christ! Why would we ever want to walk as the Gentile do? 

A Recipe for What is Required – 21-24

So how are we supposed to steer clear of it? Paul offers a recipe for what is required in vss.21-24. Notice first, though, that this is not a recipe on how to come to know God in Christ. Paul is writing to people who have already come to know him and now is he is challenging them to walk with him. It is very important to keep that idea clearly in mind lest we think he’s telling us here how to be saved. Vs.21, Paul is assuming that they have heard about Christ, likely meaning that they have been evangelized; they have come to know Christ. He is also assuming that they have been taught certain things in him—for certainly if they’ve been taught in him they been taught the truth. And clearly he is not referring to those who received Christ under his ministry—to them he had said in Act.20:20-21, “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” To these, now he gave a recipe of three ingredients that could enable them not to live like the Gentile—to be princes rather than paupers.

Vs. 22, first, put off the old self: strictly speaking this is not an imperative verb in the original language, but in context it operates as one. And in comparison with the parallel instruction over in Col.3:9, it seems to emphasize the fact that we’re seeking to live up to that which has already been declared to be true of us in Christ. In him our old self has been put off, therefore we should strive to put it off in our daily lives. How do we put off the old self, the walk of the Gentiles? How do we put off the pursuit of sensuality and impurity and hardness of heart? I’ve struggled with how to say this, but I believe what Paul is saying is, Just stop it! Stop doing it! Are you seeking to gratify your own desires rather that to please God? Stop it! Are you trying to gratify personal lust on the inside while appearing to be righteous and holy on the outside? Stop it! Are you living in such a way as to suggest that the strength of your personal struggles is greater than the power of the risen Lord Jesus Christ who dwells with you? Stop it! This isn’t a pull yourself up by your bootstraps message Paul is giving us. It is a message that is rooted in all he has told us is true so far in the letter. There’s no new truth that you need to learn. There’s no new counseling model that can supply some missing link. Understand me, here; counseling rooted in these very truths can be helpful, but it is not as though it can provide you with something that is missing here in God’s word. Rather, the best counseling is that which helps you understand and apply what is in God’s word. The God who can do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think can certainly enable you to walk in his ways and not walk like the Gentiles.

Vs.23, be renewed in the spirit of your minds: continuing on to vs.23, not just is sequence but in progression of thought, Paul wrote, “Be renewed in the spirit of your minds.” Now there’s some good, practical advice on how to put off the old self. To renew means just what it sounds like: to be made new; refreshed. Interesting, as Paul moved from the verb put off to the verb be renewed, he changed the tense from aorist to present and he changed the voice from middle to passive. What does that mean? The aorist tense makes put off more of a single whole action while the present tense make the renewing of our minds more of a process. Then, the middle voice of put off underscores a bit our own involvement in the act putting off, while the passive voice emphasizes that the renewing of our minds is something done to us by another. It is God, therefore, who acts in the renewing of our minds. And the progression of thought here is that it is our efforts to put off of the old self that open the door for him to act. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice and thus be transformed, passive voice, by the renewing of your minds. That’s what Paul wrote to the Romans (12:1-2). Paul then picks up that word be transformed again as he wrote to the Corinthians (2,3:18). When we turn to the Lord, beholding his glory, we are transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory. Our minds are renewed, made new in his likeness. And what a beautiful likeness this is! Compare it with vs.19. At one point these Ephesians were among those who had lost all sensitivity. But they can be made new in the attitude of their minds. And one who knows what it is to have a seared conscience may be able to appreciate even more fully what it means to have a renewed mind—to be resensitized, to be able to blush. God can make us new in the spirit or attitude of our minds. 

Vs.24, put on the new self: next, then, comes the putting on stage—back to aorist tense, middle voice; we participate in the action. Col.3:10 tells us that this new self which we put on, essentially meaning this life of Christ that we live out day to day, is being renewed in knowledge in the image of it’s creator. The effects of the fall are being reversed! We’re cooperating with the work of God with the result that we’re growing more and more into his likeness. And that’s just what Paul is saying here: this new self is created—it is God’s work. Yet, we are to put it on—meaning we cooperate. It is created in his likeness—meaning that he is not simply the artist; he’s also the model. Thus, this is his work to make us like him—but he has not left us out of the process. To be righteousness is to be upright and just; to be holy is to be free from all contamination, morally excellent. Now, the connotations of both of these words extend far beyond these brief definitions, but these are good shorthand descriptions. Similarly, Paul’s main point here seems to be that true righteousness and holiness are a good shorthand description of what it means to be like God. They are also good, practical, behavioral targets to aim at as we seek to put on the new self.

Conclusion

And what a great way for this paragraph to finish—with an urge to the people of God to target true righteousness and holiness in their ongoing effort to put off the old self and put on the new—to cooperate with the renewing of our minds that is really God’s work within us—all in effort to live in a manner worthy of our calling. If more instruction is needed, more input, more practical suggestions, I believe there is another passage of Scripture to which we can give some attention. There is another passage that begins with be renewed in your minds and finishes with put on the new self which is created to be like God. In fact, the latter charge is stated even more efficiently; we are told to put on Christ. And in between these two statements is a wealth of practical instruction on just how to do it. I’m speaking of Rom.12 and 13. It begins with the familiar verses we’ve referred to even this morning—present your bodies as a living sacrifice and be transformed by the renewing of your minds. And it ends not only with an explicit charge to put on Christ, but also, as part of it, to put off the old self. Rom.13:14 reads, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

A Prayer for This Week – Heavenly Father, help me (today, this week, right now) to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.