Letters from Paul

A taste of the study room coming with Paul — pull open whatever you'd like to sit with.

The reading — Ephesians 4:17-24

¹⁷This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, ¹⁸being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts; ¹⁹who having become callous gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness. ²⁰But you did not learn Christ that way; ²¹if indeed you heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus: ²²that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man, that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit; ²³and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

World English Bible

The words behind the words

When I say the Gentiles walk "in the futility of their minds" (Ephesians 4:17), the word carries emptiness — a striving that comes to nothing, a mind spinning without an object worthy of it. And when I speak of putting off "the old self" and putting on "the new self" (Ephesians 4:22-24), think of a garment. You strip off the filthy cloak you have worn and lay hold of a clean one. But the "putting on" runs deeper than cloth: this new self is "created after the likeness of God" — it is God's making, not your own tailoring.

Where else you say this

I take up the same thread with the Colossians, using the very same picture of stripping off and clothing anew (Colossians 3:9-10). I press it upon the Romans too: do not be conformed, but be transformed "by the renewal of your mind" (Romans 12:2). And I set the two ways of walking side by side for them — flesh and Spirit, death and life (Romans 8:5-6).

The situation

These believers at Ephesus had come out from among the nations — from idols, from temple prostitution, from a way of living that was simply the air they breathed. Now they were in Christ, yet still living among neighbors who walked the old way, tempted daily to slide back into it as into a comfortable garment. I write them from prison, chained, wanting them to know that the life they were called into is nothing like the life they left, and must look nothing like it.

The hard question

If God creates this new self (Ephesians 4:24), why must I be commanded to put it on? Does the command not empty the gift? No — hear the passage as it stands. God has made the new self; that is done, that is grace. But you are told to put it on because the new life must be actively worn, chosen, walked in, day upon day. The Spirit's work and your effort are not rivals. God works in you, and therefore you work (Philippians 2:12-13). Do not resolve the tension by dropping either half; the text holds both, and so must you.

This is a small window into what a study room with Paul will hold — word by word, letter by letter, and the maps and journeys behind them. Get notified when it opens →

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