Paul's Testimony (4:17-24)

Introduction:

As we continue our trek through this glorious epistle that defines for us the riches we have in Christ, but also, what we are to do with what we have been given in Christ, we saw last week the biblical blueprint of how we are to build the church. We were reminded that when Christ ascended on high, he gave his true church very important gifts; gifts that began with the laying of the foundation by the apostles and prophets for his church and then building upon that foundation with the gifts of evangelism, and pastor/teacher.

Since we are in the section of the epistle that details our responsibility for all that Christ has done from eternity past to his present work in building his church, we will look this morning at Paul’s Testimony, not his personal testimony, but a testimony to what we as the mature, Christ-like, members of his body should be doing and how we should be acting. There needs to be more to the body of Christ then just talk, we are commanded to act like who we are. With that as are introduction, let’s turn to Ephesians 4:17-24.

Text: Ephesians 4:17-24

Ephesians 4:17–24 ESV

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.

Main Idea: Because God’s people have been called out by God, they must put away the old life and put on the new life of true holiness.

I. The Way We Were (17-19)

Paul begins by pointing back into the past to remind us who we were before we were called by God, as we look at the...

A. Way of the Gentles (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.

Now (oun [inferential conjunction] - states the conclusion of a previously mentioned matter) - So then or consequently. Links us back to the previous section and particularly, the previous verse:

Ephesians 4:15–16 ESV

15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

this I say and testify (martyromai [pre, mid or pas, ind] - to bear witness: to solemnly assert something, offer first hand authentication of the facts; often concerning grave or important matters) in (en [preposition of location]) the Lord - the credibility of what Paul is about to testify comes from his position in Christ, the Lord.

that you must [no longer (meketi [adverb, negative] - not for any more time)] walk (peripateo [pre, act, inf] - to live or behave in a specified manner; your lifestyle) as the Gentiles (ethnos [noun] - literally, non-Jews, spiritually speaking, outside the covenant of God’s true Israel) do - Paul affirms his Gentile readers, as part of the new creation, that they should no longer live like the original creation Gentles do. In other words, this word when used in scripture apart from God’s covenant community, denotes the world in general that is unregenerate.

Paul, in writing to the Romans, a primarily ethnic Gentile Church, gives them this reassurance that their spiritual ethnicity has changed:

Romans 4:13–16 ESV

13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

Thus, when Paul speaks of the Gentles here, he is speaking of the unregenerate world that they came from. So how are the characterized?...

in the futility (mataiotes [noun] - empty, incapable of producing results) of their minds - brainless with regard to spiritual things. But why are the spiritually brainless?

B. Why of the Gentles (18-19)

(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.

They are - we shall see that they move downward towards the core issue:

darkened (stokoo [per, pas par] - to be stupefied; unwilling to understand) in their understanding (dianoia [noun] - mind; disposition) - unwilling to change there mind; they have no desire to change. Why is that, because they are...

alienated from (apallotrioo [per, pas, par] - estranged, ill-suited for) the life of God - they were born with a life that is naturally not pleasing or suited for godliness. And why is that?...

because of the ignorance (agnoia [noun] without knowledge; unaware of) that is in them - they are even unaware of what they do not know. Not tuned into reality. So what is at the core of all this down progression?...

due to their hardness (porosis [noun] - unwilling to learn; close minded) of heart - at the core of their character of darkness is an unwillingness to learn or know anything outside of theirselves, as if they were the end of all things, the center of their universe, closed up in their little claustrophobic world. This is like a commentary on what Paul declared to the Roman Christians in chapter 1:

Romans 1:18–23 ESV

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For 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. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

What else are they as a result of the hardness of heart?...

(19) They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

They have become callous (apalgeo [per, act, par] - without shame) - they consciences are shut down; there is nothing that restrains them. So we see that they...

have given themselves up to sensuality (aselgia [noun] - unrestrained immorality) - because of their callousness, they feel no shame and indulge in sexual pleasures. And became...

greedy (pleonexia [noun] covetous, wanting more and more) to practice (ergasia [noun] - work that is especially marked by exertion or habit) every kind (pas [adjective] - all sorts of) of impurity (akatharsia [noun] - dirty, foul, and filthy as it can be)

Again we see the outcome in Romans chapter 1:

Romans 1:24–32 ESV

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

While the letter to the Romans shows God as giving Gentiles over to a reckless and wanton life (Rom. 1:24–31), Ephesians presents the same progression from the human side: those who have turned aside “have given themselves up” (v. 19). Similarly, in Exodus, God is said to harden Pharaoh’s heart (Ex. 4:21; 7:3), but Pharaoh also hardens his own heart (Ex. 8:15, 32; 9:34).

Paul says all this by way of remembrance and contrast, as we now look at...

II. The Way We Are (20-22)

A. Learned Christ (20-21)

(20) But that is not the way you learned Christ!—

But (de [conjunction]) - in contrast

not (ou [adverb, negative]) the way (houtos [adverb of manner]) - not the manner

you learned (manthanō [aor, act, ind] - be instructed by; apprentice of; disciple of) Christ!

(21) assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,

[assuming that] (ei ge [conjunction particle] - if indeed)

[you have heard about] (akouo [aor, act, ind] - to learn of become aware of something) him - if indeed you have been made aware of who Jesus Christ is, and further that...

[were taught] (didosko [aor, pas, ind] instructed or trained) in him - if indeed you have been instructed regarding Jesus.

as the truth is in Jesus - for only in Jesus Christ is the truth personified.

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

If indeed the truth regarding Christ was given to you correctly by those responsible for equipping the saints, it goes without much saying that we should be...

B. Putting off the Old (22)

(22) to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,

to [put off] (apotithēmi [aor, mid, inf] - put away or throw off) your old (palaios [adjective] old) self (anthropos [noun] man), - we are called to throw away the remnants of the old man, like divesting yourself of old demolition debris when you are building something brand new.

which belongs to

your former manner of life and - all that belongs to the old, pre-conversion life

is corrupt through deceitful desires - with all its selfish deceitful desires.

Paul makes this clear as he writes to the Roman and Colossian Christians…this process is part of our sanctification.

Romans 6:12–14 ESV

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Colossians 3:5–8 ESV

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

III. The Why We Are (23-24)

A. Renewed in the Spirit (23)

(23) and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

to be renewed (ananeoō [pre, pas, inf]) - to be or become established in a like-new, improved manner. In what are we to be renewed?

in the spirit (pneuma [noun] - immaterial part that controls of emotional disposition) of your minds (nous [noun] - the seat of the faculty of reason)- all renewal beings in the mind; transform the mind and the outward bodily activities will follow. Paul tells us this in Romans 12:

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Therefore, since our minds have been renewed by the equipping process, we are to function as those who have been...

B. Created in God’s Likeness (24)

(24) and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

put on the new self - we do not live in a vacuum, since we are commanded to put off the old (v. 22), that hole created is to be filled with all that is new. Note, that there is no sharing space between the old and new!

created after the likeness of God - notice that this new self is not a renovation of the old self, and that it was not there before the created act of God brought it into being in those who have been born again.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

in true righteousness and holiness - this new creation allows us to live our lives in true holiness.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

So What?

Do we understand that the way the world is today with all of its evil, was the way we once were?

If it were not for the grace of God, we would still be that way.

Do we further realize that we are who we are because we have been transformed by the gospel and equipped to know Christ?

This is solely an act of God, not one of us can brag about where we are and what we know.

Do we final realize that being created anew by God requires us to live a life of holiness without any room for the old self?

Much of what we see in the remaining portion of Ephesians has to do with just that…how we are to live in holiness.