Ephesians 4.22a-The Gentile Chirstian Community Was Taught to Lay Aside the Old Man
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday August 30, 2025
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:22a-The Gentile Christian Community Was Taught to Lay Aside the Old Man
Lesson # 271
Ephesians 4:22 Each and every one of you as a corporate unit were taught with reference to your former lifestyle to lay aside the old man’s sinful desires, which are being corrupted in accordance with deceitful lust patterns. (Lecturer’s translation)
As noted in our study of Ephesians 4:20, this verse constitutes the apodosis of a first class condition, which indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument. Ephesians 4:21-24 constitutes the protasis of this first class condition.
The contents of Ephesians 4:22-24 explain the contents of Ephesians 4:21.
Therefore, Ephesians 4:22 is continuing the protasis and helps to explain the contents of Ephesians 4:21.
Specifically, Ephesians 4:22-24 explain what the recipients of this epistle were taught about Christ through experience.
Ephesians 4:22 is composed of the following:
(1) infinitival clause: apothesthai hymas kata tēn proteran anastrophēn ton palaion anthrōpon (ἀποθέσθαι ὑμᾶς κατὰ τὴν προτέραν ἀναστροφὴν τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον), “Each and every one of you as a corporate unit were taught with reference to your former lifestyle, to lay aside the old man’s sinful desires” (Lecturer’s translation).
(2) participial clause: ton phtheiromenon kata tas epithymias tēs apatēs (τὸν φθειρόμενον κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης), “which are being corrupted in accordance with deceitful lust patterns” (Lecturer’s translation).
The infinitival clause contains the accusative second personal plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ) whose referent is the recipients of this epistle who Paul describes in Ephesians 2:11 as Gentile Christians.
The word means “each and every one of you as a corporate unit” or “all of you without exception” because it not only refers to them as a corporate unit but is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions and is thus referring to them also as individuals.
The verb apotithemai (ἀποτίθεμαι) is used of the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia, who were the recipients of Ephesians and speaks of “laying aside” like a garment their old man, which is a personification of their indwelling old Adamic sin nature.
This “laying aside” would involve the confession of sin (1 John 1:9) to be restored to fellowship with God and appropriating by faith their union and identification with Jesus Christ in order to maintain that fellowship.
The noun anthrōpos (ἄνθρωπος) refers to the Christian’s old indwelling Adamic sin nature which resides in the genetic structure of their human bodies.
This word is modified by the adjective palaios (παλαιός), which describes the indwelling Adamic sin nature as belonging to the old creation under the authority of the first Adam.
Both were placed under a curse by God as a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to His prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Therefore, these two words refer to the believer’s old Adamic sin nature, which resides in the genetic structure of their physical bodies, which they received at the moment of physical birth through the imputation of Adam’s original sin in the Garden of Eden (Rom. 5:12-21).
This sin nature is the unregenerate nature of the believer, which was crucified, died and buried with Christ.
It is being personified and describes the sin nature or unregenerate nature of the believer as belonging to the old creation under the authority of the first Adam.
Both were placed under a curse by God as a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to His prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Thus, the church age believer’s unregenerate lifestyle was the direct result of making volitional decisions, which obeyed the sinful desires of their old Adamic sin nature.
This expression ton palaion anthrōpon ton (τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν) contains the figure of metonymy which means that the old Adamic sin nature is put for its sinful desires.
The middle voice of this verb apotithemai (ἀποτίθεμαι) is an indirect middle, which emphasizes the volitional responsibility of these Gentile Christians “benefiting themselves” by laying aside like an old worn out garment the sinful desires of their indwelling old Adamic sin nature.
The aorist tense of this verb apotithemai (ἀποτίθεμαι) is not a consummative aorist, which would emphasize the cessation of the act of the identifying the church age believer with Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right than of the Father through the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of justification.
Thus, the consummative aorist would refer to positional sanctification.
However, the context would suggest otherwise.
Thus, I interpret the aorist tense of this verb as a constative aorist, which describes in summary fashion the recipients of this epistle benefiting themselves by laying aside the sinful desires of their indwelling old Adamic sin nature.
The context suggests the aorist tense is speaking of the experiential aspect of the church age believer’s sanctification.
This interpretation is supported by verses 17-21, which are concerned about the church age believer’s lifestyle.
Paul instructs them to reject the pre-justification lifestyle and continue to experience fellowship with Christ by appropriating by faith their union and identification with Him.
Therefore, we can see that the constative aorist tense of this verb apotithemai (ἀποτίθεμαι) is describing in summary fashion the members of the Gentile Christian community laying aside the desires of their old Adamic sin nature by confessing their sins to be restored to fellowship with God and appropriating by faith their union and identification with Christ in order to maintain this fellowship.
This results in an experiential knowledge of Christ.
I interpret the infinitive conjugation of this verb apotithemai (ἀποτίθεμαι) as an infinitive of indirect discourse with an indicative force.
The infinitive conjugation of this verb apotithemai (ἀποτίθεμαι) follows the verb of perception, which is didaskō (διδάσκω), which appears in Ephesians 4:21.
So therefore, the verb didaskō (διδάσκω) thus introduces the indirect discourse and the infinitive conjugation of this verb apotithemai (ἀποτίθεμαι) is the main verb.
The latter represents a finite verb in the direct discourse and stands as the object of the former.
Thus, it identifies what the recipients of this epistle were taught, namely that, with respect to their pre-justification lifestyle, they were to lay aside like an old worn out garment the desires of their old indwelling Adamic sin nature.
This interpretation is supported by the immediate context.
As we noted earlier, Ephesians 4:20 constitutes the apodosis of a first class condition, which indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument.
Ephesians 4:21-24 constitutes the protasis of this first class condition.
The contents of Ephesians 4:22-24 explain the contents of Ephesians 4:21.
Therefore, Ephesians 4:22 is continuing the protasis and helps to explain the contents of Ephesians 4:21.
Specifically, Ephesians 4:22-24 explain what the recipients of this epistle were taught about Christ through experience.
Therefore, Paul is recounting in Ephesians 4:22-24 and reminding the recipients of what they have been taught in the past and not issuing any commands to obey this teaching.
Therefore, since the infinitive conjugation of this verb apotithemai (ἀποτίθεμαι) functions as an infinitive of indirect discourse with an indicative force and follows the verb didaskō (διδάσκω), which appears in Ephesians 4:21, Paul is utilizing the figure of ellipsis here in Ephesians 4:22.
This means that he is deliberately omitting the second person plural aorist passive indicative conjugation of the verb didaskō (διδάσκω), which appears in Ephesians 4:21, though it is clearly implied and thus, I supply this verb in the translation.
As we noted in our study of Ephesians 4:21, the verb didaskō (διδάσκω) is in the passive voice and thus means “to be taught, to be instructed.”
The referent of the second person plural form of this verb is the recipients of this letter, who were Gentile Christian community living throughout the Roman province of Asia and so therefore, this word is not only speaking of the recipients of this letter as a corporate unit but also as individuals.
The aorist tense of the verb didaskō (διδάσκω) is a constative aorist describing in summary fashion the recipients of this letter being taught about Christ to lay aside the sinful desires of their old indwelling Adamic sin nature.
The passive voice of this verb didaskō (διδάσκω) which indicates that the Gentile Christian community as the subject received the action of being taught to lay aside the sinful desires of their old indwelling Adamic sin nature.
Now, in this infinitival clause in Ephesians 4:22, the adjective proteros (πρότερος) refers to the lifestyle of the recipients of this letter before their conversion to Christianity.
The noun anastrophē (ἀναστροφή) refers to the lifestyle of the recipients of the Ephesian epistle prior to their justification.
The adjective proteros (πρότερος) functions as the object of the preposition kata (κατά), which is marker of reference expressing the idea that “with reference to their former lifestyle” these Gentile Christians to whom Paul was writing to were taught to lay aside the sinful desires of their old indwelling Adamic sin nature.
