Ephesians 4.23-Replenishing the Human Spirit or Regenerate Mind
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday September 6, 2025
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:23-Replenishing the Human Spirit or Regenerate Mind
Lesson # 274
Ephesians 4:23 Each and every one of you as a corporate unit were taught to make it your habit of replenishing your human spirit, that is, your regenerate mind. (Lecturer’s translation)
Like Ephesians 4:22, Ephesians 4:23 is composed of an infinitival clause, which presents a contrast with the previous infinitival clause in Ephesians 4:22.
The latter asserts that the recipients of this epistle were taught with reference to their lifestyle as unregenerate people to lay aside the old man’s sinful desires.
The former asserts that they were also taught to make it their habit of replenishing their human spirit, which is their regenerate mind, which is the mind of Christ, which they received at justification through the regeneration performed by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, the contrast is between the church age believer living according to the sinful desires of their old indwelling Adamic sin nature as unregenerate people and that of living according to their new indwelling Christ nature by replenishing their human spirit, namely their regenerate minds.
In Ephesians 4:24, Paul defines this replenishing of their regenerate minds as putting on the new man, which is the nature of Christ who is the head of the new humanity and Colossians 3:10 echoes this infinitival clause in Ephesians 4:23.
In Ephesians 4:23, the verb ananeoō (ἀνανεόω) is used in relation to the church age believer’s mind, and specifically, their regenerate mind, which they received at justification through the regeneration and the baptism of the Spirit and is in fact the mind and nature of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 2:16).
Most modern translations and exegetes interpret this verb to mean “to renew,” which implies restoring from a former state and to change into something new.
In other words, it implies a restoration of what had become faded or disintegrated so that it seems like new.
However, I disagrees because the church age believer has already been changed into something new at the moment of their justification when they were regenerated and identified with Christ.
They received the mind of Christ at regeneration.
Furthermore, the context of Ephesians 4:23 is that of the church age believer experiencing their sanctification and salvation.
This is the direct result of experiencing sanctification or fellowship with God by appropriating by faith one’s union and identification with Christ.
By exercising faith in God’s Word which results in obeying God’s Word, the church age believer experiences their sanctification and salvation or deliverance from sin and Satan.
Therefore, I believe that this verb means “to replenish” in the sense of filling the believer’s human spirit or in other words, their regenerate mind or mind of Christ with power so that it gains greater dominance over their soul than the old Adamic sin nature, i.e., the “old man.”
This empowerment of the new man or Christ nature involves the intake of God’s Word.
It involves the church age believer learning God’s Word, then exercising faith in God’s Word and which faith results in obedience to God’s Word.
Specifically, the believer “replenishes” their human spirit, which is their regenerate mind, by exercising faith in the Spirit inspired Scriptures, which appropriates the Spirit’s omnipotence to obey the various commands and prohibitions in the Spirit inspired Scriptures.
Therefore, this replenishing of the believer’s human spirit, i.e., their regenerate mind requires that the believer obey the command in Ephesians 5:18 to be filled with the Spirit or influenced by the Spirit.
Correspondingly, this replenishing of their regenerate mind requires that the believer obey the command in Colossians 3:16, which required that they let the Word of Christ richly dwell in them.
When the church age believer exercises faith in the Holy Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God, which produces obedience to His commands in Scripture, the believer’s regenerate mind or in other words, their new Christ nature is replenished.
It is replenished in the sense that it is filled with power for the purpose of enabling them to have an experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ and execute the Father’s will to become like His Son.
Now, the present tense of the verb ananeoō (ἀνανεόω) is a customary present, which expresses the idea that the recipients of this epistle were taught to “make it their habit of” replenishing their human spirits, that is their regenerate minds by the agency of the Holy Spirit by obeying the Spirit inspired apostolic teaching of the apostle Paul.
The passive voice of this verb ananeoō (ἀνανεόω) means that the subject receives the action of the verb from either an expressed or unexpressed agency.
In context, the subject is the recipients of the epistle who were the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia.
We noted that the verb’s object is the articular dative neuter singular form of the noun pneuma (πνεῦμα), which as we noted is a reference to the believer’s human spirit.
The unexpressed but implied agency from Ephesians 3:16 is the Holy Spirit since He is the member of the Trinity that replenished the believer’s human spirit through obedience to the Scriptures, which He has inspired.
Therefore, in Ephesians 4:23, the passive voice of the verb ananeoō (ἀνανεόω) means that the church age believer’s human spirit, which is their regenerate mind, which is the mind and nature of Christ, receives the action of being replenished by the Holy Spirit.
He replenishes the new man when the church age believer exercises faith in His teaching in the Word of God which He has inspired.
This faith replenishes the believer’s regenerate mind of Christ in the sense that it empowers this new Christ nature since this post-justification faith in the Spirit inspired Scriptures appropriates the power of the Spirit.
This replenishing of the new man is for the purpose of enabling the church age believer to have an experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ and thus an experiential knowledge of the Father.
Now, like the infinitive conjugation of the verb apotithemai (ἀποτίθεμαι) in Ephesians 4:22, the infinitive conjugation of this verb ananeoō (ἀνανεόω) as an infinitive of indirect discourse with an indicative force.
The infinitive conjugation of both of these verbs follow 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 both of these verbs are the main verbs.
The latter represents a finite verb in the direct discourse and stands as the object of the former.
Thus, in Ephesians 4:22, 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.
However, in Ephesians 4:23, it identifies what the recipients of this epistle were also taught to make it their habit of replenishing their human spirit, which is their regenerate mind, which is accomplished by the Holy Spirit who speaks through the Scriptures, which He has inspired.
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 is recounting 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 ananeoō (ἀνανεόω) in Ephesians 4:23 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 in Ephesians 4:22 and 23.
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.
Thus, as was the case in Ephesians 4:22, this author supplies this verb in the translation of Ephesians 4:23.
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.
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 that with reference to regenerate mind to make it their habit of replenishing by means of the Holy Spirit who speaks through the Scriptures, which He has inspired.
The passive voice of this verb didaskō (διδάσκω) indicates indicates that the Gentile Christian community as the subject received the action of being taught to make it their habit of replenishing their human spirit with the unexpressed but implied agency being the Holy Spirit.
