49-28 The Way of Christ
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Ephesians 4:20-24
Ephesians 4:20-24
This week I was sitting in my office looking at my calendar (wondering how we’re near the end of May); and noticed the date 2021 (remember when world was supposed to end 2012?). The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar system in the world today. But there are others: Hebrew Calendar year 5781 (Maimonides calculated date of creation—3761 bc). There is a Chinese Calendar that began with the reign of the Yellow Emperor Huangdi—today 4719.
The Xn calendar is established on the approx. year of the birth of JC. Years reckoned before this are BC (before Christ), and after the birth they are AD (anno domini—the year of the Lord).
Its not surprising that JC has become the focal point of history. He is, after all, the central figure of history. Jesus is the dividing mark in history. God’s purposes since the time of creation led up to the incarnation (life, death and resurrection) and all history since then is an expression of what people do with Lord Jesus.
“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Now, for every believer Jesus becomes a point of division in their lives as well. Life for the Xn is markedly different from the moment of conversion—when God regenerates the heart—he is no longer what he used to be.
This is why Paul is adamant that Xns must no longer walk (conduct, lifestyle) as unbelievers (Gentiles—ungodly, w/o God). Your life is altogether different...
Gentiles:
Futile Minds (Empty)
Darkened Understanding
Excluded From Life (ignorance, hard hearts)
Moral Apathy
Each of you are called to walk in the way of Christ. It is the way of holiness/set apart—“other—in a special way” (Sproul).
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Walk then in the way of Christ—following Him. He is the holy and righteous One (Act 3:14).
For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;
Therefore, walk in His steps. Paul will highlight 4 characteristics of the Xn’s walk in Eph 4:20-24. To walk in a manner worthy of your calling (4:1); and no longer as the Gentiles walk (4:17), these vv are essential instruction concerning your conduct/lifestyle. It will answer the question “What is a Xn?”
A Xn Is:
1. A Disciple of Christ
1. A Disciple of Christ
vv20-21a
Having explained the characteristics of the walk of unbelievers, Paul begins “But you did not learn...”
Note: the adversative “but” marks a contrast. Also observe the change from “their, them, they”…to “you, your”
In view of what has already taken place in your life when you were saved…the conduct of unbelievers is not what you learned with regards to Christ.
“learn” manthano —means to gain knowledge or skill by instruction. Sometimes it is simply learning information (trivial). It is used in NT when being taught by someone (God—Jn 6:45; or Paul—Phil 4:9); and to learn doctrine (Rom 16:17).
Here, Paul is speaking about believers learning (not about Christ) Christ Himself. Jesus is the teacher and subject of what is learned. You have entered the school of Christ (which is what every believer has done—at salvation (learn=aorist—at a point in time there was full acceptance of Christ and His work which was expressed in repentance and trust)). To enter this school is what it means to be a disciple (mathetes—noun of same word—learner).
The goal of a disciple of Christ is not simply to gain factual knowledge but to personally learn and thus to know Christ. That was Paul’s objective Phil 3:8. It means to know His mind, heart, desires, purposes, the things that please Him).
trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Now, from the moment you enter the school of Christ—becoming a disciple, you continue to learn Christ who is alive and seated at the Rt hand.
Paul continues vs 21a. “Heard” expresses not physical voice (since that was not true of saints in Ephesus) hearing is related to the preaching of the gospel (like Paul) a necessary component of saving faith (Rom 10:17). Taught—(both aorist) relate to learning and all 3 terms address the disciple who is affected by the person of Christ. Disciples reflect Jesus.
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Vs 21 has a gentle admonition added by Paul: “If indeed” It is the admonition to verify if the statement is true in your life. Paul is not questioning it—1st class condition (assume to be true). But you are the only one who can answer for yourself—have you learned Christ, have you heard the word of Christ (preached to you), have you been taught—these things result in salvation and a lifetime of learning as we follow JC.
2. Established In the Truth
2. Established In the Truth
vs 21b “truth is in Jesus”
Truth is what is to be understood in terms of reality as opposed to what is false, deceptive, fanciful, imaginary, imperfect, and counterfeit. Deception is what characterized the unbelieving Gentiles who lived ignorant of the truth (vs 18—also the old self vs 22). There is contrasted to that “truth” which is in Jesus. He is the embodiment of truth which is the supreme revelation of God. Jesus is the Incarnate Word (Jn 1:1, 14).
in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
The way to God, the truth of God, the life of God can only be encountered thru LJC.
FF Bruce writes: He is, in fact, the only way by which men and women may come to the Father, there is no other way. If this seems offensively exclusive, let it be borne in mind that the one who makes this claim is the incarnate Word, the revealer of the Father. If God has no avenue of communication with mankind apart from his Word . . . mankind has no avenue of approach to God apart from that same Word, who became flesh and dwelt among us in order to supply such an avenue of approach.
The world hates this. It hates that truth and life are found in JC. Like Pilate it thinks it can be clever and invent any truth (What is truth? Jn 18:38)
“The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.
Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.
Xns are established in the truth. 2 Cor 11:10 “the truth of Christ is in me” It is in you—Xns!
You know the truth/what is true: your minds have been awakened to understand Him. John doesn’t want any believer to be misled by something that isn’t truth.
And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
Idolatry replaces the true God with something that is false, counterfeit. Jesus is truth/true God…you are established, strengthened, anchored in Christ (Eph 4:14).
3. Crucified with Christ
3. Crucified with Christ
vs 22
I borrowed this heading from Paul
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Reference to the “old man/self” is set in contrast to “new self” (24). It is important to understand what is meant by that expression since there is much debate regarding the subject. There are many who believe that at salvation Xns receive a new self but also keep the old self. Salvation would then be an addition to the old rather than a transformation. The old man is the natural man dominated by sin/depraved nature (unable to help himself). It is the unregenerate self, the former manner of existence in Adam. All men are either in Adam or In Christ.
Paul told the Roman church:
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
5:17—b/c of the transgression of one man (Adam) death reigned
5:18—thru 1 transgression all were condemned
5:19 thru 1 man’s disobedience many were made sinners.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
Paul refers to “old” self which means worn out, decrepit, useless. He says your former manner of life was corrupt and corrupting (rotten/polluted) since it was driven by the lusts of deceit. The old self pursued a life where fulfillment of natural desires is all that is necessary for human life. You see this in the world today. Hedonism is rampant—pursuit of pleasure as the ultimate end. Scripture says it is a lust of deceit—an illusion and contrary to the truth that is in Jesus.
Here in Eph 4 Paul the term Paul uses of laying aside the old self (AAInf—same with “put on”) shows that the old self has been crucified (put to death) in the believer and is no longer a present identity for a Xn. At the moment of your salvation (what you learned of Christ) your old self was laid aside (like taking off old, worn out clothes). It is no longer part of your existence.
Paul says similarly:
Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
Commentator Lenski “The old man is not converted, he cannot be; he is not renewed, he cannot be. He can only be replaced by the new man.”
The believer does not have an old self in addition to the new self. That would suggest that the Xn in only half regenerated. He only has the new self since the old was put to death.
Now, every Xn still wrestles with the flesh which is very much part of his existence. The flesh is not the old man. It is the unredeemed part of your humanity that is waiting for the fulness of redemption. It explains why you continue to struggle against sin and temptation. And you must put to death the deeds of the flesh (Rom 8:13).
But for Paul in Eph—the old self was already laid aside (at salvation) so why would you continue to walk according to your former manner of life? We used to be that way..but no longer.
For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
4. A New Creation
4. A New Creation
vv 23-24
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
The new self has replaced the old. The new self is the regenerate self, united with Christ, who replaces the old man. For you who trust JC for salvation—this is where Jesus becomes the line of division b/t old and new. It marks a transformation not a reformation. God does not reform, renovate the old self into the new…he puts the old to death (with Christ) and creates something new. The word “new” is kainos not referring to chronologically new (new in point of time) but new in quality opposed to the old which is worn out. It is new in quality precisely b/c it is patterned after the holy and righteous nature of God—that is His character and it also becomes the new self put on the believer (at salvation).
Righteousness is your behavior toward fellow man and holiness is your attitude toward God. you can’t be holy in your character toward God while unrighteous in your dealings with others.
Harry Ironside tells this story:
In the Heavenlies: Practical Expository Addresses on the Epistle to the Ephesians Lecture XVII: The Walk of the New Man (Eph. 4:17–24)
A man got up in a meeting one day and said, “I want to tell you that I am standing in Christ on redemption ground.” Another man arose and said, “I want to call that man down. He says he is standing in Christ on redemption ground. I do not believe a word of it. He is standing in a pair of shoes he bought from me months ago, and he has not paid for them yet.”
The new self is not the old and does not follow the way of the world: Speaking of the way of the world:
Barclay “In the world outside the Church, Paul saw three terrible things. He saw human hearts so turned to stone that they were not even aware that they were sinning; he saw people so dominated by sin that all sense of shame was lost and decency forgotten; he saw men and women so much at the mercy of their desires that they did not care whose life they injured and whose innocence they destroyed as long as these desires were satisfied. These are exactly the sins of the Christless world today, sins that can be seen invading life at every point and stalking the streets of every great city.”
Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians (p. 177). Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press.
That was the old self—but it is not you O! Xn. Those things passed away and new things have come. In keeping with that Paul highlights what is an on-going process in the life of every believer today...”be renewed...” (vs 23). This word is found only here in NT and has the idea of becoming young—renewal, reformation of the spirit of the mind. This is a process of change that begins at salvation and continues thru your earthly existence.
Wuest’s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament Chapter Four
‘The change is not in the mind psychologically, either in its essence or in its operation; and neither is it in the mind as if it were a superficial change of opinion on points of doctrine or practice: but it is in the spirit of the mind; in that which gives mind both its bent and its material of thought. It is not simply in the spirit as if it lay there in dim and mystic quietude; but it is in the spirit of the mind; in the power which, when changed itself, radically alters the entire sphere and business of the inner mechanism’ (Eadie).”
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
This renewal takes place by the agency of the HS (Tit 3:5) and always in accordance with divine truth (never apart from it). This is why there is strong admonition to be people of the Word.
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
“And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Paul stated that the church is built on the foundation of teaching of apostles and prophets. You have the cornerstone (JC)—a sure foundation by which your old thoughts and attitudes are replaced by new thoughts and attitudes.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Wrap It Up
One of the first conditions Jesus gave His disciples was to deny self, take up cross and follow Him (Lk 9:23). He told them in no uncertain terms that they needed to be no more of the world than He was. It was essential to be all in…so to speak.
John 6:59-66
The gospel (message of the cross) is a stumbling block to many people today. People are prone to basically trust themselves and are offended when they are told they can do nothing to make themselves right before God. Jesus was using the imagery of eating and drinking flesh/blood—it is a difficult statement b/c it required absolute surrender of self and the total embrace of LJC (including His demands)
Barclay “here we come upon a truth that re-emerges in every age. Time and again it is not the intellectual difficulty of accepting Christ which keeps men from becoming Xians; it is the height of Christ’s moral demand. Any honest thinker will accept the mystery…to this day many a man’s refusal of Christ comes, not b/c Christ puzzles and baffles his intellect but b/c Christ challenges and condemns his life.”
This is why so many reject Christ today. Charles Simeon (English minister D. 1836):
“And what is it that at this day forms the principal ground of offence against the Gospel? It is the purity and radicalness of its precepts. If only we would leave men at liberty to indulge their corrupt desires and to retain their earthly and sensual dispositions, they might listen to us. But, if we require from our hearers the mind that was in Christ Jesus, and a conformity to His heavenly example and holy precepts--we put a stumbling-block before them which they fall over to their eternal ruin! They cannot, they will not endure to hear of such requisitions; and on account of their aversion to such restraints, they reject the Gospel altogether.”
You are called to a holiness. A holiness (Heb 12:14-sanctification) without which you cannot see the Lord…to walk no longer as Gentiles b/c of the work accomplished in you by LJC. Your life b/f Christ and “in Christ” is different. You are new…righteous and holy but not perfectly righteous and holy. This radical transformation of your salvation must be understood to know then how to live the holy life Christ has called you to. The rest of Eph is devoted to the practical exhortations to holiness—walking the way of Christ.