Sermon Tone Analysis

Today I am continuing my sermon series in Ephesians 4:17-32 that I am calling, “The New Life.”

Ephesians 4:17-32 may be divided into three sections.

In verses 17-19, as we spoke about two weeks ago, the Apostle Paul describes the non-Christian life.

In verses 20-24, our text for today, the Apostle Paul describes the Christian life.

And in verses 25-32, the Apostle Paul teaches Christians what is involved in living the Christian life.

Let’s read about the Christian life in Ephesians 4:20-24, but to give the contrast with the non-Christian life, I am going to begin reading in Ephesians 4:17:

Introduction

With the recent yet not so recent royal wedding in Great Britain, I read an article about etiquette rules that Meghan Markle will need to master, now that she has married into the royal family.

She has married into a dress code that has been in place for hundreds of years.

That means hats during the day, tiaras in the evening, gloves on her hands, and skirts that sit at or below her knees.

Black clothing should be avoided unless she is in mourning or attending a remembrance event.

We know of course Megan has not lived up to such standards and her absence from the royal kingdom is the consequence there of

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians, he wanted them to understand their new life in Jesus Christ.

In contrast to their former, non-Christian life, he wanted them to understand what it meant to “put on,” as it were, the new garment of Christianity.

Over against their non-Christian life that was characterized by emptiness, hardness, darkness, deadness, and recklessness (4:17-19), Paul used three expressions, which described the Christian life.

Lesson

Ephesians 4:20-24 teaches us that Jesus Christ transforms people into new creations.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. Christians Have Learned Christ (4:20) 2. Christians Have Heard Christ (4:21a) 3. Christians Were Taught in Christ (4:21b-24)

1. Christians have learned Christ.

Paul said in verse 20: “But that is not the way you learned Christ!”

The first thing to note is the first word, “But.”

Paul is introducing a contrast.

In verses 17-19, he described the old way of life of these new Ephesian Christians.

He described their non-Christian life.

In contrast to that life, he now says, “But,” and it is very important to pay attention to what comes next as he described their new life in Christ.

Paul was about to introduce the gospel message in his letter.

The second thing to note is that Paul used a figure of speech called “litotes.”

Litotes is an “understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative.”

An example of this is in Romans 1:16 where Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel….”

In other words, Paul was saying that he was tremendously proud of the gospel, he had absolute confidence in the gospel, and he made his boast in the gospel.

Similarly, in our present text, where Paul wrote, “But that is not the way you learned Christ!” he meant that Christians have learned Christ in a way that was completely contrary to their former way of life.

As commentator writes,

“The life of the Christian is not to be something vague and indefinite, not something which is difficult to define, and difficult to recognize.

According to Paul’s teaching, and the teaching of the entire Bible, it is clear-cut and obvious—it stands out, it is perfectly definite, and anybody should be able to recognize it at a glance.”Martyn

Lloyd-Jones

And the third thing to note is that the Greek word for learned (emathete) is in the past tense.

A completed action with continuing results.

Lloyd-Jones writes, “In other words, Christianity is not a vague, indefinite, a kind of feeling or experience; rather it is something which can be defined and described; it is primarily a matter of knowledge….

Christianity is primarily and essentially a matter of knowledge; it is the knowledge to which these people had come.”

But what is so interesting is that these Christians in Ephesus had not merely learned facts or doctrines.

They had learned Christ!

This expression is found nowhere else in the New Testament, nor even in any other pre-biblical document.

So what does it mean to have learned Christ?

Dr. James Montgomery Boice says, “It means that Christians are Christians because they have entered into a personal relationship with the living Lord Jesus Christ.

It is a learning of him that changes them at the deepest possible level.”

And Dr. John Stott says that the Christ whom they learned was “not just the Word made flesh, the unique Godman, who died, rose and reigns.

More than that.

The implication of the context is that we must also preach his lordship, the kingdom or rule of righteousness he ushered in, and all the moral demands of the new life.

The Christ whom the Ephesians had learned was calling them to standards and values totally in contrast with their former pagan life.”

So, first, Christians have learned Christ.

2. Christians Have Heard Christ (4:21a)

Paul wrote in verse 21a, “… assuming that you have heard about him.”

The word “about” is not in the original Greek text.

The verse literally reads, “… assuming that you have heard him.”

The Ephesian Christians most likely had never heard Christ speak in person.

So, what did Paul mean when he wrote, “… assuming that you have heard him.”

Dr. Stott comments, “Paul assumes that through the voice of their Christian teachers, they had actually heard Christ’s voice.

Thus, when sound biblical moral instruction is being given, it may be said that Christ is teaching about Christ.”

Commentator

Kent Hughes puts it this way, “When true preaching takes place, Jesus is invisibly in the pulpit and walking the aisles personally teaching his own.”

If you are a Christian, you have experienced this, haven’t you?

You sit in the worship service, and you listen to the preaching of the Word of God.

And suddenly, it seems as if Christ himself is speaking to you!

This is not mere subjectivity; it is supernatural.

Jesus really is speaking to you and you are hearing him.

Jesus speaks to change the thinking and the lives of his people.

So, first, Christians have learned Christ.

And second, Christians have heard Christ.

And third, Christians were taught in Christ.

Paul wrote in verse 21b, “… and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus.

” What is interesting about this expression is that Paul did not say that they were taught “about him” or “by him.”

Instead, they were taught “in him.”

Dr. Boice writes that “it probably means that Jesus is the atmosphere within which the teaching takes place.

We might say that Jesus is the school, as well as the teacher and the subject of instruction.”

Paul is asserting that only Jesus Christ transforms people into new creations.

And he does so by being the subject, the object, and the environment of the teaching that brings about that transformation.

In other words, to be a Christian is to be all about Christ, as St. Patrick so beautifully put it in the fifth century:

Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me,

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me,

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

The Ephesian pagans became new creations in Christ by having learned Christ, heard Christ, and being taught in Christ.

So, what did this mean for the new Christian life of the Ephesians?

The answer is in verses 22-24.

First, Christians have put off the old self.

Paul wrote in verse 22, “… to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.”

It is important to understand that the words “to put off,” as well as the words “to put on” in verse 24, are in the aorist tense.

That is, these are actions that have taken place in the past.

The parallel passage

in Colossians 3:9–10 makes this clear, “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”

In other words, Paul was not giving a fresh command.

Instead, he was reminding the Ephesian Christians of what had happened to them at their conversion.

They had put off their old self.

They were now new creatures in Christ.

They no longer had an old self, or an old nature.