"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."
I know I haven't been keeping up with these Ephesians posts, and I apologize. I skipped a couple passages because I wanted to write about chapter 4 while it was still fresh in my mind.
So what is Ephesians 4 about? You may have noticed that in the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul talks about what Christ has done for us (He chose us, brought us from death to life, reconciled Jew and Gentile). Ephesians 4 now changes gears a bit and talks about what we are to do for Christ. Paul starts off by saying that we are not to be like the Gentiles. The Gentiles were not receptive to God, and hardened their hearts. They sinned against God without feeling any sense of responsibility. At first, it seems like Paul is saying "don't be like this group of people". However, Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians, who were Gentiles. So what Paul is really saying is "don't be like yourselves."
How can someone not be like themselves? The answer is that they have to change. They have to put off their old self. Paul describes the old self in the beginning of the passage; darkened understanding, separated from the life of God, ignorance, etc. In other words, the old self is one that has no regard for God. The old self has no concept of right and wrong, and just does what feels good. The old self has no direction or purpose, and as a result remains separated from true life.
So how does one "put off their old self"? The answer is by putting on the new self. Change doesn't happen by trying to stop being your old self. Change happens when you put on your new self. When you put on your new self, you naturally will put off your old self. It's like changing a tire on your car; there is only room for one tire. You cannot have an old and a new tire on the same axle. In the same way, you cannot be both the new and the old self.
What is the "new self"? We basically already know what the old self is, since we are all naturally sinful and rebellious towards God. Paul says that the new self is one that is "like God in true righteousness and holiness". What? How can we be like God? That is a natural question to ask. The answer is to look at Jesus. How did Jesus live? Paul writes in verses 25-32 about how we are to live, and I noticed that these are all thing Jesus did when He lived. I don't have time to talk about them all, so I encourage you to read the passage on your own. The way to true righteousness is through Christ.
You may think, "no matter how I try, I can never really become a new self". And you would be right. We can never truly become righteous and holy. Only God is righteous and holy. However, we have to remember what Paul said earlier in Ephesians, "He chose us to be holy and blameless". God chose us to be holy and blameless. Why would God give us an impossible task? It's because He gave us the impossible solution; sending His Son to come and die for us. Now, does this excuse us from living a righteous life? Absolutely not. God called us to live according to His Spirit. We must give every effort to put on our new selves, and God will accept our efforts through Christ.
-Smart
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