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Ephesians 4:17-24
Paul has shown the believers all that God has done for them, through Christ. He has revealed to them the
purpose that God has for the true church, and revealed to them the unique design of the church, the Body of
Christ.
The members of the Body of Christ are one with each other, and one with their heavenly Head, Christ,
through the unity of the Spirit. And through the diverse graces distributed to each member of the Body,
believers are enabled for their particular ministry.
But ultimately, their ministry is all the same the ministry of the Holy Spirit and what is that? To
reconcile men to God. Equipped and empowered for that ministry, the Body of Christ edifies itself; it
grows, as the Lords adds to the church daily those who are being saved (Acts 2:47).
And how does the Body of Christ edify itself (at the end of verse 16)? In love. All is done out of love for
the Master; out of love for the brethren; out of love for those who are perishing. All must be done in
submission to God, who is Love so that His love can flow through us, out to those who so need to be
loved.
As we continue with Pauls letter, well see that he returns to his subject which we find at the beginning of
chapter 4, before he began to write about how the members of the Body work together. After Paul had
prayed for the believers, he beseeched them to walk worthy of the calling with which they were called;
worthy of their high calling as sons of God.
Paul had begun to show the believers what was required in order to walk that way qualities that promoted
their unity in the Spirit because this walk is not one that we walk alone; we walk together (Gal 5:25).
Having shown believers how to walk worthy, Paul will now contrast this idea with how the believers are
not to walk; they are not to walk as the Gentiles walk.
Well read this passage together first.
[Read Ephesians 4:17-24]
So Paul began with a description of how the unregenerate Gentiles walk; members of the Body of Christ
are not to walk that way. Then Paul lays out how the different walk to which they have been called is
actually accomplished the walk worthy of their calling. And as we continue in Pauls letter over the next
few weeks, well see that he specifically cites certain works the unfruitful works of darkness (Eph 5:11)
in which members of the Body of Christ are no longer to participate.
Lets go back to verse 17. We come to another of Pauls therefores. Because members of the Christs
Body are to walk worthy of their calling, they must, for this reason, no longer walk as the Gentiles walk
the rest of, or other is not in the oldest manuscripts; its just Gentiles.
Remember Paul was speaking to members of the Body of Christ where there is neither Jew, nor Gentile
(Gal 3:28). So they were not to walk as the Gentiles walk and by the description which follows, we
understand Paul was referring to the pagan Gentiles.
Why was Paul particularly citing the pagan Gentiles, and not the Jews, here? Because this letter was being
circulated among the assemblies in the Roman province of Asia. Most of the members of those assemblies
were idolatrous Gentiles, in their former manner of life.

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In addition, the Asian assemblies were still surrounded by that culture; they were exposed to it, immersed in
it, on a daily basis. Believers are still in the world, thought they are not to be of it (Jn 17:15-16); and for
these believers, their world was pagan.
So Paul was exhorting them, in the strongest terms possible he was testifying, witnessing to them, in the
Lord not to walk as those pagan Gentiles walk. And then Paul described just how Gentiles walk.
In Scripture, the walk refers to the conduct. So how do the Gentiles conduct themselves (at the end of
verse 17)? In the futility of their mind. Futility means vanity, or worthlessness. This does not
mean that their minds were empty; it just means that all of their thinking was worthless; it was without any
true value.
Their minds could not accomplish any good purpose; their minds did not truly benefit themselves, or
others; their minds were, in fact, destructive, to themselves and to others. Their minds were aimless,
hopeless, and reckless.
And why were their minds without any worth (beginning of verse 18)? Due to their understanding being
darkened. The mind of the pagan Gentile could take in and process information, but it had no
understanding of the true significance of what it was sensing; that mind had no concept of the spiritual
realities.
It was not a mind devoid of knowledge in fact, theyre always learning and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth (2 Tim 3:7). Without the light of wisdom, the mind of the pagan Gentile could not
understand what anything truly meant. Of course, this whole description fits every unregenerate man; but
Paul specifically has the pagan Gentiles in view here.
And why was their understanding darkened (continuing in verse 18)? Because the Gentiles were alienated
from the Life of God; they were strangers to it. This refers to the Life of which God is the source and the
author Life Everlasting, as a son of God.
The pagan Gentiles were not Gods children, and so did not possess His Life the Life of which the Holy
Spirit has been given by God to His children (Gal 4:6), as a guarantee (Eph 1:13-14). The Holy Spirit is the
teacher, who guides Gods children into all truth (Jn 16:13).
It is the Spirit who brings the Light of understanding to the mind of believers, to enlighten them to the true
value of things to see things as God sees them. Apart from the Spirit revealing the spiritual realities to a
man, the man cannot have any genuine understanding; and so the pagan Gentiles remained in the dark.
In verse 18, Paul cites two reasons why the Gentiles were alienated from the Life of God. First, Paul says,
it is because of the ignorance that is in them. The word for ignorance means want of knowledge.
Here it is specifically referring to the fact that the pagan Gentiles did not know God; thats the critical
ignorance that is in them.
Secondly, Paul says that they were alienated from the Life of God because of the blindness of their heart.
Blindness actually means hardness in the Greek; it is something petrified; like petrified wood, which is
stone. Here it is referring to hardness of heart; insensitivity.
The heart of the pagan Gentiles was insensitive to the Spirits wooing through the gospel. They refused to
acknowledge that they were sinners; refused to believe that they needed a Savior; and so they remained
ignorant to God, and a stranger to the Life that He offered them, through faith in His Christ.

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What we see here is that Paul is tracing the futile mind of the pagan Gentiles back to it source: a heart that
is hard toward God, that refuses to recognize Him the heart of every unregenerate man. Because of
shutting out His Life and Light, the pagan Gentile remained dead in trespasses and sins, completely and
only subject to his own dark thoughts.
Having shown the effect of this hardness of heart on the thinking, Paul next shows the resulting effect of a
hard heart on the lives of the unregenerate Gentiles.
When a person hardens their heart, refusing the conviction of the Holy Spirit concerning their sin, what
happens? Their thinking is, I am not a sinner; what Im doing is not sin. Therefore, they become
increasingly complacent about their sin.
This is what Paul indicates next, as the natural consequence of their hard-hearted resistance to the Holy
Spirit. In verse 19, Paul describes the pagan Gentiles as being past feeling. This is one compound Greek
word which literally means deprived of feeling pain. It means to grow or become insensible; in this
context, insensible to shame.
What Paul is saying is that because the pagan Gentiles had hardened their heart to God, they no longer were
even feeling the prick of their own conscience, concerning sin.
Now, the conscience is something which God has implanted within every man; its wired into his mind.
The conscience bears witness to the man of Gods standard of righteousness and when the man is in
violation of that standard. The Holy Spirit will often work through the conscience to convict a man of his
sin.
Paul wrote of the conscience in his letter to the assembly in Rome. Turn to Romans chapter 2. Keep your
place there; well be looking at chapter 1 shortly. Paul had written concerning the unrighteous acts of the
Gentiles, and the self-righteous acts of the Jews and that both would be subject to Gods wrath.
[Romans 2:11-15]
v. 11-12 sinned without the Law the Gentiles; sinned in the Law the Jews.
v. 13 this is a statement to the Jews when Paul is speaking to Jews about doing the Law, he is meaning to
believe into the One pictured in the ceremonial Law Jesus in order to be justified (Gal 3:23-24).
v. 14-15 The written Law was given to the Jews; they referred to the Gentiles as the lawless Gentiles,
meaning that they were without the Law. But Paul is showing that this really wasnt so.
The Gentiles had the law of God written in their hearts; God wires it into every man. The conscience acts
as an inner judge, bearing witness to Gods righteousness, showing men when their own thoughts and
actions do not measure up to Gods standard.
Its like a courthouse within the mind; the thought or action is brought to trial, and measured against the
standard of Gods law; accusations are made, a defense is mounted we have all experienced the twinge of
our conscience condemning us, and our own mind trying to rationalize our thought or action.
[Return to Ephesians]

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So what Paul is referring to in verse 19 is the insensitivity of the unregenerate Gentiles to the accusations of
their own conscience, which is bearing witness within them to Gods standard of righteousness. How does
this insensitivity come into existence?
It begins with hardening the heart to God; refusing to agree with God concerning sin, as the Holy Spirit is
attempting to convict a sinner. This leads to the sinner rationalizing his sin, and to complacency concerning
his sin.
And as the sinner continues to violate his conscience over and over, after a while, he no longer hears the
accusations; he no longer experiences any twinges of pain concerning his sin. In his second letter to
Timothy, Paul writes that the unregenerate have their own conscience seared with a hot iron (2 Tim 4:2), a
vivid picture of the sinners insensitivity to his conscience.
With a seared conscience, the unregenerate Gentiles pursued their sins without restraint; they gave
themselves over to them. Mankind is never satisfied by sin, and in continuing to find fulfillment, they
become abandoned to sin; it becomes their way of life.
Paul records here the sin which best characterized the pagan world of his day: sexual immorality.
Lewdness here refers to sexual excess; the insatiable desire for pleasure, without any restraint. It is
sexual vice that throws off all restraint and flaunts itself, unhampered by shame or fear, without regard for
the rights and feelings of others, or for public decency.
Uncleanness again points to this depraved, licentious conduct; with greediness is used in the Greek to
modify uncleanness, and so here it has the meaning of sexual indulgence at others expense.
I want to expand Pauls profile here of the pagan Gentiles through his letter to the Roman assembly, so that
you can get a fuller view of just how the pagan Gentiles walked. Lets return to Romans, to chapter 1.
Verse 18 begins Pauls description of the Gentiles, who refused Gods revelation of Himself to them.
[Romans 1:18-32]
v. 18-19 Notice in verse 19 that Paul says what may be known of God is manifest in men; specifically,
Gentiles here. What is in men, that bears witness to God? The conscience; that inner witness that God has
implanted into every man. By the conscience, man can begin to know God, through His standard of
righteousness.
But what did Paul say in verse 18? That men suppress the truth in unrighteousness; that is, they hold it
down. The Gentiles resisted the witness of their conscience to the righteousness of God. But God had
another witness.
v. 20 In this verse, the Godhead does not refer to the persons of God, but to the attributes of God; His
divine nature and qualities. One of these, Paul lists for us: eternal power.
Paul is saying that this attribute of God, and others, can be clearly seen; how? These qualities are
understood by the things that are made; that is, by Gods creation.
Creation bears witness to God. Scientific research, when viewed accurately and objectively, conclusively
demonstrates that the universe had to be created by a personal, self-existent, preexistent, all-powerful, allknowing being, who transcends His creation.

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In addition to this, God gave mankind a record which He planted within His creation that has incredible
detail and accuracy, revealing His plan for mankind. This is known as the gospel in the stars (Job 38:32).
Within all cultures that have studied the stars, the record of stars names can still be found which all give the
same revelation of the Coming Christ, and His work to redeem mankind (Ps 19:1). That leaves all men
without excuse; God has revealed Himself to them.
v. 21 Knew here means knew of; the Gentiles knew of God, because He had revealed Himself to them.
But the Gentiles would not acknowledge God to be God. Here we come across the same phrase that Paul
used in Ephesians 4:17. They became futile in their thoughts; worthless thoughts. And their foolish hearts
were darkened; they did not have the Holy Spirit to enlighten them.
v. 22-23 Meanwhile, the Gentiles began to acquire knowledge on their own and what was their source?
The spirit of this world. The Greek word for fools is where we get the word, moron. That is moronic,
isnt it? to change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image like corruptible man and animals.
Besides the many animals that man has literally come to worship as God, and besides worshipping himself,
this verse reflects what man did with the witness in the stars. Think of Babel, with its ziggurats and
worship of the host of heaven. Think of the Greeks, the Romans, and the mythological stories they
attached to the gospel in the stars. Think of astrology today. What a dishonor to our God.
v. 24-25 What else could God do? The Gentiles had abandoned God; perverted His revelation of Himself.
They had exchanged the truth of God for a lie that they could be a god unto themselves and so God had
to leave them to what they themselves had chosen; a life without Him aimless, hopeless, reckless.
Three times in the remainder of the chapter, Paul writes God gave them up in verse 24, to uncleanness,
qualified here as a dishonoring of their bodies; then in verse 26, God gave them up to vile passions; and in
verse 28, to a debased mind.
The first two pertain to the lust of the flesh; the last, the lust of the mind. Were just going to read through
this catalog of the Gentile sins, to get a sense of the conduct of Gentile society, in Pauls day.
v. 26-27 This is clearly referring to homosexuality; sexually transmitted diseases are certainly a penalty of
that sin, which they have received.
v. 28 A debased mind in this context means one that is abominable; abhorrent to both God and man. The
works of the debased mind follow. In verse 29, sexual immorality is not in the oldest manuscripts. Think
of these things as in the Gentile mind of that day. But we see that mind in our day, dont we?
v. 29-32 Now, let me just point out that Paul follows this chapter with a condemnation of the Jews, who
looked down their nose at the Gentiles in judgment, all the while doing the same things (Rm 2:1). As
mentioned before, both come under the condemnation of a righteous God; there is no partiality with Him
(Rm 2:11).
[Return to Ephesians]
That gives us a little more of a portrait of how the pagan Gentiles conducted themselves. But Paul doesnt
catalog the sins of the Gentiles here, as in his letter to the Romans; he only lists one representative sin,
here. Why? Because Paul is not intent here on bringing out the heinousness of the Gentiles sin.

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What Paul wants to show is how the Gentiles walk; how they conduct themselves; what causes them to do
what they do. Look back at verse 17. What I want you to notice is that there is a progression here; a
process. Paul begins with the inner man with his mind. Then Paul progresses to the outer man; the acts
done in the body.
Paul is saying that the walk, the conduct begins in the thinking; as a man thinks in his heart, so is he (Prov
23:7). This concept will be particularly important for Pauls readers to absorb so that they dont walk as
the Gentiles walk.
Remember that Pauls readers were those pagan Gentiles at one time. And Paul has already described them
in this letter. Turn back to chapter 2.
[Ephesians 2:1-3]
Were looking here at verses 1-3. We have you and we in this passage; you Gentiles; we Jews. But
when Paul says we in verse 3, he says also in addition to you Gentiles. So we can take this entire
section as pertaining to the Gentiles.
v. 1 The Gentile believers were dead in trespasses and sins, because all sinned in Adam.
v. 2 They walked according to the course of the pagan Gentile world part of Satans world system. As
sons of Adam, they were sons of disobedience.
v. 3 Jew and Gentile alike lived for the fulfillment of the lust of their flesh, and the lust of their minds.
They were all under the condemnation of a holy God.
Now skip down to verse 11.
[Ephesians 2:11-12] You can see the similarity of this description to our passage in Ephesians 4. The
believers were pagan Gentiles.
[Return to Ephesians 4]
So this was the walk of the Gentile believers to whom Paul wrote; and Paul said they should no longer walk
that way. The question is, how do they do that how do they stop walking that way? Paul will tell them.
v. 20-21 We have But YOU its emphatic. In contrast to the pagan Gentiles, the believers have learned
Christ. Notice the emphasis here in these two verses on learning; on being taught the truth.
Because they are in Christ, these believers have been redeemed and reconciled to God and they have been
given an eternal inheritance. But being in Christ does not mean that they are given new conduct; they are
not given a new walk.
That is something that they must choose for themselves; to walk that way, moment by moment; step by
step. That is something the believer must learn (Mt 11:28-30); it requires new thinking.
In verse 20, Paul does not say You have not so learned about Christ. What does he say? You have not so
learned Christ. What does it mean to learn Christ? Notice Paul is using the title of Jesus here Christ
emphasizing His work.

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The Christ is the Anointed One; the One chosen of the Father for the work of redeeming mankind. Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and He was buried; and He rose again the third day, according
to the Scriptures (1 Cor 15:3-4). To learn Christ is to learn His work through personally experiencing it
through union with Him.
Pauls statement in verse 21 is not meant as an expression of generalized doubt about his readers. This is
simply another reflection of the fact that Pauls letter was intended to be circulated among assemblies
which he had not visited.
Paul recognized that some of those listening to his letter may not have heard Him, speaking of Christ;
they may not yet have heard and responded the gospel; they may not have been taught in (not by) Christ;
taught in the basic tenets of the faith.
Notice how Paul then says, as the truth is in Jesus; He changes from Christ, to His personal name here,
emphasizing his humanity. What is the truth that is in Jesus? It is Jesus as the Seed Grain, who came down
to the earth and died in order to bring forth much fruit everlasting Life for all mankind (Jn 12:24).
Paul expresses the truth that is in Jesus in a very particular way here, in verses 22-24. Although the verb
form that begins verses 22, 23 and 24 is the imperative in the English translation it reads like a command
they are actually infinitives in the Greek, and the construction links each of them with the end of verse
21.
The idea might be rendered, The truth in Jesus is that you put off . be renewed . put on. Instead of
Paul telling them to do these things, he is simply saying the truth in Jesus are these things. Lets read them
through again.
v. 21b-24 Thats the truth in Jesus. So what does Paul mean? Concerning their former conduct as pagan
Gentiles Paul is saying, the truth in Jesus is that you put off the old man.
Who is the old man? Adam. They were born sons of Adam, sons of disobedience; Adam was their old
man. They are to put him off. How do they do that? By faith. The aorist tense means that this is a onetime putting off of the old man; it reflects a complete break with the past.
The new man in verse 24 corresponds to this. The truth in Jesus is that you put on the new man. Who is
the new man? Christ. And how do they put Him on? By faith. Again, the tense is the aorist; this is a onetime putting on of the new man, Christ; and then He has been put on, forever.
And the fact is, for the believer, this one time act of putting off the old man and putting on the new man has
already been accomplished. When did this occur? The moment he believed.
In that moment, God took him out of Adam out from that condemnation under which he was born - and
put him into Christ, a new creation. Through faith, the believer has made a total break with the past, and
now has a completely new life, in Christ.
Paul presented this truth in Jesus a little differently in his letter to the Roman assembly. Turn to Romans
chapter 6. The truth in Jesus is found there also, as the One who for our sake was crucified, buried and
then rose again.
[Romans 6:3-11]

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v. 3 Through baptism into Christ, we were united with Him in His death.
v. 4 We should walk in newness of life in a glorified body, like unto our Lords.
v. 5-6 Again, our old man was Adam. This corresponds to the putting off of the old man a one-time act.
Our old man was crucified with Christ once so that the body of sin could be rendered inoperative; now
Sin should no longer have mastery over us.
v. 7 Having died with Christ, were freed from the Master, Sin.
v. 8-10 It was a one-time death, and now He is alive unto God, forever more.
v. 11 Through our union with Christ, we also died to sin; we also are alive unto God, forever more. We
need to reckon on this; to consider it so, because it is the truth that is in Jesus. To be alive to God in Christ
Jesus our Lord is to have put on the new man a one-time action, accomplished by believing into Jesus.
[Return to Ephesians 4]
In verse 22, we see that the old man Adam grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. Lusts are the
passions and pleasures of the world. They are deceitful in that they seem as if they will lead to joy and
gain, but do they? No; thats just an illusion.
Instead, lusts lead further and further down the path to destruction. Their promises are empty its a
deception while their influence is corrupting. And meanwhile deceitful lusts cause the heart to become
harder and harder (Heb 3:13). What a horrible picture to grow in corruption. Thats how unregenerate
men walk.
In contrast to this, we have verse 23: the truth in Jesus is to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Now
unlike the aorist tense of the verbs in verses 22 and 24, which means a one-time act, be renewed is in the
present tense here, indicating continuous action; the believers are to be continuously renewed in the spirit
of their mind.
Notice how this thought is sandwiched between the thoughts of putting off the old man, and putting on the
new man. The idea here is that the believer has already put off Adam, and put on Christ; but the believers
mind must be renewed, moment by moment, circumstance by circumstance, step by step of his walk, in
order for the truth that is in Jesus to be made real in the living of His life in order for him to walk worthy
of the calling with which he was called.
The spirit of the mind here is not the Holy Spirit, but mans spirit, which now has the Light of the Holy
Spirit, and can enlighten the mind as to Gods thinking.
The Greek word for renewed is unique. The Greek has two adjectives for new kainos, which means
new in a qualitative way new in the sense of different; and neos, meaning new in the sense of young. The
word for renewed here is derived from neos, and means to make young. This seems like a peculiar
choice of word for what Paul is saying, until we carefully think it through.
Paul has just written about the corrupting influence of lusts in their former manner of life; the pursuance of
lusts caused them to grow more and more corrupt. But now, as Christ Ones, the believers have a new
influence in their lives the Holy Spirit.

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The Holy Spirit will lead them into all truth (Jn 16:13), sharing Gods thinking with them. And as they
choose to make Gods thinking their own thinking, the believers will have their thinking renewed; they will
be rejuvenated in the spirit of their minds, reversing that corrupting, decaying influence that sin has had in
their lives.
The outward man is perishing; but the inward man is being renewed day by day (2 Cor 4:16) that is,
having his thinking changed, which causes his corrupt mind to be rejuvenated. This is another view of the
process of sanctification, where the believer is set more and more apart from the world, and more and
more apart to God. By the Spirit, the believer puts to death the deeds of the body, and he Lives (Rm 8:13).
Having put on the new man, Christ, the believer is now a new creation; created according to God, in true
righteousness and holiness. Pauls letter to the Colossian assembly makes it clear that when Paul says here
created according to God, the implication is that the new creation is in the image of God.
Turn to Colossians chapter 3. This part of Pauls letter closely parallels our passage in Ephesians 4.
[Colossians 3:1-11]
v. 1-4 Notice how Paul writes here, you were raised with Christ, viewing the glorification of the body as
an accomplished act; because it is part of Gods eternal plan, as good as done; and we enter into that eternal
plan, by faith.
Paul emphasizes the mindset here. Since we have died out of Adam, and our glorified bodies are hidden
with Christ in God they are reserved in heaven for us (1 Pet 1:4) we are to set our minds there that is
where we are to live, by faith. Thats what it is to walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16); a sanctified walk, which
prepares us for when Christ returns to take us to our heavenly home.
In light of this truth that they have died out of that old creation in Adam the believers in Colosse were to
live accordingly.
v. 5-7 When Paul says put to death your members which are on the earth, he is speaking about not using
the members of their bodies as instruments of unrighteousness. What follows are some of the typical sins
of the pagan Gentile society sins they themselves used to practice.
v. 8-11 Notice that Paul says that they have done this put off the old man, and put on the new man; it was
accomplished the moment they believed; now they are to appropriate it, by faith.
They have put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge. This word for renewed is the more typical
word, meaning new in the sense of different; they are to change their thinking an ongoing process is
reflected.
This change is according to the image of Him who created them a new man in Christ that is, they are to
have Gods thinking; they are to have the mind of Christ for they are no longer Gentiles in the flesh, but
members of Christs Body He is all, in all. Then God will have His purpose fully accomplished sons of
God, in His image holy as He is holy.
[Return to Ephesians]

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10

The new man, created in the image of God, is genuinely righteous and holy. Righteousness here is
speaking of the responsibilities of a man to their fellow men. Holiness here refers to a mans
responsibilities to God.
Because the new man is renewed in the spirit of his mind, Gods thoughts are his thoughts; therefore, his
ways are Gods ways. The new man walks rightly both with God and man; he has a walk worthy of his
high calling, as a son of God. And next week, well see Paul continue to specifically describe just what this
walk looks like.
Next week: Read Col 3:1-17, James 3:1-12