Ephesians 4
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 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; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Colossians 3
9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices.
Since God has done all this, by grace, as we read in the previous verses, therefore we are commanded not to walk in the old way, but in a “manner worthy of which you have been called.” vs 1
vs 17: No longer like the Gentiles (= unbelievers), like they themselves had been in Ephesus.
Phrases to describe old gentile way, the “old life”:
1) FUTILITY
“In the futility of their mind”. “Futility” means without purpose, pointless, empty. Walking in the way the world walks results in living a meaningless life. The things that the Gentiles pursue have no lasting or eternal value. The unworthy life is an empty life. Hear what the Lord said to Jeremiah: “Thus says the LORD, ‘What injustice did your fathers find in Me, that they went far from Me and walked after emptiness and became empty?'” (Jer 2:5). Satan provides temporary content but it always fizzles out. Have you as a believer drifted into emptyness? Walk no longer as the Gentiles do.
2) DARKNESS
“Being darkened in their understanding.” Here again Paul emphasises the condition of the Gentile mind. The unbelieving mind lacks understanding. Unbelievers live in darkness. They are devoid of truth. This is a darkness which is more than the absence of light. It is a darkness of inherited nature but also purposeful decision to choose “darkness rather than the light” (John 1). Darkness can blind one to the light.
3) LIFELESS
“Excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.” Unbelievers lack any true spiritual life or desire to pursue God. Their minds are dark and empty because they do not have the life of God within them. They are completely disconnected from God because of ignorance and a hard heart. Man must be enlightened in order to have eternal life. The things that keep people ignorant are a hard and stubborn heart, an unwillingness to ask for help, to admit need. That is why mankind chooses to live in darkness, avoiding the light.
4) CALLOUSED / GREEDY
The life of the unbeliever is characterised by moral depravity. Without God sex becomes the idol that man worships. The two words “callous” (the inability to feel shame or embarrassment), and “greedy” (a desire to acquire more and more), mark the life that is enslaved in sensuality. As believers we are no longer to be “sensual” but “sensitive” to God’s spirit.
GOD’S ANSWER FOR US: vs 20 to 24: Back to school. We must now learn from Christ. We’ve “heard” been “taught” and now must “walk” in Him.
PUT OFF THE OLD (it grows more corrupt) but PUT ON THE NEW (which is in the likeness of God). Label your sin as God labels it. Name it. Say it with God: Con means “with,” and fess means “to say.” To confess is to say with God what he says about it. Then put it off, treat it with disdain and hatred. And put on the new.
Jesus had to go to the Cross to accomplish this for us. The old life had nothing “redeemable” in it. It had to go right into death.
New behaviour is not a requirement for grace but a result of grace. Christianity is not just about a call to go to heaven but to equip us for life.