In Eph. 4:20-24 Paul explains why we must not live our lives like the pagans. He describes coming to Christ with 3 word pictures: We are dealing with the first point in this devotional article.
Changing Clothes–Take Off and Put On-Eph. 4:22-24
In this section Paul uses three infinitives: (ESV)
- To Put Off
- To Be Renewed
- To Put On
Paul’s words in Col. 3:8-10 might help us understand the text we are dealing with.
8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Once we have put on Christ in baptism, have our sins forgiven, and received the Gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), we must live differently since we are serving Jesus now. When we put on Christ, we put on a new person. It’s like when we buy a whole new wardrobe because we have lost so much weight our old clothes do not fit. We want to show off our new self. It’s the same with the new Christian; we should want to live a new, different life than we had in order to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. (2 Peter 3:8)
Larry Miles is Co-Editor of Word and Work and attends Cherry St. Church of Christ in New Albany, IN.