The Cosmic Wardrobe Change Text: Ephesians 4:17-24
Introduction: The War for Your Mind
We live in an age that prides itself on its open-mindedness, but it is an open-mindedness that has led directly to a profound emptiness of mind. The apostle Paul, writing two thousand years ago, diagnosed the terminal condition of the secular project with terrifying accuracy. He calls it "the futility of their mind." This is not a description of low intelligence. The pagans of Paul's day were brilliant, just as the pagans of our day are. They build empires, write philosophies, and create stunning art. But it is all futile. It is a car engine, exquisitely engineered, revving at ten thousand RPM, but the transmission is shot and it is not connected to the wheels. There is a great deal of noise and smoke, but it is going nowhere. It is vanity, a chasing after the wind.
The central conflict in the world is not ultimately between political parties or economic systems. The central conflict is between two ways of thinking, two fundamental approaches to reality. It is the antithesis between the mind of the old man, darkened and alienated from God, and the mind of the new man, created in the likeness of God. Paul is not giving us a list of helpful tips for self-improvement. He is not telling us to turn over a new leaf. He is commanding a fundamental, supernatural, worldview revolution. He is telling us that to be a Christian is to learn how to think again from the ground up. It is to undergo a complete mental renovation. This passage is a declaration of war against the thought-patterns of the fallen world, and a summons to put on the mind of Christ.
What Paul describes here is the choice before every one of us. Will we continue to walk in the intellectual and moral darkness of the Gentiles, a path that spirals downward into corruption? Or will we embrace the radical transformation that comes from being taught by Christ Himself? This is not about adding a religious component to your life. This is about a complete wardrobe change, from the grave clothes of Adam to the resurrection garments of Jesus Christ.
The Text
Therefore this I say, and testify in the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their mind, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you heard Him and were taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, to lay aside, in reference to your former conduct, the old man, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new man, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
(Ephesians 4:17-24 LSB)
The Anatomy of a Futile Mind (vv. 17-19)
Paul begins with a solemn charge, a testimony in the Lord. This is not his personal opinion; this is an apostolic command rooted in the authority of Christ Himself.
"Therefore this I say, and testify in the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their mind, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart." (Ephesians 4:17-18)
The root of the pagan life is a futile mind. The word for futility points to something that is empty, pointless, and devoid of truth. Why is it futile? Because it has rejected its reference point. A mind that refuses to begin with God is a mind that has no way to make sense of anything. It is intellectually unmoored. This futility leads to a necessary consequence: being "darkened in their mind." When you reject the source of light, you get darkness. This is not complicated. This darkness is not neutral ignorance; it is a willful, culpable ignorance. They are alienated from the life of God "because of the ignorance that is in them."
And where does this ignorance come from? Paul traces it to its source: "the hardness of their heart." The problem is not primarily intellectual; it is moral. The heart, in biblical terms, is the center of the will, the seat of one's commitments. A hard heart is a rebellious will, a will set against God. Men are not atheists because of intellectual difficulties. Men are atheists because they love their sin and do not want to bow the knee. The intellectual arguments are just a smokescreen for the moral rebellion. This hardness of heart produces ignorance, which produces a darkened mind, which results in a futile life. It is a downward spiral.
This progression has a terrible and logical conclusion.
"And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness." (Ephesians 4:19)
A heart that is continually hardened becomes "callous." It loses all feeling, like a seared conscience. The moral nerve endings are dead. When this happens, a man "gives himself over." He is no longer fighting his sin; he is surrendering to it. He hands the keys to the city over to the enemy. And the enemy is sensuality, impurity, and greediness. The word for greediness here is pleonexia, which means an insatiable desire for more. It is the raging spirit of covetousness. When a man is alienated from God, the only true source of satisfaction, he tries to fill that infinite void with finite things. He seeks more pleasure, more possessions, more experiences, but it is a thirst that can never be quenched. This is the pagan endgame: a futile mind leading to a hardened heart, resulting in a life enslaved to insatiable, impure desires.
The Decisive Difference (vv. 20-21)
After painting this bleak picture of the pagan mind, Paul makes a sharp turn. He establishes the great antithesis.
"But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you heard Him and were taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, " (Ephesians 4:20-21)
Notice what he says. He does not say, "You did not learn about Christ." He says, "You did not learn Christ." Christianity is not the study of a subject, but the knowledge of a person. To become a Christian is to learn Christ Himself. The whole curriculum is Christ. He is the verb, not just the object. This is a profound statement. The Christian life is one of ongoing education, with Christ as both the teacher and the lesson plan.
Paul adds a condition: "if indeed you heard Him and were taught in Him." This is a pastoral challenge. He is asking the Ephesians, and us, to examine themselves. Did you truly receive the real Christ, or did you receive a culturally domesticated, therapeutic, de-clawed version? True conversion means you were taught by Him. The truth you received was not an abstract system, but truth embodied: "just as truth is in Jesus." Jesus does not just tell the truth; He is the Truth (John 14:6). All reality holds together in Him. To be taught by Him is to have your entire mental furniture rearranged according to the pattern of reality itself.
The Divine Wardrobe Change (vv. 22-24)
This education in Christ results in a three-fold action. This is the practical outworking of salvation. It is what we were taught to do.
"to lay aside, in reference to your former conduct, the old man, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit," (Ephesians 4:22)
First, we are to "lay aside" or "put off" the old man. The image is that of taking off filthy clothes. The "old man" is our identity in Adam. It is our fallen human nature, the person we were before Christ. Notice that this old man is not static; it "is being corrupted." It is in a state of active decay, rotting from the inside out. And what fuels this corruption? "The lusts of deceit." Sin always makes promises it cannot keep. It promises freedom and delivers slavery. It promises satisfaction and delivers misery. It is a liar. Putting off the old man means decisively rejecting that entire way of life, that entire identity, that is animated by deceitful desires.
Second, the central, ongoing action:
"and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind," (Ephesians 4:23)
You cannot simply take off the old clothes and remain naked. You must be transformed from the inside out. This renewal is a divine work; the verb is passive, "be renewed." It is the Holy Spirit's project. But where does this renovation take place? "In the spirit of your mind." This is the command center, your worldview, your basic assumptions about God, the world, and yourself. Sanctification is not fundamentally about behavior modification. It is about worldview transformation. As you saturate your mind with the truth of Scripture, the Holy Spirit rewires your thinking. You begin to see everything through God's eyes. This is the engine of all true and lasting change.
Finally, the third action:
"and to put on the new man, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." (Ephesians 4:24)
After taking off the old, and while being renewed in the mind, you must "put on the new man." This new man is your identity in Christ. And notice, it is not something you cobble together through self-effort. It is a man which "has been created." This is a past tense reality. In Christ, you are a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). This new man was created by God "in the likeness of God," which takes us all the way back to Genesis 1. Redemption is the restoration and fulfillment of God's original purpose for humanity. And what does this image look like? It is defined by "righteousness and holiness of the truth." Righteousness refers to our right conduct before men, our moral integrity. Holiness refers to our consecrated status before God, our devotion to Him. Both are grounded in "the truth," which stands in stark contrast to the "deceit" that characterized the old man's lusts. We are called to live out in practice the new identity that is already ours by grace.
Conclusion: Dress for the Life You Have
The Christian life is a constant, conscious, and deliberate process of putting off the old and putting on the new. It is a battle that is fought and won first in the mind. The world, the flesh, and the devil want you to keep wearing the stinking grave clothes of the old man. They want you to think like a pagan, in futility and darkness, because they know that if you think like a pagan, you will eventually live like one.
But that is not how we learned Christ. We have been given a new identity, a new nature, a new man, created by God Himself. Our task is to grow into these new clothes. Our task is to allow the Spirit to renew our minds so that our thinking aligns with the truth as it is in Jesus. This means we must be people of the Book. We must steep our minds in Scripture, for it is there that the Spirit does His renewing work.
So I ask you, what clothes are you wearing today? Are you still trying to patch up the old, rotting garments of your former life? Or are you, by faith, putting on the new man? Are you allowing your mind to be renewed? This is the call. To think, to act, and to live, not as who you were, but as who you now are in Jesus Christ: a new creation, clothed in righteousness and true holiness.