Ephesians 4:22

That ye put off concerning the former conversation, the old man,.... Which is the corruption of nature; why this is called a man, and an old man, [See comments on Romans 6:6], the putting him off, is

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; That ye - following ye "have been taught" (Ephesians 4:21). Put off - as an old garment (cf.

That ye put off; a usual metaphor, taken from garments (implying a total abandoning, and casting away, like a garment not to be put on again): it is oppesed to putting on, , and is the same as mortifying, , crucifying, . Concerning the former conversation; the former heathenish life and manners, . He shows how they should put off their old man, viz. by relinquishing their old manners; the same as putting off the old man with his deeds, . The old man; the pravity of nature, or nature as depraved. Which is corrupt; or, which corrupteth, i.e. tends to destruction, ; or, which daily grows worse and more corrupt by the fulfilling of its lusts. According to the deceitful lusts; i.e. which draw away and entice men, ; or which put on a show and semblance of some good, or promise pleasure and happiness, but lurch men’ s hopes, and make them more miserable.

22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; Ver. 22. That ye put off, &c.] As the beggar puts off his rags, as the master puts off his bad servant, as the porter puts off his burden, as the husband puts off his lewd wife, as the serpent his slough, or as the captive maid, when she was to be married, put off the garments of her captivity, Deuteronomy 21:13. The old man which is corrupt] Sin is said to be the old man, because it lives in man so as sin seems to be alive and the man dead; and because God will take notice of nothing in the sinner but his sin. According to the deceitful lusts] Sin, though at first it fawn upon a man, yet in the end (with Cain’ s dog lying at the door) it will pluck out the very throat of his soul, if not repented of. Like the serpent, together with the embrace, it stings mortally. Hence the ruler’ s meat is called deceivable, Proverbs 23:3. There being a deceitfulness in sin, Hebrews 3:13, a lie in vanity, Jonah 2:8. Lust hath a deceit in it, as here.

[5. Practical Exhortation (Ephesians 4:17-21). (1) THE NEW LIFE; first, taught in Christ and learning Christ; and secondly, regenerate in Him to the image of God (Ephesians 4:17-24). (2) HENCE THE POWER OF OF SIN — (a) Falsehood (Ephesians 4:25);(b) Passionate anger (Ephesians 4:26-27);(c) Dishonesty (Ephesians 4:28);(d) Foulness of word (Ephesians 4:29-30); (3) HENCE ITS POWER AGAINST THE SPECIAL SINS OF— (a) Bitterness and malice, unworthy of the love of Christ (Ephesians 4:31-32, and Ephesians 5:1-2); (b) Fornication and lust, unworthy of the light of Christ (Ephesians 5:3-14); (c) Recklessness and drunken excitement (Ephesians 5:15-21).] (1) In Ephesians 4:17-24 we enter on the practical section of the Epistle, which, indeed, appears to begin in Ephesians 4:1, but is broken in upon by the magnificent digression of the doctrinal summary of Eph 4:4-16. It opens with a striking contrast of the past and the present—the life of the heathen in its “vanity,” with the two-fold result of blindness and callousness of soul; and the Christian life, which has in learning Christ found the secret of regeneration.

Verse 22. That ye put off] And this has been one especial part of our teaching, that ye should abandon all these, and live a life totally opposite to what it was before. The old man] See Clarke on Romans 6:6, and especially the notes on Romans 13:13; Romans 13:14. Which is corrupt] The whole of your former life was corrupt and abominable; ye lived in the pursuit of pleasure and happiness; ye sought this in the gratification of the lusts of the flesh; and were ever deceived by these lusts, and disappointed in your expectations.

22. that ye put off] The Gr. verb is the infinitive aorist. The tense tends to denote singleness of crisis and action. Some would render “that you have” (or “did) put off.” But the better explanation, or paraphrase, is, “with regard to your (definite) putting-off.” The “instruction in Christ” had informed them about such a “putting-off”; its principles, secret, effects, as well as its fact.—But the view of the “putting-off” as a definite crisis remains; and the only question is, does this crisis appear here as a past or future one? The answer will be best given under the words “the old man,” just below. For the present we refer to Colossians 3:9 as strongly favouring the reference here to a crisis past; so that we may paraphrase, “you were taught in Christ with regard to the fact that your old man was laid aside.”concerning the former conversation] On “conversation” see on Ephesians 2:3 above. The word (noun and verb) happens to be almost always used by St Paul in reference to the unregenerate life-course.—The clause means that the “putting-off” concerned, had to do with, a former life-course; it affected it, by being the close of it.—As concerning your former manner of life (R.V.).the old man] This important phrase occurs elsewhere Romans 6:6; Colossians 3:9. In Rom. it appears as a thing which “was crucified with Christ”; in Col. as a thing which “was once stripped off” by the saints. (Cp. the remarkable parallel words Colossians 2:11, as in the best supported reading, “in the stripping off of the body of the flesh.”) On the whole, we may explain the phrase by “the old state.” And under this lie combined the ideas of past personal legal position and moral position; all that I was as an unregenerate son of Adam, liable to eternal doom, and the slave of sin. To “put off the old man” is to quit those positions, which, at the root, are one. It is to step into the position of personal acceptance and of personal spiritual power and victory; and that position is “in Christ.” The believer, lodged there, enters definitely and at once upon both acceptance and spiritual capacity for victory and growth.—“The old man” is thus not identical with “the flesh,” which is an abiding element (Galatians 5:16-17) in even the regenerate and spiritual, though it need no longer—even for an hour—be the ruling element; it may be continuously overcome, in a practical and profound manner, in the strength of “the new man.”—The phrases “old Man” and “new Man” have a probable inner reference to the doctrine of the First and Second Adam (Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21-58). The “putting off” and “putting on” may be expressed by saying, “ye broke connexion (in certain great aspects of connexion) with the First Adam, and formed connexion with the Second,” connexion both of acceptance and of life-power[37].

That ye put off - That you lay aside, or renounce. The manner in which the apostle states those duties, renders it not improbable that there had been some instruction among them of a contrary

22. That—Depending on have been taught, in Ephesians 4:21. The verb is, indeed, in the infinitive, and the connexion would have been better preserved had the infinitive been retained.