Ephesians 4: 20-24 (An exclamation of first importance)

            Summary:  Paul is coming off telling the Ephesians not to walk in their former ways of living.  Now his tone is even more intense as he is passionate in saying that to live in the flesh is not how the Ephesians learned Christ. But rather that surely they had been taught to put off the old self and live self-controlled and godly lives in the present age.

            Note:  There is an exclamation and break in thought after verse 20.

Timeless Principle:  It is high importance to identify just how passionate Paul is about this whole putting off the old and putting on the new stuff.  Paul exclaims this is not how you learned Christ.  He wants to make sure that this is not how Paul had taught them in his stays in Ephesus and he is passionate that they know it.  He has taught them to lead a life “worthy of the calling they have received.”  They are no longer alienated from the commonwealth of Israel thanks to the death of Christ.  To walk back into our former lives is to belittle His death.  This demands action.  Paul exhorts the church to put off their former selves and put on the newness of Christ. 

We are to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds,” this is not something we do is something Christ does within us through the Spirit.  We are to chase this maturity in Christ and fight our childish ambitions along with the desires of our youth that lead only to death and separation from God.