What does it mean to put off the old man (Ephesians 4:22)?

“The old man” is that which the believer puts off. Ephesians 4:22 reads, “Having put off according to the former conversation [manner of life] the old man corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.” The old man is the sum total of all the activities and habits of the sinner as such.

Then we have stated to us the practical object of it all — "That ye put off according to the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the lusts of deceit." It is not a question of improvement. There is no bettering our old man. The heart may be purified by faith, but in itself it is "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Faith may work the new life, and the Spirit; but the flesh never can be changed or renewed. And here we find what is to be done with our old nature: "That ye put off," etc.* The apostle is speaking to Christians. They have the old man, and need practically to put it off. We must beware, remembering that we have still this incurably evil thing, accustomed to indulge its bad ways before conversion, and still tending to drag one, if unwatchful, into evil.

"But you have not so learned Christ" (v.20). If our ears are opened to hear Him and there is willingness to be taught by Him, our entire character and conduct will be a, contrast to that of the unsaved. The truth "in Jesus" (v.21) is a seldom used expression in scripture. It refers to the truth exemplified in the lowly life of the Lord Jesus on earth. If I think of truth regarding character and conduct, I see it perfectly in Him as the dependent Man. "Christ" is His official title" (v.20), and as we learn more of Him exalted at God's right hand, we more rightly value and understand practical truth as we see it in His entire conduct in Manhood on earth. Learning Christ is learning Him as the Object of my adoration high above me, but "as the truth is in Jesus" is learning Him as my practical Example come down to earth.

Verse 22 is rightly translated "having put off" (JND). The old man with its former manner of life, corrupt and deceitful, has been once and for all time put off. No believer can ever again be what he was before conversion, what he was in Adam. He has been renewed in the spirit of his mind: the attitude of his mind has changed. Though the fleshly nature remains in him, this no longer dominates him. There is a new controlling factor: he has put on the new man which is consistent with God's own nature, created in righteousness and holiness of truth. Righteousness is acting rightly in consistency with whatever relationship we may be in. Holiness is the love of what is good and the hatred of evil. But it is the truth of God that decides what is good and what is evil, not merely people's consciences or opinions.

We now come to the ordinary exhortation as to walk. He shews the state they were in - ignorance and sin. "As the truth is in Jesus"; it is not doctrine, though doctrine is contained in it. The truth as it is in Jesus is the having put off the old man and put on the new - this having been done by faith. Then he adds, "and being renewed in the spirit of your mind." The putting off and the putting on are not in the present tense, whereas being renewed in the spirit of your mind is. The truth is, that you have put off the old man, but you do want renewing. In Colossians (chap. 3) this is distinct: "Lie not one to another, seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new." In the Epistle to the Ephesians he is not saying directly to them what they have done, but saying what the truth is in Jesus. So it is more abstract. The truth in Jesus is having put off and having put on. Being renewed is present; the renewing of the spirit of your mind is a thing that is always going on.

But now begins the positive part. There was, first, the putting off the old man, the moral judgment of it, grounded on God's judgment in the cross of Christ, where it was definitively done with. Then comes the renewing of the spirit of the mind, which we cannot have unless there is the judgment of the old. The renewal is intimated to be a present process going on gradually, as the spirit of the mind is imbued with Christ. The putting off and putting on are not viewed as present, but as the act in itself once for all. "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; that ye put on the new man which, according to God, has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth." They had the new man of course; but it is the putting on the new man practically, the outward manifestation of the new man that was already within them. It is well to bear in mind that this is "righteousness and holiness of truth." It is the truth here again that produces it. Such is the full and real meaning of the expression.

The truth that we have learned in Christ has been set forth in Jesus. The truth that we have been taught and learned in Him is that, in the cross, we have put off the old man and have put on the new. In the light of this great truth we are in our daily path, as a present thing, being renewed in the spirit of our minds. Instead of the mind of the flesh, which is enmity against God, we have a renewed mind marked by righteousness and holiness, which refuses the evil and chooses the good. The new man does not mean the old man changed, but an entirely new man, and the “renewing” refers to the daily life of the new man.

The Apostle does not say we are to put off the old man, but says, “having put off … the old man”. The old man has been dealt with at the cross, and faith accepts what Christ has done. We have not to die to sin, but to reckon ourselves as having died to sin in the Person of our Substitute.

85 But the putting off the old man we had better not pass over. The Christian, in virtue of Christ's death and having Christ as his life, as a Christian does not own the flesh at all. The mind of the flesh is enmity against God, but he does not own it. He has not to die to sin but to reckon himself dead, Christ having died and all being available for him. What Christ has done he reckons himself to have done in this respect. How can you be alive? I say I am not, but Christ lives in me. "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." We have put off the old man (not, are to put it off), that is, if we have heard Him and have been taught of Him. Besides, this new man is after God.

Our Old Man. — Two terms just used demand a little attention. What is our old man? and what does being justified from sin here mean? Our old man, as the phrase imports, is something belonging to us which can yet be viewed as apart from us. Our old man is crucified with Christ, that henceforth we, not it, should not serve sin. It is not a person, though at times it may be identified with the person; but can be, as here, viewed apart from the person. It is that evil principle, or nature which is in every one of us as children of Adam. God has dealt with it judicially in the cross of Christ, thus showing what He thinks of it, and in what light we are to regard it. Formerly its ways characterised each one of us. What it is was manifested by the walk and acts of each one when unconverted; and so, whilst having its seat in us, it characterised each one, as a garment might one's person. Hence we read (Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9) of Christians having put off the old man with his deeds, and having put on the new man. It being crucified with Christ, we are no longer to serve sin. It is not then the person, for one cannot put off one's person. Yet it exists. It is not a mere character, for such has not deeds. It is something within us, the deeds of which can characterise us, and present us to others in a certain appearance, as a garment may a person. It has now been judicially dealt with by God, crucified with Christ, to free Christians from the bondage of sin. What is it then? what can it be? but that evil nature which the law cannot curb, and which nothing but death can deal with practically.

The truth is, that a new nature, a new life (from which the Gentiles, as such, are alienated) has been imparted, and the new life has an object presented to it — Christ; and it is the believer's delight to study Him. "I have heard Him and learned Him." In measure as our hearts are occupied with Him, we become changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit. And when we look at His blessed ways here, when manifested, we see how we should shape our steps, for in Him the life of God was displayed in perfection among men below. This, I conceive to be the force of "as the truth is in Jesus" — all was to be seen perfectly exemplified there. Moreover, we have put off (past tense, not as A. V. or R. V.) concerning the former conversation (behaviour) the old man; and have put on the new. Both are described: the old man is "corrupt according to the lusts of deceit." (The meaning of the word "corrupt " here is "ruined " (we get a different word in verse 29, "putrid," "rotten"): the old man is past all repair. God has disowned him, we have put him off — "our old man is crucified with Him." But the new man is according to God created in righteousness and holiness of truth. Note the word "created"; God has caused to exist in me what was not there once. See Col. 3:10, the new man is "renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him." The word eminently suits Ephesians; for here man is viewed as dead. But we have been quickened — quickened together with Christ: there is therefore a new creation, "we are created in Christ Jesus to good works " etc. I have said the new man is described: he is created "according to God." The new man loves righteousness and holiness of truth, never loving to wallow in the mire, and the practical display of these characteristics is the proof of life.

What we find in Ephesians 4:21-24, and in Colossians 3:10, is in keeping with this. The former passage agrees with the latter, for the New Translation renders it, "Your having put off … and being renewed … and your having put on;" that is, in both passages the great transaction is viewed as one accomplished in every believer. Formerly we belonged to the old order of man and wore his corrupt character: now we belong to the new order of man and wear his character, marked by holiness, righteousness, truth. It is not something merely external, for the very spirit of our minds is renewed. The passage in Colossians corroborates this, though it has distinctive differences. It also speaks of the new man as created.