Jun 30, 2010 - Category: General

Living As Children of Light

Ephesians 4:17-24

“Therefore, I say this and bear witness in the Lord, you are no longer to walk as the Gentiles are walking, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having become unfeeling, they have given themselves over to sensuality to indulge in every kind of impurity in lustful desire that cannot be satisfied.

But you did not come to know Christ that way, since you heard him and were taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus. You were taught regarding your former way of life, to put off the old you, which is being corrupted by deceitful desires, to be made new in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new you, created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.” (personal translation)


This section calls every follower of Jesus to live a new kind of life—to put off the old and put on the new. This new life is characterized by true righteousness and holiness. It is God’s desire and plan for us to live as children of light.

These verses paint a dismal picture of life before Christ and without Christ. The non-Jewish (Gentile) Ephesians were steeped in polytheism and idolatry. Paul uses eight descriptive words to convey the condition of those outside of Christ.

The first four descriptors are Darkened, Alienated, Ignorant, Hardened. “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.”   Hardness of heart affects all of life. They had hardened their hearts and thereby became Ignorant of God, Alienated from God and Darkened in their understanding. This is the condition of all who reject Jesus Christ and it was the condition of each of us before we came to faith in Jesus.

The next four descriptive words are Unfeeling, Sensual, Unclean, Insatiable. “Having become unfeeling, they have given themselves over to sensuality to indulge in every kind of impurity in lustful desire that cannot be satisfied.”   A calloused heart is a heart that has lost sensitivity. When the heart is unfeeling, the body becomes the focus of one’s life. The body then seeks to satisfy its desires and life becomes more and more sensual. Impurity and lustful desire take over and the body can never get enough. There is no satisfying the sensual desire of the body.

“But you did not come to know Christ that way, since you heard him and were taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus.”  There is a sharp contrast between the hard hearted, darkened life of the Gentiles and the life of those who have come to faith in Jesus. The way of lust, sensuality and false religion is not the way they came to know Christ. Paul says of the Ephesian saints, You Know Christ, You Heard Him, You Were Taught in Him.

Before they had been those who were alienated from the life of God, now they have come to know Christ. They heard the call of Christ to come out of their darkness into the light and they had responded with repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. They were taught the truth that is in Jesus and their lives had been made new. They found that the sensual religious practices of their past were a lie and they rejected them for the truth that is in Jesus.

“You were taught regarding your former way of life, to put off the old you, which is being corrupted by deceitful desires, to be made new in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new you, created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.”   They were taught To Put Off the Old Self, To be Made New, To Put on the New Self. The old you was continually being corrupted be deceitful desires. That is why reformation is never enough. Self effort cannot change the core of who we are. The old person we used to be has to be put away once and for all. We have to be made new in our spirit and in our way of thinking.

Thinking rightly about who we are in Christ and all that we have in him, is the first step to living rightly. As we believe the truth that is in Jesus and set our minds on that truth, our attitudes and actions begin to change. The new self that we have put on is created in true righteousness and holiness. Right living flows from the new life we have in Jesus. True piety is a result of a heart changed by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. This is the life of light and truth. We are called to live as children of the light.

Pastor Ron