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Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:17-24
Ephesians 4:15-16 reveals that we are members of the Body of Christ, growing up into Him in all things. Through this growth we experience something of Christ, partake of Him, and enjoy Him. Then we spontaneously receive something to minister to others. As the members of the Body, we need to grow and function in this way. Moreover, to be normal, proper Christians is not an individualistic matter. Rather, we need to be built up. Regardless of how spiritual we are, we are wrong if we are individualistic. We need to be built up with others. It is not the Lord’s purpose in giving all the gifts that we would be spiritual. Do not think that I am against spirituality. I am for being spiritual, but spirituality is not for itself; it is for the Body, the building. We find this thought even in Psalm 68:18, which says that Christ ascended as a man, representing man and for man, to receive men as gifts so that God may have a dwelling place among them.
Not only is this God’s purpose, but it is also the target that the enemy attacks. The building is the target for all the flaming darts of the enemy. The enemy has done his best, and he will do even more, to frustrate people from this goal. God’s intention is to have a dwelling, and it is for this purpose that He has given the many gifts. In these last days we need to realize that God is seeking to recover and to gain this dwelling place. Therefore, regardless of how spiritual we are, if we are not built up together with others, we are still wrong.
After telling us these things, the writer of Ephesians goes on to give us more details. According to the composition of this book, there is the apostle’s prayer at the end of chapter 3, and in the first section of chapter 4 he presents the practice of the church life (vv. 1-16). After this, verse 17 begins another section. It is not sufficient to speak only about the main points in the first section of this chapter. If we remain in the first section, we still have something only in theory; we are not yet in the practice. Beginning from verse 17, therefore, the apostle goes into further detail.
This section begins, “This therefore I say and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk in the vanity of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance which is in them, because of the hardness of their heart” (vv. 17-18). These verses speak of the vanity of the mind, the darkening of the understanding, and the hardness, the blindness, of the heart. Without dealing with all these things, we cannot practice the proper church life. It is not possible to have the practical church life with a group of persons whose mind is full of vanity, whose understanding is darkened, and whose heart is blinded. The way to hold the reality, grow, and receive something from Christ is to deal with all these things. Our mind must be dealt with, our understanding must be enlightened, and our heart must be open, not blinded. These are the details that Paul touches in the second section of chapter 4.
Verse 19 continues, “Who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness in greediness.” To be past feeling is to cast off all feeling. This relates to the conscience. To be past feeling comes from neglecting the conscience, not caring for the feeling of the conscience. All the vanity in our mind must be dealt with. This requires that our mind be renewed (v. 23). Likewise, our understanding must be enlightened, and our heart must be opened, not blinded, closed, and veiled. Our whole heart must be turned to the Lord. Lastly, we need to care for the feeling in our conscience. We must not cast off feeling. We need to deal with our conscience.
By all the verses in this section we can see how much detail the apostle goes into. Verses 20 and 21 say, “You did not so learn Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him as the reality is in Jesus.” The reality in Jesus is the reality of the life of the Lord Jesus while He was on the earth. We need to learn those things of Him. Verse 22 continues, “That you put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit.” The old man as a whole includes our old mind, heart, understanding, conscience, and all things of man. Because this man is old, all his thoughts, ideas, concepts, desires, love, hatred, decisions, intentions, and motives must be put off.
Only a person full of experience could write the book of Ephesians. The apostle Paul had the experience, and he knew the spiritual things, so he could write this short book with many profound items. This is why we need months to expound and develop even chapter 4 alone. There are many items in this one chapter. We need many messages to cover the matters of the mind, the understanding, the heart, and the conscience with its feeling. Then we need more messages to cover the putting off of the old man. The elements of the old man are not only anything that is worldly and sinful but also anything old, natural, soulish, and fleshly. We need to put these off; otherwise, there will be no way for us to have the church life. We cannot have the church life while we are still in the old man. If we use even the Bible in the old man, we will only damage the saints (cf. 2 Cor. 3:6).
Ephesians 4:24 says, “Put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality.” Many things are implied by this item alone. According to the entire book of Ephesians, the new man is not merely an individual who has been regenerated and transformed. Rather, the new man is the entire Body of Christ. Verses 15 and 16 of chapter 2 show us that the new man is the Body, which includes Christ as the Head. Therefore, the new man is the mystery of godliness, and it is the new creation (1 Tim. 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:17). To put on the new man is to put on Christ and the church. We need to put off the old man and put on the new man. We should not live in the old way according to the old concept. We need to live in the church according to Christ and by Christ.
Ephesians 4:23 says, “That you be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” This one matter alone requires many messages to adequately cover it. To be renewed in the spirit of the mind is the secret to all the other points. If we are not renewed in the spirit of our mind, we cannot put off the old man and put on the new man. This is why the apostle put this word between verses 22 and 24. Between the putting off of the old man and the putting on of the new man there is the renewing in the spirit of the mind as the secret to the putting off and the putting on. How can we deal with all the vanity of our mind? It is by being renewed in the spirit of our mind. How can our understanding be enlightened, our heart not be blinded, and our conscience be dealt with? All these depend on one thing—our being renewed in the spirit of our mind. This is a great matter in our experience.
There are two spirits within us. We have a human spirit, and in our spirit is the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:16). It is difficult to know how to translate spirit in verses like Ephesians 4:23. Spirit may refer either to the Holy Spirit or the human spirit. It is better to invent a new letter for our alphabet, a small s within a big S, for use in a passage such as this one. Then people will realize that it refers both to the Holy Spirit and the human spirit. No doubt, spirit in verse 23 is the mingled spirit, the Holy Spirit mingled with our human spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).
To be renewed in the spirit of the mind is for the spirit to take over, possess, and saturate the mind. This means that the entire mind is now under the control of the spirit, so the spirit becomes the spirit of the mind. Since the human mind is the leading part of the soul, it represents the whole human being. Therefore, our whole being is now under the dominion and control of the spirit. Whatever we think, do, love, decide, and choose is under the control, the influence, of the spirit. It is in such a spirit that we are renewed. Then spontaneously we put off the old man and put on the new man, and we live by Christ and in the church. Our mind is cleared up from all vanity, our understanding is enlightened, our heart is open to the Lord, and our conscience cared for. All these depend on one thing—the spirit that controls our whole being, bringing it under its influence.
This must not be a mere teaching to us. We need to check with ourselves and put this into practice. Otherwise, we may talk about the building, but there will be no possibility to have the church life. From the first day I came to Los Angeles, I declared that we cannot have the church life merely by teachings, gifts, and forms. The only way to have the church life is by being renewed in the spirit of our mind.
I am thankful to the Lord for giving us the deep understanding that in Ephesians, the book on the church, the miraculous gifts are not mentioned. If the gifts were necessary for the church, why does the apostle not speak of them in this book? This is not my argument; it is what we observe in Ephesians. Rather, in this book we have growth and function; that is, receiving something from the Head and imparting it to others. These are matters not of the gifts but of life. Following this, we have the clearing up of the mind from all vanity, the understanding being enlightened, the heart being opened, and the conscience being cared for. These also are not matters of the gifts. In this light we can see the present situation. Even in dealing with the miraculous gifts, there is much vanity of the mind and darkness and blindness in the understanding. May the Lord be merciful to us. We need to humble ourselves before the Lord to see where we are and what we need. What we need is to grow inwardly. The church life depends upon the growth of life, and the way to grow is by all the foregoing matters.
This is why following the first section of this chapter, we have the second section to tell us the way to grow. The way to grow is by being renewed in the spirit that controls our mind and brings our whole being under its leadership and subduing. Therefore, we need to learn how to exercise our spirit and go along with the spirit. This is why in the New Testament, especially in the Epistles, we often find the phrase in spirit. We must walk, live, work, serve, pray, and do everything in the spirit. Without this, there is no possibility for us to realize the church life. Rather, we will merely be speaking about something “in the air.”
We need a vision, but we also must be very practical. There is the need for us to offer ourselves to the Lord once again and say, “Lord, since I have seen this, I am willing to give myself to You again for this purpose. Renew me in the spirit of the mind.” Spontaneously, we will put off the old man and put on the new man. Our understanding will be transparent, our mind will be cleared up from all vanity, our heart will be open to the Lord, and our conscience will be at peace because we will take care of the feeling within it. Then we will be renewed and transformed persons. This is the genuine growth. Growth is transformation, and it is renewing. The more we are renewed, the more we grow. As a result, we will become very rich in our ministry, our function. In our meetings everyone will have something from the Head to minister to the Body.
