The exhortation of Paul to the Ephesians started with an admonition that they behave according to their call (4:1), which is a call to be Church, the Body of Christ. Beginning verse 17, Paul tells them no longer to behave as they did before but instead to behave as they have been taught in Christ. In 4:25-32 Paul gets more specific about how the the Ephesians are to put away the old man, while in 5:1-7, about how they go about putting on the new man. In 5:8-14, he reminds them of the illumination they have received in baptism and how they are to show that light in the darkness that surrounds them (5:15-20). Beginning 5:21, Paul applies what he has been saying to the household. Within this context then, Ephesians 4:17-24 is an exhortation that the Ephesians no longer behave as they used to. They have become "Church" -- those called to the Truth, the Light and the New Man that is Christ. Structurally, the section is marked by the phrase "no longer to behave (4:17)" and the verbs "put off" (4:22), "renewed" (4:23) "put on" (4:24), on the one hand and the contrasts "futility of minds/in the darkened/the ignorance that is in them" (4:18) as opposed to "learned/taught in the truth in Jesus" (4:20-21), on the other.
Not Like the Pagans
After telling the Ephesians no longer to walk like the pagans, Paul describes the behavior of the pagans thus:
...walking in the futility of their minds
their understanding having been darkened,
alienated from the life of God
because of the ignorance that is in them
because of the hardness of their hearts.
They have become desperate
giving themselves over to licentiousness,
greedy to practise every kind of uncleaness.
This evaluation is the normal way a Jew would describe the Gentile who does not have the light of the Torah and therefore behave the way as immoral as they do. To the eye of a Jew, the sexual promiscuity of the pagan is a sure sign of a darkened mind, their uncleanness rendering them unable to come into contact with the true God, and their desires so disordered that they are chained to what is debased. There are of course non Jews who were morally upright and who tried to live according to noble principles. But the fact of their alienation from the God of Righteousness that the Jew recognized is an indication of the futility, the desperation, of their very own existence.
The description that Paul gives here about the pagans can be compared to Romans 1:18-32. In this latter, Paul writes that even when they had the capacity to know God, since He is proclaimed to them by the whole of creation (Rom. 1:19-20), they refused to honor him (v. 21), exhanging Him for a lie (v. 25). And for this reason, God abandoned them to their lusts (vv. 24.26.28). In both these texts, the condition of futile thinking and darkened understanding (Rom. 1:21; Eph. 4:18) brings about an existence that is described as an alienation from God. In Eph. 5:8-14, Paul will contrast to this darkened state the illuminated condition of Christians who have received the Light of Christ.
Live as You Have Been Taught in Christ
The Ephesians are no longer to behave as the pagans because they have been illumined by Christ (5:8-14), that is taught in the truth that is in Him. Three verbs in the infinitive follow the declaration of what the Ephesians have learned in Christ. First, that they are to put off their former way of life (v. 22); second, that they are to renew the way they understand things (v. 23), and thirdly that they are to put on the new man received in baptism (v.24).
This is what you have learned
In mentioning what has been learned in Christ, Paul alludes to instructions preceding and following baptism. The verbs "put off" and "put on" refer to the baptismal rite where the candidate puts off his/her garments before immersing oneself in the baptismal waters and afterwards puts on the white garment of the initiate. The symbolism is that in putting off the old robes, one is also turning away from the old way of life; in putting on the robes of the initiate, one is putting on the qualities of Christ (see Romans 13:13). Thus in verses 22 and 24, Paul reminds the Ephesians that in accord with the baptism received, they are put off the old ways, the life-style of the "old man" and its disordered desires. They are to put on the qualities of the "new man" created by God in innocence and holiness.
In between the acts of "putting away" and "putting on", Paul mentions the renewal of their minds "in the Spirit". Paul in Ephesians 1:17 expressed his desire that the Ephesians may be given the Spirit of wisdom and revelation as they become more and more intimate with God, and again in 3:16 that they be strengthened by the Spirit in the inner man. The idea here is that as the old life-style was due to a mind that has been darkened and bereft of the light of Christ, so now, the new life-style that is proper the new man is made possible because of the empowerment they receive from the Spirit of wisdom that allows them to understand the revelation, the mystery that is being disclosed to them by Paul's gospel (see 3:5) . In other words, the renewal of the mind that Paul refers to is the gospel received by the Ephesians and lived by them.
In the Catechism
Sections of Ephesians 4:17-24 are used in the Catechism in the following paragraphs
| Verses | CCC Allussions or Citations |
| 4:19 | 2518 |
| 4:23 | 1695 |
| 4:24 | 1473, 2475, 2504 |
In CCC 2518, "pure of heart" is explained as "those who who have attuned their intellects and wills to the demands of God's holiness, chiefly in three areas: charity, chastity or sexual rectitude, love of truth and orthodoxy of faith."> Eph. 4:19 is combined with 1 Thess. 4:7 and Col. 3:5 as the scriptural basis for the relationship of chastity to "pure of heart."
In CCC 1695, the work of the Holy Spirit in interior renewal and spiritual transformation is referred to. This reference is important in that it gives us the idea that "spirit" without the article in Eph. 4:23 is understood by the Church as "the Holy Spirit."
CCC 1473 is a paragraph under "Indulgences" and related to the topic "The temporal punishment of sin". The paragraph explains that because temporal punishment for sins remain even if the eternal punishment has been remitted, the Christian should continue to put off completely the old man and put on the new man through works of mercy and charity, prayer and acts of penance.
CCC 2475 and 2504 is about the Christian's relationship to the Truth. Since Christians have put on the new man "created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph. 4:24), they are to put away falsehood (Eph. 4:25)
