In Ephesians 4:22 Paul urges the believers in Ephesus to put off their old selves, which belongs to their former manner of life, and was or is being corrupted by deceitful thoughts and desires. Now Paul commands them “to be renewed” (Eph. 4:23). The term “renewed” implies that Paul is urging them to star over again and to be restored. But why does Paul call for them to be “renewed”?
The reason is because they were in Christ, but they were also willfully walking in their former sin nature, which is wrong. So, Paul calls upon them to back up, put off their old sin nature, and start their walk with Jesus all over again. Certainly every follower of Jesus will find themselves needing to take Paul’s advice here. For we all struggle with our sin nature. Sometime the old flesh gets the best of us. when it does we must yield to Paul’s instruction to the believers in Ephesus. But how are we to be “renewed”?
We are to “be renewed in the spirit” (Eph. 4:23). The Greek word for “spirit” is pnuema, which is a reference to the Holy Spirit. What Paul is saying is this: we must let the Spirit renew us, just like by the Spirit we must put to death the deeds of our sin nature (Rom. 8:13). No one can put to death the deeds of their sin nature nor can we renew ourselves. Spiritual renewal is a process of transformation that is undergone by the Spirit of God. To be renewed in Christ apart from the Spirit will lead to failure. A person, if they are to be truly renewed, must allow the Spirit to this work. But what is being renewed by the Spirit?
When the Spirit renews us, he renews our minds. Ephesians 4:23 says, “to be renewed in the spirit of your minds”. The mind is where understanding, reasoning, processing, intellect, and thinking occur. Why does our mind need renewing? Because the mind is what is being corrupted by the deceitfulness of our hearts. Recall Ephesian 4:17 & 18, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, 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 their hardness of heart.” So, the Spirit aims to correct and renew our minds, our mental faculty, our way of thinking, the way we process, and the way we reason, because that is where corruption is occurring. What happens when the Spirit renews our mind?
When we allow the Spirit to renew our thoughts our attitude changes. The way we view the world changes. The way we process what is happening in the world changes. The way we conduct ourselves changes. Furthermore, when we allow the Spirit to renew our mind we will not longer be conformed to this world; we will be transformed in our mind and be able to rightly discern how to correctly live according to the will of God in this fallen world. That is the point Paul makes in Romans 12:2 – “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” The implication here is that when our minds are corrupted by our sin nature we cannot rightly discern the will of God, and if we cannot discern the will of God, we cannot live a life that is good or acceptable or pleasing unto God.
That is serious business my friends. A business we cannot accomplish ourselves. The process of transformation from old sinful self to the new life we have in Christ is a process that must be done within us by the Spirit of God. In addition, that is why Bible reading is so important. The Scripture’s were given us by God through the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). So, when we read Scripture, which was given us by God through the Spirit, the Holy Spirit is at work within us and transforming us. So, read the Bible and let the Spirit do the work within you that only He can do.