Putting off the old-self

This is actually a very important thing to understand. Do we need to be working towards making ourselves who God wants us to be or are we a finished work? This will affect our whole Christian outlook. Whether we spend effort on making ourselves who God wants us to be or whether we rest and trust in his finished work.

When we read about the 'old-self', we need to remember that 2 Cor 5:17, says all the old things have gone:

'Therefore if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.' 2 Cor 5:17

One big misunderstanding is that we are in a constant battle to put off the old-self and put on the new-self. But that would contradict 2 Cor 5:17. If all things have been made new and the old has gone, then how can we still be putting off the old-self? The confusion comes from this passage:

'But you didn’t learn Christ that way, if indeed you heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus: that you put off, as concerning your former way of life, the old-self that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new-self, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.' Ep 4:20-24

Ephesians 4:22&24, is an issue of tenses. Many translations say we are 'to put off' and 'put on.' Which reads like something we need to keep doing. But the actual Greek reads, 'to have put off.' It is referring to something finished in the past. We put off the old and put on the new the moment we came to Christ. The technical terms for the grammar are Aorist, infinitive, middle.

Let's look at what each of these tells us about the use of the words 'put-off' and 'put-on':

Aorist tense is an action that was in the past.

Infinitive mood simply means speaking generally, not limited to any specific person or number. In English, a verb that has 'to' before it is the infinitive. 'To put-off', 'to cook' or 'to run' for example.

Middle voice is an action done to the subject of the sentence by the subject. For example, The boy washed himself.

So, from the Greek, we can see this is not a matter of us having to continuously put off the old. This is something we did in the past. We did this when we stepped out of Adam and into Christ.

This fits with the rest of the passage speaking in the past tense: 'You didn't learn Christ that way' and 'You were taught.'

In Ephesians 4:22-24, Paul is asking why they are behaving like the unsaved people as he describes them in Eph 4:17-19. Another way of putting the passage might be:

Stop acting like the unsaved people who follow after their own interests and desires because they don't know any better. When you came to Jesus, he was your classroom, teacher and the subject. You were taught so you should know better. What's more, you took part in his work of removing the old and making you new in his image, making you righteous and holy.

We can also compare Eph 4:22-24, with what Paul said in his letter to the Colossians. In this passage, Paul is saying the same thing regarding having put off the old and put on the new:

'Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old-self with its deeds, and have put on the new-self, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.' Col 3:9-10

Why does it feel like the old-self is still there?

What is the deal with the old-self? Eph 4:22-23, uses the phrases the former way of life/former behaviour and the new as attitude/spirit of mind. The old-self was removed, but there is still something there.

If we think of the phrase, 'Old habits die hard' we get the idea. The old-self that the Bible refers to is the pattern of behaviour we had before we were saved. Another way we could understand its effects could be inertia! As a kid, when I had to turn my pushbike upside down I would spin the front wheel, touch my finger on it to stop it and then release it, and the wheel would start spinning again. You can also do this with an egg! (carefully!)

When we came to Jesus we put off the old-self but the memories and habits of that way of life are still in us. The thing we refer to as 'the old-self' is nothing more than a memory/pattern/habit/echo of the self that was removed.

In other words, when we come to Jesus we are new creations, all things are made new and the old is gone. But there is still an echo of our former self. It is too easy to think this is talking about having an ongoing battle with ourselves as if we are two people, a kind of split personality. The trouble is, if we focus on it, even an echo can become bigger than it is. The secret is not to focus on the echo, but to focus on Jesus and trust in him.