...to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph 4:24).
First Paul told his readers to get naked by taking off their disgusting and sinful "old self" (Eph 4:22). He then refers to the mind transplant God does in His followers, changing us from the inside out (Eph 4:23). Now it's time to get dressed. And Christ has some rockin' new duds for us. Jesus hasn't just popped tags at a thrift shop. He's brought you and me the absolute finest threads we've ever seen. Designer stuff. Custom crafted. We're talking Saville Row suits. It's time "to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (v24). Our new clothes are flawless. Our new clothes are spotless. Our new clothes are perfect.
Paul's big point here is to realize just what Jesus has done for us and to put that truth into practice. Don't just admire your new gear hanging in the closet. Get it out. Take off the tags. Put it on. Live your life in light of who He is and and what He's done for you. Christ lived the perfect life that we failed to live. He died the brutal and bloody death for our sin that we should have died. And He rose to a glorious new life that we certainly don't deserve. We trust what He's done for us that we could never do in a gazillion years. And in exchange, He lets us raid His closet. He gives us His spotless righteousness. He hands us His glorious holiness.
Go ahead. Put it on.
This is gonna be huge for the folks in the Ephesian church. There's a heresy that's headed their way that has duped other believers into thinking we're responsible for our own wardrobe. It's up to us to make your own clothes. It's up to us to keep'em clean. Just 100 miles down the road in Colossae, a team of spiritual hucksters have fooled Jesus' followers into falling for a works righteousness. What's the lie they're selling? Christ may have gotten us into God's kingdom, but it's up to us to stay in. And the only way to do that is by carefully following a complicated list of religious rules (Col 2:16-23). After firing off a letter to get the Colossians back on track, Paul sends another one to the church in nearby Ephesus. The best prevention against these false teachers is to "put on the new self" (v24). Put on the righteousness and holiness that can only come from Jesus.
The apostle encourages the Ephesians to "put on" their new holy wardrobe. He uses the Greek verb enduo. While it means to wear, dress or put on clothes, the term literally means to sink or plunge into something. Here's your new duds. Dive in! Dr. Luke used the same word when the faithful dad tells his employees to dress his long lost boy in the best robe (Lk 15:22). And later, the resurrected Jesus instructs His followers to hang out in Jerusalem "until you are clothed (Gr. enduo) with power from on high" (Lk 24:49).
Go ahead. Put it on.
The important thing is that these aren't some kind of holy hand-me-downs. This is "the new self" (v24). The language describes something unused. Something of new quality. In other words, it still has the tags on it. In that Colossian letter, Paul said something VERY similar. "Put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator" (Col 3:10). When we place our trust in Jesus, something radical happens. The old sinful me disappears. The new holy me appears. Don't believe me? Would you believe Paul? He only wrote most of the New Testament. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come" (2Cor 5:17). If anyone knows about this new creation business, it's the former Pharisee. Jesus radically transformed this killer of Christians into His greatest missionary. Talk about a new creation. Paul knows what it means to put it on.
So, go ahead. Put it on.
What exactly do our new duds look like? What are we putting on? God personally tailored this new outfit just for you. And it features "true righteousness and holiness" (v24). This righteousness is what theological brainiacs call "alien righteousness." It's not mine. It's not yours. We didn't come in wearing it. We get it from somewhere else. Or should I say, we get it from Someone else. And that Someone would be Jesus. "For our sake He (God) made Him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God" (2Cor 5:21). Luther calls this the Great Exchange. I would call it Greater that Great!!!
Same deal with the holiness. It's not ours. It's an alien holiness. This is not an achieved perfection. Just like our new and undeserved righteousness, our holiness is a gracious gift of God. The only chance I can ever "be holy and blameless in His sight" (Eph 1:4) is if someone does it for me. That's EXACTLY what Christ has done. My only hope of holiness is by trusting in "the Holy One of God" (Mk 1:24) and His Holy Spirit living in me (Rom 8:9-11).
Paul gives the Colossians a little more detailed description of the spectacular our new wardrobe. "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must also forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony" (Col 3:12-14). Compassion. Kindness. Humility. Meekness. Patience. Forgiveness. Love. All features of our Lord Jesus. All features of our new clothes.
Jesus invites us to raid His closet. Go ahead. Put it on.
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