Ephesians 4:22

ἀποθέσθαι. Romans 13:12; Colossians 3:8; cf. 1 Peter 2:1; James 1:21; Hebrews 12:1. ‘Laying aside.’ The context in the Pauline passages suggests the figure of putting off clothes, expressed most forcibly in Colossians 3:9 ἀπεκδυσάμενοι. Notice the Aor. It implies a resolute effort to take a decisive step.

κατὰ τὴν προτέραν�. Cf. on Ephesians 2:3 : ‘in regard to.’

τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον, Colossians 3:9; Romans 6:6. The phrase is the natural antithesis to ὁ καινὸς ἄνθρωπος Ephesians 4:24 (ὁ νέος ὁ� Colossians 3:10); cf. Ephesians 2:15. In Ephesians 2:15 the One New Man is a corporate unit, and mankind is one in Adam (1 Corinthians 15:22; cf. Romans 5:12) as in Christ. But here and in the kindred passages (cf. 1 Peter 3:4 ὁ κρυπτὸς τῆς καρδίας ἄνθρωπος) the thought is of the ruling principle in the individual character. So in Galatians 5:24 (|| Romans 6:6) ἡ σάρξ takes the place of ὁ παλ. ἡμ. ἀνθ.

τὸν φθειρόμενον. In 2 Corinthians 4:16 the thought is of physical decay. Here our attention is called to the moral degeneration, of which the physical is the symbol. Notice with Origen the force of the present. The limit of corruption whether in the individual or in Society had not yet been reached, cf. 2 Timothy 3:13; ct. ἐν� Ephesians 6:24.

κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς�. Cf. John 8:44 quoted above and Ephesians 2:3 ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν. ‘Desires that are excited by the spirit of deceit.’ External objects of all kinds attract us with promises of gratification which continually disappoint us when we pursue them without reference to the higher Law. So our Lord speaks of ‘the deceitfulness of riches.’ St Paul here ascribes the origin of the attraction to an active principle of deceit working through these false objects of desire. Such desires, continually failing of satisfaction, are responsible for the progressive deterioration of the old man.