Ephesians 4:21

if so be The Gr. interrogative (used also above, Ephesians 3:2) does not imply any doubt, necessarily, but calls the reader to verify the statement.

have heard him, &c. Better, as "Him" is emphatic by position, If it was He whom ye heard. The Gr. construction leads us to explain this not of listening tothe Lord so much as of hearing aboutHim, or rather, of hearing "Him" as Truth rather than Teacher. "Christ" had been the Message they had received. He does indeed, by His Word and Spirit, personally continue the "teaching" which in His earthly ministry He began (Acts 1:1); but that is not the point of the present words.

have been taught by him Better, if it was in Him that ye were taught. The instruction was "in Christ," if the teacher's limit and rule was the truth of His Person and Work, and if those who received it were, by living spiritual union, "in Him," and so capable of "spiritual discernment" (1 Corinthians 2:14). This clause defines and explains the previous clause.

as the truth is in Jesus Better, even as in Jesus truth is. See last note, on the relation of spiritual "in-ness" to the standard and reception of spiritual truth. The emphasis here is as if to say, "If you were taught, as I say, in Him; in the lines of eternal factand spiritual realitywhich do so truly meet in Him." The question arises, why does the Lord's designation change from "Christ," Ephesians 4:20, to "Jesus" here? Probably to mark the fact that the prophesied Christ isthe historical Jesus.