Charles Hodge on Ephesians 4:22

V. 22. Sanctification includes dying to sin, or mortification of the flesh, and living to righteousness; or as it is here expressed, putting off the old man and putting on the new man. The obvious allusion is to a change of clothing. To put off, is to renounce, to remove from us, as garments which are laid aside. To put on, is to adopt, to make our own. We are called upon to put off the works of darkness, Rom. 13, 12, to put away lying, Eph. 4, 25; to put off anger, wrath, malice, &c., Col. 3, 8; to lay aside all filthiness, James 1, 21. On the other hand, we are called upon to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, Rom. 13, 14, Gal. 3, 27; the armour of light, Rom. 13, 12; bowels of mercy, Col. 3, 12; and men are said to be clothed with power from on high, Luke 24, 49; with immortality or incorruption, &c., 1 Cor. 15, 53. As a man’s clothes are what strike the eye—so these expressions are used in reference to the whole phenomenal life—all those acts and attributes by which the interior life of the soul is manifested;—and not only that, but also the inherent principle itself whence these acts flow. For here we are said to put off the old man, that is, our corrupt nature, which is old or original as opposed to the new man or principle of spiritual life. Comp. Col. 3, 9, "Lie not one to another, seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds." Rom. 6, 6, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him." What is here called "the old man " Paul elsewhere calls himself, as in Rom. 7, 14, "I am carnal," "In me there dwelleth no good thing," v. 18; or, "law in the members," v. 23; or "the flesh" as opposed to the spirit, as in Gal. 5, 16. 17. This evil principle or nature is called old because it precedes what is new, and because it is corrupt. And it is called "man," because it is ourselves. We are to be changed—and not merely our acts. We are to crucify ourselves. This original principle of evil is not destroyed in regeneration, but is to be daily mortified, in the conflicts of a whole life.

The connection, as intimated above, is with the former clause of v. 21,ἐδιδάχθητε—ἀποθέσθαι ὑμᾶς. When the subject of the infinitive in such construction is the same with that of the governing verb, it is usually not expressed. The presence of ὑμᾶς therefore in the text is urged as a fatal objection to this construction. A reference, however, to Luke 20, 20, Rom. 2, 19, Phil. 3, 13, will show that this rule has its exceptions.

The intervening clause, κατὰ τὴν προτέραν ἀναστροφὴν, concerning the former conversation, belongs to the verb and not to the following noun. The meaning is not, ‘the old man as to the former conversation,’ (which would require τὸν κατὰ τὴν προτ. κτλ.); but, ‘put away as concerns the former conversation the old man.’ It is not the old nature as to its former manifestations only that is to be put away, but the old principle entirely. And as that was formerly dominant, the apostle says, as to your former manner of life, put off the old man.

"Which is corrupt," φθειρόμενον; "which tends to destruction." This latter rendering is to be preferred, because the epithet old includes the idea of corruption. It would be, therefore, tautological to say, ‘the corrupt man which is corrupt.’ It is the old man or corrupt nature which tends to perdition (qui tendit ad exitium.—GROTIUS), which is to be laid aside, or continually mortified.

It tends to destruction, κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης, according to the deceitful lusts, or as ἀπάτης has the article and therefore is not so properly a mere qualifying genitive—the lusts which deceit has. The apostle says, Rom. 7, 11, sin deceived him, and Heb. 3, 11, speaks of "the deceitfulness of sin." It is indwelling sin itself which deceives by means of those desires which tend to destruction.