The apostle tells us that now that we are in Christ we must put off (in the sense of taking off an old garment) our old selves. He gives us instructions about how to live as the new creatures we are.
"So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed." (Ephesians 4:17-19) Paul tells his Gentile readers not to live as the Gentiles do. This is because, now that they belong to Christ, they are new creatures simply known as "Christians." Their identity is not as Gentiles anymore but as Christians. It doesn't matter what anyone's background was before they came to Christ, for, "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28)
We are to live with the knowledge that the most important part of our identity is that we are Christians. Our Christianity is more important than our genealogy or race or sex. We are to live as Christians should live; we are not to cling to our former sins or to whatever form of morality (or immorality) our culture teaches. Paul knows the Gentile believers live in an immoral society and that they may find it difficult to ignore or avoid the temptations their culture throws at them, so he reminds them who they really are in Christ. If they keep this in the forefront of their minds, they will be far less likely to fall back into their old ways.
"That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus." (Ephesians 4:20-21) Here in Ephesians 4 we find Paul saying something like, "When you heard the gospel and learned about the teachings of Christ, you realized that His truth was not in line with the 'truth' you formerly lived by. You used to serve idols, if you served any gods at all. Some of you had rejected even the false gods of the pagans and refused to submit to any authority. In times past you renounced the moral code of a holy God and chose to live according to your own desires. You likely did some of this in ignorance, since this was the culture you were born into, but you can claim ignorance no longer. You know the character of Christ. You know you must live in a way that brings honor to the name of the One who saved you by His own blood."
When the Gentiles came to Christ they needed instruction in Christian living. Their culture allowed all sorts of immorality and wickedness, such as adultery and fornication, witchcraft and other occult practices, greed and deceit in business practices, perversion of justice in exchange for bribery, and so on and so on. They had never been taught to love their neighbors as themselves but instead they lived by the code of the carnal man which says, "It's every man for himself." When people do not serve a holy God, holy living does not come naturally. The Gentiles served gods of their own making, gods who were much like humans, gods who possessed the same faults as humans like anger and jealousy and greed. But now they serve the living God, the one and only God, and He says, "Be holy because I am holy." (Leviticus 11:44-45, Leviticus 19:2, Leviticus 20:7)
In giving instruction in Christian living, Paul taught the Ephesians to put off the old self and put on the new self. "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:22-23) In the original Greek Paul is telling us to change clothes, to throw aside the old dirty set of clothes and to put on the new clean set of clothes. Would it be appropriate for Christians to accept Christ but still keep behaving in the same old ways? No, because we are not who we used to be. If a king rode by in his chariot and saw us lying drunk and homeless and hopeless in the gutter, and if he invited us home with him to be part of his family, would we still keep wearing our filthy stinky clothes in his household? Or would we put on the clothing appropriate for children of the king? This is what Paul is saying to the Ephesians and to all believers everywhere, "It doesn't matter who you used to be. That's not who you are now. So put off the behaviors of the old man and put on the behaviors of the new man. You've been made new in your hearts, now be made new in your minds by learning about Christ and growing in your relationship with Him. Don't keep wearing the nasty stained clothes of the past. That's not who you are now! Put on the royal robes of the sons and daughters of the King."
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