The passage
      v17. In the opening verse of this chapter, Paul urges his readers to "live a life worthy of the calling you have received." Having discussed the notion of the church as one body with diverse parts, Paul again returns to the issue of Christian behavior. His Ephesian readers have come from a pagan background and need to cast off their former life.
      v18. In fact, says Paul, "they are darkened in their understanding". Not knowing God ("separated from the life of God", cf. Col.1:21) only corrupts an understanding of the truth, of ethics, and so naturally prompts evil living. This "ignorance" of the truth increases with the "hardening of their hearts". As the conscience is slowly desensitized, so it is increasingly unable to convict. The idea here is that even a person who does not know God personally, still has an awareness of right and wrong. It is part of being "God breathed", of being in the "image of God."
      v19. Continuing with the idea of the "hardening of their hearts", Paul restates the phrase in different words: "having lost all sensitivity". As the skin can become callous and less sensitive, so can the conscience. The result is that pagan Gentiles hand themselves over to evil; they have given themselves to "sensuality", often called "debauchery". This is the flaunting of sexuality without shame. Also to "impurity", which is again some form of sexual misconduct. And also to "lust", or more rightly "covetousness".
      v20. Paul now turns his focus on the Ephesian Christians. He makes the point that the life-style of a Gentile, which is a product of their darkened understanding, is not that of a believer. "You, however, did not come to know Christ that way". That is, you didn't learn this type of behavior in your schooling as a Christian.
      v21. Paul reminds his readers of the Christian ethic they received from those who had instructed them in the "way". The phrase "Surely you heard of him....." or "I take it that you heard of Christ.....", is a facetious comment. He knows only too well that they were properly instructed.
      v22. They were taught, says Paul, to put off their old corrupted self. The idea of putting off the old man and putting on the new, is central to a right understanding of Christian ethics. In our identification with Christ, the old sinful self is buried with him and is replaced by his perfect righteousness, thus creating a new self. Paul's encouragement is that we be what we are, casting off the old and putting on the new in our day to day ethical decisions, cf.Rom.6:11.
      v23. Having put on the new man (having put on Christ, put on his righteousness, his resurrection power and his ascended glory) we find ourselves being made new in the attitude of our minds. This is the present state for a believer.
      v24. The new man is righteous as Christ is righteous, holy as Christ is holy. Having put on this new man, having put on Christ, we will find our lives gently shaped toward Christ-likeness.

The new man
      Living a life worthy of our calling, worthy of our relationship with Jesus, is no easy business. Our tendency is to adopt the behavior of a humanity still "darkened in (its) understanding". We can move from this path by putting off the old self and putting on the new.
      I know it is far from helpful to use the example of someone who's life is beyond the norm. Francis of Assisi was just such a person. The key to his life lay in his total dependence on the grace of God. It is this example we must follow. Here was a man who courted a lover known to few of us. His mistress was poverty. His simple life and dedication to charity was not the action of a Christian trying to confirm his standing before God, or trying to please God, or advance his holiness. Francis actually enacted the mystery of Christ's incarnation, of his becoming one with us. Francis didn't just become poor for the sake of being poor. He became poor to identify with the poor. He became one with them in their poverty. The doing of this was wholly of grace.
      His strange affinity with animals is probably the best example of this incarnational way of life. It is said he had an affinity with the animal kingdom, and this because his life was like their's. He lived a precarious life, feeding on the scraps and refuse of humanity, along with the natural provisions of nature. He lived like the birds who "do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet (our) heavenly father feeds them." In living like them, he became one with them, and communed with them.
      Renewal is achieved when we "put off the old self" and "put on the new self." In simple terms, this involves identifying with Christ's death and resurrection. By means of this identification with Christ, we find ourselves caught up in God's gracious plan for humanity. We find ourselves "created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

v18
      eskotwmenoi .... onteV "they are darkened" - being darkened. The perfect participle with the present tense of the verb to-be forms a paraphrastic perfect. The verb to-be, also being a participle, expresses "forcibly the persistance of the .... state of things", BDF. "They live blindfolded in a world of illusion", Phillips.
      th/ dianoia/ "in their understanding" - in the understanding, mind, thought. The word is interchangeable with "heart" and means "the center of human perception", O'Brien.
      aphllotriwmenoi (apallotripiow) perf. pas. part. "separated" - having been alienated from, estranged, separated. The perfect tense expressing the sense of having entered a continuous state. Probably forming a second periphrastic construction sharing the verb to-be, "being", with "darkened", as NIV. "Their minds are darkened and they are alienated from the life of God", Barclay.
      dia + acc. "because of" - because of, on account of.
      thn pwrwsin (iV ewV) "the hardening" - the hardness, stubbornness. The "ignorance" of the Gentiles is due to "the progressive inability of conscience to convict them of wrongdoing", Bruce. "They no longer have any feelings about what is right", CEV.

v19
      aphlghkoteV (apalgew) perf. part. "having lost all sensitivity" - having put away remorse, feelings. The participle is probably adverbial, causal; "they have given themselves over to sensuality because they lost all sensitivity." They have lost all feeling of shame", TEV.
      paredwkan (paradidwmi) aor. "they have given [themselves] over [to sensuality]" - they gave, delivered over [themselves to vice, uncleanness, filthiness, sensual behaviour, extreme immorality, debauchery]. Usually the scriptures have God doing the abandoning. "They have abandoned themselves to shameless immorality", Barclay.
      ergasian (a) "so as to indolge" - for work, gain, practice [of]. "For the business of impurity", Moffatt.
      akaqarsiaV (a) "impurity" - uncleanness. This word often has sexual overtones.
      en plenexia/ (a) "with a continual lust for more" - in covetousness. "Greed" is often related to idolatry, a desire for this world's things that transcends a desire for God. But possibly here just a lust for evil; "in their greed for the things which no man has a right even to desire", Barclay.

v20
      emaqete (manqanw) aor. "come to know [Christ] that way" - learned [Christ]. The Greek expression is unclear, but the sense seems obvious. Paul's readers were taught about Christ's will on matters of ethics and they know that none of the above evils are sanctioned. "You have learned nothing like that from Christ", Phillips.

v21
      ei ge "surely" - if indeed. The Greek does not imply doubt, but rather the opposite.
      hkousate (akouw) aor. "you heard [of him]" - you heard [him]. The language only "makes sense when it is assumed that Christ himself speaks in those who proclaim him", Barth. "I have no doubt that you have been instructed in the way of Christ."
      edidacqhte (didaskw) aor. pas. "were taught" - It is quite possible that "you were taught" is the beginning of a new sentence which runs through to the end of verse 24. The infinitives in v22-24 would serve as the objects of this verb. The NIV develops this structure by repeating "you were taught" at the beginning of v22. The teaching is most probably the form of instruction given to a new believer, which would include behavior appropriate to the brotherhood. We call this catechistic instruction. The comment also shows that his readers were not his own converts. The letter to the Ephesians is a general letter to a very wide group of people. It was not just written to the church at Ephesus.
      kaqwV "in accordance with" - as [truth is in Jesus]. Qualifying the clause "you heard him"; "you heard about him and learnt about him", CEV.

v22
      "You were taught" - See above.
      kata thn proteran anastrofhn "with regard to your former way of life" - as concerning the former manner of life. The NIV approach to the arrangement of this sentence seems best. It is possible to read the Greek as "you were taught to put away your former way of life", NRSV, but it is surely "you were taught to put off the old man."
      apoqesqai (apotiqhmi) aor. inf. "to put off" - to put off, put away, remove. The infinitive functions as the object of the verb "you were taught", in a sense epexegetic, explaining the content of what "you were taught", but properly forming a dependent statement of comanding/exhorting, "you were taught that you must put off your old self ..." The aorist tense expressing the complete nature of the action.The putting off of the old self is often understood in the terms of ethical renewal, although given what follows, "doing" is subsumed by "receiving". Ethical instruction centers on a believer seeing themselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ, Rom.6:11. We must believe that Christ died and rose again for our salvation. We must put off the old man (die with Christ) and put on the new man (rise with Christ) through our identification with Christ. The next step is to expect, anticipate, look to and cooperate with the renewal of our beings by the indwelling Spirit of Christ. In Colossians 3:9-10 Paul tells his readers to put away immorality because they have put off the old man with its evil practices and have put on the new man which "is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator". It is this renewing with which we cooperate. As we cooperate with the renewal of our beings by the indwelling Christ, so we begin to be what we are. It is then that righteous living begins to be shaped in our lives. "Get rid of your old life", TEV.
      ton fqeiromenon (fqeirw) pres. pas. part. "which is being corrupted" - the one being corrupted. The participle is adjectival. Introducing a clause which describes "the old man", the old sinful self which has died with Christ, but is not fully dead until deposited in the grave.

v23
      ananeousqai (ananeow) pres. pas. inf. "to be made new" - to cause something to become new and different, with the implication of becoming superior, to make new, renewal*. Again, the infinitive again explains what "you were taught", see above. The present tense expresses ongoing action, as distinct from the aorists used for putting off the old man and putting on the new. The verb may be middle, with the sene "renew oneself", rather than passive "be renewed", but this is unlikely. A believer is taught in Christ to seek ongoing inward renewal through divine action. "Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day", 2Cor.4:16. We are being "transformed", Rom.12:2, cf. Col.3:9-10.
      tw/ pneumati (a atoV) dat. "in the attitude [of your minds]" - in/by the spirit [of your minds]. We are tempted to understand Paul's words as a reference to the renewal of the mind by the Holy Spirit, which action the Spirit does perform, cf. CEV. The trouble is the Greek does not say "by the spirit/Spirit in your minds". The dative could well be instrumental, "by", but the genitive of "minds" is unlikely to mean "in". So, "spirit" obviously means our "human spirit", our "inmost being". "Mentally and spiritually remade", Phillips. Probably best to take "spirit" and "mind" in apposition to each other; "it involves spiritual renewal, the renewal of your minds", Bruce.