That you put off concerning the former way of life the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
All Commentaries on Ephesians 4:22 Go To Ephesians 4
John Chrysostom
AD 407
This then surely is to learn Christ, to live rightly; for he that lives wickedly knows not God, neither is known of Him; for hear what he says elsewhere, They profess that they know God, but by their works they deny Him. Titus 1:16
As truth is in Jesus; that you put away as concerning your former manner of life, the old man.
That is to say, It was not on these terms that you entered into covenant. What is found among us is not vanity, but truth. As the doctrines are true, so is the life also. Sin is vanity and falsehood; but a right life is truth. For temperance is indeed truth, for it has a great end; whereas profligacy ends in nothing.
Which waxes corrupt, says he, after the lusts of deceit. As his lusts became corrupt, so himself also. How then do his lusts become corrupt? By death all things are dissolved; for hear the Prophet, how he says, In that very day his thoughts perish. Psalm 146:4 And not by death only, but by many things besides; for instance, beauty, at the advance of either disease or old age, withdraws and dies away, and suffers corruption. Bodily vigor again is destroyed by the same means; nor does luxury itself afford the same pleasure in old age, as is evident from the case of Barzillai: the history, no doubt, you know. Or again, in another sense, lust corrupts and destroys the old man; for as wool is destroyed by the very same means by which it is produced, so likewise is the old man. For love of glory destroys him, and pleasures will often destroy him, and lust will utterly deceive him. For this is not really pleasure but bitterness and deceit, all pretense and outward show. The surface, indeed, of the things is bright, but the things themselves are only full of misery and extreme wretchedness, and loathsomeness, and utter poverty. Take off the mask, and lay bare the true face, and you shall see the cheat, for cheat it is, when that which is, appears not, and that which is not, is displayed. And it is thus that impositions are effected.
The Apostle delineates for us four men. Of these I shall give an explanation. In this place he mentions two, speaking thus, Putting away the old man, be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man. And in the Epistle to the Romans, two more, as where he says, But I see a different law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. Romans 7:23 And these latter bear affinity to those former two, the new man to the inner man, and the old man to the outer man. However, three of these four were subject to corruption. Or rather there are three, the new man, the old, and this, man in his substance and nature.
