If So Be

“This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus” (Eph. 4:17-21).

You might remember that we had recently published an article about the 7 Characteristics of the Old Man based on the list given in these verses.

Paul doesn’t just give us vague warnings in that list, he gives us a seven-step progression of what life looks like when it’s disconnected from God.

He starts in the mind. That’s where everything begins. He says the Gentiles walk “in the vanity of their mind” — futile empty thinking, motion without meaning, activity without value. It’s not that they aren’t thinking, it’s that their thinking goes nowhere. And from that emptiness flows a darkened understanding, where the ability to process truth is distorted. It’s like trying to navigate life with a broken compass—you’re moving, but you’re lost.

From there, the spiral deepens. That darkened understanding leads to alienation from the life of God, not because God isn’t available, but because they’re disconnected from His life source. Like a lamp unplugged from the wall.

And what fuels that condition? Willful ignorance — a refusal to receive truth — and beneath it all, a hardened, blinded heart that no longer responds to the light.

Then comes one of the most chilling phrases in that list: “being past feeling.” This is where the conscience goes numb. The alarm system is gone. What once convicted you no longer even registers anymore. And when that happens, Paul says they “give themselves over” to sin — not accidentally, but willingly. Sin becomes not just something they fall into, but something they offer themselves over to do.

That final stage? A life marked by lasciviousness — open, unrestrained, shameless sin — worked out habitually, even greedily. The more they pursue it, the more they want it. They’ve fallen in a tragic cycle: chasing satisfaction, but never finding it, because they’re cut off from the only life that truly satisfies a soul and that is the life of God.

But then two of the most powerful words in the passage:

“But ye.”

“But ye have not so learned Christ.”

Paul slams the brakes on the whole downward spiral and says, “That’s not you anymore.” You haven’t “learned Christ” that way. Not just learned about Him—but learned Him. His life. His character. His mind. This isn’t behavior modification — this is your transformation. You learned Christ’s nature, His attributes. You learned that you’re one with Him. What is true for Him is true for you. And now, it’s just a matter of you living out who you already are in Christ.

You don’t stop walking like the old man to become something new — you stop because you already are something new.

So now, instead of vanity, there’s purpose. Instead of darkness, there’s light. Instead of alienation, there’s life. Instead of hardness, there’s sensitivity.

Because you’ve learned Christ — and that changes everything.

If So Be

That brings us to vs 21.

Eph 4:20 But ye have not so learned Christ; Eph 4:21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus.

That’s a fascinating verse.

In the first half of verse 21, he says, If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him. What does he mean by that? Some sources suggest that Paul is talking about the gospel in the sense that when the gospel came to them, they learned who Christ is and they learned His nature through the gospel. When they heard the gospel, they encountered Christ personally. “To hear the gospel rightly,” they say, “is to hear Him.”

That’s all well and good. And true. We right dividers also love to point out that we do not know Christ after the flesh anymore. We know Him post-Calvary, post-ascension. We know Him as He is – risen, ascended, glorified, seated at the right hand of the Father. And that’s true. Except for the fact that His nature and His attributes never changed before and after Calvary. He is still the same in His essence, in His nature, as He was before Calvary.

I would take verse 21 here at face value for what it says.

When he says, If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, I think it was possible that there were saints in Ephesus who had heard Christ’s teaching and were exposed to His nature when He was alive.

We know there was a contingent of Jewish believers attending the church at Ephesus. For example, when Timothy took over as pastor, some of those Jews, who were members of the Little Flock, were misbehaving. They were trying to pull everyone else back under the law, and Paul had to explain in 1 Tim. 1:9 that the law is not made for a righteous man. I’d suggest it’s possible that members of the Little Flock who attended the church at Ephesus could have literally heard the Lord and been taught by Him during His earthly ministry.

The point is – Christ’s nature never changed even when He was in the flesh. His attributes never changed. He is still just as righteous and holy and humble as when He was in the flesh. The only thing that changed is that He is no longer able to be tempted as He was when He was in the flesh (Heb. 4:15). Paul said He’s the firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18). He is now living His resurrection life free from sin or temptation in the flesh, just as we will be when we’re given our new bodies.

And this isn’t the only time Paul references the nature of Christ while He was here on Earth. Phil. 2 is all about the mind of Christ, His humility and how He had humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And every time Paul references the faith of Christ, that is a reference to a consistency in His nature, especially seen when He was alive and had proved His perfect faithfulness to the Father by going to the cross.

The greater point here is that whether you heard the gospel through Paul, whether you learned about the nature of Christ through Paul’s epistles or whether they had seen Christ in person and witnessed His nature in action, ye have not so learned Christ. You learned who Christ is. You learned His nature, His attributes, which stands as a perfect contrast to the 7 Characteristics of the Old Man.

Your spiritual life is not merely about learning doctrines — it is being shaped by a living Teacher. Growth is not trying harder. Growth is learning Christ more deeply, letting Him instruct your thinking and shape your entire inner life.

Then Paul anchors all of this with this phrase: “as the truth is in Jesus.”

Truth is not a system of beliefs found in a book — truth is located in the Son of God.

Notice the name. He doesn’t say “Christ,” the anointed one. He says, “Jesus,” the abbreviated form of Joshua, the name most often associated with His humiliation in His condescension and incarnation.

By saying Jesus, Paul is again taking your mind back to His earthly life — His character, His obedience, His walk – everything connected to His humiliation as God in the flesh.

Truth is not abstract. It is embodied. It is visible. They saw truth lived out in the man they knew as Jesus. The truth you’ve received about the nature of God is the same truth you saw lived out in Jesus when He was here. This is why verse 21 is so crucial to the flow of the passages in that section. It explains vs 20 — “ye have not so learned Christ” — and it prepares the way for put off & put on in verses 22–24.

Because you have heard Him, and learned who He is, which defines now who you are in Him, you now have the capacity to put off the old you, the old man, and you’re perfectly empowered and capable of being renewed in the spirit of your mind, and putting on the new man inside of you. The very place where your fall began — in the mind — is now the very place where your renewal happens.