Before salvation, people typically live according to their own desires. However, Scripture teaches us to do the opposite: to put God above all else and “regard one another as more important than yourselves” (Matthew 6:33; Philippians 2:3, ESV). Jesus says that giving God top priority involves loving Him wholeheartedly, denying ourselves, and following Him (Matthew 16:24; Matthew 22:37-38, ESV).
How can we know we are becoming spiritually stronger? First, we will be less attracted to sin and ungodly practices and will yearn to be more like Jesus. Next, we will start replacing ungodly habits with activities that please and honor the Lord. Then, we will begin to comprehend some of the deeper biblical truths and apply them in our life. Finally, our spiritual discernment will improve. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we will more easily recognize and choose God’s best.
The Apostle Paul supplies clear biblical criteria for recognizing this growth in his letter to the Ephesians. In Ephesians 4:17-24, he contrasts the former manner of life with the new creation reality that belongs to every believer in Christ. Because the passage sits between the glorious indicatives of chapters 1-3 and the practical imperatives that follow, it functions as a diagnostic tool. When we examine our lives against these verses, we gain objective evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work, strengthening us from the inside out. Careful attention to the Greek text alongside the English Standard Version reveals the depth of this transformation.
What Spiritual Weakness Looks Like
Paul begins with a solemn charge: “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind” (Ephesians 4:17, ESV). The connective “therefore” (οὖν) links everything that follows to the high privileges already described and to the call to walk worthy of our calling in unity (Ephesians 4:1-6). Because God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ and has made us one body, our conduct must differ from the surrounding culture.
The verb translated “walk” is περιπατεῖν. In everyday Greek, it simply meant to walk about, yet Paul consistently uses it as a metaphor for one’s entire manner of life and moral direction. The command is decisive: believers must no longer conduct themselves in the pattern that characterizes those still alienated from God. The futility of mind (ματαιότητι τοῦ νοὸς αὐτῶν) does not imply that unbelievers lack intellectual capacity. Remarkable cultural and scientific achievements exist apart from faith. The point is that such achievements remain ultimately empty when severed from the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). As one commentator observed, “The thought is not that unregenerate minds are empty. It is that they are filled with things that lead to nothing.”
Verse 18 adds two more descriptions of this darkened condition: “having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” The participle ἐσκοτωμένοι τῇ διανοίᾳ speaks of a mind that has been darkened or blinded in its faculty of thinking. The alienation (ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι) is not merely intellectual disagreement with Christian claims; it is relational and vital separation from the very life that flows from God. The root cause lies in the heart. The Greek term πώρωσις, rendered “blindness” or “hardness,” originally described the callus that forms over a reset bone. It is harder than the surrounding bone itself. Spiritual hardness is therefore not a single act but a progressive desensitization. The heart that repeatedly rejects truth grows calloused until it no longer feels the pain of conviction.
Verse 19 reaches the moral outcome: “who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.” The perfect participle ἀπηλγηκότες conveys a settled condition of having ceased to feel pain or shame. The word ἀσέλγεια (lewdness or licentiousness) describes sin that flaunts itself without restraint or sense of public decency. William Barclay notes that the person characterized by ἀσέλγεια “does not care how much he shocks public opinion so long as he can gratify his desires.” The following terms, ἀκαθαρσία (uncleanness or impurity, often sexual) and πλεονεξία (greed or covetousness), reveal a life driven by uncontrolled appetite. These are not isolated lapses; they constitute a pattern of existence that flows directly from a hardened heart and a futile mind.
When we observe decreasing attraction to these patterns in our own lives, we possess tangible evidence of spiritual strengthening. The conscience that once felt little begins to register conviction again. Desires that once dominated lose their grip. This is not the product of mere willpower; it is the fruit of union with Christ, who is renewing us according to His image.
The Personal Knowledge That Changes Everything
Paul draws a sharp contrast: “But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:20-21, ESV). The phrase “learned Christ” (ἐμάθετε τὸν Χριστόν) is striking. Greek verbs of learning usually take an accusative of the thing learned. Here, Paul uses the person of Christ as the direct object. Believers have not merely acquired information about Jesus; they have entered a living, relational apprenticeship with Him. Charles Spurgeon captured the practical implication: “If you want to know the Lord Jesus Christ, you must live with him… He must be the choice Companion of your morning hours, he must be with you throughout the day, and with him you must also close the night.”
This personal knowledge stands in direct opposition to the ignorance and hardness described earlier. Because truth is embodied in Jesus Himself, growing in Him necessarily produces both doctrinal clarity and ethical transformation. Head knowledge alone never suffices; yet the Christian life absolutely requires renewed thinking. The mind is not bypassed but redeemed and retrained.
Putting Off the Old Man and Putting On the New Man
The heart of the passage lies in the three infinitives that summarize what believers were taught: “that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24, ESV).
The clothing imagery is deliberate and culturally resonant. In the ancient world, changing garments often signified a shift in status, allegiance, or role. A prisoner released from confinement was told to discard prison garb and put on civilian clothes. Paul applies the same logic spiritually. The old man (τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον) is the person we inherited from Adam, the self whose governing principle is rebellion against God. This old self “grows corrupt” (φθειρόμενον) according to “deceitful lusts” (τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης). The present participle indicates an ongoing process of decay. The lusts themselves are deceptive; they promise life and satisfaction but deliver corruption and death.
The command to “put off” (ἀποθέσθαι) is in the aorist infinitive, suggesting a decisive, once-for-all renunciation that must be worked out daily. We do not gradually improve the old man; we repudiate him. At the same time, the renewal (ἀνανεοῦσθαι) of the spirit of the mind is present and passive. The Holy Spirit is the agent who continually renews the inner governing disposition of our thinking. This renewal goes beyond behavior modification. It reshapes desires, perspectives, and values so that we begin to see reality as God sees it.
Finally, we are to “put on the new man” (ἐνδύσασθαι τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον). The adjective καινός denotes newness in quality, not merely newness in time. This new self was created (κτισθέντα) according to God (κατὰ θεόν) in “true righteousness and holiness” (ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ὁσιότητι τῆς ἀληθείας). Righteousness here points to right relationships with God and neighbor; holiness points to consecrated devotion. Both are grounded in “the truth” that stands in contrast to the deceit of the old lusts. The new man is nothing less than the restored image of God being formed in us through union with Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:10).
Because this new creation is already a reality positionally, we are summoned to live consistently with it. We do not wait until we feel like the new person before we act like one. Right conduct, empowered by the Spirit, reinforces and deepens right identity.
Clear Markers That Spiritual Strength Is Increasing
When these truths take root, four observable changes appear.
First, attraction to sin and ungodly practices diminishes while desire to be like Jesus grows. The old patterns of licentiousness, impurity, and greed lose their appeal because the heart is no longer calloused. Conviction returns, and with it a genuine longing for holiness.
Second, ungodly habits are progressively replaced by practices that please and honor the Lord. The decisive “putting off” and daily “putting on” become visible in concrete choices: what we watch, how we speak, how we use time and money, how we treat people. The clothing metaphor reminds us that conduct shapes identity even as identity shapes conduct.
Third, the capacity to comprehend deeper biblical truths expands. The renewed mind (Romans 12:2) is able to grasp realities that once seemed opaque. Meditation on Scripture moves from duty to delight because the spirit of the mind is being restored.
Fourth, spiritual discernment sharpens. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we more readily recognize God’s best and choose it over lesser goods or outright evil. The contrast between the old man's deceitful lusts and the new man's righteousness and holiness becomes clearer in real time.
These markers are not achieved by self-effort alone. They are the evidence that we are cooperating with the Spirit who both indwells and transforms. Growth is rarely perfectly linear. Seasons of plateau, struggle, or even temporary setback occur. Yet the overall direction, the deepening desire for Christ, and the increasing sensitivity of conscience testify that spiritual strength is advancing.
Cooperating with the Spirit’s Transforming Work
Do you want to become mighty in spirit? If so, spend time in the Scriptures, learning what is important to God. Saturate your mind with the truth that is in Jesus. Ask Him daily to transform you into the person He has designed you to be. Practice the deliberate putting off of old patterns through confession and repentance, and the deliberate putting on of new patterns through obedience and service. Surround yourself with brothers and sisters who will encourage this process within the unified body Paul describes earlier in the chapter.
As you align your priorities with His, you will discover a strength and purpose you never knew was possible. The old man continues to tempt, yet he is a defeated enemy whose influence is steadily diminishing. The new man, created according to God in true righteousness and holiness, is being renewed day by day. This is the pathway to genuine spiritual strength, and it is open to every believer who will walk in it.
