Ephesians 4:22 tells believers to put off their former way of life, the old self that is being corrupted by deceitful desires. Paul wrote it to the Christians in Ephesus, a church made up largely of people who had lived among pagan practices before coming to faith in Christ.
That you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man, that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit…
Ephesians 4:22 (WEB)
What Ephesians 4:22 Means
The verse begins with the idea of putting away, which is the language of taking off a garment. Paul uses the image of clothing because he wants the reader to see a real, deliberate act, something you choose to do rather than something that simply happens to you. The phrase “as concerning your former way of life” points to a pattern of living that belonged to your past, the habits, attitudes and patterns of thinking you once lived inside of.
The “old man” is Paul’s way of describing the whole person as they were before Christ, shaped by their old loyalties. The verb describing this self is in a form that suggests ongoing decay, so the old self is not stable or healthy but is growing more corrupt over time. The desires that drive it are called “the lusts of deceit,” meaning appetites that promise satisfaction but leave a person emptier and more confused.
The verse does not promise that you will never feel the pull of old habits again. It describes a direction and a decision: you turn away from a way of life that is leading you toward ruin. Paul expects the change to be ongoing, which is why he pairs this instruction with a call to be renewed in the next verse.
The Context of Ephesians 4:22
Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul, traditionally dated to his imprisonment in Rome around the early 60s AD. Its first audience was the church in Ephesus and the believers in surrounding regions. The letter moves from the grand truths of God’s plan in chapters 1 to 3 into practical instruction about how the church should live together in chapters 4 to 6.
Just before verse 22, Paul describes the Gentile world as callous and given over to uncleanness, and he contrasts that with what the Ephesians learned in Christ. Verses 23 and 24 follow with the positive side of the same change: renewal in the mind and putting on the new self. Read alongside these verses, 4:22 is the first half of a two-part movement, and it makes most sense as the removing of something that must be replaced.
Key Phrases in Ephesians 4:22
Romans 6:6
Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.
(WEB)
Paul’s teaching in Romans uses the same idea of the old self being put to death with Christ, showing that the call to put off the old life rests on what God has already done in the believer.
Colossians 3:9-10
9 Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings, 10 and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator…
(WEB)
In Colossians, Paul uses similar language of taking off the old self and putting on the new, reinforcing that this change is a central pattern in how the apostles described Christian living.
A Short Prayer From Ephesians 4:22
Lord, you see the habits and desires I have carried for years, some of which I have called harmless and others I have hidden even from myself. I ask you to show me clearly where the old way of life still holds me. Give me the courage to take off what does not belong to me anymore, and help me trust that you are not asking me to do it alone. Shape my thoughts and choices so that the old self grows weaker and the new life you have given me grows stronger each day. Amen.
