Ephesians 4:24 tells believers to take on a new self, a person shaped after God’s own likeness and marked by real righteousness and holiness. Paul is not describing a self-improvement project but a change of identity that God has already made possible through Christ. The verse is written by the apostle Paul, traditionally identified as the author of Ephesians, to the Christian community in Ephesus and the surrounding churches.
And put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
Ephesians 4:24 (WEB)
What Ephesians 4:24 Means
The phrase “put on the new man” uses the image of clothing. Paul says that just as you change clothes each day, you can choose to wear the character that belongs to your new life in Christ. The “new man” here means the renewed person you have become, not a different human being. The word “man” in older English translations refers to humanity in general, so the idea is a new humanity, a new way of being a person.
Next, the verse says this new self “has been created” in God’s likeness. The past tense matters. Paul is describing something God has already done, not something you must manufacture on your own. The new self reflects God’s character, especially in righteousness, which is living rightly before God and others, and holiness, which is being set apart for God’s purposes. The phrase “of truth” connects this moral life to the truth revealed in Jesus that Paul has been discussing.
The verse does not promise that you will never struggle with sin, nor does it describe an instant, flawless transformation. It describes a direction and a reality given by God, which you are invited to live out. Paul writes the same letter elsewhere admitting that believers still wrestle with old habits, so the verse is better read as a calling to walk in what is already true of you than as a guarantee of perfect behavior.
The Context of Ephesians 4:24
Ephesians is a letter that moves from doctrine to daily living. The first three chapters explain what God has done through Christ, raising believers with him and uniting Jews and Gentiles in one body. Chapter 4 then turns to practice, urging the readers to live worthy of their calling. Verse 24 sits in the middle of a passage contrasting the “old man,” the former way of life shaped by deceit and corrupt desires, with the new life God gives.
The verses just before and after explain the verse’s purpose. Paul asks his readers to put away falsehood and speak truth to one another, because they are members of one another in the body of Christ. He then addresses anger and the danger of letting it linger. Read this way, the “new man” is not a private inner state alone but a way of living out truthfulness, honesty, and right relationships in the community of faith.
Key Phrases in Ephesians 4:24
Colossians 3:10
And have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator…
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Paul uses similar language here, describing believers as having put on the new self that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its Creator. Reading it beside Ephesians 4:24 shows that the renewal is tied to God’s image and grows through knowing him more fully.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
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This verse speaks of the person in Christ as a new creation, with old things passing away. It reinforces the truth that the change Paul describes in Ephesians begins with what God has already done in those who belong to Christ.
A Short Prayer From Ephesians 4:24
Lord, you have made a way for me to live as a new person in Christ. I confess that I often reach for the old habits of anger, falsehood, and self-protection because they feel familiar. Help me to put on the new self you have given me, shaped by your truth and your holiness. Let my words be honest, my choices be right, and my heart be renewed day by day. Shape me more into your likeness, so that others may see something of your goodness in my life. Amen.
