New Clothes

Paul uses clothing imagery to represent the believers’ new life. They’ve outgrown old clothes that don’t fit their new identity. He calls the Ephesians to shed sinful patterns of lying, anger, theft and unwholesome talk. In turn, they are to put on positive actions that reflect their new life—truth-telling, forgiveness, generosity and words that build others up. These behaviors reflect Jesus and what he has done for them, yet they don’t happen automatically. The believers need to unlearn their old way of living. This requires effort to take off the old and get dressed in the new...