Schooled in Christ (Ephesians 4:20–21)

We don’t learn godliness by living in sin; rather, as Paul declares, we have learned Christ for truth is in Jesus.

In this study, we examine Ephesians 4:20–21, and Paul’s argument for us to be schooled in Christ, or to say it slightly different, to be “taught in truth.”

Listen to + Download the Audio Study

Key Passage: Ephesians 4:1-3

But you did not learn Christ in this way— if indeed [since] you heard Him and were taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus—
– Ephesians 4:20–21

Out with the “old”

• My life is NOT to be like the world around me!
• I am a new creation in Christ … I am a Christian
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

How to Learn Christ

• You don’t learn godliness by living in sin
• IF INDEED: does not express doubt, but implies confidence and certainty … “since”

1. Personal (Knowing Christ, Not Knowing ABOUT Him)

• Philippians 3:10 – … that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death …
• Warren Wiersbe – To “learn Christ” means to have a personal relationship to Christ so that you get to know Him better each day. I can learn about Sir Winston Churchill because I own many of his books and can secure books about his life. But I can never learn him because he is dead. Jesus Christ is alive! Therefore, I can “learn Christ” through a personal fellowship with Him. ⁽¹⁾
• Peter Thomas O’Brien – Learning Christ means welcoming him as a living person and being shaped by his teaching. This involves submitting to his rule of righteousness and responding to his summons to standards and values completely different from what they have known. ⁽²⁾
• Frank Thielman – Philosophical writers of roughly Paul’s time could apparently speak of “learning God” in the sense not merely of learning about him but in the more relational sense of “renewing” one’s “kinship with him” (“Chion of Heraclea,” Ep. 16.8; cf. 16.6; Tatian, Or. graec. 9.2). This is similar to the way Paul uses the phrase here. Paul conceives of Christ as a living person, seated with God in the heavenly places (1:20), and so he thinks of those who believe in Christ as having a relationship with him: they are seated with him in the heavenly places (2:6), and Christ lives in their hearts (3:17). When they first believed the gospel (1:13) and then continued to mature in their faith (4:13), they certainly learned about Christ and his teachings, but they have also developed a relationship with him as a living person (cf. Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:21; 3:8–10; 4:13; Col. 3:3; Best 1997a: 141). ⁽³⁾
• Charles Spurgeon – So, if you want to know the Lord Jesus Christ, you must live with him. First he must himself speak to you, and afterwards you must abide in 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; and as often as you may wake during the night, you must say, “When I awake, I am still with thee.” There is no way of fully learning Christ except by being perpetually with him. ⁽⁴⁾

2. Preoccupied (Apprenticeship)

• Matthew 11:28–29 – Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 
  • Preoccupied, consumed, immersed

• 3. Perpetual (Ongoing … we never stop learning Christ)

• Heard » Taught
• We never stop growing and maturing in Christ
• We are continually being conformed to His image 
• Our minds are continually renewed
• Romans 12:2 – And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.
  • Transformed: present, passive, imperative

4. Positional (Truth is IN Jesus)

• Jesus is the school we are taught in … He is the teacher (through His Spirit) … and He is the subject matter
  • Paul is NOT saying that some truth is found in Jesus (as if you might find some elsewhere) … rather all truth is found in Him
• John 14:6 – Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.”
• Interaction between written and living word
• John 17:17 – Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.

FOOTNOTES

(1) Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 40.
(2) Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999), 324.
(3) Frank Thielman, Ephesians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010), 300.
(4) C. H. Spurgeon, “True Learning,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 47 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1901), 141–142.

Photo Credit: Ontheroad

---

Join the Conversation

Question: How have you experienced the “school of Christ”?

» Leave a response below the video on YouTube …

The difficulty with podcasts is that they are typically one-sided—so I encourage you to head over to the deeperChristian YouTube page and leave a comment on the video study to join in the conversation.

---

In Our Next Study Together …

I invite you to join me on this journey from the book of Ephesians to discover God’s eternal purpose, His plan for your life, and learn how to practically live out an abundant and fruitful Christian life. 

• The focus of our next study: Ephesians 4:7
  • We are going to dive into the concept of Jesus giving us the gift of grace and what purpose His grace serves in our lives.
  • I encourage you to read through Ephesians a couple of times this week and focus specifically on Ephesians 4.