How does a Christian truly change? Having described the darkened walk of the unbeliever, Paul now shows why believers live differently: we have learned Christ. He is our new Teacher, and at salvation we came to know Him and were taught an entirely new way of living.
The old man has been put off and the new man has been put on. These are completed realities accomplished through our union with Christ. Yet the Christian still needs to be continually renewed in the spirit of the mind. This is the “already, but not yet” of sanctification: we are already new in Christ, while God continues to conform us to the image of His Son.
This transforming work is accomplished by the Holy Spirit through the ordinary means of grace—especially Scripture, prayer, fellowship, and the life of the church. We do not manufacture a new life through greater effort; we learn to live consistently with the new life we have already received in Christ.
Who is teaching us today—Christ or the world?