Ephesians 4:23

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind - Their old mode of living was to be abandoned; a new one to be assumed. The mind is to be renovated; and not only its general complexion, but the very spirit of it; all its faculties and powers must be thoroughly, completely, and universally renewed. Plautus uses a similar expression describing deep distress, and answerable to our phrase innermost soul: -

Paupertas, pavor territat mentem animi.

Poverty and dread alarm my innermost soul.

Epid., l. 519.

And be renewed - That is, it is necessary that a man who has been following these should become a new man; see the notes on John 3:3 ff., compare the notes on 2 Corinthians 4:16. The word used here - ἀνανεόω ananeoō - does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament; but it has the same meaning as the word used in 2 Corinthians 4:16, and Colossians 3:10. It means to make new, and is descriptive of the work of regeneration. This was addressed to the church, and to those whom Paul regarded as Christians; and we learn from this:

(1) that it is necessary that man should be "renewed" in order to be saved.

(2) that it is proper to exhort Christians to be renewed. They need renovated strength every day.

(3) that it is a matter of "obligation" to be renewed. People are "bound" thus to be renovated, And,

(4) that they have sufficient natural ability to change from the condition of the old to that of the "new" man, or they could not be exhorted to it.

(See the supplementary Romans 8:7, note; Galatians 5:17, note.)

In the spirit of your mind - In your temper; your heart; your nature.

4:23 The spirit of your mind - The very ground of your heart.