“But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus.”
~ Ephesians 4:20–21 (NKJV)

There’s a tone of holy surprise in Paul’s words. Almost a how could you?
It’s as though he’s looking at believers who once burned bright, now walking comfortably in compromise and he says, “But you didn’t learn Christ like this.”

You didn’t learn Christ to gossip and justify it.
You didn’t learn Christ to chase the world and call it favor.
You didn’t learn Christ to wear His name but not bear His nature.

Something’s off and it is not because the gospel changed, but because we did.

The Lesson of the Living Word

When you first met Christ, He didn’t just call you to believe. He called you to become.
To walk in truth, to die to the old self, and to put on the new man “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24).

But somewhere along the way, many of us started auditing the faith. We were attending the classes but not applying the lessons we were taught. We learned church culture, not Christ’s character. We memorized verses, but not virtues.

And Paul, with fatherly firmness, reminds us:
You didn’t learn Christ like that.

He Taught Us Different

When you learned Christ, you learned humility — the kind that washes feet.
You learned forgiveness — the kind that prays for those who crucify you.
You learned truth — the kind that doesn’t bend to be accepted.
You learned love — the kind that costs something.

You learned that grace is not a permission slip but a power source not a cover-up for sin, but a call-out to righteousness.

The cross wasn’t a classroom lecture. It was the curriculum itself.
He showed us how to live by dying, how to conquer by surrendering, how to win by losing self.

The Forgotten Teacher

The tragedy of the modern church is that we’ve learned about Christ without learning from Him.
We’ve studied His miracles but not His meekness.
We’ve quoted His promises but not His purity.
We’ve preached His power but not His pain.

We love the Christ who multiplies loaves, but avoid the Christ who says, “Take up your cross.”
We want His resurrection life but resist His crucified way.

But to truly learn Christ is to sit under the teaching of His wounds. To let His scars rewrite your syllabus.

If You Had Learned Him…

If we had truly learned Him, we wouldn’t be so easily offended for He was despised and did not retaliate.
If we had truly learned Him, we wouldn’t envy others for He made Himself nothing.
If we had truly learned Him, we wouldn’t hold grudges for He forgave before they asked.
If we had truly learned Him, holiness wouldn’t feel optional, it would feel natural.

The evidence of learning Christ is likeness to Christ.
He is not a subject to study; He is a Savior to become like.

Unlearning the World

To learn Christ, you must unlearn the world.
Unlearn the idea that success is measured by applause.
Unlearn the instinct to defend yourself instead of die to self.
Unlearn the notion that grace excuses sin because it absolutely does not, it empowers change.

Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Transformation is the graduation exam of discipleship.

So You Didn’t Learn Christ…

Maybe that’s why Paul sounded so burdened. Because he saw believers speaking in tongues but not walking in truth.
He saw giftedness without godliness, activity without intimacy, religion without repentance.

And maybe he’d look at us today – our posts, our ambitions, our compromises and say again, “You didn’t learn Christ this way.”

You learned Him crucified.
You learned Him holy.
You learned Him loving the unlovable.
You learned Him forgiving the unforgivable.
You learned Him pure in heart, gentle in spirit, and steadfast in obedience.

That is the Christ we learned and that is the Christ we must reflect.

To learn Christ is to unlearn self.
To know Him is to be changed by Him.
And if your life still looks like it did before you met Him, perhaps it’s time to sit back down at His feet and say

“Rabbi… teach me again.”