Miles de Libros Cristianos Gratis. Accede a nuestra Biblioteca Virtual

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ephesians 4:17

Para un estudio avanzado de: “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ephesians 4:17” utilice nuestra app.

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

17 24. Practical Results: a spiritual revolution of principle and practice. The Old Man and the New

17. testify ] A word of solemn appeal occurring elsewhere in N. T. only Act 22:26 (St Paul speaking) and Gal 5:3.

in the Lord ] As myself being “in Him,” and as to those who are in the same union. Cp. Gal 5:10 (“I have confidence towards you in the Lord,” Gr.); below, Eph 6:1 (“obey in the Lord”); &c. The phrase “in the Lord” occurs 45 times in St Paul; “in Christ,” or closely kindred phrases, nearly 80 times.

henceforth, &c.] More lit., no longer walk. At their conversion “old things were passed away” (2Co 5:17) as to principle. Let this be now realized, continuously and ever more completely, in practice. On the metaphor “ walk,” see above on Eph 2:2; Eph 2:10.

other Gentiles ] Read, probably, the Gentiles. (On the word see above, on Eph 2:11.) In a spiritual sense the Ephesians were no longer “Gentiles,” for they were spiritual “Israelites” (Gal 6:16); hence the true form of the phrase here.

vanity of their mind ] “Vanity” here is not self-conceit, which would require another Gr. word. It is the “emptiness” of illusion, specially of the state of illusion which sees pleasure in sin. In Rom 8:20 the word is used of evil, whether physical or moral, regarded as (what all evil ultimately proves to be) delusion and failure.

“ Of their mind ” : the “mind” sometimes denotes specially the reason, as distinguished e.g. from spiritual intuition (1Co 14:14-15). Sometimes (Col 2:18) it apparently denotes the rational powers in general, as in the unregenerate state; and again those powers as regenerate (Rom 12:2). Here the unrenewed “Gentile” is viewed as living on principles which reason can approve only when the eternal facts are hidden from it.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord – I bear witness in the name of the Lord Jesus, or ministering by his authority. The object of this is, to exhort them to walk worthy of their high calling, and to adorn the doctrine of the Saviour. With this view, he reminds them of what they were before they were converted, and of the manner in which the pagan around them lived.

That ye henceforth walk not – That you do not henceforth live – the Christian life being often in the Scriptures compared to a journey.

As other Gentiles walk – This shows that probably the mass of converts in the church at Ephesus were from among the pagan, and Paul regarded them as Gentile converts. Or it may be that he here addressed himself more particularly to that portion of the church, as especially needing his admonition and care.

In the vanity of their mind – In the way of folly, or in mental folly. What he means by this he specifies in the following verses. The word vanity in the Scriptures means more than mere emptiness. It denotes moral wrong, being applied usually to those who worshipped vain idols, and then those who were alienated from the true God.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Eph 4:17

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.

Exhortation to converts

1. Ministers of the Word must both speak, and with protestation enforce, the ways of God.

2. We must do all good things in the Lords power.

3. Our estate which we have in Christ must avail with us to leave oar old ways.

4. We must not spend our time after grace as we did before.

(1) It is more to Gods dishonour, and our own danger, to sin after grace, for God will be sanctified in all that come near Him, or He will by His judgments sanctify Himself in them. The times of ignorance God does not so strictly look to.

(2) We should be worse servants to God and holiness, than we were to sin and the devil; for when we were in the flesh, we walked after the devil, and were free men from righteousness.

(3) The time of grace itself includes a persuasion, for it is a day wherein the Sun of Righteousness shines in our hearts, as the time before our conversion was a night. Now, the day is not for works of darkness, but of light.

(4) It is a great injustice to spend the time after grace in the lusts of our own hearts; for, would we not think ourselves wronged if, having hired one to work here or there, he should go loitering and wasting his time elsewhere?

5. Such as are called to faith, must not be like the world.

(1) Ministers must call off the godly from conforming to the world.

(2) We must not be afraid to be singular.

6. To walk after our vain minds is heathenish.

7. All the courses which the natural man can devise are vain. (Paul Bayne.)

Kept from mental vanity

A German writer says that the kings daughter had a very learned man come every day to instruct her in the sciences. He was very weak and sickly, dwarfed and deformed. One day the kings daughter said to him, How is it that you, a man with so much intelligence and such a wonderful intellect, should have such a miserable body? The teacher made no answer, but he said, Bring us some wine. The order was given, the wine was brought, and they drank it. He said, This is very pleasant wine; in which kind of vat do you keep it? She said, In an earthen vat. Oh, he said, it is strange that in such a beautiful palace as your father has he should have wine in an earthen vat. Why dont you put it in a gold or silver vat? The kings daughter said, So it shall be. One day the learned man was teaching the kings daughter, and he said, I am weary–bring me some wine. The wine was ordered. He tasted it; it was sour. He said, This is miserable wine. What is the matter with it? She said, I cannot understand it, for we have the wine in a golden vat. Ah! he said, thats whats the matter with it; thats what has spoiled and soured it. Now, he said, turning to the kings daughter, I will explain why God puts my mind in such a miserable body. Had He put my mind in a body that was golden, beautiful, and imposing, I should have been spoiled with vanity; but He put me in an earthen vessel, and so I have been kept humble. (Dr. Talmage.)

Vanity even in death

Dantons last words to Samson, the executioner, were, Thou wilt show my head to the people; it is worth showing. (Carlyles French Revolution.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 17. Walk not as other Gentiles walk] Ye are called to holiness by the Gospel, the other Gentiles have no such calling; walk not as they walk. In this and the two following verses the apostle gives a most awful account of the conduct of the heathens who were without the knowledge of the true God. I shall note the particulars.

1. They walked in the vanity of their mind, . In the foolishness of their mind; want of genuine wisdom is that to which the apostle refers, and it was through this that the Gentiles became addicted to every species of idolatry; and they fondly imagined that they could obtain help from gods which were the work of their own hands! Here their foolishness was manifested.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord; I beseech or adjure you by the Lord: see the like, Rom 12:1; Phi 2:1.

That ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind; their minds themselves, and understandings, the highest and noblest faculties in them, being conversant about things empty, transient, and unprofitable, and which deceive their expectations, and therefore vain, viz. their idols, their worldly enjoyments, &c.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

17. thereforeresuming theexhortation which he had begun with, “I therefore beseechyou that ye walk worthy,” c. (Eph4:1).

testify in the Lordinwhom (as our element) we do all things pertaining to the ministry(1Th 4:1 [ALFORD]Ro 9:1).

henceforth . . . notGreek,“no longer”; resumed from Eph4:14.

otherGreek,“the rest of the Gentiles.”

in the vanity, c.astheir element: opposed to “in the Lord.” “Vanity ofmind” is the waste of the rational powers on worthlessobjects, of which idolatry is one of the more glaring instances. Theroot of it is departure from the knowledge of the true God (Eph 4:18Eph 4:19; Rom 1:21;1Th 4:5).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

This I say therefore and testify in the Lord,…. These words may be considered either as an assertion, and so a testimonial of the different walk and conversation of the saints at Ephesus, from the rest of the Gentiles; or as an exhortation in the name of the Lord to such a walk, the apostle here returning to what he stirs them up to in Eph 4:1

that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind; every natural man walks in a vain show; the mind of man is vain, and whoever walk according to the dictates of it, must walk vainly: the phrase is expressive of the emptiness of the mind; it being naturally destitute of God, of the knowledge, fear, and grace of God; and of Jesus Christ, of the knowledge of him, faith in him, and love to him; and of the Spirit and his graces; and it also points at the instability and changeableness of the human mind, in which sense man at his best estate was altogether vanity; as also the folly, falsehood, and wickedness of it in his fallen state: and the mind discovers its vanity in its thoughts and imaginations, which are vain and foolish; in the happiness it proposes to itself, which lies in vain things, as worldly riches, honours, c. and in the ways and means it takes to obtain it, and in words and actions and the Gentiles showed the vanity of their minds in their vain philosophy and curious inquiries into things, and in their polytheism and idolatry: to walk herein, is to act according to the dictates of a vain and carnal mind; and it denotes a continued series of sinning, or a vain conversation maintained, a progress and obstinate persisting therein with pleasure: now God’s elect before conversion walked as others do, but when they are converted their walk and conversation is not, at least it ought not to be, like that of others: the Alexandrian copy, and some others, the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions, leave out the word “other”, and only read, “as the Gentiles”, &c.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Exhortation to Purity and Holiness; Cautions against Sin; Against Grieving the Spirit.

A. D. 61.

17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But ye have not so learned Christ; 21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 Neither give place to the devil. 28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. 29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

The apostle having gone through his exhortation to mutual love, unity, and concord, in the foregoing verses, there follows in these an exhortation to Christian purity and holiness of heart and life, and that both more general (v. 17-24) and in several particular instances, v. 25-32. This is solemnly introduced: “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord; that is, seeing the matter is as above described, seeing you are members of Christ’s body and partakers of such gifts, this I urge upon your consciences, and bear witness to as your duty in the Lord’s name, and by virtue of the authority I have derived from him.” Consider,

I. The more general exhortation to purity and holiness of heart and life.

1. It begins thus, “That you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk–that for the time to come you do not live, and behave yourselves, as ignorant and unconverted heathens do, who are wholly guided by an understanding employed about vain things, their idols and their worldly possessions, things which are no way profitable to their souls, and which will deceive their expectations.” Converted Gentiles must not live as unconverted Gentiles do. Though they live among them, they must not live like them. Here,

(1.) The apostle takes occasion to describe the wickedness of the Gentile world, out of which regenerate Christians were snatched as brands out of the burning. [1.] Their understandings were darkened, v. 18. They were void of all saving knowledge; yea, ignorant of many things concerning God which the light of nature might have taught them. They sat in darkness, and they loved it rather than light: and by their ignorance they were alienated from the life of God. They were estranged from, and had a dislike and aversion to, a life of holiness, which is not only that way of life which God requires and approves, and by which we live to him, but which resembles God himself, in his purity, righteousness, truth, and goodness. Their wilful ignorance was the cause of their estrangement from this life of God, which begins in light and knowledge. Gross and affected ignorance is destructive to religion and godliness. And what was the cause of their being thus ignorant? It was because of the blindness or the hardness of their heart. It was not because God did not make himself known to them by his works, but because they would not admit the instructive rays of the divine light. They were ignorant because they would be so. Their ignorance proceeded from their obstinacy and the hardness of their hearts, their resisting the light and rejecting all the means of illumination and knowledge. [2.] Their consciences were debauched and seared: Who being past feeling, v. 19. They had no sense of their sin, nor of the misery and danger of their case by means of it; whereupon they gave themselves over unto lasciviousness. They indulged themselves in their filthy lusts; and, yielding themselves up to the dominion of these, they became the slaves and drudges of sin and the devil, working all uncleanness with greediness. They made it their common practice to commit all sorts of uncleanness, and even the most unnatural and monstrous sins, and that with insatiable desires. Observe, When men’s consciences are once seared, there are no bounds to their sins. When they set their hearts upon the gratification of their lusts, what can be expected but the most abominable sensuality and lewdness, and that their horrid enormities will abound? This was the character of the Gentiles; but,

(2.) These Christians must distinguish themselves from such Gentiles: You have not so learned Christ, v. 20. It may be read, But you not so; you have learned Christ. Those who have learned Christ are saved from the darkness and defilement which others lie under; and, as they know more, they are obliged to live in a better manner than others. It is a good argument against sin that we have not so learned Christ. Learn Christ! Is Christ a book, a lesson, a way, a trade? The meaning is, “You have not so learned Christianity–the doctrines of Christ and the rules of life prescribed by him. Not so as to do as others do. If so be, or since, that you have heard him (v. 21), have heard his doctrine preached by us, and have been taught by him, inwardly and effectually, by his Spirit.” Christ is the lesson; we must learn Christ: and Christ is the teacher; we are taught by him. As the truth is in Jesus. This may be understood two ways: either, “You have been taught the real truth, as held forth by Christ himself, both in his doctrine and in his life.” Or thus, “The truth has made such an impression on your hearts, in your measure, as it did upon the heart of Jesus.” The truth of Christ then appears in its beauty and power, when it appears as in Jesus.

2. Another branch of the general exhortation follows in those words, That you put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, c., &lti>v. 22-24. “This is a great part of the doctrine which has been taught you, and which you have learned.” Here the apostle expresses himself in metaphors taken from garments. The principles, habits, and dispositions of the soul must be changed, before there can be a saving change of the life. There must be sanctification, which consists of these two things:– (1.) The old man must be put off. The corrupt nature is called a man, because, like the human body, it consists of divers parts, mutually supporting and strengthening one another. It is the old man, as old Adam, from whom we derive it. It is bred in the bone, and we brought it into the world with us. It is subtle as the old man; but in all God’s saints decaying and withering as an old man, and ready to pass away. It is said to be corrupt; for sin in the soul is the corruption of its faculties: and, where it is not mortified, it grows daily worse and worse, and so tends to destruction. According to the deceitful lusts. Sinful inclinations and desires are deceitful lusts: they promise men happiness, but render them more miserable, and if not subdued and mortified betray them into destruction. These therefore must be put off as an old garment that we should be ashamed to be seen in: they must be subdued and mortified. These lusts prevailed against them in their former conversation, that is, during their state of unregeneracy and heathenism. (2.) The new man must be put on. It is not enough to shake off corrupt principles, but we must be actuated by gracious ones. We must embrace them, espouse them, and get them written on our hearts: it is not enough to cease to do evil, but we must learn to do well. “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind (v. 23); that is, use the proper and prescribed means in order to have the mind, which is a spirit, renewed more and more.” And that you put on the new man, v. 24. By the new man is meant the new nature, the new creature, which is actuated by a new principle, even regenerating grace, enabling a man to lead a new life, that life of righteousness and holiness which Christianity requires. This new man is created, or produced out of confusion and emptiness, by God’s almighty power, whose workmanship it is, truly excellent and beautiful. After God, in imitation of him, and in conformity to that grand exemplar and pattern. The loss of God’s image upon the soul was both the sinfulness and misery of man’s fallen state; and that resemblance which it bears to God is the beauty, the glory, and the happiness, of the new creature. In righteousness towards men, including all the duties of the second table; and in holiness towards God, signifying a sincere obedience to the commands of the first table; true holiness in opposition to the outward and ceremonial holiness of the Jews. We are said to put on this new man when, in the use of all God’s appointed means, we are endeavouring after this divine nature, this new creature. This is the more general exhortation to purity and holiness of heart and life.

II. The apostle proceeds to some things more particular. Because generals are not so apt to affect, we are told what are those particular limbs of the old man that must be mortified, those filthy rags of the old nature that must be put off, and what are the peculiar ornaments of the new man wherewith we should adorn our Christian profession. 1. Take heed of lying, and be ever careful to speak the truth (v. 25): “Wherefore, since you have been so well instructed in your duty, and are under such obligations to discharge it, let it appear, in your future behaviour and conduct, that there is a great and real change wrought in you, particularly by putting away lying.” Of this sin the heathen were very guilty, affirming that a profitable lie was better than a hurtful truth; and therefore the apostle exhorts them to cease from lying, from every thing that is contrary to truth. This is a part of the old man that must be put off; and that branch of the new man that must be put on in opposition to it is speaking the truth in all our converse with others. It is the character of God’s people that they are children who will not lie, who dare not lie, who hate and abhor lying. All who have grace make conscience of speaking the truth, and would not tell a deliberate lie for the greatest gain and benefit to themselves. The reason here given for veracity is, We are members one of another. Truth is a debt we owe to one another; and, if we love one another, we shall not deceive nor lie one to another. We belong to the same society or body, which falsehood or lying tends to dissolve; and therefore we should avoid it, and speak truth. Observe, Lying is a very great sin, a peculiar violation of the obligations which Christians are under, and very injurious and hurtful to Christian society. 2. “Take heed of anger and ungoverned passions. Be you angry, and sin not,” v. 26. This is borrowed from the LXX. translation of Ps. iv. 4, where we render it, Stand in awe, and sin not. Here is an easy concession; for as such we should consider it, rather than as a command. Be you angry. This we are apt enough to be, God knows: but we find it difficult enough to observe the restriction, and sin not. “If you have a just occasion to be angry at any time, see that it be without sin; and therefore take heed of excess in your anger.” If we would be angry and not sin (says one), we must be angry at nothing but sin; and we should be more jealous for the glory of God than for any interest or reputation of our own. One great and common sin in anger is to suffer it to burn into wrath, and then to let it rest; and therefore we are here cautioned against that. “If you have been provoked and have had your spirits greatly discomposed, and if you have bitterly resented any affront that has been offered, before night calm and quiet your spirits, be reconciled to the offender, and let all be well again: Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. If it burn into wrath and bitterness of spirit, O see to it that you suppress it speedily.” Observe, Though anger in itself is not sinful, yet there is the upmost danger of its becoming so if it be not carefully watched and speedily suppressed. And therefore, though anger may come into the bosom of a wise man, it rests only in the bosom of fools. Neither give place to the devil, v. 27. Those who persevere in sinful anger and in wrath let the devil into their hearts, and suffer him to gain upon them, till he bring them to malice, mischievous machinations, c. “Neither give place to the calumniator, or the false accuser” (so some read the words) that is, “let your ears be deaf to whisperers, talebearers, and slanderers.” 3. We are here warned against the sin of stealing, the breach of the eighth commandment, and advised to honest industry and to beneficence: Let his that stole steal no more, v. 28. It is a caution against all manner of wrong-doing, by force or fraud. “Let those of you who, in the time of your gentilism, have been guilty of this enormity, be no longer guilty of it.” But we must not only take heed of the sin, but conscientiously abound in the opposite duty: not only not steal, but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing that is good. Idleness makes thieves. So Chrysostom, To gar kleptein argias estin.–Stealing is the effect of idleness. Those who will not work, and who are ashamed to beg, expose themselves greatly to temptations to thievery. Men should therefore be diligent and industrious, not in any unlawful way, but in some honest calling: Working the thing which is good. Industry, in some honest way, will keep people out of temptation of doing wrong. But there is another reason why men ought to be industrious, namely, that they may be capable of doing some good, as well as that they may be preserved from temptation: That he may have to give to him that needeth. They must labour not only that they may live themselves, and live honestly, but they may distribute for supplying the wants of others. Observe, Even those who get their living by their labour should be charitable out of their little to those who are disabled for labour. So necessary and incumbent a duty is it to be charitable to the poor that even labourers and servants, and those who have but little for themselves, must cast their mite into the treasury. God must have his dues and the poor are his receivers. Observe further, Those alms that are likely to be acceptable to God must not be the produce of unrighteousness and robbery, but of honesty and industry. God hates robbery for burnt-offerings. 4. We are here warned against corrupt communication; and directed to that which is useful and edifying, v. 29. Filthy and unclean words and discourse are poisonous and infectious, as putrid rotten meat: they proceed from and prove a great deal of corruption in the heart of the speaker, and tend to corrupt the minds and manners of others who hear them; and therefore Christians should beware of all such discourse. It may be taken in general for all that which provokes the lusts and passions of others. We must not only put off corrupt communications, but put on that which is good to the use of edifying. The great use of speech is to edify those with whom we converse. Christians should endeavour to promote a useful conversation: that it may minister grace unto the hearers; that it may be good for, and acceptable to, the hearers, in the way of information, counsel, pertinent reproof, or the like. Observe, It is the great duty of Christians to take care that they offend not with their lips, and that they improve discourse and converse, as much as may be, for the good of others. 5. Here is another caution against wrath and anger, with further advice to mutual love and kindly dispositions towards each other, Eph 4:31; Eph 4:32. By bitterness, wrath, and anger, are meant violent inward resentment and displeasure against others: and, by clamour, big words, loud threatenings, and other intemperate speeches, by which bitterness, wrath, and anger, vent themselves. Christians should not entertain these vile passions in their hearts not be clamorous with their tongues. Evil speaking signifies all railing, reviling, and reproachful speeches, against such as we are angry with. And by malice we are to understand that rooted anger which prompts men to design and to do mischief to others. The contrary to all this follows: Be you kind one to another. This implies the principle of love in the heart, and the outward expressions of it, in an affable, humble, courteous behaviour. It becomes the disciples of Jesus to be kind one to another, as those who have learned, and would teach, the art of obliging. Tender-hearted; that is, merciful, and having tender sense of the distresses and sufferings of others, so as to be quickly moved to compassion and pity. Forgiving one another. Occasions of difference will happen among Christ’s disciples; and therefore they must be placable, and ready to forgive, therein resembling God himself, who for Christ’s sake hath forgiven them, and that more than they can forgive one another. Note, With God there is forgiveness; and he forgives sin for the sake of Jesus Christ, and on account of that atonement which he has made to divine justice. Note again, Those who are forgiven of God should be of a forgiving spirit, and should forgive even as God forgives, sincerely and heartily, readily and cheerfully, universally and for ever, upon the sinner’s sincere repentance, as remembering that they pray, Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Now we may observe concerning all these particulars that the apostle has insisted on that they belong to the second table, whence Christians should learn the strict obligations they are under to the duties of the second table, and that he who does not conscientiously discharge them can never fear nor love God in truth and in sincerity, whatever he may pretend to.

In the midst of these exhortations and cautions the apostle interposes that general one, And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, v. 30. By looking to what precedes, and to what follows, we may see what it is that grieves the Spirit of God. In the previous verses it is intimated that all lewdness and filthiness, lying, and corrupt communications that stir up filthy appetites and lusts, grieve the Spirit of God. In what follows it is intimated that those corrupt passions of bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, and malice, grieve this good Spirit. By this we are not to understand that this blessed Being could properly be grieved or vexed as we are; but the design of the exhortation is that we act not towards him in such a manner as is wont to be grievous and disquieting to our fellow-creatures: we must not do that which is contrary to his holy nature and his will; we must not refuse to hearken to his counsels, nor rebel against his government, which things would provoke him to act towards us as men are wont to do towards those with whom they are displeased and grieved, withdrawing themselves and their wonted kindness from such, and abandoning them to their enemies. O provoke not the blessed Spirit of God to withdraw his presence and his gracious influences from you! It is a good reason why we should not grieve him that by him we are sealed unto the day of redemption. There is to be a day of redemption; the body is to be redeemed from the power of the grave at the resurrection-day, and then God’s people will be delivered from all the effects of sin, as well as from all sin and misery, which they are not till rescued out of the grave: and then their full and complete happiness commences. All true believers are sealed to that day. God has distinguished them from others, having set his mark upon them; and he gives them the earnest and assurance of a joyful and glorious resurrection; and the Spirit of God is the seal. Wherever that blessed Spirit is as a sanctifier, he is the earnest of all the joys and glories of the redemption-day; and we should be undone should God take away his Holy Spirit from us.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

That ye no longer walk ( ). Infinitive (present active) in indirect command (not indirect assertion) with accusative of general reference.

In vanity of their mind ( ). “In emptiness (from , late and rare word. See Ro 8:20) of their intellect (, late form for earlier genitive , from ).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

This – therefore. Referring to what follows. Therefore, resuming the exhortation of vers. 1 – 3.

Testify. Solemnly declare. Compare Act 20:26; Gal 5:3.

Other Gentiles. Omit other.

Vanity of their mind [ ] . For vanity see on Rom 1:21; Rom 8:20. For mind, on Rom 7:23.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

THE WALK OF BELIEVING CHURCH BODY MEMBERS

1) “This I say therefore” (touto oun lego) “This therefore I say, In the light or context of the fact that spiritual gifts were available for their edification and growth, Paul turned again to exhort the brethren to practical Christian conduct, which he began, Eph 4:1-3.

2) “And testify in the Lord” (kai marturomai en kurio) “And witness or bear witness in the Lord,” as said by or in the words of Christ Himself, Rom 9:1; 2Co 2:17; 1Th 4:1.

3) “That ye henceforth walk not” (meketi humas peripatei) “That you walk no more,” a negative injunction or exhortation that they behave not unworthy of their profession.

4) “As other Gentiles walk” (kathos kai ta ethne peripatei) Just as even the heathen or races walk,” in a manner devoid of worth or reality, Eph 2:2; 1Pe 4:3.

5) “In the vanity of their mind” (en mataioteti tou noos auion)ln the emptiness (vanity) of their mind;” or without purpose, useless, or in an unfruitful manner or state, Pro 30:8; Ecc 6:11; Rom 1:2. The vanity of heathen sins is to think or be delusioned to accept that true pleasure exists in the practice of sin, Isa 57:20-21.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

17. This I say therefore. That government which Christ has appointed for the edification of his church has now been considered. He next inquires what fruits the doctrine of the gospel ought to yield in the lives of Christians; or, if you prefer it, he begins to explain minutely the nature of that edification by which doctrine ought to be followed.

That ye henceforth walk not in vanity. He first exhorts them to renounce the vanity of unbelievers, arguing from its inconsistency with their present views. That those who have been taught in the school of Christ, and enlightened by the doctrine of salvation, should follow vanity, and in no respect differ from those unbelieving and blind nations on whom no light of truth has ever shone, would be singularly foolish. On this ground he very properly calls upon them to demonstrate, by their life, that they had gained some advantage by becoming the disciples of Christ. To impart to his exhortation the greater earnestness, he beseeches them by the name of God, — this I say and testify in the Lord, (147) — reminding them, that, if they despised this instruction, they must one day give an account.

As other Gentiles walk. He means those who had not yet been converted to Christ. But, at the same time, he reminds the Ephesians how necessary it was that they should repent, since by nature they resembled lost and condemned men. The miserable and shocking condition of other nations is held out as the motive to a change of disposition. He asserts that believers differ from unbelievers; and points out, as we shall see, the causes of this difference. With regard to the former, he accuses their mind of vanity: and let us remember, that he speaks generally of all who have not been renewed by the Spirit of Christ.

In the vanity of their mind. Now, the mind holds the highest rank in the human constitution, is the seat of reason, presides over the will, and restrains sinful desires; so that our theologians of the Sorbonne are in the habit of calling her the Queen. But, Paul makes the mind to consist of nothing else than vanity; and, as if he had not expressed his meaning strongly enough, he gives no better title to her daughter, the understanding. Such is my interpretation of the word διανοία; for, though it signifies the thought, yet, as it is in the singular number, it refers to the thinking faculty. Plato, about the close of his Sixth Book on a Republic, assigns to διανοία an intermediate place between νόησις and πίστις but his observations are so entirely confined to geometrical subjects, as not to admit of application to this passage. Having formerly asserted that men see nothing, Paul now adds, that they are blind in reasoning, even on the most important subjects.

Let men now go and be proud of free-will, whose guidance is here marked by so deep disgrace. But experience, we shall be told, is openly at variance with this opinion; for men are not so blind as to be incapable of seeing anything, nor so vain as to be incapable of forming any judgment. I answer, with respect to the kingdom of God, and all that relates to the spiritual life, the light of human reason differs little from darkness; for, before it has pointed out the road, it is extinguished; and its power of perception is little else than blindness, for ere it has reached the fruit, it is gone. The true principles held by the human mind resemble sparks; (148) but these are choked by the depravity of our nature, before they have been applied to their proper use. All men know, for instance, that there is a God, and that it is our duty to worship him; but such is the power of sin and ignorance, that from this confused knowledge we pass all at once to an idol, and worship it in the place of God. And even in the worship of God, it leads to great errors, particularly in the first table of the law.

As to the second objection, our judgment does indeed agree with the law of God in regard to the mere outward actions; but sinful desire, which is the source of everything evil, escapes our notice. Besides, Paul does not speak merely of the natural blindness which we brought with us from the womb, but refers also to a still grosser blindness, by which, as we shall afterwards see, God punishes former transgressions. We conclude with observing, that the reason and understanding which men naturally possess, make them in the sight of God without excuse; but, so long as they allow themselves to live according to their natural disposition, they can only wander, and fall, and stumble in their purposes and actions. Hence it appears in what estimation and value false worship must appear in the sight of God, when it proceeds from the gulf of vanity and the maze of ignorance.

(147) “ Μαρτύρομαι ἐν κυρίῳ — In this sense μαρτύρομαι is obviously used by Polybius: συνδαραμόντων δὲ τῶν ἐγχωρίων καὶ μαρτυρομένων τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐπανάγειν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχήν, when the inhabitants had run together and besought to bring the men to the magistrates. It is more customary to use διαμαρτύρομαι in this sense. Πολλὰ γὰρ τῶν κυβερνητῶν διαμαρτυρομένων μὴ πλεῖν παρὰ τὴν ἔξω πλευρὰν τὢς Σικελίας, because the pilots earnestly implored them not to sail along the opposite coast of Sicily.” — Raphelius.

(148) “ Il y a bien en l’esprit de l’homme des principes et maximes veritables, qui sont commes estincelles.” “There are, in the mind of man, many true principles and maxims, which resemble sparks.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

Eph. 4:17. That ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk.In this and the two following verses we have again the lurid picture of Eph. 2:2-3 : in the vanity of their mind.

The creature is their sole delight,
Their happiness the things of earth.

Eph. 4:18. Having the understanding darkened.Remembering our Lords saying about the single eye and the fully illuminated body we might say, If the understandingby which all light should comebe darkened, how great is that darkness! Because of the blindness.R.V. hardness. The word describes the hard skin formed by constant rubbing, as the horny hand of a blacksmith.

Eph. 4:19. Who being past feeling.Having lost the ache which should always attend a violation of law. An ancient commentator uses the now familiar word ansthetes to explain the phrase. Have given themselves over.Given represents a word which often connotes an act of treasonand themselves is emphaticthe most tremendous sacrifice ever laid on the altar of sin (Beet). To lasciviousness.St. Paul stamps upon it the burning word like a brand on the harlots brow (Findlay). To work all uncleanness with greediness.R.V. margin, to make a trade of all uncleanness with covetousness. Their sins not accidental, but a trade; and a trade at which they work with a desire of having more.

Eph. 4:20. No not so.As differently as possible. The same mode of speech which led St. Paul to say to the Galatians, Shall I praise you? I praise you noti.e. I blame you highly.

Eph. 4:21. If so be that ye have heard Him.The emphasis is on Himassuming, that is, that it is He, and no other.

Eph. 4:22. That ye put off concerning the former conversation.It is no philosophy of clothes inculcated here. It is a deliverance from the body of death, like stripping oneself of his very integument. Conversation.R.V. manner of life. Which is corrupt.R.V. much more strikinglywaxeth corrupt. St. Pauls figure elsewhere is appropriatelike a gangrene eating into the flesh.

Eph. 4:23-24. The stripping off being complete, and the innermost core of the man being renewed, the investiture may begin. The habit laid aside is never to be resumed, and the new robes, ever white, are not to be soiled. Righteousness and true holiness.R.V. Righteousness and holiness of truth. See the dealing truly of Eph. 4:15, R.V. margin.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Eph. 4:17-24

A Thorough Moral Transformation

I. Contrasted with a former life of sin.

1. A state of self-induced mental darkness. Having the understanding darkened, because of the blindness of their heart (Eph. 4:18). Infidelity is more a moral than a mental obliquity. The mind is darkened because the heart is bad. Men do not see the truth because they do not want to see it. The light that would lead to righteousness and to God is persistently shut out.

2. A state of moral insensibility that abandoned the soul to the reckless commission of all kinds of sin.Who being past feeling have given themselves over to work all uncleanness with greediness (Eph. 4:19). Sin is made difficult to the beginner. The barriers set up by a tender conscience, the warnings of nature, the teachings of providence, the light of revelation, the living examples of the good, have all to be broken down. Early transgressions are arrested by the remorse they occasion; but gradually the safeguards are neglected and despised, until the habit is acquired of sinning for the love of sin. A spirit of recklessness ensues, the reins are relaxed and then thrown upon the neck of the passions, and the soul is abandoned to the indulgence of all kinds of iniquity.

We are not worst at once. The course of evil
Is of such slight source an infants hand
Might close its breach with clay;
But let the stream get deeper, and we strive in vain
To stem the headlong torrent.

3. A state that rendered all mental activities worthless.Walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind (Eph. 4:17). The art of right thinking was lost. For the man that will not think, think clearly and justly, the calamities and the raptures of life, the blessing and the curse, have no meaning. They evoke neither gratitude nor fear. The beauties of nature, as they sparkle in the stars, or shine in the flowers, or gleam in the coloured radiance of the firmament, are unheeded. The voice of God that speaks in the events of daily life has no lesson for him. The senses, which are intended as the avenues of light and teaching to the soul, are dulled by inaction, clogged by supine indifference, and polluted and damaged by inveterate sin. When the reason is poisoned at its source, all its deductions are aimless and worthless.

II. Effected by the personal knowledge of the truth in Christ.But ye have not so learned Christ, as the truth is in Jesus (Eph. 4:20-21). The gospel has introduced to the world the principles of a great moral change. It announces Christ as the light of the worlda light that shines through all the realms of human life. The diseased reason is restored to health, the intellectual faculties have now a theme worthy of their noblest exercise, and are made stronger and more reliable by being employed on such a theme, and the moral nature is lifted into a purer region of thought and experience. The world is to be transformed by the moral transformation of the individual, and that transformation is effected only by the truth and a personal faith in Christ.

III. Involves the renunciation of the corrupting elements of the former life.That ye put off the old man, which is corrupt (Eph. 4:22). The inward change is evidenced by the outward life. The old man dies, being conquered by the new. Corruption and decay marked every feature of the old Gentile life. It was gangrened with vice. It was a life of fleshly pleasure, and could end in only one wayin disappointment and misery. The new moral order inaugurated by the gospel of Christ effected a revolution in human affairs, and the corrupting elements of the old order must be weeded out and put away. An excellent man in London kept an institution near the Seven Dials at his own expense. He spent his nights in bringing the homeless boys from the streets into it. When they came in he photographed them, and then they were washed, clothed, and educated. When he sent one out, having taught him a trade, he photographed him again. The change was marvellous, and was a constant reminder of what had been done for him. The change effected in us by the grace of God not only contrasts with our former life, but should teach us to hate and put away its corrupting sins.

IV. Evidenced in investing the soul with the new life divinely created and constantly receiving progressive renewal by the Spirit (Eph. 4:23-24).It is a continual rejuvenation the apostle describes; the verb is present in tense, and the newness implied is that of recency and youth, newness in point of age. But the new man to be put on is of a new kind and order. It is put on when the Christian way of life is adopted, when we enter personally into the new humanity founded in Christ. Thus two distinct conceptions of the life of faith are placed before our minds. It consists, on the one hand, of a quickening constantly renewed in the springs of our individual thought and will; and it is at the same time the assumption of another nature, the investiture of the soul with the divine character and form of its being. The inward reception of Christs Spirit is attended by the outward assumption of His character as our calling amongst men. The man of the coming times will not be atheistic or agnostic; he will be devout: not practising the worlds ethics with the Christians creed; he will be upright and generous, manly and God-like (Findlay).

Lessons.

1. Religion is a complete renewal of the soul.

2. The soul is renewed by the instrumentality of the truth.

3. The renewal of the soul is the renewal of the outward life.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES

Eph. 4:17; Eph. 4:19. The Gentile Lifea Warning.

I. The Gentiles walked in the vanity of their minds.The false deities the Gentiles worshipped are called vanities. The prevalence of idolatry is a melancholy proof of the depravity of human nature. Atheism and idolatry proceed not from the want of sufficient evidence that there is one eternal, all-perfect Being, but from that corruption of heart which blinds the understanding and perverts the judgment.

II. The heathens were darkened in their understanding.Not in respect of natural things, for in useful arts and liberal sciences many of them greatly excelled; but in respect of moral truth and obligation. Their darkness was owing, not solely to the want of revelation, but to the want of an honest and good heart. Religion consists not merely in a knowledge of and assent to divine truths, but in such conformity of heart to their nature and design, and in such a view of their reality and importance as will bring the whole man under their government.

III. They were alienated from the life of God.They walked according to the course of the world, not according to the will of God. Their alienation was through ignorance. Particular wrong actions may be excused on the ground of unavoidable ignorance. This ignorance had its foundation in the obstinacy and perverseness of the mind. Such a kind of ignorance, being in itself criminal, will not excuse the sins which follow from it.

IV. They were become past feeling.This is elsewhere expressed by a conscience seared with a hot iron. By a course of iniquity the sinner acquires strong habits of vice. As vicious habits gain strength, fear, shame, and remorse abate. Repeated violations of conscience blunt its sensibility and break its power.

V. They gave themselves over to lasciviousness.If we break over the restraints the gospel lays upon us, and mock the terrors it holds up to our view, we not only discover a great vitiosity of mind, but run to greater lengths in the practice of iniquity. As water, when it has broken through its mounds, rushes on with more impetuous force than the natural stream, so the corruptions of the human heart, when they have borne down the restraints of religion, press forward with more violent rapidity, and make more awful devastation in the soul than where these restraints had never been known.

Reflections.

1. How extremely dangerous it is to continue in sin under the gospel.

2. You have need to guard against the beginnings of sin.

3. Christians must be watchful lest they be led away by the influence of corrupt example.

4. Religion lies much in the temper of the mind.Lathrop.

Eph. 4:17-18. The Life of God.

I. There is but one righteousness, the life of God; there is but one sin, and that is being alienated from the life of God.One man may commit different sorts of sins from anotherone may lie, another may steal; one may be proud, another may be covetous; but all these different sins come from the same root of sin, they are all flowers off the same plant. And St. Paul tells us what that one root of sin, what that same devils plant, is, which produces all sin in Christian heathen. It is that we are every one of us worse than we ought to be, worse than we know how to be, and, strangest of all, worse than we wish or like to be. Just as far as we are like the heathen of old, we shall be worse than we know how to be. For we are all ready enough to turn heathens again, at any moment. They were alienated from the life of Godthat is, they became strangers to Gods life; they forgot what Gods life and character was like; or if they even did awake a moment, and recollect dimly what God was like, they hated that thought. They hated to think that God was what He was, and shut their eyes and stopped their ears as fast as possible. And what happened to them in the meantime? What was the fruit of their wilfully forgetting what Gods life was? St. Paul tells us that they fell into the most horrible sinssins too dreadful and shameful to be spoken of; and that their common life, even when they did not run into such fearful evils, was profligate, fierce, and miserable. And yet St. Paul tells us all the while they knew the judgment of God, that those who do such things are worthy of death.

II. These men saw that man ought to be like God; they saw that God was righteous and good; and they saw, therefore, that unrighteousness and sin must end in ruin and everlasting misery.So much God had taught them, but not much more; but to St. Paul He had taught more. Those wise and righteous heathen could show their sinful neighbours that sin was death, and that God was righteous; but they could not tell them how to rise out of the death of sin into Gods life of righteousness. They could preach the terrors of the law, but they did not know the good news of the gospel, and therefore they did not succeed; they did not convert their neighbours to God. Then came St. Paul and preached to the very same people, and he did convert them to God; for he had good news for them, of things which prophets and kings had desired to see, and had not seen themselves, and to hear, and had not heard them. And so God, and the life of God, was manifested in the flesh and reasonable soul of a man; and from that time there is no doubt what the life of God is, for the life of God is the life of Christ. There is no doubt now what God is like, for God is like Jesus Christ.

III. Now what is the everlasting life of God, which the Lord Jesus Christ lived perfectly, and which He can and will make every one of us live, in proportion as we give up our hearts and wills to Him, and ask Him to take charge of us and shape us and teach us? And God is perfect love, because He is perfect righteousness; for His love and His justice are not two different things, two different parts of God, as some say, who fancy that Gods justice had to be satisfied in one way and His love in another, and talk of God as if His justice fought against His love, and desired the death of a sinner, and then His love fought against His justice, and desired to save a sinner. The old heathen did not like such a life, therefore they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. They knew that man ought to be like God; and St. Paul says they ought to have known what God was likethat He was love; for St. Paul told them He left not Himself without witness, in that He sent rain and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness. That was, in St. Pauls eyes, Gods plainest witness of Himselfthe sign that God was love, making His sun shine on the just and on the unjust, and good to the unthankful and the evilin one word, perfect, because He is perfect love. But they preferred to be selfish, covetous, envious, revengeful, delighting to indulge themselves in filthy pleasures, to oppress and defraud each other.

IV. God is love.As I told you just now, the heathen of old might have known that, if they chose to open their eyes and see. But they would not see. They were dark, cruel, and unloving, and therefore they fancied that God was dark, cruel, and unloving also. They did not love love, and therefore they did not love God, for God is love. And therefore they did not love each other, but lived in hatred and suspicion and selfishness and darkness. They were but heathen. But if even they ought to have known that God was love, how much more we? For we know of a deed of Gods love, such as those poor heathen never dreamed of. And then, if we have God abiding with us, and filling us with His eternal life, what more do we need for life, or death, or eternity, or eternities of eternities? For we shall live in and with and by God, who can never die or change, an everlasting life of love.C. Kingsley.

Eph. 4:19. Past Feeling.

1. Though original sin has seized upon the whole soul, yet the Lord has kept so much knowledge of Himself and of right and wrong in the understanding of men as they may know when they sin, and so much of conscience as to accuse or excuse according to the nature of the fact, whereupon follows grief or joy in their affections. Wicked men may arrive at such a height of sin as to have no sense of sin, no grief, nor check, nor challenge from conscience from it.
2. A watchful conscience doing its duty is the strongest restraint from sin; and where that is not, all other restraints will serve for little purpose. For a man to be given over to lasciviousness without check or challenge argues a great height of impiety.
3. As upon senseless stupidity of conscience there follows an unsatiableness in sinning, especially in the sin of uncleanness, so when a man comes to this, he is then arrived at the greatest height of sin unto which the heathens, destitute of the knowledge of God, ever attained.Fergusson.

Eph. 4:20-24. Putting off the Old Nature and putting on the New.

I. The change here spoken of is radically seated in the mind.These terms do not import the creation of new powers and faculties, but the introduction of new tempers and qualities. The renovation enlightens the eyes of the understanding, and gives new apprehensions of divine things. It purifies the affections and directs them to their proper objects. There are new purposes and resolutions.

II. He who is renewed puts off the old man.The new spirit is opposite to sin and strives against it. The Christian mortifies the affections and lusts of the flesh because he has found them deceitful. He in deliberate and hearty purpose renounces all sin. He abstains from the appearance of evil.

III. He puts on the new man.As the former signifies a corrupt temper and conversation, so the latter must intend a holy and virtuous disposition and character. The new man is renewed in righteousness and true holiness. He not only ceases to do evil, but learns to do well.

IV. The pattern according to which the new man is formed is the image of God.The likeness must be understood with limitations. The image of God in us bears no resemblance to the perfections in the divine nature, such as immensity, immutability, and independence. There are some essential properties of the new man to which there is nothing analogous in the deity. Reverence, obedience, trust, and resignation are excellencies in rational creatures; but cannot be ascribed to the Creator. In those moral perfections in which the new man is made like God there is only a faint resemblance, not an equality. The new man resembles God in mercy and goodness, in holiness, in truth.

V. This great change is effected by the gospel.It was the consequence of their having learned Christ. The first production and improvement of this change is the work of divine grace, and the Spirit of God works on the soul by means of the word. To this change the use of means and the grace of God are both necessary.

VI. The change is great.Let none imagine he is a subject of this change merely because he entertains some new sentiments, feels transient emotions, or has renounced some of his former guilty practices. The real nature and essence of conversion is the same in all.Lathrop.

Religious Affections are attended with a Change of Nature.

I. What is conversion?

1. A change of nature.
2. A permanent change.
3. A universal change.
4. A union of Gods Spirit with the faculties of the soul.
5. Christ by His grace savingly lives in the soul.

II. Its connection with sanctification.

1. All the affections and discoveries subsequent to the first conversion are transforming.
2. This transformation of nature is continuous until the end of life, when it is brought to perfection in glory.

III. Reflections.

1. Allowance must be made for the natural temper.
2. Affections which have no abiding effect are not spiritual and gracious.
3. In some way it will be evident, even to others, that the true disciple has been with Jesus.Lewis O. Thompson.

Eph. 4:23. The Christian Spirit, a New Spirit.

I. There are some changes in men which come not up to the renewed spirit, and yet are too often rested in.

1. The assuming of a new name and profession is a very different thing from a saving change in the temper of the mind. We may be of any profession, and yet be unrenewed. People value themselves upon wearing the Christian name, instead of that of Pagan, or Jew, or Mahometan; or upon being styled Papists or Protestants; or upon their attaching themselves to one or another noted party, into which these are subdivided, and upon such a new appellation they are too ready to imagine that they are new men: whereas we may go the round of all professions, and still have the old nature remaining in full force.
2. A bare restraint upon the corrupt spirit and temper will not come up to this renovation, though the one may sometimes be mistaken for the other. The light of nature may possess conscience against many evils, or a sober education lay such a bridle upon the corrupt inclination as will keep it in for a season, the fear of punishment or of shame and reproach may suppress the outward criminal act, while the heart is full of ravening and wickedness. Therefore, though it is a plain sign of an unrenewed mind if a man live in any course of gross sin, yet it is not safe to conclude merely from restraints that a man is truly renewed.
3. A partial change in the temper itself will not amount to such a renovation as makes a true Christian. Indeed, in one sense the change is but partial in any in this life; there will be remains of disorder in all the powers of the soul, so as to exclude a pretence to absolute perfection. It is not enough to have the mind filled with sound knowledge and useful notions, nor barely to give a dead assent to the doctrines of the gospel, unless we believe with the heart, and the will and affections be brought under the power of those truths; and even here there may be some alternation, and yet a man not be renewed. Nor is it sufficient that we should find ourselves disposed to some parts of goodness, while our hearts are utterly averse to others which are equally plain. And therefore, though we should be of a courteous, peaceable, and kind temper towards men; though we should be inclined to practise justice, liberality, truth, and honesty in our transactions with them, and to temperance and chastity in our personal conduct; though these are excellent branches of the Christian spirit; yet if there be not a right temper towards God also, if the fear and love of God are not the ruling principles of the soul, there is an essential defect in the Christian spirit.

II. A particular view of this renovation in some principal acts of the mind.

1. The mind comes to have different apprehensions of things, such as it had not before. The new creation begins with light, as the old is represented to do. Light bearing in, and the mind being fixed in attention, man discerns the great corruption of his heart, and the badness of the principles and ends which governed him in the appearances of goodness, upon which he valued himself before. And so the excellency and suitableness of Christ, in all His offices, and the necessity of real, inward holiness, appear in quite another manner to his soul than hitherto.
2. The practical judgment is altered. This light, shining with clearness and strength into the mind, unsettles and changes the whole practical judgment by which a man suffered himself to be governed before in the matters of his soul. He judges those truths of religion to be real which once had no more force with him than doubtful conclusions, and accordingly he cannot satisfy himself any longer barely not to disbelieve them, but gives a firm and lively assent to them.

3. A new turn is given to the reasoning faculty, and a new use made of it. When the word of God is mighty it casts down imaginations; so we render the original word (2Co. 10:5). It properly signifies reasonings. Not that the faculty itself is altered, or that when men begin to be religious they lay aside reasoning: then in truth they act with the highest reason; they reason most justly and most worthy of their natures. But now the wrong bias, which was upon the reasoning faculty from old prejudices and headstrong inclinations, is in a good measure taken off; so that instead of its being pressed at all adventures into the service of sin, it is employed a better way, and concludes with more truth and impartiality.

4. There is an alteration in a mans governing aim, or chief end. This is like the centre, to which all inferior aims and particular pursuits tend. The original end of a reasonable creature must be to enjoy the favour of God as his supreme happiness, to be acceptable and pleasing to him. By the disposition of depraved nature we are gone off from this centre, and have changed our bias, from God to created good, to the pleasing of the flesh, to the gratification of our own humour, or to the obtaining of some present satisfaction, according to the prevailing dictate of fancy or appetite. This makes the greatest turn that can be in the spirit of the mind; all must be out of course till this be set right. Now it is the most essential part of the new nature to bring a sinner in this respect to himself, that is, to bring him back to God. All the light he receives, all the rectification of his judgment, is in order to this; and when this is well settled, everything else, which was out of course before, will return to its right channel.
5. There is hereupon a new determination to such a course of acting as will most effectually secure this end. As long as this world is the chief good which a man has in view, he contrives the best ways he can think of to promote his particular ends in it. But when the favour of God comes to have the principal share in his esteem, he carefully examines and heartily consents to the prescribed terms of making that sure. Now he is desirous to be found in Christ upon any terms.
6. The exercise of the affections becomes very different. A change will appear in this respect, through the different turns of his condition as well as in the prevailing tenor of his practice. While a man is a stranger to God and blind to the interests of his soul, he is little concerned how matters lie between God and him. But a sinner come to himself is most tenderly concerned at anything that renders his interests in God doubtful or brings his covenant-relation into question; and nothing sets the springs of godly sorrow flowing so much as the consciousness of guilt, or of any unworthy behaviour to God.

Lessons.

1. Let us seriously examine our own minds, whether we can discern such an alteration made in our spirit.

2. If we must answer in the negative, or have just ground to fear it, yet let us not despair of a change still, but apply ourselves speedily in the appointed way to seek after it.

3. Let the best retain a sense of the imperfection of the new nature in them, and of their obligation still to cultivate it, till it arrive at perfection.Dr. Evans.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Previewing in Outline Form (Eph. 4:17-32; Eph. 5:1-2)

Walk as becometh saints. Eph. 4:17-32; Eph. 5:1-20.

Walk not as the Gentiles walk. Eph. 4:17-24.

The command. Eph. 4:17 a.

The Gentile walk. Eph. 4:17 b Eph. 4:19.

(1)

In the vanity of their mind. Eph. 4:17 b.

(2)

Darkened in understanding. Eph. 4:18 a.

(3)

Alienated from the life of God. Eph. 4:18 b.

(a)

Because of the ignorance in them.

(b)

Because of the hardening of their heart.

(4)

Given over to lasciviousness. Eph. 4:19.

(a)

Because they were past feeling.

(b)

To work all uncleanness with greediness.

The Christians walk. Eph. 4:20-24.

(1)

Different from the Gentiles walk. Eph. 4:20-21.

(2)

Must put away our former manner of life. Eph. 4:22.

(3)

Must be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Eph. 4:23.

(4)

Must put on the new man. Eph. 4:24.

Seven practical exhortations. Eph. 4:25-32; Eph. 5:1-2.

Speak the truth. Eph. 4:25.

Control your anger. Eph. 4:26-27.

Steal no more. Eph. 4:28.

Speak that which is good. Eph. 4:29.

Grieve not the Holy Spirit. Eph. 4:30.

Put away angry talk and attitudes. Eph. 4:31.

Be imitators of God. Eph. 4:32; Eph. 5:1-2.

(1)

Be kind.

(2)

Be tenderhearted.

(3)

Be forgiving.

(4)

Walk in love. Eph. 5:2.

Text (Eph. 4:17-19)

17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts; 19 who being past feeling gave themselves up to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

Thought Questions (Eph. 4:17-19)

227.

Was it a simple task for the Ephesian Christians to walk no longer as the Gentiles walk?

228.

Paul seems to condemn the Gentiles quite heavily. Did the Gentiles as a whole live baser lives than the Jews?

229.

Did Paul mean to imply by his use of the word Gentile that non-Christians should be called Gentiles, regardless of their race?

230.

What is vanity? What Old Testament book exposes many things as being vanity?

231.

Describe the condition of the Gentiles understanding.

232.

Are the Gentiles aware that they are alienated from the life of God? Is there any other source of life, except from God?

233.

Note that the Gentiles are alienated from God because of the ignorance that is in them. What should this teach us about the state of the heathen who do not know God at present?

234.

What happens to the conscience when we harden our hearts and do not do what we know we should?

235.

Can a person get to the point that he is no longer pained by conscience?

236.

To what type of conduct do people without feelings of guilt and shame always give themselves (Eph. 4:19)?

Paraphrase

17.

Now this I say, and bear testimony with all the seriousness of one who knows the Lord and is serving Him, that you must no longer be walking, that is, living each day, as other Gentiles walk. For they live according to the useless and perverse disposition of their minds, and not according to what is good and of God.

18.

The Gentiles are covered with darkness in their understanding. They are shut off from the life which God bestows, on account of the ignorance that is in them, and on account of the callusing of their hearts.

19.

They have gone so far in sin that they have lost all feeling of guilt and pain of conscience when they do wrong. Having no restraints within them, they have given themselves over to unbridled lust and shamelessness, to work all manner of uncleanness with unrestrained desires to have more of forbidden pleasures.

Notes (Eph. 4:17-19)

It took a lot of courage for the Ephesian Christians to no longer walk as the Gentiles walk. They lived in the shadow of the glorious temple of Diana, and with milling thousands of her worshippers, To refuse to associate in the practices of their former friends took much conviction and courage.

It still takes a lot of courage to walk no longer as the Gentiles walk. Social drinking, lewd motion pictures, night clubs, dancing, card-playing, and many other things that are displeasing to God are so much a part of modern American life that many Christians compromise their standards. Let us resolutely refuse to walk any longer as the Gentiles walk.

Some modern commentaries make a great deal of the use of the word Gentiles in verse seventeen, attempting to prove that Paul could not have written Ephesians. It is alleged that Gentiles is contrasted with Christians, and that Paul never conceived of such a contrast as church members being Israelites, and non-Christians being Gentiles.

It is by no means implied in this verse that all non-Christians are to be called Gentiles. The word Gentiles in the verse obviously refers to non-Christian Gentiles. There were far more Gentiles living in and around Ephesus than there were Jews. The Ephesian church was predominantly Gentile. Quite naturally, therefore, Paul would speak to the Ephesians about how the Gentiles lived when he wanted to make a contrast between the lives of the Christians and the lives of the non-Christians.

The Gentiles around Ephesus were much given to magic, immorality, and high-mindedness before their conversion to Christ. Generally they lived much more sinful lives than the Jews. The Jews were not perfect, but they had known God and His Law for centuries, and did not walk in the idolatry and vain practices that were nearly universal among the Gentiles. Paul did not want his converts to continue to live as the Gentiles had always lived.
However, even if Paul did use the word Gentiles to denote non-Christians, it would not be un-Pauline. For in Gal. 6:16 he speaks of the church as the Israel of God. (Compare also Rom. 2:28-29; Rom. 9:6-8; Php. 3:3.)

Vanity is that which is devoid of truth and appropriateness; that which is worthless, useless, and has no good about it, In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon exposed many things that the world thinks are excellent (such as laughter, lust, liquor, learning, real estate, riches) as vanity, and a striving after wind. But the Gentiles (and also most unconverted Jews) are still striving after such things. Christians have been redeemed from their vain manner of life (1Pe. 1:18).

The world considers itself too wise to believe the teachings of the Bible. Actually, this attitude is not due to wisdom, but to a darkening in its mind. Satan has blinded the minds of the unbelieving (2Co. 4:4).

God gives life to all. Hence, it is a perversion of nature to depart from the life of God. But the Gentiles are shut off from the life of God, being aliens to Gods kingdom. (See the notes on Eph. 2:12; Eph. 2:19.) They are alienated for two reasons:

(1)

The ignorance that is in them.

(2)

The hardening (callusing) of their heart.

Note that the Gentiles did not know much, and that God does not excuse ignorance. Furthermore, they hardened their hearts against that which they did know.

The King James Version wrongly has blindness for hardening in Eph. 4:18. The skin on the hands develops a hardening or callus when it is exposed to pressure and work. Likewise, when the conscience is rubbed hard and its guidance ignored, it develops a hardening or callus. However, instead of being a protection from injury, this is merely a dulling of our finest nature.

Sin is like anesthesia. At first, it is offensive, and our conscience revolts against it. However, if we do not get away from it, it soon becomes less offensive to us, and then finally overpowering. We could also compare it to the cold of the great North, which can benumb its victims until they are doomed, but feel no cold. Being past feeling is the last stage before destruction. If your conscience never bothers you any more, you are in terrible peril.

Those who lose all feeling of guilt go readily into lasciviousness. Lasciviousness is a term that includes adultery, fornication, immodesty, shameless dress and speech, indecent behavior, etc. All of these things are natural for one who has thrown aside the feelings of conscience. Nothing is more terrible than the loss of shame. Immodesty should embarrass or anger us. If it does not, we need only to remove the checks of circumstances to complete the descent into sin.

The Gentiles do not do iniquity hesitantly, but with greediness or eagerness. This term greediness (Authorized Version, covetousness) refers to a greedy desire to have more. They desire the pleasures of sin, and go greedily after them.

Fact Questions

226.

How were the Ephesians forbidden to walk?

227.

In what do most Gentiles walk (Eph. 4:17)?

228.

What was the condition of the understanding of the Gentiles?

229.

For what two reasons were the Gentiles alienated from the life of God?

230.

To what did the Gentiles give themselves (Eph. 4:19)?

Text (Eph. 4:20-22)

20 But ye did not so learn Christ; 21 if so be that ye heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus: 22 that ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, that waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit;

Thought Questions (Eph. 4:20-22)

237.

Can one be taught of Christ so as not to be taught as the truth is in Jesus?

238.

If we have heard of Christ according to truth, what are we to put away?

239.

Are we Christians in truth because we know and accept correct words and doctrines (Eph. 4:22)?

240.

Is putting away our old man to be done once for all, or is it a gradual process?

241.

Do sinners get better with age and experience? What does it mean when it says the old man waxeth corrupt?

242.

What are lusts of deceit? What is deceitful about lusts?

Paraphrase

20.

You Ephesians who learned the gospel did not learn of Christ to work uncleanness with greediness, so as to think these things allowable.

21.

Assuming that you have heard of Christ and were taught according to what is truth in Jesus,

22.

then ye were taught that you must put away all that concerns your manner of life before becoming a Christian; for that old man was getting worse and worse, decaying more and more, just as deceitful lusts always cause a spiritual decay.

Notes (Eph. 4:20-22)

Learn Christ means more than to learn certain doctrines. True knowledge of Christ must produce a transformed life.

Truth in Jesus consists in putting away our former manner of life, and of putting on the new man, and of being renewed in the spirit of our mind. The Romish doctrine that a person can be morally bad and still be in good standing in the church is not of truth as it is in Jesus.

Put away and put on (Eph. 4:22; Eph. 4:24) are verbs in the aorist imperative which indicates completed action, done one time. Be renewed (Eph. 4:23) is in the present imperative, indicating continuous progressive action. This teaches us that repentance must be a thorough break with sin. There should be no gradual putting away the old man. However, the development of the new man is a progressive process.

Lusts of deceit are deceitful lusts. The things we desire (lust for) in this world promise thrills, and satisfaction, Instead they bring only disappointment, shame, disgrace, and contention.

Our old man, our former life before we accepted Christ, was becoming more and more corrupt through the deceitful desires he sought after. (See 2Ti. 3:13.) Age and experience usually do not improve sinners. Their consciences become duller, and habits of evil more firmly fixed.

Conversation in the King James Version (Eph. 4:22) means our manner of life.

Fact Questions

231.

If the Ephesians learned of Christ as truth is, what would they put away?

232.

What is happening to the sinners nature (the old man)?

Text (Eph. 4:23-24)

23 and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

Thought Questions (Eph. 4:23-24)

243.

What is the spirit of our mind?

244.

How can the spirit of our mind be renewed?

245.

What is the new man which we are to put on?

246.

After whom have we been created? In what sense is the converted man created?

247.

How does God create us in righteousness? Do we not perform our own righteousness?

248.

What do you think the phrase holiness of truth means?

Paraphrase

23.

You Ephesians must not only put off the old nature, but be renewing yourselves in the spirit that directs your mind.

24.

Put on the new man, that new disposition and nature which has been created in the likeness of God in righteousness and true holiness.

Notes (Eph. 4:23-24)

Be renewed is a continuous duty and process.

The spirit of your mind is the spirit that directs your mind. Before conversion it was a disobedient spirit. Now it must be a spirit of meekness, humility, and obedience.

How often in the Bible are righteousness and Christian character compared to garments which may be put on or off! Thus we note that Christians can improve themselves with Gods help. We do not have to be the same old detestable persons always. We can put on a new man.

The new man, or new nature, is created (2Co. 5:17; Eph. 2:10). The change in people that comes through faith and the incoming of the Holy Spirit is as great as the act that God wrought when He created the material universe. We are created after GOD. We are not created to be like the great men of this world, but to be like God (1Jn. 3:1).

We are created in righteousness, because we have no righteousness in ourselves. Christ Jesus is our righteousness (1Co. 1:30). God takes away our sins when we are saved, and declares us righteous as a result of what He has done for us. Of course, after being thus created in righteousness, we must live soberly, righteously, and godly (Tit. 2:12).

Holiness of truth means true holiness, not holiness which is just ceremonial or pretended. We were created to develop a Godlike character, true holiness. We are not saved merely to escape from hell and receive blessings.

Fact Questions

233.

In what are we to be renewed?

234.

What are we to put on?

235.

After whom are we created?

236.

In what two ways are we created after God?

Eph. 4:25-32; Eph. 5:1-2

SEVEN PRACTICAL EXHORTATIONS

SPEAK THE TRUTH; Eph. 4:25

CONTROL YOUR ANGER; Eph. 4:26-27

STEAL NO MORE; Eph. 4:28

SPEAK THAT WHICH IS GOOD; Eph. 4:29

GRIEVE NOT THE HOLY SPIRIT; Eph. 4:30

PUT AWAY ANGRY TALK AND ATTITUDES; Eph. 4:31

BE IMITATORS OF GOD; Eph. 4:32; Eph. 5:1-2

BE KIND

TENDERHEARTED

FORGIVING

WALK IN LOVE Eph. 5:2

Text (Eph. 4:25-27)

25 Wherefore, putting away falsehood, speak ye truth each one with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.
26 Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 neither give place to the devil.

Thought Questions (Eph. 4:25-27)

249.

What is the force of the wherefore in Eph. 4:25? Compare the preceding verses before you answer.

250.

Why should the fact that we are members one of another curb our lying?

251.

Did Paul command us to be angry? Harmonize Eph. 4:26 with Eph. 4:31.

252.

Did Paul forbid us to be angry?

253.

What is the danger in anger?

254.

How long is wrath to be permitted to continue?

255.

What does it mean when it says, Neither give place to the devil?

256.

Is there any connection between being angry and giving place to the devil?

Paraphrase

25.

Because you are new creatures in Christ, created by God in true holiness, you must observe such practical duties as to stop lying to one another, and to speak the truth to your neighbors. This we must do because we are members one of another in the church.

26.

Furthermore, we must keep anger under control that we sin not. You may have anger arise at times, but let it not be prolonged. Put it away before the sun goes down.

27.

Neither give an opportunity to the devil to control your actions, which can easily be done if anger is prolonged.

Notes (Eph. 4:25-27)

After the lofty exhortations of Eph. 4:23-24, Paul brings us down to earth with a jolt in these verses, We have been created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, on account of that, certain duties are laid upon us.

Eph. 4:25 begins a series of seven practical exhortations concerning the walk of the Christian. See the outline.

The admonition to put away falsehood and speak the truth always is very hard to keep, but it is repeatedly commanded in the New Testament. Verse Eph. 4:25 is a quotation from Zec. 8:16.

In the church we are all members of Christ, and therefore members of one another. Now, in the human body, if one member, the nerves, were paralyzed, and lied to the stomach by carrying no sensations of hunger, the body might refuse all food and destroy itself. Likewise in the church, any lie by one member affects all the other members of the body. When one member is known to have lied, the whole church is discredited.

Verse Eph. 4:26 is a quotation of Psa. 4:4, where the reading is, Stand in awe and sin not. (The Revised Version margin reads, Be ye angry and sin not.) This is not a command to be angry but a caution not to sin when we are angry. People often do things when they are angry that they would not normally do.

While it is not a command to be angry, neither is it a prohibition of anger. Sometimes anger is necessary. Paul was occasionally angry (Act. 13:9-10; Act. 23:3). Even Christ Jesus felt anger (Mar. 3:5). We need to have convictions strong enough to have strong feelings about wickedness.

Nonetheless, while anger may sometimes be justified, it must be speedily cooled down. Anger should subside the same day it arises. When the sun has gone down, let anger be gone.
The anger upon which the sun is not to go down is anger that expresses itself in exasperation and wrath, the anger in which one is almost beside himself.

If anger is held very long, it becomes malice, hatred, and resentment, and produces a desire for revenge. It gives a place (opportunity) to the devil to lead us into transgression and self-ruination.

While there is a connection between anger and giving place to the devil, there are also other ways we can give a place to the devil. For examples, (1) meditating upon lustful things, (2) meditating upon our unfair share of earthly riches, (3) reading books that undermine faith and morals.

Fact Questions

237.

What is the reason we are to speak truth to our neighbors?

238.

What are we to be careful not to do when angry?

239.

How long is anger to be allowed to continue?

240.

To whom are we not to give place?

Text (Eph. 4:28)

28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give to him that hath need,

Thought Questions (Eph. 4:28)

257.

Are there thieves in the church?

258.

Can this verse be harmonized with the Communist doctrine of state ownership of all property?

259.

What is the grand purpose of our labor?

Paraphrase

28.

Let anyone in the church who is stealing steal no more. But rather let him toil, working with his own hands which were formerly used to steal, doing work which is good, so that he may have the means to maintain himself, and to share with those who have need.

Notes (Eph. 4:28)

It may seem strange that Christians should have to be taught not to steal. But stealing is not uncommon. Nowadays there are many sophisticated forms of stealing embezzlement, cheating on tax reports, driving hard bargains, misrepresenting goods, loafing on the employers time, shortening an employees time, cheating on examinations, etc. Let him that stole regardless of how he did it, or what he stole steal no more.

The best antidote for stealing is working. The word labor here implies wearisome, exhausting toil.

It is plainly taught here that work is not only for selfish gain, but to help others. Honesty is inculcated by an appeal to the highest motives, And this verse certainly does not teach us to steal from the rich to give to the poor. We must work if we want to have the means to help those in need.

This verse cannot be harmonized with Communist doctrine. The verse commands private generosity. But private ownership of property is a necessity if we are to have anything to give to others. Communism destroys private ownership, and makes all things state property.

Fact Questions

241.

What is the one who steals to do?

242.

With what is the ex-thief to work?

243.

What type of work is the ex-thief to do?

244.

What is the noble objective for which we toil and labor?

Text (Eph. 4:29)

Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying as the need may be, that it may give grace to them that hear.

Thought Questions (Eph. 4:29)

260.

How often is our conversation actually uttered with a purpose in mind of edifying and giving grace to those who hear us?

261.

What types of utterance could be called corrupt speech?

262.

How can speech give grace to them that hear?

Paraphrase

29.

Let no rotten utterances go out from your mouth, but rather let that go out of your mouth which is good for building up people who may be in need of encouragement, correction, or instruction. Such speech will bring pleasure and profit to them that hear.

Notes (Eph. 4:29)

Christians must carefully control their speech at all times. Do not let any speech that is rotten and corrupt go out of your mouth. (Compare Eph. 5:4; Mat. 12:36-37.) Words are not simply so much wind. They carry with them the personality and thoughts of the speaker. As character can be rotten and produce evil, words can also be corrupt, for they reflect character.

Words are very powerful. They can fill many needs, such as giving instruction, encouragement, and correction.

Fact Questions

245.

What type of speech is not to be let out of our mouths?

246.

What type of speech is to be uttered?

247.

What is our speech to give unto those that hear?

Text (Eph. 4:30)

30 And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.

Thought Questions (Eph. 4:30)

263.

If the Holy Spirit can be grieved, is the Holy Spirit a personality, or some impersonal influence?

264.

How can we grieve the Holy Spirit?

265.

Where does the Holy Spirit live (1Co. 6:19)?

Paraphrase

30.

In all of lifes activities, such as working, speaking, etc., be not grieving the Holy Spirit of God, that divine one in whom we are sealed and stamped as Gods own until that day when our bodies are redeemed at the resurrection.

Notes (Eph. 4:30)

We grieve the Holy Spirit by wicked actions and rotten speech. We grieve Him when we violate the commandments of the Spirit as given in Ephesians, chapter four. The Holy Spirit is sensitive. Holiness is always sensitive. Purity grows in sensitivity.

Israel grieved the Holy Spirit by their sins in the wilderness and in the land of Canaan (Isa. 63:10).

How terrible it is to make the Holy Spirit which strengthens our inward man to be sorrowful and offended (Eph. 3:16)!

See notes on Eph. 1:13-14 for comments on being sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption.

Fact Questions

248.

Whom are we not to grieve?

249.

Unto what day are we sealed?

Text (Eph. 4:31-32)

31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you with all malice: 32 and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you.

Thought Questions (Eph. 4:31-32)

266.

Is a Christians personality any concern to God?

267.

Is it really possible to control feelings of bitterness, malice, etc.?

268.

How should we forgive each other?

Paraphrase

31.

In particular, grieve not the Holy Spirit by an evil disposition. Let all of the sharp, spiteful ways of feeling and speaking, along with anger, both in outbursts and temperament, and loud clamor, and blasphemous speech, be put away from you along with all ill will toward others. For these things displease the Spirit.

32.

Having put away evil traits and dispositions, be kind one to another, tenderhearted, graciously forgiving each other, as also God in Christ has graciously forgiven you of even greater offences against Himself.

Notes (Eph. 4:31-32)

Bitterness is sharpness, harshness, spitefulness, resentment.

Wrath is anger erupting, anger that boils over but soon subsides.

Anger is a settled disposition of indignation, an angry outlook upon everything.

Clamor is a loud outcry, loud speech based on ungoverned feelings.

Railing is blasphemy, slander, speech injurious to anothers good name, especially against God.

Malice is ill will, desire to injure.

These evils are common among many disciples of Christ, in spite of the fact that they are utterly contrary to our calling, contrary to the Father, and contrary to the Holy Spirit within us. They are old cruel hounds from past life, from which we should have escaped long ago, but find baying at our heels.

The word translated forgiving (Eph. 4:32) does not simply mean to release from guilt, but to be gracious unto, be kind, be benevolent, pardon.

Kind This word is usually used to describe God. It describes one who is virtuous, good, mild, pleasant.

10.

The motive for Christian goodness is different from that of worldly righteousness, Out in the world people are good because it pays. They get something in return. We are good and forgiving toward our fellow men because God has forgiven us. We realize how much we are indebted unto God. We therefore forgive the small offences our neighbors commit against us.

Fact Questions

250.

Name the six things mentioned in Eph. 4:31 that we are to put away from us.

251.

Quote Eph. 4:32 from memory.

Text (Eph. 5:1-2)

Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell,

Thought Questions (Eph. 5:1-2)

269.

What are we told about Gods actions in Eph. 4:32 that we are here urged to imitate?

270.

Which would God prefer, learning and greatness, or a childlike spirit? Can we have both?

271.

What does it mean to walk in love?

272.

Is there any difference between an offering and a sacrifice? Explain any difference.

273.

What Bible incidents does the expression an odor of a sweet smell bring to your mind?

Paraphrase

Seeing that God in Christ has forgiven you, be ye therefore imitators of Gods forgiving mercy as beloved children who imitate the actions of their parents.

And live your lives in a disposition of love, even as Christ loved you, and gave himself up for you when he died on the cross, and made himself an offering and a sacrifice for an odor (savor) of a sweet smell unto God.

Notes (Eph. 5:1-2)

Many types of offerings in the Old Testament are called a sweet savor (odor) unto the Lord: the burnt offering (Lev. 1:9; Lev. 1:13), the meal (meat) offering (Lev. 2:3; Lev. 2:9), offering of first fruits (Lev. 2:12; Lev. 2:16), peace offerings (Lev. 3:5; Lev. 3:16), and sin offerings (Lev. 4:21). The trespass offering is not so described.

Noah offered up his offering unto the Lord after the flood, and the Lord smelled the sweet savor (Gen. 8:21). The critics have had much sport out of belittling such descriptions of God as if He were in human form (anthropomorphisms). But if the Scriptures say that God smelled the sweet savor, we are not so wise that we can describe what God did any more accurately. The important thing is that the offering pleased the Lord and made the worshipper accepted. Like the people of ancient times, we sorely need an offering that will be accepted of and well-pleasing to God. We are a people of unclean hands, minds and lips. We thank God that Christ is our sacrifice and odor of sweet smell, and that through His sacrifice we may be accepted by God.

The offering of Christ goes up to God for us in two respects:

(1)

A sacrifice for our transgressions. We deserve to die. Christs death is a substitute for our death. He bore the punishment which we justly deserve to bear.

(2)

An offering to be presented when the transgression has been put out (or expiated), as an act of worship.

Fact Questions

252.

Whom are we to imitate? In what way are we to imitate Him?

253.

Christ gave Himself up for us as two things. Name them.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(17) This I say therefore.The phrase This I say seems to be used by St. Paul in returning (so to speak) from some lofty aspiration or profound reasoning, in which some might not be able to follow him, to a solid, practical ground, which all may tread. (See, for example, 1Co. 15:50.) Here he is not content to use this phrase simply, but he enforces it by the solemnity of the adjuration I testify (comp. Act. 20:26; Gal. 5:3), which properly means, I call God to witness the truth of what I saya phrase found in express terms in Rom. 1:9; 2Co. 1:23; Php. 1:8; 1Th. 2:5. Nor was even this enough, for he adds in the Lordthat is, in the name, authority, and spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The whole form is therefore one of peculiar force and solemnity.

The vanity of their mind.In these words St. Paul describes the fundamental condition of heathenism. The mind, that is (as in Rom. 7:23; Rom. 7:25), the inner manthe spiritual intuition of invisible principles of truth and right, which is the true humanityhas become subject to vanity (Rom. 8:20),the vanity of which the Book of Ecclesiastes so often speaks. In losing the living conception of a living God, it has lost also the conception of the true object and perfection of human life; and so wanders on aimless, hopeless, reckless, as in a dream. With what absolute fidelity St. Paul describes the heathen world of his day, its history and its literature alike testify. Compare with the whole passage the picture drawn in Rom. 1:21-32, They became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened, &c. The difference is that in the latter passage the prominent idea is mainly of judicial blindness, sent by God as a penalty on wilful apostasy from Him, whereas here St. Paul rather dwells on self-chosen blindness and hardness of heart.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

[5.

Practical Exhortation (Eph. 4:17-21).

(1) THE NEW LIFE; first, taught in Christ and learning Christ; and secondly, regenerate in Him to the image of God (Eph. 4:17-24).

(2) HENCE THE POWER OF CONQUEST OF SIN GENERALLY

(a)

Falsehood (Eph. 4:25);

(b)

Passionate anger (Eph. 4:26-27);

(c)

Dishonesty (Eph. 4:28);

(d)

Foulness of word (Eph. 4:29-30);

(3) HENCE ITS POWER AGAINST THE SPECIAL BESETTING SINS OF

(a)

Bitterness and malice, unworthy of the love of Christ (Eph. 4:31-32, and Eph. 5:1-2);

(b)

Fornication and lust, unworthy of the light of Christ (Eph. 5:3-14);

(c)

Recklessness and drunken excitement (Eph. 5:15-21).]

(1) In Eph. 4:17-24 we enter on the practical section of the Epistle, which, indeed, appears to begin in Eph. 4:1, but is broken in upon by the magnificent digression of the doctrinal summary of Eph. 4:4-16. It opens with a striking contrast of the past and the presentthe life of the heathen in its vanity, with the two-fold result of blindness and callousness of soul; and the Christian life, which has in learning Christ found the secret of regeneration.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

2. To be a Church in double contrast to the anti-Church of Gentilism, Eph 4:17 to Eph 5:21.

First Contrast Sins of the spirit, Eph 4:17 to Eph 5:3.

a. In contrast with the Gentilism which you have left, Eph 4:17-19 .

17. I say and testify I declare and protest.

Therefore In view of your being the model Church described in the last paragraph. Other is omitted by the best readings. Thereby the apostle, by a new antithesis, holds his converts as not now Gentiles but Christians.

Walk Note, Eph 4:1. This outward walk springs from internal pravation, located by St. Paul in mind, understanding, inner life, and heart.

Mind , equivalent to the spirit the high intuitive faculty, the intellect in its ethical sphere, in which the theory of religion and the sense of conscientious morality dwell. Here should be the divine residence of eternal truth, God, Christ, and holiness. But with these Gentiles here is only vanity, which was a common Hebrew term for idolatry; and here with St. Paul it is a name for all the utter worthlessness of the apostate antitheism of Gentilism. And in this vanity of their highest region of intuition they walked. From that region was shed a haze and a darkness over the ground they walked.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Exhortation to Righteous Living (4:17-32).

‘This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind. Being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart.

The fact that they are intended to grow into a full-grown man involves their lives being in total contrast to those of others, especially their fellow-Gentiles. They are to no longer walk as they walk. What the state of the Gentiles in general is, is then laid out. Their mind is vain, their understanding is darkened, their hearts are hardened. Thus they are alienated from the life of God.

‘In the vanity of their mind.’ The mind here is mainly the moral thought and attitude combined with the spiritual thought (compare ‘the mind of the flesh’ (Rom 8:6), the mind controlled by the flesh). In men generally this is ‘vain, empty, purposeless’. The word mataiotes means ‘emptiness, futility, purposelessness, transitoriness’. It is going nowhere and has no end in view. Such men’s lives are futile.

‘Being darkened in their understanding.’ They are lost in the dark, and their minds are in darkness. Things always look different in the dark so that what in the light would be seen as tawdry and unacceptable, in darkness seems acceptable. This was the condition of the Gentiles. But it is not because they could not know. It is because they ‘hold down the truth in unrighteousness’ and refuse to accept God’s light through nature. It is because ‘they became vain in their reasonings and their ‘senseless heart was darkened’ (Rom 1:18-21). Thus they turn away from the light of the world and walk in darkness and do not know where they are going (see Joh 12:35; Joh 8:12; 1Jn 1:6).

‘Alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardening of their hearts.’ It is hardened hearts, not ignorance, that is their real problem. They close their minds to the truth about God because they do not want to face up to His demands. They prefer the desires of the flesh. Thus they have no part in life from God. They are totally separated from Him and completely alienated. And this despite the fact that many were ‘very religious’. But their religion was not a light, it was only darkness. Their thoughts were futile, their minds were in darkness, they were alienated from God. What a dreadful condition they were, and are, in.

Notice the two sides to their condition. Their minds are darkened, by the god of this world ‘lest the light of the good news of the glory of Christ shine on them’ (2Co 4:4), and they are alienated from the life of God, and thus strangers to Him.

‘Hardening.’ Porosis, ‘obstinacy, dullness, insensibility’.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Old Man: The Depravity of Mankind Eph 4:17-19 describes the lifestyle of the old man before meeting Christ. Paul’s description in Eph 4:17-19 of the darkness that the world lives in parallels the passage in Eph 2:1-3, which describes their former life prior to Christ, and it stands in contrast to Paul’s prayer for God open up the eyes of the Church (Eph 1:15-23. Eph 3:14-21).

In Eph 4:17-19 Paul will describe the old man with his depraved nature, which explains the process of depravity. When a man hardens his heart towards God (Eph 4:18 c), he alienates himself from God through his ignorance (Eph 4:18 b). This alienation leads to the understanding of their mind becoming dark (Eph 4:18 a). This follows with a lifestyle of making vain decisions (Eph 4:17 b). The outward evidence of walking in the vanity of one’s mind is a lifestyle of uncleanness, which is driven by covetousness, or self-centeredness (Eph 4:19). Thus, we see a progression of depravity, which begins with a man’s heart as it turns away from the Lord, darkening his mind, and corrupting his actions.

We can find an additional description of the foolishness and vanity of the Gentiles in Paul’s exposition in the epistle of Romans on the depravity of mankind (Rom 1:18-32).

Rom 1:21-22, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,”

Eph 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

Eph 4:17 “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord” Comments – Paul is speaking by inspiration. That is, by “testifying in the Lord” he is speaking to the Ephesians as he writes this epistle by divine inspiration.

Eph 4:17 “that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk” Comments From here on out, begin walking in the holiness that God has called you to, and do not continue walking in sin with a darkened mind.

Eph 4:17 “in the vanity of their mind” Comments The vanity of a person’s mind reflects “purposelessness.” They are busy, but they have no profitable purpose in life.

Eph 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Eph 4:19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

Eph 4:19 “Who being past feeling” Comments – A person’s heart becomes progressively callous and insensitive to the Holy Spirit and his own conscience once he hardens his heart towards God (Eph 4:18 c). The longer a man increases and continues in sin, the harder and more callous his heart becomes to the truth of God’s Word. Over a period of time, this depraved person looses the ability to hear and follow his conscience, and discern between good and evil. For example, if you are a man that works with your hands, you can rub the calluses on the palm of your hand. They are much less sensitive to touch than the tips of your fingers. The heart, through the deceitfulness of sin, becomes callous in this same way. Note these insightful words from Sadhu Sundar Singh:

“Just as the body of the leper by reason of his disease becomes numb and insensible, so the heart and mind of man by reason of sin become dull and insensate, and bring to him no sense of disgust or pain. But the time will come when he will awake to its terrible ravages, and then there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” [130]

[130] Sadhu Sundar Singh, At the Master’s Feet, translated by Arthur Parker (London: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1922) [on-line], accessed 26 October 2008, available from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/singh/feet.html; Internet, “II Sin and Salvation,” section 1, part 3.

Eph 4:19 “have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness” Comments – Mankind in his state of depravity chooses to separate himself from God and gives himself over to fleshly passions. Having been delivered over to these passions, he becomes entangled in sin, enslaved by his own selfish desires.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Soul Renewing of the Mind – In light of their divine authority in Christ, God’s children are to walk worthy of this calling (Eph 4:1), submitting themselves to one another in all of their social relationships, for this is the only way that we can walk in authority and victory in our own lives (Eph 4:1). It is this attitude of submission that will bring unity into the body of Christ (Eph 4:3-16). Paul then tells them how to develop this character in their lives, which was not there before their conversion. In this passage, Paul refers to the Gentiles walking in the vanity of their minds and their understanding being darkened (Eph 4:17-18). They are to renew to their minds and chose to lay aside the old man (Eph 4:17-19) and to put on the new man (Eph 4:20-32).

This passage discusses how a believer is to renew his mind in light of the role that we are to play in God’s eternal plan of redemption. In other words, the Gentiles walk “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph 2:2). However, we are to put on the new man and shine as children of light in this dark and sinful world.

Outline Here is a proposed outline:

1. The Old Man Eph 4:17-19

2. The New Man Eph 4:20-32

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Path to Spiritual Maturity – In order to fulfill this high calling, believers are to strive to walk in the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:13). In order to do this, Paul focuses on the three-fold area of human development: the spirit, the soul, and the body. Paul chooses to begin with the soul of man, for it is made up of the mind, will and emotions. Therefore, it contains the five sense-gates by which a person receives information in order to make a proper decision in life, which is figuratively spoken of as a “walk”; and it is in this realm that a person decides by his own will to grow into spiritual maturity. Once a person can be “discipled in Christ” by the renewing his mind (Eph 4:17-32), he will learn how to be led by the Spirit (Eph 5:1-20), which will then allow him to yield his body daily as a servant of Christ (Eph 5:21 to Eph 6:9), and finally, to win the victories of spiritual warfare (Eph 6:10-18). Thus, Paul’s exhortation first places emphasis upon the soul (Eph 4:1-32), then the spirit (Eph 5:1-20) followed by the body (Eph 5:21 to Eph 6:9). Only then will a person be ready to enter into the spiritual warfare discussed in the final passage (Eph 6:10-18). The reason Paul uses the word “walk” to introduce each section of this passage is because he is telling us to take a journey that will lead us into spiritual maturity.

The large amount of emphasis that these chapters place upon renewing the mind, being led by the Spirit, and submission is due to the fact that when we are under the authority and leadership of the Holy Spirit, we find God’s divine protection, as did Job (see Job 1:10). However, when we become proud and rebellious, we step outside of God’s protective hedge, and are no longer about to stand against the devil.

Job 1:10, “Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.”

James describes this humble walk as “meekness of wisdom.”

Jas 3:13, “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.”

Outline Here is a proposed outline:

1. Soul The Renewing of the Mind Eph 4:17-32

2. Spirit Being Led by the Spirit Eph 5:1-20

3. Body Submitting our Bodies to God’s Will Eph 5:21 to Eph 6:9

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

An admonition to spiritual renewal:

v. 17. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

v. 18. having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their he art;

v. 19. who, being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

v. 20. But ye have not so learned Christ,

v. 21. if so be that ye have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus;

v. 22. that ye put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,

v. 23. and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

v. 24. and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

The apostle here takes up the thought of v. 1 again, which contains the fundamental admonition for the entire second part of the letter, namely, that the Christians should lead a life worthy of the calling wherewith they were called. He here brings out the contrast between the moral purity of the Christians and the social impurity of the Gentiles: This, then, I say and testify in the Lord, that you no longer lead your lives just as the Gentiles live theirs, in the vanity of their minds. It is a solemn protest and warning that Paul here issues in the Lord, for his exhortation was made in the interest of Christ and the Church, an earnest declaration and injunction in the nature of an appeal to God. As members of Christ’s body the Ephesian Christians should no longer have anything in common with their former companions, the members of their own race and nationality. For that is the characteristic of the unbelievers, the heathen of all times, that they walk in, that their entire conduct reveals, the vanity of their minds. The inner life of natural man, his thinking, willing, desiring, is vain, useless, purposeless, altogether without reality and worth before God. No unbeliever can have a conception of real moral values, for his mind is centered in nothingness.

This idea is now unfolded more completely: Being darkened in their understanding, estranged from the life of God by reason of the ignorance that is in them, by reason of the hardening of their hearts. The terms used by Paul presuppose a former, more enlightened condition of man. As God created man, his reason and mind were highly enlightened, especially also in their understanding of God and of things divine. Moreover, man, as created by God, had a blessed knowledge of God as of the heavenly Father. All this has been changed by sin. It is true of the Gentiles, as of natural man in general, that their minds, their thinking, their judgments, are darkened. Their understanding, their feeling, their desiring, is in such a condition as to make the distinction between good and evil impossible to them. And as far as their will is concerned, they have become alienated, estranged, from the life in God. They have no idea of the life which is from God, in and with God. Not a spark of fear, love, and trust in God is found in natural man. This condition is due to the inherited depravity of mankind; it is found in men because of the ignorance which is in them by birth and nature, because of the hardening of their hearts. They have been mentally and morally hardened against every influence for good, they have become blind, callous, insensible to everything that is truly noble and divine. This depraved condition of mind becomes evident in the lives of the Gentiles: Who, as men past feeling, have given themselves to lasciviousness, to the working of all uncleanness with greediness. They are no longer sensible to any higher moral influence, they have become abandoned to a state of heart without conscience. They have willingly yielded themselves, by their own guilty choice, to wantonness, to shameless, outrageous sensuality, to a reckless, unbridled behavior. So completely have they surrendered themselves in this respect that they make it their business to indulge in every form of uncleanness, together with greed or covetousness; for both vices are self-seeking. Paul purposely paints a picture from which the converted Gentile will turn with horror.

With this fact in mind the apostle now turns again to his readers: You, however, have not so learned Christ, if indeed you heard Him and in Him were instructed, as the truth is in Jesus, that you should put off, as regards your former way of life, the old man. There is a clear-cut, irreconcilable difference between the unregenerate and the regenerate person. The Ephesian Christians did not study the glorious news of their salvation through Christ in such a way as to suppose that they could continue in the sins which characterized the Gentiles. With delicate tact the apostle adds: If, as I assume it to be the case, as I take it to be a fact, Christ was indeed the subject, the sum and substance, of the preaching which you beard. As a matter of fact, they not only had heard Christ in the preaching of the Gospel, but had also been instructed in Him; as they received the instruction and progressed in the knowledge of their Savior, their union with Christ became ever more intimate, in their fellowship with Christ their knowledge of Him increased, as the truth, sound morality, and righteousness is in Christ. Jesus, holy and righteous in His person, gives to His disciples both the example and the proper instruction in holy life. He that has entered into the sphere of Jesus as His disciple is thereby under obligation to conduct himself in his entire life as Jesus walked.

The apostle now specifies a few points in the instruction which the Ephesians received: That you put off, as regards your former way of life, the old man, which becomes corrupt according to the lusts of deceit. The Ephesian Christians, at the time of their conversion, had renounced the devil and all his works and all his pomp. Still, the admonition is necessary that they, so far as their former manner of living is concerned, in order that their old heathenish conduct might definitely be put behind them, should put off the old man, the natural sinful corruption, the inherited evil inclination. As man is born into this world, not only are there a few objectionable traits in him, but his whole nature is absolutely and entirely perverted and corrupt, all his thoughts, imaginations, desires being directed against God and upon the vain things of this world. This old evil nature is found even in the regenerated Christians, for which reason it is necessary to exert eternal vigilance and to put off the old man, like a filthy garment, whenever he attempts to perform evil. The sinful words which rise to the tongue, the evil thoughts and intentions that desire to break forth out of the corrupt heart, must be brought into subjection and crucified before they find gratification. This is all the more a matter of necessity, since, if the old evil nature continues to rule in the heart of a person, the entire man, with body and soul, will share the fate of the old Adam, that of eternal damnation. For the lusts and desires of the old man are deceitful; they seem to promise happiness, joy, life, while in reality they ruin a person that follows their guidance, both in body and spirit, until he is lost forever.

The other side of the picture drawn by the apostle is more cheerful: That, on the other hand, you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, who after God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. The putting off of the old man and the putting on of the new is done at the same time; the two events are simultaneous. In and by his conversion a person begins an entirely new life; he enters into a new existence so far as his spirit and mind are concerned. This regeneration must be continuous and steady, lest the old sinful nature once more gain the ascendency. It is a necessary part of Christian sanctification for a Christian always to begin anew, always to renew his spiritual youth, with every new day to withdraw with his heart and mind from the vain matters of this world. At the same time, therefore, he is also daily clothed anew with the new man, that state of mind, that moral habit which accords with the will of God. The new man is the sum total of all Christian virtues, the entire number of God’s moral demands in realization. To put on this summary of virtues, like a new, splendid garment, to be clothed and decorated with it at all times, to follow at all times the best thoughts and impulses of the new man, that must be the aim of every Christian. And this is possible for him, because the new man, in conversion, is created after God, in the image of God, Col 3:10, in the righteousness and holiness which are characteristic of true morality. In the same proportion as the Christian puts on the new man, gives evidence of his power in his entire life, in that measure the image of Christ, the image of God, makes its appearance in him.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Eph 4:17. From this verse to Eph 4:24 the Apostle exhorts the Ephesians wholly to forsake the former conversation, in which they had passed their lives, while they were Gentiles; and to take up that which became them, and was proper to them, now that they were Christians. The vanity of mind spoken of in this verse, appears from Rom 1:21. &c. to be, the apostatizing of the Gentiles from the true God to idolatry; and, in consequence thereof, to all that profligate way of living which followed thereupon, and is described in the place referred to by St. Paul.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Eph 4:17 . That , like the Latin ergo , here resumes Eph 4:1 (Hartung, Partikell . II. p. 22 f.; Klotz, ad Devar. p. 718), is rightly assumed; since the exhortation begun Eph 4:1-3 is really interrupted by the digression, Eph 4:4-16 , and the duty now following . . ., is but the negative side of the . . . of Eph 4:1 . Theodoret aptly observes: .

] to be referred forwards: What follows then (now to return to my exhortations) I say and asseverate , etc.

] does not signify obsecro , but I testify , i.e. I asseverate, aEphesians Eph 4 : See on Gal 5:3 . Since, however, there lies in this expression and in the notion of exhortation and precept , there is no need of supplying to the following infinitive. See Khner, ad Xen. Mem. ii. 2. 1; Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 235 [E. T. 273]; also Heind. ad Plat. Prot. p. 346 B.

] not per Dominum (Theodoret: , so already Chrysostom and most expositors, including Koppe, Flatt, Holzhausen), which would be (comp. on Rom 9:1 ), and with would have to be denoted by (I call the Lord to witness, Plat. Phil . p. 12 B; Eur. Phoen . 629; Soph. Oed. Col . 817); but rather, as at Rom 9:1 , 1Th 4:1 : in the Lord , so that Paul expresses that not in respect of his own individuality does he speak and aver, but that Christ withal is the element, in which his thinking and willing moves, through which, therefore, the and . has its distinctively Christian character.

] after that ye, from being Gentiles, have become Christians.

. . .] The has its reference in the former walk of the readers . These are no longer to have such a walk, as was, like their previous walk, that also of the other , i.e. the still unconverted (comp. Eph 2:3 ; 1Th 4:13 ) Gentiles.

] for the readers, although Christians, belonged nationally to the category of Gentiles.

] (not ) is the subjective sphere, in which the walk of the other Gentiles takes place, namely, in nothingness (truthlessness) of their thinking and willing ( ), which, however, neither denotes, after the Hebrew , idol-worship (see, in opposition to this, Fritzsche, ad Rom. i. 21), nor is it to be referred, with Grotius, especially to the philosophers (comp. 1Co 3:20 ), but is to be understood of the whole intellectual and moral character (comp. 2Pe 2:18 ) of heathenism, in which the rational and moral principle (the ) is theoretically and practically estranged from the truth (Eph 4:18 ), and subject to error and the service of sin (Eph 4:19 ). We may add, that the is not an inborn one (Zanchius, Calovius, and others; comp. Calvin), but (Rom 7:7 ff.) one that has come to pass, although it has come to pass (Eph 2:3 ). Comp. Rom 1:21 ; Rom 2:15 .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

3. General Christian Duties

Eph 4:17 to Eph 5:21.

a. The principle of the new walk, with reference to the contrast of the old and the new man

Eph 4:17-24.

17This I say therefore [therefore I say], and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not [no longer walk] as other Gentiles [the rest of the Gentiles]53 walk, in the vanity of their mind. 18Having the understanding darkened [Being darkened54 in their understanding], being alienated from the life of God [,] through [because of] the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness [hardness] of the heart: 19Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness [to wanton-ness], to work all uncleanness with [in] greediness. 20But ye have not so learned 21[did not so learn] Christ; If so be that ye have heard [If indeed ye heard] him, and have been [were] taught by [in] him, as the truth is [as is truth]55 in Jesus: 22That ye put off concerning the former conversation [as regards your former way of life] the old man, which is [waxeth] corrupt according to the deceitful lusts [lusts 23of deceit]; And be [become] renewed in the spirit [or by the Spirit]56 of your mind; 24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is [hath been] created in righteousness and true holiness [holiness57 of the truth].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Eph 4:17 a. The connection. This therefore I Say [ ]. refers to what follows, and with emphasis (Winer, p. 152); , however, as the subsequent context shows, going back of the digression (Eph 4:4-16), which contains the motives of the exhortation (Eph 4:1-3), refers to walk worthy. Theodoret: .58 But the simple I say is not enough for the Apostle; he adds: And testify in the Lord, .He presents himself in his apostolic authority as a witness, not in his own, but in the Lords cause. [By thus sinking his own personality, the Apostle greatly enhances the solemnity of his declaration (Ellicott).R.] It is similar to Rom 9:1; 1Th 4:1. The Lord is the element in which he lives and in this case bears witness, and at the same time the ground on which he stands in common with the Ephesians; on this account he reckons on their acceptance of his urgent appeal. It is not= , per Dominum (even the Greek Fathers, and many others).

The heathen walk as a type of the natural walk in general; Eph 4:17 b19.

Eph 4:17 b. That ye no longer walk [ .This infinitive is the object of (it being unnecessary to understand ) expressing, however, what ought to be (Eadie) more than what is; Ellicott thinks an imperative sense involved (that ye no longer must walk), as indeed the context indicates (Alford).R.] This says negatively what is expressed positively in Eph 4:1 : walk worthy. No longer denotes their once walking, as they should not and dare not now, being Christians.As the rest of the Gentiles walk.[See Textual Note!] introduces the kind of walk which they should avoid. is joined with emphasis and admonitory force to to which class they belong.59 The heathen are those who remained behind, they no longer belong to the heathen who now walk, and how?

In the vanity of their mind, .This is the briefest characterization of the natural heathen walk, presenting both its religious and moral side. It is the explanation of Theodoret ( ) in accordance with Rom 1:21; Rom 8:20; 1Pe 1:18. This vanity [betokening a waste of the whole rational powers on worthless objects (Alford).R.] is, of course, one brought about through sin, another nature as it were. It has penetrated even the will of the human spirit, corrupting this high faculty, the in the nature of man.60 Hence there is no special reference to philosophy (Grotius). To this general sketch are added special traits in Eph 4:18-19.

Eph 4:18. Being darkened in their understanding, .The masculine form indicates the reference to persons, to particular individuals, and not to the whole, , as such. The verb (), only here and Rev 16:10, instead of the more usual , is in the perfect, to denote a state not previously existing, but having come into being, which the present participle, () designates as present. That to which the darkness clings is set forth by ,61 which means the intellectual power of the mind, the mode of thought, the character, since the reference is not to the formal faculty, but to its condition. Comp. Rom 1:21 f.; Rom 11:10. It is incorrect to join with what follows (Rueckert) [Eadie]; it follows thus in Tit 1:16 also, and forms one conception, together with the participle in its emphatic position.

Being alienated from the life of God, .See on Eph 2:12 : alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. The perfect participle must be noted here also; Bengel correctly remarking: participia prsupponunt, gentes ante defectionem suam a fide patrumfuisse participes lucis et vit. Conf. renovari Eph 4:23., the opposite of (Eph 2:1), is the intensive spiritual, eternal life, belonging to God ( ), vita, qu accenditur ex ipsa Dei vita (Bengel), qua Deus vivit in suis (Beza), vera vita, qui est Deus (Erasmus); Luther: the life, that is out of God. [Comp. Trench, Syn. XXVIII; Olshausen, Stier in loco.R.] See Winer, p. 175. Thus the vanity of their mind is designated as to its two sides, the ethically intelligent, and the ethically practical. [This clause sets forth an objective result of the subjective being darkened (Alford).R.] To this corresponds what is immediately added.

Because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart, , 62 .These two clauses are added without a connecting particle, because they refer to the two preceding ones, as their purport requires, and because the one requires and furthers the other. Because of the ignorance that is in them, points to an ignorance which has become immanent, is now natural and peculiar (Act 3:17; Act 17:30; 1Pe 1:14), as the ground (. with the accus., see Winer, p. 372) of the darkening, and which is ever increasing, going from ignorance to ignorance. Because of the hardness of their heart, renders prominent in the same way the hardness, unsusceptibility of the heart as the ground of the estrangement from the life of God. The two are ever conjoined in the natural man: There is not intellectual obscuration beside practical estrangement from God, nor ignorance beside hardness of heart; the one conditions the other, working destructively as they reciprocally affect each other. Hence it cannot be affirmed, that the former applies more to the Gentiles, the latter to the Jews (Stier and others); the Gentiles alone are spoken of, as a type of the natural character. But at the same time the ignorance is not to be regarded as merely a consequence, and these two clauses (with ) referred to the last participial clause alone (Meyer).

[This parallelism of construction in which the first and third, second and fourth clauses are connected together is accepted, by Bengel, De Wette, Olshausen, Forbes (Symmetrical structure of Scripture, p. 21), Schenkel and others. It is opposed by Meyer, Hodge, Eadie and Ellicott; but the objection they urge, that ignorance is not the cause of darkness, loses its force when it is remembered that the Apostle is speaking of a process rather than a condition. Nor is it contrary to the Apostles style, in which parallelisms abound, far less so than to explain: Darkness of mind is the cause of ignorance, ignorance and consequent obduracy of heart are the cause of alienation from God (Hodge), thus trajecting the third and fourth clauses between the first and second. This is the view of Meyer, who makes the last clause subordinate to the third (though both are introduced by ): a needless complication, which leads to the removal of the comma, while the view of Braune requires the insertion of one after . See Textual Note2.R.]

Eph 4:19. Who [men who, such as], introduces the explanation, the proof of this condition.Being past feeling have given themselves over [ ].; (from and , ,), unsusceptible of pain, and according to the context, in the heart, the moral consciousness, hence not feeling the unrest and punishment of conscience, the correction of God (Jer 5:3), they have given themselves over, ultro (Bengel); that is the , sponte sese in gurgitem omnium vitiorum prcipitans. Calvin: Homines a Deo relicti, sopita conscientia, exstincto divini judicii timore, amisso denique sensu tanquam attoniti, belluino impetu se ad omnem turpitudinem projiciunt. [The pronoun is used with terrible emphasis (Meyer).R.] Self-reprobation is consummated in becoming apathetic, just as Rom 1:24 : God delivered them over, in the lusts of their hearts. Our passage marks the freedom and guilt of men, the passage in Romans the rule, will and power of God, but both of them indicate the means: the lust corrupting even unto want of feeling; here prominence is given to the consequence, the condition which has arisen and becomes aggravated (),63 there to the ground, the active power (lusts).

To wantonness, .The term, apparently from , schwelgen [allied to the English swell, and meaning to over-eat, carouse, debauch], occurs quite frequently (Mar 7:22; Rom 13:13; 2Co 12:21; Gal 5:19; 1Pe 4:3; 2Pe 2:2; 2Pe 2:7; 2Pe 2:18; Judges 4), almost always in connection with sensual sins, denoting, however, not special sin, but reckless, unbridled, extravagant and excessive character in general. Comp. Tittmann, I, p. 150 ff., on and , [Trench, 16., and Exeg. Notes on Gal 5:19, in this volume.R.] It is not to be limited to sensual lasciviousness (Meyer).

To work all uncleanness, .[The preposition introduces the conscious aim of this self-abandonment.R.] marks the managing, the assiduous, connected labor [the working at it as though it were a trade], and , extended by ,64 sets forth what has come to pass in the service of . We should apply it to all kinds of uncleanness, especially libidinous, but also to the lust of the eye and pride, natural and unnatural, refined and coarse, solitary and social, in thought, word and deed (Rom 1:24-32). Still less is this to be limited to libidinous filthiness (Meyer), or to trade in harlotry, qustus ex impudicitia (Grotius, Bengel and others). The next phrase will not justify this.

In greediness, .This word means to want to have more, greediness, avarice, graspingness, limited usually to earthly possession, to money (Eph 5:3; Col 3:5; Mar 7:22; Luk 12:15); but the limitation arises from the context, not from the word itself. The context here does not admit of any such limitation: , in, marks the ground on which the uncleanness moves, and this is not avarice, but greed in general unto insatiableness. Hence the Greek Fathers thus explain it (Chrysostom: , Theodoret: , cumenius: . is not= (Luther: together with avarice); there is not a new special vice, avarice, added to another special one, unchastity (Meyer, Schenkel); neither the context nor the word itself favors the explanation: gluttony (Harless).65

Reminder respecting Christ and Christian instruction; Eph 4:20-21.

Eph 4:20. But ye, , in opposition to the rest of the Gentiles [just described].Did not so learn Christ. is a very emphatic litotes=entirely otherwise, not at all in such a way that you can live afterwards as you did before. [the historical aorist] marks Christ as the object, the substance of the preaching of the Apostles and of Christ. Himself; His person we must attain to; He Himself must be accepted and appropriated in us (Eph 4:13; Eph 4:15; Col 2:6; 1Co 1:23; 2Co 1:19). Hence it is not=the doctrine of Christ, as was once almost generally thought. [This use of the verb with an accusative of the person is probably unique (Ellicott), and properly so, for in no other learning is a Person so directly and fully the object. Hence the explanation: learnt to know is inadmissible as without lexical authority and insufficient. Bezas exegesis is totally unwarranted: Ye are not soye have learned Christ.R.]

Eph 4:21. If indeed ye heard him [ ], as in Eph 3:2, marks in a fine turn of expression a definite, undoubted fact (that he heard him), particula non miruit, sed auget vim admonitionis (Bengel). It is not howeverso as (Stier). is in emphatic position; heard denotes the beginning of the discipleship; hence it is not merely, heard of Him (Luther), but heard Him Himself in spirit, even though through the instrumentality of others. He is the subject of the very first instruction. Hence Paul adds:

And were taught in him, .The two designations66 correspond to those in Mat 28:19-20 : disciple all nationsteaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. In, , is neither=, concerning (Piscator), nor (Flatt), nor , by (Beza) [E. V.], nor illius nomine, quod ad illum attinet (Bengel), but an instruction not merely having its result, a being or living in Him, but in accordance with the fellowship with Him (Winer, p. 366); in ipso=ipsi insiti and docti are equivalent (Bucer); doceri is inseri.

As is the truth in Jesus [ ].As refers only to the instruction, to its quality; it corresponds to not go (Eph 4:20); what was there negatively and briefly indicated, is here positively expressed, and then given in detail.67 Is truth gives prominence to the agreement of the teaching with the reality: in the instruction they hear Him really, possess Him as He is. , coming first, denotes the existence, the reality, and that, too, as a present, now valid and continuing reality.

Consequens ( audire. et doceri est discere Bengel): they have therefore learned, as truth is in Him. Truth is here opposed to the heathen vanity; as the latter was a self-made foundling, the former is something bestowed, real, excluding the subtleties of human origin or change of any kind. [The notion of the Greek adjective is thus included by Dr. Braune. The clause setting forth the manner of the instruction (the substance follows in Eph 4:22-24), may be thus explained: If ye were taught so that what you received was according to what is true (true and real) as embodied in a personal Saviour: The literal rendering: as is truth in Jesus gives most nearly the exact force.R.] In the expression , the article is significant, pointing to the known Person, the personal name being chosen instead of the official title, Christ. Bengel: Expressius ponit nomen . Christi, ideam perfectissime et fulgidissime explevit Jesus; this preserves the received instruction from obliteration.The clause is, therefore, not parenthetical (Beza, Rueckert and others), truth is neither agnitio Dei (Bengel), nor true doctrine of Christ (Piscator and others), nor true holiness, goodness (Erasmus, Harless [Hodge] and others). We should not connect in Jesus with what follows (Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, II, 2, p. 291).

The Christian walk; Eph 4:22-24, a. Negative side; Eph 4:22, b. Positive side; Eph 4:23-24.

Eph 4:22. That ye put off, .This infinitive depends grammatically on the entire thought, that they heard Him and were taught in Him, as the truth in Jesus is (Bleek), although Stier and Bengel are not incorrect in connecting it in sense with I say and testify (Eph 4:17); they recognise, however, a certain reference to the nearest words (Eph 4:21). The emphasis rests on the verb, coming first, which has its antithesis in put on (Eph 4:24). It is incorrect to accept a dependence on the last clause alone (Meyer) and a contrast between Jesus and ye (Jerome, Harless, and others), which would be indicated by an emphatic position for and the insertion of .68 In the frequently occurring figures of putting on and off the clothes to represent the external appearance from which the internal state may be inferred, it is not necessary to find an allusion to a race before which, or a baptism (of a proselyte) at which the clothes should be taken off; the context gives no warrant for either. The Lord Himself (Luk 24:49) transferred into the New Testament the usage of the Old Testament in describing an instantaneous, sudden inspiration. Comp. Stier, Words of Jesus, 7 p. 323 f. Paul extended the figure (Eph 4:25; Eph 6:11; Eph 6:14; Rom 13:12-13; Col 3:8-10; 1Co 15:53-54; Gal 3:27; 1Th 5:8). The verb includes the sense of a decided casting away, not merely a gentle putting off, since this is required of the followers of Jesus, among whom a preserving of the old man and the heathen walk is intolerable.

As regards your former way of life [ . introduces that with respect to which the putting off takes place. The substantive (), like the verb, includes a course of conduct arising from a corresponding disposition, the manifestation of what is within, as Gal 1:13; 1Pe 2:11-12; 1Pe 1:17-18 (Stier), and is more than , preparing the way for the mention of the internal disposition which should be put off. It is not enough to put off merely the former heathen () walk.69 Antitheton versus 23 totus (Bengel).

The old man [ ].Man denotes here the Ego (, Rom 7:9-10; Rom 7:17-21). Old designates that it is condemned to be put away, old over against Jesus the second Adam; hence the old man (Col 3:9; Rom 6:6) means the sinful Ego deranged by sin, the natural man in the corruption of his sin.70 This condition is then described:

Which waxeth corrupt according to the lusts of deceit [ ].The present participle denotes the present condition, which is not however a purely passive one: which is corrupted, but in accordance with Eph 4:19 : which corrupts himself. It is then neither imperfect: which corrupted himself (Bengel), nor to be taken as referring to the future judgment (Rueckert and others); yet it is not merely=morally destroying himself (Harless). The antithesis is creatum (Bengel) and the use of and (Gal 6:8; Rom 8:20-21) points to the whole man, body and soul. [Meyer and Hodge refer it to eternal destruction: which tends to destruction, but this does not do justice to the present participle, the peculiar force of which, as indicating a process not entirely passive, is brought out by waxeth corrupt (Ellicott). Hodges objection, that old already expresses the idea of corruption, has no force against this description of the progressive character, while his own view introduces an objective element into a delineation which is strictly subjective.R.]

The accomplishment of the corruption is more closely defined by the phrase: according to the lusts of deceit, The corruption is accomplished in accordance with the lusts, the factors of the corruption; and these are affairs of sin, which are here personified in accordance with the power of deceiving and betraying inherent in it (Rom 7:11; 1Co 11:3; 2Th 2:9). The genitive, which is that of the subject, is not to be resolved into an adjective (Grotius [E. V.] and thus weakened, nor applied merely to error technicus (Bengel). The antithesis is secundum Deumin justitia et sanctitate veritatis (Bengel).

Eph 4:23. And become renewed [ ],The contrast is marked by , which introduces the positive side (Eph 4:23-24), The verb in the passive71 points to the fact that a work and operation of God is spoken of (Eph 2:10; Eph 4:24; ; see Tit 3:5, 2Ti 1:9). The present refers to an operation which is not concluded in a moment, but continues. The roots of the word ( [recent], new) points to a becoming rejuvenated, to the beginning, the coming into being, of what was not, or not yet, or no longer; [novus] refers to the character of that which exists, as compared with its former condition; is to put away the ruins of the present condition and to supply new powers, to transfer into a condition of newness, as distinguished from the previous one. Hence we never find , but , since is already implied in . See Tittmann, Syn. I., p. 60 f. [Trench, Syn. ( xviii; Colossians, p. 65,) Alford and Hodge in loco.R.] indicates not merely a setting up, but according to the participles in Eph 4:18-19, a restitution of the original creation. The infinitive is in the same dependence as , although in these infinitives there is latent, a hortatory imperative, which comes out in Eph 4:25. Still this inheres in the thought, not in the form.

In the Spirit [or by the Spirit] of your mind [ ].The renewal, the letting themselves be renewed, is accomplished in this. The dative is one of reference, the genitive that of the subject. Harless says: designates the immediateness of the personal life, the same as the internal life of a human person, is the habitus corresponding to this existence and life, the motive power which calls forth and conditions this habitus. To this the organism of the human spirit corresponds. Bengel: spiritu mentis, 1Co 14:14. Spiritus est intimum mentis. That inexplicabile coming from God (Oetinger) must be renewed, is seized by the corruption of sin, needs redemption from the vanity of the mind. We may not take as instrumental on account of the genitive and understand it of the Holy Spirit (Oekumen, and others), nor can both explanations be combined (Stier: through the Spirit yet living in you); in that case the middle, contrary to the usage which gives it an active sense, and contrary to the Biblical view, which never speaks of men renewing themselves, is taken as reflexive. Nor is the spirit of man to be regarded as opposed absolutely to the flesh, as if it could never be subject to the latter (Schenkel).

[The view of Braune, which takes as a dative of reference referring exclusively to the human spirit, is accepted by most commentators. Hodge takes here as the interior lifethat of which the , , are the modes of manifestation,a psychological statement inferior to that of Harless, and probably resulting from the desire to avoid any trichotomic opinion.Meyer has wavered in his views: adopting in the 1James , 3 d and 4th eds. the usual opinion, and in the second that of Fritzsche, Alford, Ellicott and others. This takes the dative as instrumental, and as referring to the human spirit acted upon by the Holy Spirit (see Romans, p. 235), or to the Holy Spirit in a gracious union with the human spirit (Ellicott, 3d ed.). To this view I incline, but not decidedly. The other interpretation is open to objections both of an exegetical and psychological nature. This sense of is now clearly established, and indispensable in exegesis. In fact as Alford says: the a of man is only then used sensu proprio as worthy of its place and governing functions, when it is one Spirit with the Lord. The trouble is, that this would hardly be spoken of as the instrument; the answer being that a process is described as going on, the agent being the restored and Divinely informed leading principle of their .The genitive is their possessive.R.]

Eph 4:24. And that ye put on, , is an internal act done by us, having an effect upon the walk and thus manifesting itself.The new man, , we have as present, given, outside of ourselves, in Christ; hence Rom 13:14 : Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Who after God hath been72 created [ ].This marks both the reality and the character of the new man. The designation evidently points to Gen 1:26-27; which is even more prominent in the parallel passage, Col 3:10 (after the image of Him that created). Comp. 1Pe 1:15. It should be noticed that this qualification compels us not to take new man as exactly=Christ; for He is not created, but rather God, the image of Him who creates, after whom () the new man is created. Hence we should refer it to the new human personality as respects Christ, which the Christian should become. Thus in the Epistle to the Colossians we find: , the young, tender, newly born, which is renewed, developed in contrast with the previous one. The creation of the protoplast is however merely recalled; the expressions are borrowed from it, to designate the new creation taking place in Christ and to put it in relation to the first.73

In righteousness and holiness of the truth [ ].This characterizes the new man and sets forth the distinguishing marks of its character; the preposition adjoining to created that in which the created man appears, with which he is endowed, equipped. The Apostle proceeds from without to within. The two notions are united together and applied to God (Rev 16:5), to men (1Th 2:10; Tit 1:1; Luk 1:75), is predicated of God (Rev 15:4), of Christ (Heb 7:26; Act 2:27; Act 13:35), of men (1Ti 2:8). refers to the inmost nature, the disposition, the immaculate purity of love (Eph 1:4; Eph 5:27; Heb 7:26), to the action and mode of dealing, which keeps all relations within the bounds of truth and right (Stier). Tittmann, Syn. I. 25 ff. Here we may not apply the frequent usage of Plato, who joins both notions, of which Philo says: , . Meyer regards as moral rectitude in itself, specially in reference to God. Schenkel takes the former as respecting the world, the latter God; the latter is evidently opposed to uncleanness (Eph 4:19) and the former to wantonness and greediness. [So Stier and Ellicott]. The genitive sets forth the ground of both; the truth is personified, like love (Eph 4:22), the cause of the righteousness and holiness; out of the eternal Divine basis of truth springs the ethical personal life, which is conditioned by this as true: without this man would lapse into vanity (Eph 4:17). Luther incorrectly renders the genitive by an adjective: in real righteousness and holiness. [So Calvin, Beza, Holzhausen and the E. V., while Pelagius explains: in the truth, (the reading of D. F. and some fathers) There seems to be an antithesis between truth here and deceit in Eph 4:22 (Hodge, Eadie and others), which suggests that the notion real is prominent here.R.] It is incorrect to take the preposition as instrumental (Morus), or as=. The new man is not created by this ethical quality but by God, nor is this the end, but the accompanying gift of this creation, as is manifest in Christ, to whom this belonged from the beginning, not becoming His in the course of His life.

[Olshausens remarks are generally accepted: , betokens a just relation among the powers of the soul within, and towards men and duties without. But , like the Hebrew , betokens the integrity of the spiritual life, and the piety towards God of which that is the condition. Hence both expressions together complete the moral idea of perfection. As here the ethical side of the Divine image is brought out, Col 3:10 brings out the intellectual. The new birth alone leads to : all knowledge which proceeds not from renewal of heart, is but outward appearance; and of this kind was that among the false Colossian teachers. On the other hand, in Wis 2:23 the physical side of the Divine image is brought out. Ellicott deems the last reference somewhat doubtfulR.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The nature of the heathen life is vanity of the mind. This designates the type of the natural character among Jews and Christians [The ethical and religious element of their life was unsatisfactory and cheerless, alike in worship and in practice, the same as to present happiness as to future prospect, for they knew not mans chief end (Eadie).R.]

2. The vanity of the mind is the result of a fall from a previous possession and enjoyment of original gifts, which is accomplished in a twofold series of acts reciprocally requiring and furthering each other; the intellectual and moral side of mans nature being in turn solicited, and thus roused in selfishness, it is ever further removed from the truth in God and from the God of truth. Indeed, the result, the vanity of the mind, is itself capable of increase and must develop into extreme corruption, if aid does not come and a retrograde movement begin.
3. The intellectual and moral side of man require and promote each other. The Reason cannot remain healthy and clear, or susceptible, as from the beginning, if the will is or becomes warped or weakened. The obscuration, weakening of the Reason necessarily enters with the enfeebling and confusion of the will. The Apostle comprises both under the term 74 (Eph 4:23); the former he designates (Eph 4:17; Eph 4:23), (Eph 4:18); the latter (Eph 4:18). The Apostle Paul places the initiative in the lusts (Eph 4:22 : corrupted according to the lusts of deceit), as Luther sharply indicates in his incorrect translation (which corrupts itself through lusts in error). The perverted will, executing what is wrong, makes the understanding a sophistical attorney, a crafty counsellor for its unrighteousness.

4. The factors of corruption are three: God, who hardens (Exo 4:21; Exo 7:3; Exo 14:4; Exo 14:8; Joh 12:40; Rom 9:18; Rom 1:24), man himself (1Sa 6:6; Psa 95:8; Heb 3:8), the surrounding circumstances, through which and under which it takes place (Gen 7:13; Gen 8:15; Heb 3:13). According to the context man is here described as the cause of the corruption (Eph 4:19), because personal guilt and the evoking of self-activity is treated of, while in Rom 1:24 God is termed the Author in the same matter, since there the final and deepest ground is touched upon. Usually its consummation appears as a history, which is pragmatically sketched by the external circumstances, the Power above the man and the concealed doings within him not being brought into prominence. What comes to pass is never loosed from the dealings of God and His holy rule, nor from the consent and opposition of man or without the influences of historical circumstances and persons. Consider, however, that thy guilt is at once Gods punishment and thine own guilt, and forget not that the two appear together as a developing history.

5. The dangerous element of sin is the deceit of lust, which plays the role of pleasure, and is not really , but and . . This is Gods appointment, that what is unholy should be unwholesome, as wrong is ill; the lustful one, turning away from God, naturally ruins himself, which is possible only in self-deception.

6. Renewal is not accomplished by man in his own strength, but only in the acceptance and use of the vital strength promised and imparted to him with justification, hence in the appropriated power of God, in the strength of Divine life. Comp. notes 8, 10.

7. Renewal too, like corruption, has its history. As the latter proceeds from to , even to the end, (Rom 6:19; Rom 6:21), so in the former advance is made from hearing Christ to being taught in Him, from the scholar to the friend, the intimate of Christ, and from the servant of God, who permits himself to be thus termed, to heirship and participation in His kingdom. [Comp. Exegetical Notes on Eph 4:23.R.]

8. The beginning of the Christian walk is the putting off the previous vices (Eph 4:28-32), and from resistance, even if with feeble result, advance is made to victorious crucifixion of the flesh and its lusts (Gal 5:16-17; Gal 5:24).

9. In this too knowing and willing stand in reciprocal action conditioning each other: learning Christ and putting on Christ, Christian science and Christian life. Theological faculties and the Church of Christ belong together. No knowledge should sunder itself from life, nor the science of Theology from the Christian Church. Where faith in Christ is not active, the scientific culture of individuals and churches will fare badly enough.

10. The vital power of faith must in the moral life-process prove itself real () and permeate the whole mode of life ( ) from within to without ( ) and thus manifest itself in the walk. Faith, in itself a moral act, must prove itself in an ethical life-process.

[11. This passage is of special doctrinal importance, as teaching us the true nature of the image of God in which man was originally created. That image did not consist merely in mans rational nature, nor in his immortality, nor in his dominion, but specially in that righteousness and holiness, that rectitude in all his principles, and that susceptibility of devout affections, which are inseparable from the possession of the truth, or true knowledge of God. This is the Scriptural view of the original state of man, or of original righteousness, as opposed, on the one hand, to the Pelagian theory, that man was created without moral character; and, on the other, to the Romish doctrine, that original righteousness was a supernatural endowment not belonging to mans nature. Knowledge, and consequently righteousness and holiness, were immanent or con-created in the first man, in the same sense as were his sense of beauty and susceptibility of impression from the external world. Hodge.R.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Deal earnestly with the conduct of those committed to you, as did the Apostle, and take care that none of your children can say: Father and mother have not told me of it.Much depends upon this, that every one in his circle and place bears witness against the walk of the natural character and in favor of Christian conduct.Consider, no one is lost except through his own fault; but perhaps through yours too!Sin binds the will, so that it is not free, and blinds or darkens the Reason, so that it is not healthy. The two faculties act and react upon each other; it is madness for a sinner to boast of a sound reason. It is a fearful truth however, thou wilt have life, enjoy the world and yet thou destroyest thyself, most certainly thy soul at least. Where Gods life and gift, peace and pure pleasure of the heart is wanting, there man wastes himself away, grasping in darkness for light, in emptiness for fulness, in apathy for life, aiming at these, and yet, at last, comfortless and unsatisfied.Hold to Christian instruction and constantly try, whether thou art learning Christ: He is the measure of all truth.Never forget: He is the Light; whoso is athirst, let him come to Himand drink! You may know everything in the world, but not knowing Him, thy knowledge is nothing; you may know nothing of the world, knowing Him, trusting in Him, thy knowledge is rich.The toil of self-denial and denial of the world cannot be spared you; but begin in the centre, in thyself, thy will and heart. What avails external alteration: that is by no means growing better. One must not be ever setting the tools and the plough in order; draw furrows through the field of thy heart and sow good seed therein, thus wilt thou reach the harvest and the harvest home. The sun makes the Spring and rejuvenates the earth, not single sunbeams, however, but the sun itself ever mounting higher, ever working longer. So Christ, who renews thee. Look how Peter with his sanguine temper became the rock-man, became constant, and John with his choleric disposition (Mar 3:17; Luk 9:54) was renewed into the Apostle of energetic love.

Starke:The natural knowledge of God is not the right one, and is far from sufficing for salvation, 1Co 1:21.The origin of all our sins is the vanity of the mind and the darkened understanding. We do not understand what the true good is, nor how we can attain to it. If we are to be helped, we must be helped in these respects, else a hardening results, and we become at last without feeling.All, even the best, in man is corrupted by nature, accordingly nothing is to be expected from his own strength.Mark, man, the stripes of thy conscience, they are a favor from God; despise them not, lest thy heart be gradually led by the deceit of sin into obduracy.He who does not live devoutly has not rightly learned or heard Christ.In Christ Jesus is the truth, not a doctrine merely, but a righteous life, and this truth consists in a putting off of the old man and a putting on of the new.He who rightly knows Christ, must, to honor Him, live holily.It is a sheer impossibility to be a Christian and to be willing to continue walking in heathenish lusts.Through a long habit of sinning, the understanding at length becomes so darkened, the conscience so insensible, the will so stubborn, that the man no longer perceives the danger of his sinful condition, has no more conscience about sin, and no desire to desist from sin.Where sin began, there repentance must begin.

Rieger:The understanding would otherwise be a pre-eminent ornament of man, but it too has suffered much from the inroads of sin.A proper character begins in us with the knowledge and confession of the might of sin, how it has clung to us from the time of our birth and extended itself as an old man over all our powers and members.

Heubner:Where the will is corrupt, the understanding is darkened; blindness is the result of hardening.Heathenism is life without God, Christianity life from God.The Christian must ever begin anew and at the same time afresh. Daily repentance is needed, if we know the weakness, impurity, inconstancy of our hearts.We will be ever seeing remnants of the old man appearing and returning here and there, and then a putting off of the old and putting on the new man is at once necessary again, and a purging process must be begun as in the case of sick people.There is no more certain sign of an unspiritual mind, than the question: What then is so bad in me? Am I then so entirely unlike the image of God?

Passavant:The history of the heathen of all ages and countries is a history of such vanity of mind, and of vanities; and all this vain character and action is renewed, re-decked and increased in the history of the character and doings of the heathen now-a-day, of the unbelieving and God-forsaken in Christendom. In the latter case the guilt is indeed greater, the injury deeper and the vanity worse.This story of the origin of all heathen character and action, and of all idolatry in the world, repeats itself in every heart, which permits itself to be led through lustfulness and vanity of the mind away from the only true God into unbelief, disobedience and ingratitude. The will becomes perverted and evil, seducing in its turn the understanding and all the senses of man; and the mind, when it has once become false and vain, seduces in turn the impure heart, which has forsaken truth and faith; and here, in this impurity is the damnable ground and beginning of all ignorance and obduracy. That which is most exalted in us, which shall inherit immortality, our most beautiful, thinking, poetizing, loving, that which moves our whole heart and soul, what is inmost and most intellectual, our most profound life, our spirit itself must be renewed within us.

Stier:The natural man in the vanity of his mind chooses what is void, empty and perishing, instead of what is Divinely real. Lust and deceit are akin.Hearing, learning, becoming learned, are the three orderly degrees.Man, corrupt by nature, destroys that which was created, Gods Spirit in our spirit breaks anew the first creation. Once for all in the Person of Christ is that created and prepared for us, which we are to put on.

Gerlach:The lusts paint joy for us and then bring misery, place man in opposition to his Creator, his eternal destiny, himself, making out of the whole character a lie.

Ziel: The heathenish nature in our Christian congregations of to-day. From the text (Eph 4:17-32) we may perceive as in a mirror: 1) In what inward character of the heart (Eph 4:17-19), 2) in what outward form of the conduct it still manifests itself among us (Eph 4:25-32). Conclusion: To extirpate it by the roots, each one for himself, puts and must put it away from him.

On the Epistle for the 19th Sunday after Trinity, Eph 4:22-28.Langbein: How it is chiefly shown in social life, that something really new is born within us? When there is found, 1) in our mouth, instead of a lie, the truth, 2) in our heart, instead of wrath, placability, 3) in our hands, instead of unjust property, the gift of mercy.

Tholuck: The virtue of Christian love of truth. 1. How does it manifest itself a) toward God, b) toward our neighbor, c) towards ourselves? 2. How do we attain to it? a) Through the consciousness of the continued presence of that eye, which sees in secret and to which a lie is an abomination, b) by taking the right standard, the Word of God.

F. A. Wolf: On the proper conduct of all in authority for the promotion of fidelity and probity in their subordinates. 1. Strict love of truth. 2. Forbearing earnestness in discipline and admonition. 3. Zeal for the public good in our own place and calling.

Florey:A new man, a new life! 1) In words of truth, 2) mastery over the passions, 3) blamelessness in walk, 4) turning away from what is unjust, 5) activity in ones calling, 6) brotherly love in the heart.Some principles for Christian parents in the education of their children. 1. To convince them of the evil nature of their hearts. 2. To be helpful to the renewal of their mind in the Holy Ghost (Baptism, Home, School, Church). 3. To contend against their darling sins (lying, quick temper, slandering, purloining, tattling) and to help to the opposite virtues.

Brandt: The new man in Christ. 1. Truthfulness his ornament. 2. His heart breathes love. 3. He allows himself to be guided by benevolence and trustfulness. 4. Faithful and honorable, is his watchword.A rich harvest blessing is an urgent demand to put off the old man and to put on the new. Without this 1) we do not fulfil the design of God in bestowing this blessing, 2) with all our thanksgiving we cannot please God; 3) we are in danger of turning the blessing into a curse.

Spitta: Believing and pious Christians should not walk as the heathen. 1. How the heathen walk. 2. Why Christians should not walk thus? 3. How they show proper earnestness in this.

Genzken (Preparatory discourse): The blessed barter (after Mat 9:16 f.). The old ragged mantle of the old man is cast away (the web of lust and error); 2. The Lord Jesus is put on (the garment of righteousness and honor).

[Eadie: Eph 4:17. In the case of the heathen, all the efforts and operations of their spiritual nature ended in dreams and disappointment.

Eph 4:18. Deep shadow lay upon the Gentile mind, unrelieved save by some fitful gleams which genius occasionally threw across it, and which were succeeded only by profounder darkness. A child in the lowest form of a Sunday School, will answer questions with which the greatest minds of the old heathen world grappled in vain.There could be no light in their mind, because there was no life in their hearts, for the life in the Logos is the light of men.

Eph 4:19. Self-abandonment to deeper sin is the Divine judicial penalty of sin.Self was the prevailing powerthe gathering in of all possible objects and enjoyments on ones self was the absorbing occupation. This accompaniment of sensualism sprang from the same root with itself, and was but another form of its development.

Eph 4:20. Once dark, dead, dissolute and apathetic, they had learned Christ as the light and the lifeas the purifier and perfecter of His pupils.

Eph 4:22. This deceit is not simply error. It has assumed many guises. It gives a refined name to grossness, calls sensualism gallantry, and it hails drunkenness as good cheer. It promises fame and renown to one class, wealth and power to another, and tempts a third onward by the prospect of brilliant discovery. But genuine satisfaction is never gained, for God is forgotten.

Eph 4:24. While this spiritual creation is Gods peculiar workfor He who creates can alone recreatethis truth in Jesus has a living influence upon the heart, producing, fostering, and sustaining such rectitude and piety.R.]

[Schenkel:The characteristic marks of heathenish disposition: 1. Darkening of the mind, where the knowledge of what is Divine is concerned; 2. Hardening of the heart, where the repression of their own evil lusts is concerned.Lust and greed the two fundamental sins of the natural man: 1. Their internal connection; 2. Their external difference.To learn Christ 1) the Christians first duty, 2) his highest wisdom.The seal of true Christianity is the new birth; for 1) where this is wanting, all good works are but seeming, and 2) where it is present the life with good works must really he teeming.The deceit of sin and the truth of redemption: 1. Sin corrupts man under the deceitful representations of evil lust; 2. Redemption heals man by restoring his original truth, in righteousness and holiness.R.]

Footnotes:

[53]Eph 4:17.[The reading is doubtful: 3 D.2 3 E. K. L., most cursives, Syriac, Chrysostom (Rec., Tischendorf, Meyer, Eadie, Braune), sustain ; it is wanting in .1 B. D.1 F. G., 5 cursives, Vulgate and other versions, and rejected by Lachmann, Alford, Ellicott. The external evidence against it is slightly preponderating, but internal grounds are in its favor. It was probably misunderstood, and the omission further confirmed by 1Th 4:5.R.]

[54]

Eph 4:18.[. A. B.: , which, as more rare, is preferred by most recent editors to (Rec., D. F. K. L.). The comma after God, is required by the view taken of the construction as a parallelism:

a Being darkened in their understanding,
b Being alienated from the life of God,

a Because of the ignorance that is in them,

b Because of the hardness of their heart.

The first and third, second and fourth members correspond, the alternation being probably due to the reciprocal interaction which is also implied.R.]

[55]Eph 4:21.[This rendering is literal, see Exeg. Notes.The aorists in Eph 4:20-21 are best rendered by the English past tense.In is substituted for by, as is so often necessary.R.]

[56]Eph 4:23.[The two leading interpretations are suggested by the two readings given above. See Exeg. Notes.Became renewed is adopted (from Ellicott) to indicate the force of the present, which here marks a continuing process.R.]

[57]Eph 4:24.[.1 gives: .The hendiadys of the E. V. here (and at the close of Eph 4:22 : deceitful lusts) must be guarded against.Hath been created is preferable here to was created, for though the Greek aorist is historical, the latter rendering tends to throw the further back than is actually intended; the reference being to the new in Christ (Ellicott).R.]

[58][The is resumptive rather than illative, but as Alford says: The digression is all in the course of the argument. The fervid style of St. Paul will never divide sharply into separate logical portionseach runs into and overlaps the other. Eadie defends the connection with what immediately precedes.R.]

[59][If be rejected, there is still an allusion in to the fact that they were once thus walking, i. e., were once Gentiles. The only point of difference is, that the fuller reading implies they are so still. Though the Ephesians did not walk so now, their returning to such a course is made the logical hypothesis (Alford).R.]

[60][So Eadie and most; Hodge however takes as the whole soul, just as on the other hand in Rom 7:23-25, he refers it to the renewed nature, in both cases sacrificing exactness to doctrinal considerations.R.]

[61][This is a dative of reference, giving the sphere or element m which. On the difference between it and the accusative it may be said that the latter is more objective, denoting that the darkness extended over the mind, the former more subjective, denoting that it has its seat in the mind. The word itself is here=the understanding (Verstand).R.]

[62][On the etymology and meaning of . See Fritzche, Rom 11:7. It undoubtedly means hardness, obduracy (not blindness), used by medical writers of the callus at the extremity of fractured bones.R.]

[63][Some textual variations occur, but not sufficiently supported to raise any question. From (D. and others) the sense desperantes seems to have come. But it is incorrect; the semi-technical term suggests a continuation of the figure.R.]

[64][The unusual position of leads Ellicott to render: uncleanness of every kind.R.]

[65][Hodge renders: together with covetousness, which is doubly objectionable. The wider sense of is accepted by Eadie, Alford and Ellicott. The last named, however, properly objects to obliterating the underlying notion of covetousness and self-seeking which seems bound up in the word. Comp. Col 3:5, p. 64; and Trench, Syn. 24, who links it most closely with sins of lust.R.]

[66][Alford renders: If, that is, it was Him that ye heard and in Him that ye were taught following Meyer in regarding both as included in ye learned Christ, the first clause referring to the first reception, the second to further instruction. So Ellicott. Perhaps Alford restricts the meaning too much when he explains heard Him, if ye really heard at your conversion the voice of the Shepherd Himself calling you as His sheep.R.]

[67][This view properly excludes the interpretation inasmuch, which Dr. Hodge here, as elsewhere, attaches to .R.]

[68][Meyer insists that forbids the dependence on , but Ellicott suggests that it marks a contrast, not with Jesus, but with the Gentiles and their own previous condition as implied in the next phrase. The infinitive has, not in itself, but from its independence, an imperative force, as in walk (Eph 4:1): that ye must put off. As an aorist it probably refers to the speedy and single nature of the act. The dependence on the entire preceding thought is a satisfactory solution: The substance of what you heard, were taught, when yon heard Him and were taught in Him in the correct way as is truth in Jesus, was to put off, that you must put off, etc.R.]

[69][Alford) thus indicates the train of thought: for you were clothed with it (the old man) in your former conversation. The phrase qualified the verb, not the substantive: That as regards your former way of life you put off.R.]

[70][The reader is referred to Romans, p. 203; comp. pp. 235244. The opinions there advocated are expressed in Ellicotts notes on the old man: personification of oar whole sinful condition before regeneration, opposed to the or (Eph 4:24; Col 3:10) and the (Gal 6:15), or, if regarded in another point of view to the (Eph 3:16; Rom 7:22).R.]

[71][The middle form of the verb is active in meaning (Harless), so that we must insist on the passive here. Stier objects that to be renewed is not a proper subject of exhortation. But the Apostle is giving the substance of the teaching (Eph 4:21), and as Alford well remarks: we have perpetually this seeming paradox of Gods work encouraged or checked by mans co-operation or counter-action, He renders: undergo renewal.R.]

[72][Not created in the case of each individual believer, but created once for all (initio rei Christian, Bengel) and then individually assumed (Ellicott). Comp. Textual Note 5.R.]

[73][The doctrine of the restoration to us of the Divine image in Christ, as here implied, is not to be overlooked. Mueller, Lehre von der Snde, ii. p. 485 ff., denies any allusion to it here, but on insufficient grounds, as indeed he himself virtually allows. Not the bare fact of Gen 1:27, but the great truth which that fact represents is alluded to. The image of God in Christ is a far more glorious thing than Adam ever had, or could have had: but still the = , is true of both (Alford). Comp. Colossians, p. 68.R.]

[74][Whatever view may be taken of Eph 4:23, or whatever psychological distinctions may be allowable in the exegesis of the New Testament, there is nothing here or elsewhere to indicate that man has a spirit unsubdued by the flesh, unaffected by the fall. The natural state is the more awful, because the spirit, the higher part, the point of connection with Divine influences, is under the dominion of sin.R.]

[75]Eph 4:26.[Ye is omitted for the sake of euphony, and is inserted in Eph 4:25 for the same reason.On the other changes Bee Exeg. Notes.R.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

(17) This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, (18) Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: (19) Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. (20) But ye have not so learned Christ; (21) If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: (22) That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; (23) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; (24) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (25) Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. (26) Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: (27) Neither give place to the devil. (28) Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. (29) Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (30) And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (31) Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: (32) And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

The Apostle hath here drawn a striking contrast between the men of the world and the godly, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not. The expressions are so plain, and the truth so very obvious, that I do not think it necessary to enlarge, upon the subject. The putting off the old man, and the putting on the new, very decidedly show the wonderful change wrought by regeneration. The old man is a strong phrase, to denote the corruption of our fallen state in Adam. And, in like manner, so is the new man in Christ. But the putting off the one, and putting on the other, is not man’s work, but God’s. We are altogether passive in the act of regeneration, as in the original generation. And I pray the Reader to remark yet further, what all the scripture of God teacheth, and what all the experience of the Church of God confirms; the old man, though put off, remains; not dead, but dying; not buried, but crucified. There is no change in the old man; he is the same old man of sin, wholly sin, and all sin, as ever. Hence Paul himself groaned, under the body of sin as long as he remained in the body. And hence he looked only to Jesus for deliverance. Rom 7:24-25 . And hence he told the Church: if Christ be in you (said he) the body, is dead because of sin: but the Spirit is life, because of righteousness. Rom 7:10 . Reader! if this were better understood than it is; and men, professing godliness, were better acquainted than they are with the plague of their own heart, we should not hear so much talking of inherent holiness in the creature, while they themselves daily, hourly, if they were to look more closely to what passeth in the old unrenewed nature of their own bodies, manifest that, in them, that is in their flesh, dwelleth no good thing !

On the other hand, putting on the new man, is neither their act, nor their merit. Christ is the new man, formed in the souls of the regenerate, by the Holy Ghost. And every child of God, at his new birth, is formed in Christ’s image, and Christ formed in his heart the hope of glory. Hence, united to his person, and having a spiritual union with him, quickened, and brought forth into life, which before was dead in trespasses and sins, the regenerated part the spirit, manifests, in all its breathings, desires, and longings after Christ, that Christ is its life, its portion, its one unceasing pursuit. The child of God, new born in Christ lives upon Christ, and lives to Christ. And Jesus saith: because I live, ye shall live also. Hence, while the Spirit is thus holy in Christ; and the flesh unholy, and nothing but corruption in nature; those opposite principles are perpetually producing those effects the children of God all feel, from such a conflict, and of which they continually complain, Rom 7:21 , &c . Gal 5:17 . But most evident it is, that such, more of less, will continue through the whole time-state of the Church here below; and that this competition, in every child of God’s own person, from the moment of regeneration, never ceaseth, neither can cease, until the body returns to its original dust, and, the spirit joins the spirits of just men made perfect.

I pause a moment over the verse, in which the Apostle cautions the Church, to an holy weariness against grieving the Holy Spirit of God. And what a blessed thing was it in the Lord, that his servant should add, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. How sweetly gracious was it to hold up the sorrowful soul of a child of God, that would rather die than grieve that Almighty Lord by whose regenerating grace he was first quickened into spiritual life; I say how sweetly gracious was it in the Lord, to assure the timid soul, that amidst all his unworthiness, and backslidings, and departures, the sealing of the Holy Ghost could not lose its efficacy. Oh ! Reader ! what shall speak his praise, that though we so often change, our God changeth not. Mal 3:6 . Though we fail in our love, Jesus faileth not in his. Our interest in the Covenant arose, not from our obedience; but in God’s purposes, and Christ’s merits and blood. The everlasting worth and efficacy of Christ’s ransom, pleads more for his redeemed than all their sins plead against them. Unworthy as they are in themselves, yet are they everlastingly accepted in the Beloved. And this sweet scripture settles the point: they are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Nevertheless, the Child of God knows, to his sorrow, when the body of sin breaks out into some new transgression the awfulness of the offence. And that solemn scripture conies home directed to the heart, by the Lord in great poignancy of affliction. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee. Know, therefore, and see, that it is an evil thing, and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts ! See Psa 36:1 . Reader ! if you are a child of God, and renewed by sovereign grace; I need not tell you what these Scriptures mean. You know them, and feel them; and from a conscious sense of the indwelling corruption of nature, you can best say how much you dread the very apprehension of grieving the Holy Spirit! But oh! thou Holy God! when I call to mind what a mass of sin and transgression my whole unrenewed nature is, how am I lost in amazement at thine unchanging love, that while thou makest the bodies of thy people thy temple, so much of evil dwells there. If Lot was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked from day to day, what must be the feeling of God the Holy Ghost, at the daily view of indwelling corruption, and out-breaking sin, in his redeemed ones? Lord, I pray thee! keep thy servant from presumptuous sins! And do thou, O Lord, (for thou truly canst accomplish it,) mortify all the corrupt thoughts and deeds of my body, that I may never grieve thee, by whom I am sealed, unto the day of redemption !

The Apostle sweetly closeth the Chapter, in calling upon the Church to the exercise of the fruits of the Spirit, instead of grieving Him. And, he adopts the strongest, and most persuasive of all arguments, to a tender-hearted deportment, among the people of God, when holding forth, as a model of everything that is lovely in mutual forbearance, and charity, he proposeth to their view that Lord Jesus. Oh ! what a volume of motives, ariseth from the Person of Christ! And how strong the appeal in God’s forgiving the Church for Christ’s sake, doth it come home to the heart, to the brethren, to forgive one another ?

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

XIV

THE NECESSITY OF REGENERATION

Eph 4:17-5:21 ; Eph 6:1-9

This section extends from Eph 4:17-6:9 , except we leave out the illustration in Eph 5:21-33 , Christ and the Bride. That will follow in the next chapter.

Attention has already been called to the remarkable parallels between Colossians and Ephesians. They are nowhere more striking than in the exhortations to newness of life in the world and in the family. In both we find the sharp distinction between the philosophy of a corrupt life and the philosophy of a pure life.

Effects are traced in each case to an adequate cause. The unrenewed nature causes the first. The renewed nature, which is a new creation, causes the second. Nowhere else in the Scriptures, except perhaps in Rom 1 and Rom 7 , is there more clearly shown the power and depravity of original sin, the inheritance of sin nature, and the necessity of regeneration in order to a life of holiness. That is the capital thought in this section.

The two sources of such divergent life are here called the “old man,” and the “new man.” In the first the fruit is bad because the tree is bad. In the second the fruit is good because the tree has first been made good. The whole exhortation powerfully expounds the words of our Lord to Nicodemus: “Except a man be born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God,” therefore, “Marvel not that I said unto you, Ye must be born again.” If any man has any doubt about the necessity of regeneration, let him read this section. It is the most powerful argument on the necessity of regeneration anywhere in the Bible.

Henry Ward Beecher, the great Congregationalist preacher, who had several heretical tendencies, was once subjected to an examination on orthodoxy before a council of his people. I have the paper which he submitted at that time. One of the points on which he was examined was the subject of regeneration. He said, “I unswervingly hold to the necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit in order to be a Christian.” That looks all right. But when one of the examiners asked, “Do you hold that regeneration is necessary for any other reason than the actual transgressions of men?” What a searching question that! His reply was a dodge: “I believe that a man needs to be regenerated because he is an animal.” He would not admit original sin. He would not admit inherited depravity. He said that the Adam man was an animal and must be regenerated before he can become a spiritual man in Christ. That was new to me. Beecher was one of the most remarkable thinkers the world has ever known. Nobody else would have thought of replying just that way. If I had been there I would have asked Mr. Beecher some questions on the letter to the Ephesians.

The reader will notice that every gradation in process of corruption is set forth with philosophical power in this section. In analyzing it we see that he starts with spiritual ignorance. That produces vanity of mind, darkness of understanding, and alienation from the life of God. Then evil practice hardens the heart until we lose sensitiveness to right and wrong, become past feeling, so that the whole life is surrendered to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

How much we are reminded here of the terrible process set forth in Rom 1:21-32 ! There also the whole process is given: “Because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their imaginations, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” Because they did not like to retain the knowledge of God, God gave them up to reprobate minds, to the working out of all evil passion. Read the whole of that awful indictment against the Gentile world.

A great missionary in the early days here in Texas preached for me in Waco on this theme: “Are the heathen lost without the gospel?” His answer was, “Yes, lost.” He took the first chapter of Romans and showed how what is there said fits just as well to conditions in heathen lands today as then; that human nature is always the same, and that through the fall of Adam an evil nature was inherited. That evil nature develops into acts. The wicked man waxes worse and worse and finally becomes crystallized, past feeling, without God, and without hope in the world. That was once the condition of these Ephesians. Many of them were Greeks, who prided themselves upon the greatest intellectual development in the world. Highest in art, science, sculpture, painting, eloquence, philosophy, they thought themselves the cream of the earth, but notwithstanding this culture their moral corruption was extreme. But new in Christ, renewed in mind, they are exhorted to put off the old man with his lusts, his anger, falsehood, idleness, theft, evil speaking, bitterness, clamor, railing, malice, fornication, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking and jesting, and drunkenness. These are overt acts. As soon as we are renewed in Christ we are obliged and empowered to put on the new man with his truth, industry, generosity, thankfulness, spirituality, mercy, love, praise, and prayer.

We see in the letter to the Galatians the fruits of the two trees contrasted. Gal 5:22 : “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is no law.” Gal 5:19 : “The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like.” When I was a young preacher I preached a sermon on the two trees the tree of the flesh and the tree of the Spirit and stated that some people spend half a lifetime trying to find out whether or not they are converted. I held up these two trees, saying, “Under which tree do you stand? There is a practical way of knowing that you are a child of God. Here are the things that are the fruits of the flesh, and here are the things that are the fruits of the Spirit. You know the fruit of your life; judge from that. If a man sows to the flesh, he reaps corruption; if he sows to the Spirit, he reaps life everlasting.” Our Lord said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” The carnal nature and spiritual nature are opposites and antagonists. He had already shown the source of the different fruits: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” They are just as wide apart as possible. There is, however, one difficulty in reaching a correct judgment from the fruit, to wit: Even the renewed man, until sanctification is complete, finds a war in himself, as we learn from Rom 7 . Sometimes the soul is on top and sometimes the fleshly lusts. In such cases there are yet two ways of ascertainment:

1. What is the trend of the life, good or evil, and is there progress toward the good?

2. Which trend does the person deliberately encourage and make provision for?

“You may not be able to keep a bird from lighting on your head, but you can keep him from building a nest in your hair.” “You may not be able to keep the devil from knocking at your door, but you are able to refrain from asking him to spend the night.”

In this careful elaboration of both good and evil fruits there are several expressions calling for special notice: “Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down on your wrath: neither give place to the devil.” The first part of this statement shows that there is no sin per se in indignation against a wrong. Christ became terribly indignant at many evils which he saw in his day. We cannot stand by and see a great, burly boy browbeat and evil treat a weak little fellow without being indignant, that is, if we are any good ourselves. If a man sees a snake creeping up just about to strike a child, love in that case reaches out after a stick and hits quickly, and hits to hurt. In this way a man may be angry and sin not.

We come now to a nice point of discrimination: In our indignation at what is wrong there is a great hazard of committing a sin, so our text puts in three cautions. One is, “do not let the sun go down on your wrath,” that is, “do not cherish it until it breaks out in the wrong direction get rid of it before night.” When a man carries anger in his heart and broods over it for a week, or a year, or waits, as Absalom did, two years before striking, it grows into malice. There are two things the sun ought never to go down on, viz.: Never let the sun go down on your anger cool off before night and never let it go down on unpaid wages due a day laborer. Many are entirely dependent on each day’s pay. So let us pay our washerwomen and not forget that there are some obligations that a gentleman cannot defer. The next danger in anger is this: We are apt, if we are very hot about a matter, to take vengeance into our own hands. I will cite a passage which explains: “Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath of God; for it is written, vengeance belongeth to me; I will recompense, saith the Lord. But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”

I knew a man once to make a wrong application of that. While he was conducting family prayer his boy kept doing something that angered him, and he overcame evil with good by throwing the family Bible at him and knocking him down, which was not promotive of reverence for that service.

No matter how angry we get, we should never forget that vengeance is a divine prerogative. Nobody is qualified to take vengeance except God. He never forgets, and he takes everything into account. Our text says, “Neither give place to the devil.” When a Christian gets angry there stands the devil, whispering, “Hit him!” “Kill him!” “Take vengeance in your own hands!”

I saw a man once walk the floor for hours, and finally I said to him, “What is the matter?” “I am trying,” said he, “to get rid of a desire to get on the train, go to a certain place and cowhide a man until his skin hangs in strings. It is not right for me to do that, but I am continually reaching out my hand and trying to take hold of the thunderbolt of the Almighty and hurl it.”

The question has been asked, “What bearing has Eph 4:19 , ‘being past feeling’ on the unpardonable sin?” It is the tendency of turning away from light to have less light; turning away from the feeling to have less feeling. A young man in a protracted meeting may be wonderfully impressed. He is convinced that the Bible is true, that Christ is a Saviour and that he is a sinner. He is stirred up over the matter, and feels impelled to go and fall upon his knees and say, “God have mercy on my soul,” but says, “Not right now at a more convenient season some other time.” The next time he will not feel that impression as strong as the first time. The third time he feels it still less, and after a while he is past feeling cannot be awakened. The sun shines on wax and melts it. The sun shines on soft clay and hardens it. So light followed gets brighter; light neglected dims into darkness. Being past feeling may well, in some cases, indicate the unpardonable sin, but not in all cases. Some feel, by anticipation, the pangs of hell. Remorse can be active when there is no repentance.

The next particular passage is Eph 4:28 : “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give him that hath need.” The point that I want to impress is this: Many people in the church think, because they have no real estate, no bank account, and are not rich, that they ought not to help. They say, “I have nothing.” Here is the answer: “Go to work, get something, and help. You have strength.” One of the sweetest offerings ever laid upon the altar of God is the offering of the poor which is the result of the labor of their hands.

One day when I was taking up a great collection, people calling out in hundreds all over the house, an old woman, who had to be helped up, came on her crutches to the table and put on the table a pair of socks which she had knit. I felt the tears running down my face, and I almost listened to hear a voice from heaven say, “Behold, she hath done more than they all!” She felt that she had a right to help, even if she was poor, and that God did not require her to give beyond her ability. She could labor with her hands and make a contribution.

Next consider specially Eph 5:4 : “Nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not befitting.” This is the “fly in the apothecary’s ointment” in the case of many preachers. Many a good meeting has been ruined by the talk in the preacher’s tent. Let a young man who has been deeply concerned about his salvation hear that foolish talking and jesting in the hour of the preacher’s relaxation, and it hurts him; he is led to question the sincerity of the previous exhortation.

That is why, in my young manhood, I made a covenant with Dr. Riddle, moderator of our association, that we would never tell an obscene anecdote and never let anybody tell us one. He and I made that covenant when camping out on the prairie between Waco and Groesbeck. Afterward many people joined us in that covenant. It had a marked effect. I would like to see every preacher solemnly enter into an agreement with God to set a watch before his lips, to avoid foolish jesting and foolish, obscene stories.

I was in a stage traveling from Canyon to Plainview, one other Christian besides myself on the stage, and two worldly sinners. One of them started to tell a very vulgar anecdote. I said, “Stop! I imagine that is going to be tough. Let me get out and walk; I do not want to hear it. I am willing to help you while away the time by telling anecdotes, if they be good ones without any twang in them.” He said, “If you will let me tell this one, I will not tell any more.” “But I do not want to hear that one; I know it is bad, and I do not want to hear it.” “Why?” he asked. “Sir,” I said, “I made a covenant with a man who is now in heaven that I would never allow any one to tell me a smutty anecdote.” “Well,” he said, “Dr. Carroll, I respect your wishes in the matter.” I said to him, “Now you feel better; you have a better taste in your mouth.”

The next passage Isa 5:5 : “Nor a covetous man, who is an idolater.” Just look at that language! We claim that idolatry has passed away. But there stands that text: “A covetous man is an idolater.” He worships an idol, and that idol is money.

No devotee ever bowed before Moloch, or any other hideous idol in China or India, who was more of an idolater than a covetous man is.

When I was a boy a book of poetry was largely read called Pollok’s Course of Time . I am sorry people stopped reading it. It describes a miser in hell with the devil pouring melted gold down his throat.

The miser is the meanest, ghastliest, grizzliest of all gross men!

Milton does the same thing in Paradise Lost when he comes to describe Mammon. He makes other demons somewhat respectable, but when he comes to Mammon, there is nothing in him to admire.

We now notice Eph 5:7 . Here arises the question, “What are you going to do with this evil tide all around you?” (1) “Be ye not partakers with them.” We cannot help what they do, but we should not be partakers. (2) We should have no fellowship with their unfruitful works. (3) We should reprove them. I do not say that we ought to go out on the streets and denounce them. Our lives will reprove them if we show by the way we live that we do not touch those things. We cannot walk down the street without condemning them.

Again, Eph 5:14 : “Wherefore he sayeth, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.” That is a great text. Who can locate that text in the Bible? On that passage one of the greatest sermons I ever read is by Dr. Addison Alexander, a Presbyterian. I give the divisions of his sermon:

1. Sin is a state of darkness “Christ shall give thee light.”

2. A state of sleep “Awake, thou that sleepest.”

3. A state of death “Arise from the dead.”

Let us look at Eph 5:18 : “Be not drunken with the wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit.” There are two kinds of intoxication, one of wine and one of the Holy. Spirit. I have seen people under the intoxication of the Spirit. I remember one lady one of the sweetest ladies I ever knew. I was not a Christian, but it did me good to watch her in a meeting. When the power of the Spirit would begin to fill her heart, she would begin to show her intoxication. Her face would become luminous, her lips would quiver and she would commence to sing: “Oh, Love Divine, how sweet thou art.” It was like the rustling of the wings of an angel.

A preacher oftentimes needs a stimulant. The trouble is that some of them take the wrong kind. One thing I know: Nobody respects a preacher who, before he enters the pulpit, takes a little toddy or opium to enable him to take hold of things lively while in the pulpit. One of the most brilliant preachers in the South made a shipwreck of himself that way. I was called on to preach for him in his church, and when he got up to make his introductory remarks he was braced up right sharply with whiskey, and said some very foolish things. He could get a church anywhere at first, but at last he could get a church nowhere. Whenever we want to be stimulated, we should go off and pray. As we are infilled with the Spirit, we become enthusiastic; a divine afflatus rests upon us, enabling us to think thoughts that breathe, to speak words that burn and to sing songs that have more convincing power than the sermon. That is spiritual intoxication.

It is often a practical question: “What shall we do with exuberant feelings?” How may we find a safe vent for our enthusiasms, ecstasies, exultations? Edward Eggleston tells of a crowd of intoxicated boys raising this very question. One of them said, “Let’s do something lu-dick-er-ous.” When asked what he would call a “ludickerous” thing he replied, “Let’s go and rock the Dutchman’s house.” There was one inoffensive German in the neighborhood, and their rocking his house led to some costly and disastrous results. But Eph 5:19 suggests a better and safer vent: “Speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.” I have known churches intoxicated with the Spirit to do that very thing, the members going from house to house holding glorious song services that did much to deepen and widen the religious awakening.

From the general discussion of “the old” and “the new man” expressed in life’s work, he turns to the application in life’s relation, viz.: husband and wife, parent and child, master and servant, pointing out clearly as he does in other letters the reciprocal obligations, but as these relations have been discussed in the letter to the Colossians, we pass them here.

QUESTIONS

1. What philosophy of a good or evil life does this section give?

2. What is the bearing of the philosophy on the necessity of regeneration in order to a good life?

3. Cite the case of Henry Ward Beecher’s examination by a council of his people.

4. Are the heathen lost without the gospel?

5. What is our Lord’s standard for our judgment of men’s professions?

6. What is the difficulty in applying this test, and how obviated?

7. Expound: “Be ye angry and sin not.”

8. What is the first hazard in being angry, and how guarded?

9. What is the second, and how obviated?

10. What is the third, and how obviated?

11. What is the bearing of “past feeling” on the unpardonable sin?

12. Show how the poor should help in Christ’s work.

13. What danger attends the preacher’s hours of relaxation, and what examples cited?

14. Prove that we have idolaters among us.

15. What two poets describe the miser?

16. Where do you find the quotation: “Awake, thou that sleepest, etc.,” who preached a great sermon on the text, and what his outline?

17. What two intoxications are contrasted?

18. What prescription in this section for finding a safe vent to religious exuberance, and what Edward Eggleston’s account of a different vent for worldly exuberance?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

Ver. 17. This I say therefore ] Matters of great importance must be urged and pressed with greatest vehemence.

As other Gentiles walk ] Singular things are expected from saints; who are therefore worse than others, because they should be better.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

17 .] This (which follows) then (resumptive of Eph 4:1 ; as Thdrt., . This is shewn by the fact that the . here is only the negative side of, and therefore subordinate to, the . of Eph 4:1 . Eph 4:4-16 form a digression arising out of . . . in Eph 4:3 . Still this must not be too strictly pressed: the digression is all in the course of the argument, and here is not without reference to in Eph 4:14 . The fervid style of St. Paul will never divide sharply into separate logical portions each runs into and overlaps the other) I say (see Rom 12:3 . There is no need to understand before the infinitive which follows. The . . is the object of expressed in the infinitive, just as regularly as in . That an imperative sense is involved, lies in the context) and testify (see reff.: cf. Plato, Phileb. p. 47 D, , : Thuc. vi. 80; viii. 53, Duk.) in the Lord (element; not ‘formula jurandi,’ see 1Th 4:1 , note), that ye no longer (‘ as once :’ implied also by below) walk as also (besides yourselves: though the Ephesians did not walk so now, their returning to such a course is made the logical hypothesis) the Gentiles (ye being now distinguished from them by being members of God’s church, though once Gentiles according to the flesh. Perhaps from this not being seen, was inserted) walk in (element) vanity (see Rom 1:21 : they in their downward course from God. But we must not restrict the word to idolatry: it betokens the waste of the whole rational powers on worthless objects. See also on Rom 8:20 ) of their mind (their rational part), being (beware of referring to . with Eadie. Besides its breaking the force of the sentence, I doubt if such an arrangement is ever found) darkened (see again Rom 1:21 , and the contrast brought out 1Th 5:4-5 , and ch. Eph 5:8 ) in (the dative gives the sphere or element in which. The difference between it and the accusative of reference ( , Jos. Antt. ix. 4. 3) is perhaps this, that the dative is more subjective The man is dark: wherein? in his : the accusative more objective Darkness is on the man: in him, whereon? on his ) their understanding (perceptive faculty: intellectual discernment: see note, ch. Eph 2:3 ), alienated (reff.: objective result of the subjective ‘being darkened’) from the life of God (not ‘modus vivendi quem Deus instituit,’ as the ancients (Thdrt., Thl., and Grot., al.), for in N. T. never has this meaning (see the two clearly distinguished in Gal 5:25 ), but always life , as opposed to death. Thus ‘ the life of God ’ will mean, as Beza beautifully says, ‘vita illa qua Deus vivit in suis:’ for, as Beng., ‘vita spiritalis accenditur in credentibus ex ipsa Dei vita.’ Stier makes an important remark: “The Apostle is here treating, not so much of the life of God in Christ which is regenerated in believers, as of the original state of man, when God was his Life and Light, before the irruption of darkness into human nature”) on account of the ignorance (of God: see ref. 1 Pet.) which is in them (not, by nature: cf. Rom 1:21-28 : they did not choose to retain God in their knowledge, and this loss of the knowledge of Him alienated them from the divine Life), on account of (second clause, subordinate to .: not subordinate to and rendering a reason for . . , as Meyer, which would be awkward, and less like St. Paul) the hardening (‘ est obduratio, callus. Rem qu hac voce significatur, eleganter describit Plutarchus, de auditione p. 46, ubi nullo monitorum ad vitam emendandam sensu duci, negotium esse dicit . . , . , .’ Kypke. The sense ‘ blindness ’ is said by Fritzsche, on Rom 11:7 , to be invented by the grammarians. Thdrt. says ) of their heart ,

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Eph 4:17-24 . A paragraph which takes up again the practical address begun with the first verse of the chapter, but interrupted at Eph 4:4 , and contains solemn exhortations to withdraw from all conformity with the old vain pagan life.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Eph 4:17 . : this I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord . The has here its simple, resumptive force ( cf. Donald., Greek Gram. , 548, 31; Win.-Moult., p. 555). It takes up the train of thought which had been broken off at Eph 4:4 . The refers to the exhortation that follows. is used of a solemn declaration, protest, or injunction of the nature of an appeal to God ( cf. Act 20:26 ; Act 26:22 ; Gal 5:3 , etc.). , not = by the Lord , nor on the Lord’s authority , but in the Lord, the writer identifying himself with Christ and giving the exhortation as one made by Christ Himself ( cf. Rom 9:1 ; 2Co 2:17 ; 1Th 4:1 ; also the classical , as in Soph., Oed. Tyr. , 314; Oed. Col. , 247, etc., and Abb., in loc. ). : that ye no longer walk . The exhortation began (Eph 4:1 ) as a positive injunction to a worthy walk. It is now resumed in the negative form of an injunction against an unworthy Pagan walk. The , the ordinary objective inf., expresses the object of the ruling verb. After verbs like such inf. conveys the idea of what ought to be and has something of the force of an imper. ( cf. Act 21:4 ; Act 21:21 ; Tit 2:2 , etc.). It requires no to be supplied (see Jelf, Greek Gram. , p. 884, 4; Buttm., Gram. of N. T. Greek , p. 273; Win.-Moult., pp. 403, 405). : as the [ rest of the ] Gentiles also walk . is inserted by the TR before , and is supported by [425] 4 [426] 2, 3 [427] [428] , Syr., Goth., Chrys., etc. It is omitted, however, by [429] [430] [431] [432] [433] * [434] , Boh., Eth., Vulg., etc., and must be deleted here (with LTTrWHRV). The associates the walk which they are charged to continue no longer with that of the Gentiles generally, and with their own former walk in their non-Christian days. : in the vanity of their mind . is not merely the intellectual faculty or understanding, but also the faculty for recognising moral good and spiritual truth (Rom 1:28 ; Rom 7:23 ; 1Ti 6:5 , etc.). , a peculiarly biblical and ecclesiastical term, occurring in NT only here and in Rom 8:20 ; 2Pe 2:18 , and corresponding to the Heb. , , means vanity in the sense of purposelessness, uselessness . There is nothing in the clause to restrict it to the case of idol-worshippers or to that of the heathen philosophers (Grot.). It is a description of the walk of the heathen world generally a walk moving within the limits of intellectual and moral resultlessness, given over to things devoid of worth or reality ( cf. Rom 1:21 , ).

[425] Codex Sinaiticus (sc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[426] Codex Claromontanus (sc. vi.), a Grco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[427] Codex Mosquensis (sc. ix.), edited by Matthi in 1782.

[428] Codex Angelicus (sc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.

[429] Codex Vaticanus (sc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[430] Autograph of the original scribe of .

[431] Autograph of the original scribe of .

[432] Codex Alexandrinus (sc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[433] Codex Claromontanus (sc. vi.), a Grco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[434] Codex Boernerianus (sc. ix.), a Grco-Latin MS., at Dresden, edited by Matthi in 1791. Written by an Irish scribe, it once formed part of the same volume as Codex Sangallensis ( ) of the Gospels. The Latin text, g, is based on the O.L. translation.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eph 4:17-24

17So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Eph 4:17

NASB”This I say, and affirm together with the Lord”

NKJV”This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord”

NRSV”Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord”

TEV”In the Lord’s name, then, I say this and warn you”

NJB”In particular, I want to urge you in the name of the Lord”

This claim of co-affirmation with the Lord shows Paul’s apostolic authority and knowledge of Jesus’ teachings.

“that you walk no longer” In Eph 4:17-19 there is a series of characteristics of the heathen lifestyle. These new believers themselves used to live like this (cf. Eph 4:28). Paul lists the characteristics of fallen humanity several times in his writings (cf. Rom 1:29-31; 1Co 5:11; 1Co 6:9; 2Co 12:20; Gal 5:19-21; Eph 4:19; Eph 4:31; Eph 5:3-4; Col 3:5-9). See Special Topic at Col 3:5.

How to produce holiness was the major conflict between Paul and the Jewish legalists. Both Paul and the Judaizers wanted a righteous lifestyle in converts. Paul acknowledged the past pagan sins of these believers, but believed that free grace, an indwelling Spirit, and a growing knowledge of the gospel would produce what legalism could not. The performance of the Old Covenant has been replaced by the new heart and mind of the New Covenant (cf. Jer 31:31-34; Eze 36:22-32).

NASB, NKJV,

NRSV”in the futility of their mind,”

TEV”whose thoughts are worthless”

NJB”the empty-headed life”

This term means “vain,” “empty,” “aimless” (cf. Rom 1:21). Eph 4:17-19 refer to either (1) the false teachers’ speculations or (2) the believers’ previous lives in paganism.

Eph 4:18 “being darkened in their understanding” This is a perfect passive participle. Their current state of spiritual blindness (as is ours) is a result of (1) supernatural temptation; (2) heretical influence; and (3) personal choice.

“excluded from the life of God” This is another perfect passive participle. This refers to separation from the OT covenant God and His promises (cf. Eph 2:12).

“because of the ignorance that is in them” This refers to self-willed ignorance (cf. Rom 1:18 to Rom 3:20).

“because of the stubbornness of their hearts” This is the abiding results of the fall (cf. Genesis 3; Joh 3:17-25). See Special Topic: Heart at Col 2:2.

Eph 4:19

NASB”having become callous”

NKJV”being past feeling”

NRSV”have lost all sensitivity”

TEV”have lost all feeling of shame”

NJB”sense of right and wrong once dulled”

This is another perfect active participle. Fallen humanity had become, and remained, insensitive or hardened beyond feeling, to both natural revelation (cf. Psa 19:1-6; Rom 1:18 to Rom 2:16) and special revelation of the Bible and the Son, the written word (cf. Psa 19:7-12) and the living Word (cf. Joh 1:1-14).

NASB”having given themselves over to sensuality”

NKJV”having given themselves over to licentiousness”

NRSV”have abandoned themselves to licentiousness”

TEV”give themselves over to vice”

NJB”have abandoned themselves to sexuality”

This literally means “open shamefulness” (cf. Rom 1:24; Rom 1:26; Rom 1:28). Fallen humanity has abandoned all restraints, social and spiritual. These false teachers even shocked other pagans.

NASB”for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness”

NKJV”to work all uncleanness with greediness”

NRSV”greedy to practice every kind of impurity”

TEV”and all sorts of indecent things without restraint”

NJB”eagerly pursue a career of indecency of every kind”

This means more and more for me at any cost (cf. Col 3:5). Fallen humanity has lost the sense of corporate good. Humans live only for themselves, for the moment. This is the curse of the Fall of Genesis 3. It is so clearly manifested in modern western society!

Eph 4:20 “but you did not learn Christ in this way” This is a strong contrast between Christ’s preachers and the false teachers. Eph 4:17 implies a contrast between their previous life in paganism and their new life in Christ.

Eph 4:21 “if” This is a first class conditional sentence which was assumed to be true from the author’s perspective or for his literary purposes. These believers had heard the truth.

“Jesus” This was a rare use of the name “Jesus” by itself, in Paul’s writings. It may be related to the false teachings concerning Jesus the man (i.e., His humanity) versus Christ the Spirit (i.e., His deity). In Gnosticism Jesus could not be fully God and fully man because “spirit” (i.e., God) is good, but matter (i.e., humanity) is evil. They would assert His deity but deny His humanity (cf. 1Jn 4:1-6). It is interesting that modern society has reversed this heresy.

Eph 4:22 “lay aside” There are three aorist infinitive clauses in Eph 4:22-24. Clothing is used as a metaphor to describe spiritual characteristics (cf. Job 29:14; Psa 109:29; and Isa 61:10). This was also an emphasis on the need for repentance and a resulting changed life (cf. Mar 1:15; Act 3:16; Act 3:19; Act 20:21).

NASB”your former manner of life”

NKJV”your former conduct”

NRSV”your former way of life”

TEV”which made you live as you used to”

NJB”give up your old way of life”

The KJV translation has “conversation,” which meant “lifestyle” in A.D. 1611 when that translation was written. This clearly shows the need for updating translations! No translation is inspired. Their job is to communicate the gospel to one or more generations. Only the original message given by God is inspired.

“the old self” This refers to mankind’s fallen characteristics and propensities in Adam (cf. Rom 6:6; Col 3:9). It is the priority of self, independence from God, more and more for me at any cost!

Eph 4:23 “you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,” This is a present passive infinitive. Believers are to continue to be made new in their thinking by allowing the Spirit to develop the mind of Christ in them (cf. Rom 12:2; Tit 3:5). This is an aspect of the “new covenant” from Jer 31:31-34 (cf. Eze 36:22-38).

Eph 4:24 “put on” This is an aorist middle infinitive. This is the clothing metaphor which emphasizes the continuing decision to be in Christ (cf. Rom 13:14; Gal 3:27; Col 3:8; Col 3:10; Col 3:12; Col 3:14; Jas 1:21; 1Pe 2:1). This terminology of putting on Christ may have even been connected to the ordinance of baptism in the early church, where new converts put on clean, white clothing after baptism. It denotes a volitional choice!

“new self” This is a metaphor for the new life in Christ. Peter called it “partaking of the divine nature” in 2Pe 1:4. This is in contrast to the old fallen Adamic nature of Eph 4:22.

“in the likeness of God” Believers should have the family characteristics of God (cf. Rom 8:28-29; Gal 4:19). The Bible emphasizes our position in Christ and also our need for progressive Christlikeness. Salvation is free, but maturity costs everything! Christianity is both a death and a life, a point and a process, a gift and a reward! This paradox is very difficult for modern people to grasp. They tend to emphasize one aspect or the other. See Special Topic below.

“in righteousness” See Special Topic below.

SPECIAL TOPIC: RIGHTEOUSNESS

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

testify. Greek. marturomai. See Act 20:26.

henceforth . . . not = no longer. Greek. meketi.

other. Omit.

Gentiles = the Gentiles. They were Gentiles, but now are members of the church His body. Compare 1Co 10:32.

vanity. See Rom 8:20.

mind. Compare Rom 1:21.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

17.] This (which follows) then (resumptive of Eph 4:1; as Thdrt., . This is shewn by the fact that the . here is only the negative side of, and therefore subordinate to, the . of Eph 4:1. Eph 4:4-16 form a digression arising out of . . . in Eph 4:3. Still this must not be too strictly pressed: the digression is all in the course of the argument, and here is not without reference to in Eph 4:14. The fervid style of St. Paul will never divide sharply into separate logical portions-each runs into and overlaps the other) I say (see Rom 12:3. There is no need to understand before the infinitive which follows. The . . is the object of expressed in the infinitive, just as regularly as in . That an imperative sense is involved, lies in the context) and testify (see reff.: cf. Plato, Phileb. p. 47 D, , : Thuc. vi. 80; viii. 53, Duk.) in the Lord (element; not formula jurandi, see 1Th 4:1, note), that ye no longer (as once: implied also by below) walk as also (besides yourselves: though the Ephesians did not walk so now, their returning to such a course is made the logical hypothesis) the Gentiles (ye being now distinguished from them by being members of Gods church, though once Gentiles according to the flesh. Perhaps from this not being seen, was inserted) walk in (element) vanity (see Rom 1:21 : they in their downward course from God. But we must not restrict the word to idolatry: it betokens the waste of the whole rational powers on worthless objects. See also on Rom 8:20) of their mind (their rational part), being (beware of referring to . with Eadie. Besides its breaking the force of the sentence, I doubt if such an arrangement is ever found) darkened (see again Rom 1:21, and the contrast brought out 1Th 5:4-5, and ch. Eph 5:8) in (the dative gives the sphere or element in which. The difference between it and the accusative of reference ( , Jos. Antt. ix. 4. 3) is perhaps this, that the dative is more subjective-The man is dark:-wherein? in his : the accusative more objective-Darkness is on the man:-in him, whereon? on his ) their understanding (perceptive faculty: intellectual discernment: see note, ch. Eph 2:3), alienated (reff.: objective result of the subjective being darkened) from the life of God (not modus vivendi quem Deus instituit, as the ancients (Thdrt., Thl., and Grot., al.), for in N. T. never has this meaning (see the two clearly distinguished in Gal 5:25), but always life, as opposed to death. Thus the life of God will mean, as Beza beautifully says, vita illa qua Deus vivit in suis: for, as Beng., vita spiritalis accenditur in credentibus ex ipsa Dei vita. Stier makes an important remark: The Apostle is here treating, not so much of the life of God in Christ which is regenerated in believers, as of the original state of man, when God was his Life and Light, before the irruption of darkness into human nature) on account of the ignorance (of God: see ref. 1 Pet.) which is in them (not, by nature: cf. Rom 1:21-28 : they did not choose to retain God in their knowledge, and this loss of the knowledge of Him alienated them from the divine Life), on account of (second clause, subordinate to .: not subordinate to and rendering a reason for . . , as Meyer, which would be awkward, and less like St. Paul) the hardening ( est obduratio, callus. Rem qu hac voce significatur, eleganter describit Plutarchus, de auditione p. 46, ubi nullo monitorum ad vitam emendandam sensu duci, negotium esse dicit . . , . , . Kypke. The sense blindness is said by Fritzsche, on Rom 11:7, to be invented by the grammarians. Thdrt. says ) of their heart,

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Eph 4:17. , this I say then) He returns to the point with which he set out, Eph 4:1.- , that ye henceforth walk not) This is an antithesis to Eph 4:1.- , in vanity) The root of such walking, departure from the knowledge of the true God, Rom 1:21; 1Th 4:5 : in () is to be construed with they walk [ , not with ]. Vanity is explained at large in Eph 4:18; walking in Eph 4:19.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Eph 4:17

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord,-[The apostle having in the preceding section taught that Christ had destined his church to perfect conformity to himself, and made provisions for that end, as a natural consequence, solemnly enjoins on those in Christ to live in accordance with this high vocation.]

that ye no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk,-[Christ has called into existence and formed a new world. Those who are members of his body are brought into another order of being from that to which they had formerly belonged. They should therefore walk in quite another way-no longer as the Gentiles, for his readers, though Gentiles by birth (Eph 2:11), are now of the household of faith-the church of Christ, the commonwealth of Israel (Eph 2:12). Though born Gentiles, Paul distinguishes his readers from the Gentiles who were their natural kindred. Where he testified of their walk, he exclaims: but ye did not so learn Christ (Eph 4:20), it appears that there were those wearing Christs name and professing to have learned of him who did not thus walk. This indeed he expressly asserts: For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. (Php 3:18-19). This warning we naturally associate with that given in verse 14. The reckless and unscrupulous teachers against whose seductions he guards the churches of Asia Minor tampered with the morals, as well as with the faith of their disciples, and were drawing them back insidiously to their former habit of life.]

in the vanity of their mind,-[After the leading of their own vain and fleshly minds. Christians are to walk after Christ the head, not after the vain efforts of the unconverted heathen to find happiness in the gratification of the depraved lusts. Vanity betokens a waste of the whole rational powers on worthless objects. This is the characteristic of heathenism, even in its most refined forms.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

The Walk of the New Man (Eph 4:17-24)

This I say therefore-we may well ask, Wherefore? In view of all that Paul had written in the earlier part of this Epistle, he admonished his readers, henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk. Since, as Christians we have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy, and have been redeemed through His blood, and have been made members of His body, led by the Spirit, united to a risen Christ in glory, our lives are to be different from those around us. Christians are people called out from the world. A very common saying is, When in Rome, do as the Romans, but that does not apply to the Christian. No matter where you find him, he is to walk as a heavenly man, as one whose interests are really in another world, as a stranger and a foreigner to this world. He is called to refrain from everything that would in any way tarnish his pilgrim character.

Walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind. The word translated vanity here does not mean what it does ordinarily-that is, pride. The original word rather means something like a mirage, an illusion, that which is imagined but not actually true. Unsaved men have illusions of the minds, they see mirages of all kinds and imagine them to be real, but they are not. They believe all sorts of theories, intellectual ideas, and such like, and would even judge Gods Word by their theories instead of judging their theories by the test of Gods Word. These poor Christless men, whatever their talents, culture, or education, have never been born of God, therefore their understanding is darkened, and they are incapable of understanding divine things. The Christian ought to be aware of this danger, and not walk in the delusions of the fleshly mind.

The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God (1Co 2:14). I wish our Christian young people would realize that. Many of them who are attending our colleges and universities are placed under the instruction of brilliant but unconverted professors who use their position to undermine faith in the Word of God. I wish these Christian young men and women could realize that the natural man, no matter what his intellectual qualifications, does not understand the things of God; they are foolishness to him because they are spiritually discerned (1Co 2:14). Without a new life and a new nature there can be no real comprehension of divine things, and so the greatest of this worlds scholars is an ignoramus when it comes to the things of God, until he has been regenerated.

Paul described the Gentile world of his day: Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart (Eph 4:18). In other words, they have no divine life. Some say there is a divine spark in every man, but that is not true. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Until Christ is received by faith, until people have accepted Him as their own Savior and Lord, there is no life whatever except, of course, this material, natural life. Paul continued his description, Being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them. They are wise in the things of this world, but utterly ignorant in the things of God because of the blindness of their heart. The word blindness is better translated hardness, and yet that does not give the thought sufficiently. It means a heart that is under the influence of an anesthetic. A person may be alive and quivering with pain, but when he is put under the influence of an anesthetic he is not awake to his true condition. Men and women have come under the influence of the awful deadening power of sin and their hearts are hardened. They are blinded, and they do not understand their own condition, the condition of their country, or of the world around them. Sin has a terrible, hardening, blinding, deadening, effect on people.

Notice the awfully graphic picture of the ancient world and the world today. Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness (Eph 4:19). Being past feeling, might be translated, being beyond pain. Do you remember how pained you were the first time you committed some sin that pricked your conscience? The hour of temptation came, and you hesitated and said, Shall I commit this sin or not? Conscience was roused and you did not see how you could go on and indulge in that evil, unholy thing. But perhaps lured on by godless friends who mocked your conscientious scruples, you said, Oh, Ill try anything once, and you took the fatal step-you committed that sin and polluted your soul by it. But you remember the pain that came afterward, you remember as you walked home, or possibly it was in your own home, you could not bear the thought of facing those nearest and dearest to you. Perhaps you were not so much concerned about the fact that God had seen you, but you were concerned about what others might think of you. The temptation came a second time and again you plunged into the sin, more recklessly this time, and afterward the pain was less. And so on and on and on, and now you continue in that sin, in that evil course, and there is scarcely ever the least evidence of a sensitive conscience. We read of people whose conscience is seared as with a hot iron. In Eph 4:19 we have the description of an unsaved man going contrary to every divine direction until he is beyond pain. That is what sin does for people. Oh, what a mercy when the Spirit of God comes in and awakens one to see something of the terribleness of his sin in the sight of a holy God. Then the Spirit leads the repentant sinner to Christ, and out of the depths of an anguished heart he cries, What must I do to be saved? God be merciful to me, the sinner. There had been such crises in the lives of these Ephesians. Many of us have known what this means, and now these words of instruction come to us, as to them, regarding the manner of life that should characterize us.

We are not to be as we once were and as those still are who, having lost their sensitivity to pain, have given themselves over to lustful desires and all kinds of unholy thoughts resulting in unclean works. What a mercy that this is in the past for many of us. Am I speaking to anyone who is still living in these things? Does your heart sometimes cry out with a desire for purity, for holiness, for goodness? Do you sometimes say:

Tell me what to do to be pure

In the sight of all-seeing eyes.

Tell me, is there no thorough cure,

No escape from the sins I despise?

Will the Savior only pass by,

Only show me how faulty Ive been?

Will He not attend to my cry?

May I not this moment be clean?

Oh yes; there is cleansing for you. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa 1:18). God has made His invitation so clear. The heart of the sinner may be made pure. There is a possibility that the dark red stains of sin may all be washed away, for it is written, The blood of Jesus Christ [Gods] Son cleanseth us from all sin. And one cleansed by the blood should be characterized by an altogether different life from that which is common to the unsaved.

The apostle continued, But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus (Eph 4:20-21). I want you to notice particularly the way he used the divine titles. We know that Jesus is Christ and Christ is Jesus. We do not for one moment consent to the wretched theory that a good many hold today, popularized by Christian Science, which tries to draw a distinction between Jesus and Christ. According to that system, Jesus was simply a man, the natural born son of Mary, but Christ was a divine Spirit that came and took possession of Jesus at His baptism in the Jordan. That is an old gnostic heresy condemned by every right-minded Christian. Jesus is the Christ. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. But although that is true, this is also true-Jesus was His human name here on earth; He never had that name until He came to earth. Scripture says, Thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins (Mat 1:21). But He was Christ from all eternity. In the eighth chapter of Proverbs, wisdom is personified, and we read, The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was (Eph 4:22-23). The Hebrew term set up is the same word for anointed: I was the anointed One from everlasting. When Christ was baptized in the Jordan, the Spirit of God descended on Him confirming that He was the anointed One, the Christ from eternity. And when God raised Him from the dead, we read He made that same Jesus to be both Lord and Christ (Act 2:36). He is the Anointed now as the risen and glorified One.

Paul was thinking of Christ as the risen One, sitting at the right hand of God, and we learn of Him as we take time to truly look at Him. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord (2Co 3:18). But what does Paul mean by the truth is in Jesus? He means that when He was on earth as the lowly man called Jesus He was the demonstration of the truth. That is why He could say, I am the way, the truth and the life. Suppose I want to know the truth about what God expects from man, where do I find it? In Adam? Oh, no. In Adam I see a man who listened to his wife, after she listened to the devil, and did what she told him to do. Adam was a man without a backbone, a man utterly untrustworthy. As we review human history, we see that all humanity is just a reproduction of that first man. But if I want the truth concerning man and his relationship with God, I find that it is written, There isone mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. As we read Gods Word and notice Christs attitude and behavior when He was on earth, we see all that man should be for God. He is the full standard of humanity.

If I want to know the truth about God, where do I find it? Do I go to the universities of this world? No; they do not know anything about God. They cannot tell me anything about Him. But where shall I go? To the modernistic churches, with their unconverted preachers? They do not know anything more about God than unconverted college professors. Well, then, where shall I go? To Creation? Out in the woods? No, you will not learn about God there, you will get some evidences of His power and wisdom, but you will not find anything about His love and holiness there. Where do you learn about Him? In Christ. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. The truth has been made known in Jesus.

Suppose I want to find out about sin, where will I go? To some of our modern, humanistic philosophies whose teachers talk about behaviorism and actually try to make men and women believe that every tendency within the heart is perfectly lawful and perfectly right? No, not there. But where? To the cross of Jesus. There, as I behold my blessed Savior taking the sinners place, I see what sin deserved. The truth is in Jesus, and Christ in glory points me back to Jesus on earth and says, If you want to know how you should walk as you go through this world, there is where you will find it. Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps (1Pe 2:21).

But how will I be able to live like this? I have an old nature; I once had a corrupt, sinful life, how am I going to live like Jesus? Here is what Jesus teaches: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph 4:22-24). What do I mean when I speak of the old man? Some people confuse the old man with the old nature. You see, the old man is more than the old nature. The old man is what you once were before you were converted. Now you are through with the old man. If you are a Christian, you are not to live like that man any longer, but you are now to live in the righteousness and holiness of the new man. And who is the new man? The new man is the man of whom the apostle Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians chapter 12: I knew a man in Christ.. .of such an one will I glory. A man in Christ-that is the new man that I now am through infinite grace. I am through with the old man, the man after the flesh. I have put him off, his tastes, his appetites, all that he once delighted in, and I am learning the truth as it is in Jesus.

The old man was corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and in our unconverted days we lived to satisfy these deceitful lusts. But now a great change has taken place, we have been born again. That does not mean we have attained perfection. The apostle Paul said:

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Php 3:12-14).

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind (Eph 4:23). A better rendering is, Being renewed in the spirit of your mind. In what sense am I being renewed in the spirit of my mind? How am I being renewed in my physical strength? I am strengthened physically by eating those foods that are nourishing and that will build a strong body. Then how am I renewed in the spirit of my mind? I am strengthened spiritually by feeding on His Word, enjoying communion with Him and fellowship with His beloved people. In all these ways we are being renewed in the spirit of our minds. You never saw a strong Christian who was not a Bible-loving Christian. You never saw a strong Christian who was not one who delighted in communion with fellow believers. People who dont want anything to do with other Christians, and go about with an I am better than you attitude, do not exhibit much real holiness in their lives.

We read that the new man is created in righteousness and true holiness. Righteousness is my behavior toward others. I am to be righteous in my dealings with my fellow man. As a new man I cannot be careful about my devotion to Christ while being careless in my life among others. A man got up in a meeting one day and said, I want to tell you that I am standing in Christ on redemption ground. Another man arose and said, I want to call that man down. He says he is standing in Christ on redemption ground. I do not believe a word of it. He is standing in a pair of shoes he bought from me months ago, and he has not paid for them yet. Righteousness is right dealing between men. The person who professes to be a Christian and is not careful about that which is right, is a disgrace to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Holiness has to do with my attitude toward God. It is in the heart; it is the inward life, holiness of thought. Holiness is seen as a heart separated to God in accordance with the truth of His holy Word. This is practical Christianity, and this is how you and I are called to exhibit the new life, to reveal the fact that we belong to a new creation.

Have I been setting the standard too high? I have not been setting it at all. I have been showing you the standard as set in the Word of God.

Unsaved one, are you saying, I would like to reach this standard, but I do not see how I ever could? You cannot. With all your trying you will never be able to reach it. Come to God as a poor, lost sinner, give up your trying, put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will give you a new heart, a new nature, and will enable you to live to His glory.

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

3. The Walk in Holiness and Righteousness

CHAPTERS 4:17-5:21

1. Not as the Gentiles walk (Eph 4:17-19)

2. The putting off and putting on (Eph 4:20-32)

3. Followers of God (Eph 5:1-2)

4. Exhortations (Eph 5:3-21)

At this point the exhortations to walk in separation begin. The therefore of Eph 4:17 refers us to the wherefore of Eph 2:11-12. What Gentiles are in their natural condition is here once more put before us. The grace of God takes the believer out of these conditions and puts power on our side to walk no longer as the Gentiles walk. And how solemn is the description of what Gentiles are by nature! Nor must we overlook the fact, that beneath the thin veneer of our boasted civilization, which rejects Christ and the gospel, there is the same darkened understanding, the same alienation from God, the same blindness and the uncleanness of which these words speak.

Saved by grace these Gentiles had heard Christ and had been taught by Him. To walk according as the truth is in Jesus is the responsibility of all who know and follow Him. He is our pattern. The old man is put off and the new man is put on. We are not told to put off the old man by all kinds of endeavors and resolutions; it is already done. The old man was put away by the cross of Christ (Rom 6:6). This is the blessed truth which delivers from doubt and bondage. And then we receive something in Christ, the new man, the new nature. Grace unclothed us and clothed us. Grace made an end of the old man and put upon us the new man. And this new man, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness, which calls for a corresponding walk. But there is also a practical putting off and putting on. Of this we read in Eph 4:25-29. In Eph 4:26 there is a command to be angry and sin not. There is a righteous anger which is not sinful. The Lord Jesus exhibited that (Mar 3:5). When truth is perverted, or that blessed and worthy name is dishonored, a righteous feeling of displeasure arises in the heart, which is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Such a feeling is not sin. But we are warned let not the sun go down upon your wrath. The wrath of man, if nourished, worketh not the righteousness of God (Jam 1:20). How easy it is to harbor feelings which are sinful, and in doing so give place to the devil. Corrupt communications are not to proceed out of the mouth of a member of the body of Christ, but that which is good for needful building up, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Speech is always to be with grace, seasoned with salt (Col 4:6). In view of such exhortations, the practice of certain evangelists to use slang, vulgar and common expressions in public speech stands condemned.

And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, by whom ye have been sealed unto the day of redemption. We are His temple and all must be avoided which displeases the holy guest. That He dwells in us and we are sealed by Him is the evidence of our eternal security. We are sealed by Him unto the day of redemption. We may grieve Him, but He will never leave those who are washed in the blood of the Lamb. He abides with us forever. in Eph 4:32 we find another exhortation how the members of the body of Christ should act towards each other.

We are to be imitators of God, as dear children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Then there are additional exhortations about fornication, all uncleanness, or covetousness, as well as other things. It shows the possibility of a child of God falling into these things. The true believer knows that in his flesh dwelleth no good thing, and that only the power of the Holy Spirit can deliver him from the power of the flesh; therefore he walks in the Spirit. There can be no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God for such whose life is in these things. A child of God may fall and commit some of these things, but no true believer will continue to live in them.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them (Eph 5:10.) when our Lord was on earth He reproved the unfruitful works of darkness. His condemnation was aimed at the religious Pharisees and rationalistic Sadducees. He pronounced His solemn woes upon them. Walking as the children of light, therefore, means separation from evil, moral and religious, and a definite witness against it.

The exhortation in Eph 5:14, to awake and arise, is not addressed to an unsaved person, but to a Christian. Many believers are in the state of spiritual sleep among the spiritually dead in the world; but the promise is given, that Christ will give light when the awakening comes. Another important exhortation is found in Eph 5:18 : And be not drunken with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Be filled with the Spirit does not mean another outpouring of the Holy Spirit, another Pentecost. The Holy Spirit dwells in every child of God; He is the abiding guest. He is in us to fill us, and He will do so if we walk in the Spirit. May we open our whole heart to Him and walk in obedience, abiding in Christ, occupied with Christ, exalting Christ, and we shall know what it means to be filled with the Spirit. Some of the effects of it are mentioned in the verses which follow (Eph 5:19-21). There is worship and thanksgiving. He is also the Spirit of love and grace–submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

I say: 1Co 1:12, 1Co 15:50, 2Co 9:6, Gal 3:17, Col 2:4

testify: Neh 9:29, Neh 9:30, Neh 13:15, Jer 42:19, Act 2:40, Act 18:5, Act 20:21, Gal 5:3, 1Th 4:6

in the: 1Th 4:1, 1Th 4:2, 1Ti 5:21, 1Ti 6:13, 2Ti 4:1

that ye: Eph 1:22, Eph 2:1-3, Eph 5:3-8, Rom 1:23-32, 1Co 6:9-11, Gal 5:19-21, Col 3:5-8, 1Pe 4:3, 1Pe 4:4

in the: Psa 94:8-11, Act 14:15

Reciprocal: Lev 15:18 – the woman Deu 12:30 – How did Deu 27:10 – General Deu 29:19 – though I walk Psa 14:4 – Have Psa 74:20 – the dark Isa 60:2 – the darkness Jer 3:17 – walk Jer 9:14 – walked Jer 11:7 – I earnestly Jer 13:10 – walk Eze 3:21 – if thou Amo 3:13 – and testify Zec 8:16 – are Mat 6:32 – after Mat 18:17 – a heathen Mat 21:29 – I will not Luk 12:30 – all Luk 15:15 – to feed Act 17:30 – but Act 26:20 – and do Rom 1:21 – but became Rom 6:4 – even Rom 9:30 – the Gentiles Rom 12:2 – be not Rom 13:13 – us 1Co 5:8 – not 1Co 6:11 – such 1Co 12:2 – that 2Co 5:15 – henceforth 2Co 6:14 – and what Eph 2:3 – in times Eph 4:1 – walk Eph 4:19 – given Eph 4:22 – former Phi 3:18 – many 1Th 2:11 – charged 1Th 4:5 – as the 2Th 3:6 – in the 1Ti 6:5 – men 2Ti 1:8 – the testimony 2Ti 2:14 – charging 2Ti 2:19 – depart 1Pe 4:2 – no Rev 22:18 – testify

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

(Eph 4:17.) -This, then, I say. The apostle now recurs to the inculcation of many special and important duties, or as Theodoret writes- ; and he begins with the statement of some general principles. The singular gives a species of unity and emphasis to the following admonitions, for it here refers to succeeding statements, as in 1Co 7:29; 1Th 4:15. Other examples may be seen in Winer, 23, 5. is not merely resumptive of the ethical tuition begun in Eph 4:1 (Donaldson, 548, 31), but it has reference also to the previous paragraph from Eph 4:4-16, which, thrown out as a digression from Eph 4:3, runs at length into an argument for the exhortations which follow. Granting, as Ellicott contends, that grammatically is only resumptive, it may be admitted that such a resumption is modified by the sentiment of the intervening verses. The apostle in resuming cannot forget the statements just made by him-the destined perfection of the church, its present advancement, with truth for its nutriment and love for its sphere, and its close and living connection with its glorified Head. How emphatic is his warning to forsake the sins and sensualities of surrounding heathendom! Rom 12:3.

-I say and testify in the Lord. Rom 9:1; 1Th 4:1; 1Ti 5:21; 2Ti 2:14; 2Ti 4:1. The apostle does not mean to call the Lord to witness, as if could mean by the Lord, as Theodoret and some of his imitators render it; but he solemnly charges in the Lord-the Lord being the element in which the charge is delivered-

-that ye walk no longer as also the other Gentiles walk. 1Pe 4:3. It is to the Gentile portion of the church that the apostle addresses himself. The adverb , no longer, is here used with the infinitive, though often with and the subjunctive. The infinitive, which grammatically is the object of , expresses not so much what is, as what ought to be. Bernhardy, p. 371; Phryn. ed. Lobeck, p. 371; Winer, 44, 3, b; Donaldson, 584. They once walked as Gentiles, but they were to walk so no longer. The verb , in its reference to habits of life, has been explained under Eph 2:2. The after means also. Hartung, i. p. 126. In some such cases occurs twice, as in Rom 1:13, on which see the remarks of Fritzsche in his Comment. A, B, D1, F, G, the Coptic, the Vulgate, and most of the Latin fathers omit . But the great majority of MSS. retain it, such as D2, D3, E, K, L, and the Greek fathers, with the old Syriac version. We therefore prefer, with Tischendorf, to keep it, and we can easily imagine a finical reason for its being left out by early copyists, as the Ephesian Christians seem by to be reckoned among Gentiles yet. But being Gentiles by extraction, they are exhorted not to walk as the rest of the Gentiles-such as still remain unconverted or are in the state in which they always have been. Just as a modern missionary might say to his congregation in Southern Africa, Walk not as the other Kaffirs around you. The other Gentiles walked-

-in the vanity of their mind. The sphere in which they walk is described by . Rom 1:21. is not intellect simply, but in the case of believers it signifies that portion of the spiritual nature whose function is to comprehend and relish Divine truth. Usteri, Lehrb. p. 35. It is the region of thought, will, and susceptibility-the mind with its emotional capabilities. Beck, Seelenl. p. 49, etc.; Delitzsch, Psych. p. 244. In the Hebrew psychology the intellect and heart were felt to act and react on one another, so that we have such phrases as an understanding heart, 1Ki 3:9; hid their heart from understanding, Job 17:4; the desires of the mind, Eph 2:3, etc. That mind was characterized by vanity. Its ideas and impulses were perverse and fruitless. We do not, with some exegetes, restrict this vanity to the Hebrew sense of idolatry- , H2039-or as Theodoret thus defines it- . The meaning seems to be, that all the efforts and operations of their spiritual nature ended in dreams and disappointment. Speculation on the great First Cause, issued in atheism, polytheism, and pantheism; and discussions on the supreme good failed to elicit either correct views of man’s intellectual nature in its structure, or to train its moral nature to a right perception of its capabilities, obligations, and destiny; while the future was either denied in a hopeless grave without a resurrection, or was pictured out as the dreary circuit of an eternal series of transmigrations, or had its locality in a shadowy elysium, which, though a scene of classical retirement, was earthly, sensual, devilish-the passions unsubdued, and the heart unsanctified. The ethical and religious element of their life was unsatisfactory and cheerless, alike in worship and in practice, the same as to present happiness as to future prospect, for they knew not man’s chief end.

Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians

Eph 4:17. Testify in the Lord. The first word means to exhort, and Paul is doing it in the Lord or by His instruction. The Ephesians were Gentiles mainly and had previously walked after the ways of the ungodly world. Having accepted Christ and started in His service, they were exhorted to discontinue their life of sin. Other Gentiles means those who had not become Christians.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Eph 4:17. This therefore I say. This points to what follows; therefore may refer to what immediately precedes; it is better, however, to find here a resumption of the exhortations begun in Eph 4:1-3, but with the force added by the intervening discussion.

Testify in the Lord. He bears witness, not in his own, but in the cause of the Lord in whom he lives, and in whom his

readers live; hence the appeal should have weight with them.

That ye no longer walk. This is what he says, and it amounts to a precept; comp. Eph 4:1. It forbids doing any more what they once did.

As the Gentiles also walk. The fuller reading of the Received text, which would properly be rendered: as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, is not sufficiently supported. It was probably inserted to indicate that the readers were Gentiles. But the briefer form suggests this in also,

In the vanity of their mind. Vanity betokens a waste of the whole rational powers on worthless objects (Alford). This is the characteristic of heathenism, even in its most refined forms. Mind here is the same term used in Rom 7:23-25, and is applied to the spirit of man, mainly in its moral and intellectual aspects, the practical reason, the controlling will. It is evident that the mind is here regarded as depraved; that part of mans nature, which in its original constitution was noblest, has become the stronghold of his depravity.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Division 4. (Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:1-21.)

Ways that suit this.

The fourth division brings us, as always, to the ways that suit what has been already before us. We find, however, simply what is individual here. The Church as such, the relationship of the members to one another, and what would result from that relationship does not come before us.

1. In the first place, we have the truth “as it is in Jesus” and “the new man created in righteousness and holiness of truth.” The apostle appeals to them, that now, God having separated them from all that they were in nature away from Himself, they must now walk not as other Gentiles walk but according to the truth in Jesus. He draws a strong picture of that old Gentile walk. It was “in the vanity of their minds,” he says, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in them because of the blindness of their heart.” How solemn a picture of the darkness of the natural condition, and ignorance which is moral; by which, therefore, everything is distorted. On the other hand, as he will presently say to us, the holiness which belongs to us is holiness of truth.

We are delivered from the shadows, brought into the reality of things. So that holiness is never less than treating things, in fact, as they are. Faith is not an enthusiastic view of life or of anything. It is simply the true view gained by God being before the soul, the light having arisen upon it. Christ was now the Object before them. They had heard Him and “been instructed in Him, as the truth is in Jesus.” He does not say, as the truth is in Christ. The truth “in Jesus” is the practical walk, such as His walk was. He says “Jesus,” therefore, because he is thinking, not of a place that we have in Him or of the results of His work for us, but simply His example, and Jesus is the name belonging to Him as here in the world, but it was die Christ that they had learned. It is as we see Him in the world that we realize what He is. Christ, as such, is an Object of faith, as we may say, while as Jesus He has come into the sphere of practical life, lived before our eyes. We see the truth in Him. “As long as I am in the world,” He says, “I am the Light of the world.” Consequently, everything takes its true shape in connection with Him; but it is thus, in fact, that we know Christ, -Christ is His official title. It is that which speaks of Him as the Doer of the blessed work which He has accomplished for us. It is thus that we must learn Him first, before we are competent to realize in any measure His life in the world. Having learned the value of His work for us, we must then remember that we are to walk as He walked. We must look back to that walk of His. It is in putting these things together that our practical ways become what God would have them.

After the quails, the Manna. The quails, the life given up, must be the first, for us. We must know Him as the Victim and the Saviour, and this is what introduces us to Him as the Manna, the Bread from heaven. It is thus alone we are able to walk in His company, and all that we have learned of His work is to make us more completely His in our ways down here. As a consequence, the truth for us is that we “have put off according to the former conversation, the old man which corrupts itself according to the deceitful lusts.” We have renounced this. It is always said, if we speak of the “old man,” that we have put it off, and of the “new man,” therefore, that we have put it on. The one has come in the place of the other. The two are not existent side by side. The man that we were, the man away from God, the man walking after the imaginations of his own heart, that is the man that we have renounced. He has come to an end for us at the cross, whose judgment we have seen there. Our own wills and ways are judged. We have been renewed in the spirit of our mind; we have “put on the new man,” the man of the new creation, created according to God in righteousness and holiness of truth. It is the man, therefore, who belongs to another scene than any this world can furnish. It is a scene in which Christ is the centre and indeed, in one sense, everything. The epistle to the Colossians gives us this character of the new man; that is, that he is one for whom there is “neither Greek nor Jew, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free.” Plainly those are the differences which obtain upon earth, in a fallen world. The new man has lost sight of these. He is “renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him,” where Christ is all and in all. Here in Ephesians, we have, rather, the effect of this. The character manifested is “righteousness and holiness of truth,” but “holiness” is not here the word which stands for separation from evil. It is that, rather, which speaks of piety towards God, which puts Him in His place, the place which is necessarily His, which He can never be absent from, except as the darkness of mind resulting from the condition of the soul may be unable to see Him.

2. Thus, all falsehood is put off. We “speak truth every one with his neighbor.” Here indeed is a glance at a motive which comes from our relationship to one another in the Church. We are “members one of another.” The eye must not deal falsely with the foot or hand; but for the members to defraud one another is to deal untruly with themselves. If we are angry, we must take care that sin does not come in upon the heels of it. There is an anger which we read of in the Lord’s case. “He looked round about upon them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.” If we nurse even such anger it will be sure to degenerate. We are, therefore, not to let the sun set upon our wrath, nor to give room, in this way, to the devil. In a world in which sin is, we can have no heart for God if we do not feel it, nay, if we are not aroused by it; but if the personal element is allowed, there will soon be a wrath which is not of God. Now for him that stole, he is to steal no more, but that negative character is not enough for him. “Rather let him toil, working with his hands that which is honest, that he may have to distribute to him that needeth.” No corrupt word is to be allowed out of the mouth, but again “that which is good” in the way of positive ministry, “that it may give grace to those that hear it.” Then we are not to “grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom we have been sealed to the day of redemption.” Notice how there is brought in here the motive derived from the grace which has come in to deliver and bring us through the peril of the way. The sealing, as we have seen elsewhere, implies our security. We are not threatened with the Holy Spirit leaving us if we grieve Him. He has come to abide, but on that very account, we must not grieve the gracious Visitor. How the word speaks of His personal interest in us, the One who has come to make good Christ’s interest in His own. This bears, of course, upon every other matter here. Again, “bitterness, heat of passion, wrath, clamor, injurious language” have all to be removed from us, with all malice,” and the opposite character is to be maintained: “Kindness, compassion, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ,” as it should read, “hath forgiven us.” It is not “God for Christ’s sake,” which would seem to intimate as if God acted in it simply for Another, whereas “God in Christ” speaks of the way in which He forgives, what He has done, in fact, for us, that He might be able to forgive us, and this brings out His whole heart as well as what righteousness has necessitated. We are thus to be “imitators of God as dear children,” those who express and commend their Father’s character, and we are to walk in love, after the pattern of that love which Christ had to us when He gave Himself up for us “an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.” It is the burnt offering, of which the apostle is reminding us here, that offering which speaks of the perfect obedience of One who came here to do the will of God, nothing else. The offering was to God for men, and in the remembrance of this we are to walk in love, which we have learnt in Him.

3. The character and effect of the light into which we are brought is now urged upon us. There are things which are not even to be named by those who would act in character according to their name. Saints are thus set apart to God, and those who are His must be separate from the breath of defilement; nay, there are things which are less gross than these which are still not convenient, not fitting to the character of those who should walk seriously as before God, for life is serious, and as those, also, who realize the goodness of God and walk, therefore, in the spirit of praise which becomes those who recognize this. He warns us distinctly here, that no one characterized by such things as he names has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God. Men might deceive them with vain words, they might prate of Christian liberty and what not, but “on account of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience.” He is speaking, of course, of the world, and not of Christians. He does not threaten Christians with the wrath of God. It is not the way in which the Spirit of God works upon us. At the same time, that this wrath does come upon the children of disobedience, necessarily gives intense solemnity to it. Christians, therefore, must not be in any sense partakers with them. There must be the fullest possible separation. Men could do in the darkness what they cannot do in the light, and therefore the sins of Christians have, in fact, a worse character than those even of the men around them. We were once darkness, we are now “light in the Lord.” The title again brings in the thought of His authority over us. We have learned to recognize this and to walk as children of the light, because “the fruit of the light” (so it should read) “is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.” How blessed and cheering the light is! And such is the path which God has ordained for us and which the light increases to the perfect day. We prove herein by practical ways what is acceptable to the Lord. We are not to have “fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,” but to reprove them. The very moderation here of his words is striking. He does not say works fruitful in evil. It should be enough to say “unfruitful” for us. “What fruit had ye then,” asks the apostle, “in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?” What we want is not merely a correct walk, but what God Himself shall find fruit in. Our character, therefore, as manifested in our ways, is to reprove these unfruitful works beneath which is also a secret depth of evil which it would be a shame even to speak of; but the light makes everything manifest. The Christian, alas, may sleep in the light itself, wherefore he says: “Awake thou that sleepest and arise from among the dead and Christ shall give thee light.” To sleep among the dead, how terrible a thing! But the Christian abides, as we see here, always in the light. He may forget it, he may be untrue to it, but the light is there, and the light for him is in the face of Christ. There is no other test for anything but how it looks in His presence. We are to walk carefully, therefore. We are in a world which requires this. We must have the wisdom which is the application of the truth to all the circumstances of the way, and we must redeem the opportunity, the season; for the power of evil is such that unless we are careful, ready to lay hold of every opportunity for God, we shall find ourselves soon unable to make head against the power of Satan which is in the world around today. We are not to be foolish, therefore, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Then comes a beautiful word. We are not to be “drunk with wine,” not carried away from our sober senses, “in which is excess,” but to “be filled with the Spirit.” Here there is no excess. Yet, when the Spirit came at Pentecost, men said, in their perplexity, “These are filled with new wine;” and indeed the power of the Spirit carries us so outside of the things which are natural to men and in which the heart is, that those whom the Spirit actuates will be counted to have lost their sober senses; but the power of it is manifest in the way in which the truth enjoyed makes music in the heart, -as he says here: “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Notice that he puts it upon us to be thus tilled. He does not even bid us pray for it. He will not allow us to think, as it were, that our dullness can be anything except the result of the way in which we straiten and limit the Spirit that God has given us. The spring will necessarily spring up and overflow. It would have to be kept down, as it were by force, if it did not do this, and it is the power of other things entering in which hinders thus the blessed Spirit in giving us that which is the proper effect of the blessed truth He ministers. With this, how naturally and necessarily goes the spirit of thankfulness! “Giving thanks at all times,” he says, “for all things to Him who is God and Father, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

He could give thanks at all times. He goes out with a hymn to His agony in the garden. For us, how simple, where there is nothing of this sort really awaiting us, no darkness such as He was in, nothing but the blessed light itself, how easy it should be for us to give thanks! “Submitting yourselves one to another,” he says finally, “in the fear of Christ;” an unusual expression, as one might expect the fear of the Lord, or the fear of God, but the “fear of Christ” may have its suited place here, for there is a fear which springs out of the very consciousness of the love which His Name expresses.

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Our apostle having finished this grand exhortation to love and unity amongst all christians, and enforced it with the most weighty arguments and motives in the former part of the chapter; comes now, in the latter part of it to press the Ephesians to the practice of particular duties.

The first of which is this, to take special care, that, being now converted christians, they walk no more like ignorant and unconverted heathens: Walk not as other Gentiles walk.

Next he gives particular instances how, and after what manner, the Gentiles, in the black night of paganism, did walk; namely,

1. In the vanity of their minds, following their own imaginations, and not any revelation from God, in the matters of his worship.

2. Having their understanding darkened; their minds void of saving knowledge.

3. They were alienated from the life of God: that is from a godly life: they were strangers to the life which God commanded, which God approved, and which God himself lived.

Here note, That holiness is called the life of God, because it is the life which God requires of us, it is the life which he works in us, it is the life whereby God liveth in us; the life whereby we live unto God; it is an everliving life; not obnoxious to death, as the Ephesians were: so every carnal man, before conversion, is alienated from this life of God; he has no liking of it, no inclination to it, but prefers a life of sin before it.

Lord, how many that are surrounded with the celestial beams of the gospel, are as impure and impenitent now as these Gentiles were then in the black night of paganism!

4. They were past feeling: their sottish stupidity had benumbed them, the flames of their lusts had seared their consciences to a desperate degree of hardness and insensibility: they were at once insensible of their sins and of their danger by reason of sin. A dead conscience, and a desperate dissolute life, are inseparable companions.

5.They gave themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. Here see how insensibility of sin begets insatiableness in sinning; they work uncleanness with insatiable greediness, who have once abandoned themselves to sin, especially to the sin of uncleanness.

Lord! this was the deplorable case of the heathen world, before the light of the gospel did arise and shine upon them.

But, alas! it is the case of multitudes that sit under the brightest beams of gospel light: they shut their eyes, and will not see; they extinguish all sense of immortality and a future state, and so abandon themselves to a life of brutish sensuality, working all uncleanness with greediness: but let them know assuredly, that though they live like beasts, yet they shall not die like them, nor shall their latter end be like theirs, the soul being under a divine ordination to an everlasting existence in a future state, in which it shall be eternally happy or intolerably miserable, according as we manage our deportment in this present world.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

The Old Man Walked in Sin

If the church would grow to the perfection of Christ, it must turn from walking in the ways of the world. Particularly, Christians would not pursue selfish ways (4:17). When man follows his own desires, he fails to understand the ways of righteousness. God’s ways become foreign to him. He is ignorant, not because God failed to make knowledge available through inspiration’s pen, but because of his own willfulness. Ultimately, God gives such a man ample opportunity to harden his heart and turn completely away from good (4:18; Rom 1:18-32 ; 2Th 2:3-12 ).

When one ignores righteousness long enough, his conscience quits hurting, and he runs wild in sin ( 1Ti 4:1-2 ). He involves himself in lustful activities. His only purpose becomes the filling of his own desires and without any shame whatsoever (4:19). Paul knew they had been taught the truth and would know such a lifestyle was not Christ-like (4:20; Act 20:17-21 ; Act 20:25-27 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Eph 4:17-19. This I say, therefore For your further instruction, how to walk worthy of your calling; (he returns to the subject which he began, Eph 4:1;) and testify in the Lord In the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus, that ye, being now happily brought into the Christian Church, and made partakers of all the privileges and advantages belonging to its members; henceforth walk not as other Gentiles That ye live no longer as the unconverted heathen; in the vanity of their mind Amused with the empty trifles of this world, and enslaved to low and mean pursuits, utterly unworthy of their rational and immortal nature; having the understanding darkened With respect to all spiritual and divine things, which is the source of all foolish desires and pursuits; see Rom 1:21; being alienated from the life of God Being estranged in affection, as well as in practice, from the divine and spiritual life, from all union with, and conformity to, the living and true God; or, from that noble principle of all piety and virtue, the life of God in the soul of man, forming it to the love, imitation, and service of him by whom it is implanted; through the ignorance Of God and his will, and of their duty and happiness; that is inherent in them Or natural to them, as fallen and depraved creatures; because of the blindness , the callousness, or insensibility; of their hearts This is explained by Chrysostom, Whitby, and some other commentators, as referring to their Gentile state; but though there is no doubt but it partly refers to that, yet there can be no sufficient reason to limit such a description to dark and ignorant heathen; it is but too just a representation of all unregenerate men. Who being past feeling The original word, , is peculiarly significant, properly meaning, past feeling pain, or void of distress Pain urges the sick to seek a remedy, and distress, the distressed to endeavour, if possible, to procure relief; which remedy or relief is little thought of where pain and distress are not felt. Thus, those who are hardened against all impressions of grief on account of their former sins, are not excited to seek either for the pardon of them or deliverance from them. Some MSS. read , hoping for nothing. These wicked men, disbelieving the resurrection of the body, and the immortality of the soul, have no hope of any happiness after this life, and therefore they have given themselves over Have abandoned themselves freely, of their own accord; to lasciviousness To wantonness, to unchaste imaginations and desires, words and actions; to work all uncleanness Impurity of every kind; with greediness The word , thus rendered, is commonly used to denote covetousness; because the more the covetous man possesses, the more he desires. Hence the word is used (2Pe 2:14) to denote inordinate desire in general.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Eph 4:17-24. The Old Man and the New.Those who are now members of the true Israel are no longer to walk as Gentiles, i.e. in the vanity of mind, the darkness, the alienation from the Divine life which springs from ignorance and obtuseness of heart, and issues in insensate abandonment to lascivious, impure, and greedy ways. Not such is the lesson of Christ! Those who have heard His voice and in Him been taught the truthtruth as it exists in Jesusmust renounce the old man of their former behaviour, the perishing man who is governed by deceitful lusts; they must be renewed in the spirit of their understanding; they must clothe themselves in the new man, the man after the Divine pattern, Gods new creation in righteousness and holiness of truth,

Eph 4:21. Truth as displayed in Jesus in His life upon earth. The name Jesus without the title Christ occurs here only in the epistle. [Cf. Exp., Feb. 1912.A. J. G.]

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

SECTION 10. A TOTAL CHANGE OF LIFE NEEDED.

This then I say and testify in the Lord, that ye no longer walk according as the Gentiles walk in vanity of their mind, being darkened in the understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance which is in them because of the hardening of their hearts; men who, being past feeling, have given up themselves to wantonness for the working of all uncleanness with greediness. But not so have ye learnt Christ; if indeed ye have heard Him and have been taught in Him, according as it is truth in Jesus that ye must needs put away, as concerns your former manner of life, the old man which is corrupting according to the desires of deceit; and be renewed by the Spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, which, after God, has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

After emphasising the need of unity and mutual help among Christians, Paul now asserts the need of a total change of life, a complete renunciation of the sins of heathenism. This he prefaces in Eph 4:17 by a solemn protestation; and then in Eph 4:18-19 depicts, as a warning, the moral and spiritual state of the heathen. He then says that Christ (Eph 4:20-21) requires a complete surrender (Eph 4:22) of the old life and (Eph 4:23-24) a life altogether new.

Eph 4:17. This then I say; resumes the exhortation interrupted by the assertion in Eph 4:4 of the great unities underlying the unity which in Eph 4:3 Paul bids his readers endeavour to maintain.

Protest: as in Gal 5:3. He calls God to witness the truth of what he is about to say.

In the Lord: like in Christ in Rom 9:1. This protest is an outflow of Pauls union with Christ.

That ye no longer walk; recalls their earlier contrary life. Along the same path also the Gentiles now walk. This path Paul bids his readers henceforth avoid.

Now follows-as a warning, a description of the forbidden path.

Vainly: cp. 1Co 3:20, the reasonings of the wise are vain. Their mind is at work, but with no good result. And this useless activity is the mental element of their action: in the vanity of their mind.

Eph 4:18. In two parallel participial clauses this useless mental effort is traced to its source.

The understanding: the mental eye which looks through objects around to their underlying significance. Same word in Col 1:21. Upon this mental eye falls no light: therefore the heathen are in this all-important faculty darkened. This statement, the rest of Eph 4:18 further develops.

Alienated: same word in Eph 2:12.

The life of God: the immortal life which God Himself lives and which He gives to His servants. Cp. the peace of God, in Php 4:7. To this, the only real life, the heathen are strangers. So terrible is their position. The ignorance which is in them: stronger than their ignorance. In their hearts dwells an absence of knowledge of all that is best worth knowing. And, since knowledge of God is the channel of life, ignorance results in separation from life: alienated from the life because of the ignorance. Cp. Joh 17:3 : this is the eternal life, that they may know Thee. A keen rebuke to the vaunted knowledge of the Greeks. Then follows the cause of their ignorance.

Hardening: as in Rom 11:8. Same phrase in Mar 6:52; Mar 8:17; Joh 12:40. The heart is hardened when it becomes less sensible to influences from without; in this case, influences from God. These are designed to fill and mould and raise the whole life. But the heart of the heathen is unmoved by these good influences. And, since they are the one source of the only real knowledge, hardening produces ignorance. Moreover, since knowledge is the avenue of spiritual life, the hardened and ignorant ones are destitute of that life. Thus the two clauses, each introduced by the word because-of, are successive links of causation.

Such is the inward State of the heathen. Their heart is insensible to things divine; therefore ignorance reigns in them, and the true life is far off. No wonder that in these darkened ones the mind works to no purpose, and that their path in life is wrong.

Eph 4:19. Further description of the same men, setting forth the immoral result of this hardening.

Past feeling: literally having-become-insensible-to pain, i.e. sin no longer painful to them.

Gave-up: surrender to a hostile power. Same word and sense in Rom 1:24; Rom 1:26; Rom 1:28 : an important parallel and complement to this passage. By willingly embracing sin they gave up themselves to its power: and by decreeing that sinners fall victims to the power of their own sin God gave them up.

Themselves: the most tremendous sacrifice ever laid on the altar of sin.

Wantonness: insolent casting aside of all restraint.

Uncleanness: anything inconsistent with personal purity. Same words together in 2Co 12:21; Gal 5:19. Wantonness is almost personified as a power to which these men surrendered themselves in order to work out everything which defiles men.

Insolence is their master: and every kind of impurity is their aim.

Covetousness: desire of having more, an inordinate longing for the good things of earth. See under Col 3:5. As a conspicuous form of selfishness, it stands in close relation to bodily self-indulgence. So here and Eph 5:3; Col 3:5. This close relation makes it needless to give to the word here any other than its ordinary meaning.

Such is the state of the heathen. The darkening of their minds has made them in some measure insensible to the evil of sin. They have therefore given themselves up to gross and defiling sin and to the worship of material good.

Eph 4:20-21 a. Ye not so: conspicuous and double contrast to the Gentiles.

Christ: Himself the matter of the knowledge they have acquired. So in Gal 1:16; 1Co 1:23. He is the matter revealed and preached.

If at least etc.; strengthens the foregoing assertion by adding a condition within which it is undoubtedly true. If they have heard Christ etc., then certainly they have not so learnt Him.

Heard Him: by hearing they received not merely His words but Christ Himself. So in Eph 4:20 they learnt Christ. And He is not only the matter heard but the personal encompassing element of the teaching received: taught in Him. They first heard the truth of Christ and thus received Him; and then, abiding in Him, received further instruction.

Eph 4:21 b. A statement in harmony with the foregoing. This truth can be no other than that stated in Eph 4:22, viz. that God requires us to put away the old man. This is a truth in Jesus: for in Him who was born in Bethlehem a command has gone forth to all men everywhere to repent. The teaching received by the Asiatic Christians was in agreement with the moral truth of this command: according as etc. Notice the Saviours names.

They learnt Christ, i.e. they embraced the meaning of His official title. There is truth in Jesus: for in that historic Person God spoke to man.

Eph 4:22. The moral truth, now plainly stated.

Put-away: as clothes are laid aside. Same word and idea in Col 3:8; Rom 13:12.

That ye put away: this moral truth brought to bear on the Christians at Ephesus.

Manner-of life: same word and sense in Gal 1:13, my manner of life formerly.

In-view-of the former manner-of-life: aspect of their case which makes it needful to put away etc.

The old man: same words and sense in Col 3:9, where we have the same metaphor of laying aside clothing: see note.

Which is corrupting: moral deterioration and destruction going on day by day. Of this, eternal death is the awful consummation. So is the corruption of a corpse a consummation of mortification before death. The abstract principle of deceit with its tendencies is represented almost as a person cherishing desires. In the unsaved, these are a ruling power. And the corruption now going on is what we should expect when such a principle guides the steps of men: according to the desires of deceit. These last words keep before us the teaching in Eph 4:18 that ignorance and error are the treacherous basis of human life without Christ. A building erected on such a foundation is doomed to fall.

Eph 4:23. Positive side of the moral truth in Jesus.

And be renewed: from day to day, in contrast to the advancing corruption of the old man. Similar word, and same idea of progressive renovation, in Col 3:10; Rom 12:2.

The Spirit of your mind: the Holy Spirit looked upon as enlightening the mind. Similarly, in Rom 7:23 the law of God is called the law of my mind. Nowhere else in the Bible is the Holy Spirit spoken of as belonging to man or to mans mind. But the phrase is intelligible and appropriate.

Whereas, to understand it as describing the human spirit, is to make the collocation of spirit and mind unmeaning. The Holy Spirit is the Agent of the renewal: Tit 3:5. And He renews men by enlightening their intelligence. Paul could therefore say, be renewed by the Spirit of your mind, and the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind.

Eph 4:24. And put on: once for all in contrast both to cut off in Eph 4:22 and to the gradual renewal in Eph 4:23. Same word in Col 3:10, where we have also a term equivalent to the new man.

After God: Himself the pattern, as He is also the Author, of this new creation. Cp. Col 3:10, according to the image of Him that created Him. The new man has already been created, and is therefore waiting to be put on.

In righteousness: right doing, the surrounding element of this new creation.

Holiness: not the very common word usually so rendered, but a rare word found, in conjunction with righteousness, in Luk 1:75. Cognate words in Act 2:27; Act 13:34-35; 1Ti 2:8; Tit 1:8; 1Th 2:10. It denotes agreement with the eternal sanctities of right. This righteousness and holiness belong to the truth, just as the desires which lead to moral corruption belong to deceit. The moral teaching which found utterance in Jesus, and which because it corresponds with the eternal realities is truth, finds its outward expression in conduct agreeable to the Law and to the eternal principle of right. Such conduct is the surrounding element of the new man which has been created in the likeness of God and which Paul bids his readers put on.

[Notice carefully the tenses in Eph 4:22-24. The old man is day by day corrupting: we are therefore bidden to lay it once for all aside. The new man has already been created: we are therefore bidden once for all to put it on. But the renewal wrought by the Holy Spirit operating on our mind progresses day by day.]

Such is the broad platform which Paul lays for his subsequent moral teaching. He points to the heathen, to their moral insensibility and to the consequent darkness which has clouded their minds and reduced to worthlessness their mental efforts, and to their reckless self-abandonment to every kind of sin; and silently reminds his readers that this was once a picture of themselves. But the truth which spoke in Jesus has changed all this. The old corrupting life, Paul bids them lay aside; and bids them put on the new life breathed into man by the creative power of God, in the likeness of God, and receiving daily progressive renewal by the mental illumination of the Holy Spirit.

Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament

Section Eight: 4:17-32

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

Paul again calls the believer to walk – not as the lost Gentiles walk – and goes into the lost’s perverted mindset and lifestyle. We are a different breed, with a different purpose and a different mind than the lost.

The lost walk in the vanity of their mind. Now, that is sooooo true. What ever vanity they can conceive they will make a part of their lifestyle. We won’t take time here to talk about the fact that within a year or two the Christians of America will adopt the same vanity and call it godliness.

The term vanity can relate to “void of truth and appropriateness” or “perverseness,” “depravity,” or “want of vigor.” Vanity of their mind would describe the want of truth or the depravity of the mind. The inability of that mind to discern truth or that which is appropriate.

If this is truly the lost mind, then the things that mind dreams up to be good and fun, ought surely not be related to the Christian mind or action. Just because the world gives us filthy lyriced rap, does not mean that Christians should imitate it. It came from a polluted mind not one that was transformed by the power of God.

Believers ought to gauge their activities and actions to their creator not the fallen created, to their transformed mind not the depraved mind of the lost.

I would challenge you to name something that the vain mind has come up with in the last century that the “Christian” church has not adapted to its own walk. We have taken on and surpassed the losts use of divorce, we now have homosexual churches, we have everything Christian that the world has worldly – yes, we often clean it up a little, but not all that much – we wouldn’t want to loose the vanity of it.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

4:17 {12} This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the {z} vanity of their mind,

(12) He descends to the fruits of Christian doctrine, and reasons first upon the principles of conduct and actions, setting down a most grave comparison between the children of God, and those who are not regenerated. For in these men all the powers of the mind are corrupted, and their mind is given to vanity, and their senses are darkened with most gross mistiness, and their affections are so accustomed by little and little to wickedness, that at length they run headlong into all uncleanness, being utterly destitute of all judgment.

(z) If the noblest parts of the soul are corrupted, what is man but solely corruption?

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

2. Walking in holiness 4:17-32

In the first part of this chapter Paul stressed the importance of living in unity in the church. He turned next to the importance of living in holiness.

"The Bible was written to be obeyed, and not simply studied, and this is why the words ’therefore’ and ’wherefore’ are repeated so often in the second half of Ephesians (Eph 4:1; Eph 4:17; Eph 4:25; Eph 5:1; Eph 5:7; Eph 5:14; Eph 5:17; Eph 5:24)." [Note: Wiersbe, 2:39.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The old man 4:17-19

The apostle began by reminding his readers how not to walk, namely, as they used to walk before their conversion to Christianity.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The "therefore" in this verse is coordinate with the one in Eph 4:1. Here we have more instruction concerning walking worthily. Paul’s exhortation that follows repeats Jesus’ teaching on the importance of holiness. Christians should not conduct themselves as Gentiles who do not know the Lord. Those unbelievers do not typically have a worthy aim or goal in life, the idea behind "the futility of their mind [thinking]."

"What is immediately noteworthy is the apostle’s emphasis on the intellectual factor in everybody’s way of life [cf. Rom 12:2]. . . . Scripture bears an unwavering testimony to the power of ignorance and error to corrupt, and the power of truth to liberate, ennoble and refine." [Note: Stott, p. 175.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 19

ON CHRISTIAN MORALS

Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:1-21

THE WALK OF THE GENTILES

Eph 4:17-19

CHRIST has called into existence and formed around Him already a new world. Those who are members of His body are brought into another order of being from that to which they had formerly belonged. They have therefore to walk in quite another way-“no longer as the Gentiles.” St. Paul does not say “as the other Gentiles” (A.V); for his readers, though Gentiles by birth, {Eph 2:11} are now of the household of faith and the city of God. They hold the franchise of the “commonwealth of Israel.” As at a later time the apostle John in his Gospel, though a born Jew, yet from the standpoint of the new Israel writes of “the Jews” as a distant and alien people, so St. Paul distinguishes his readers from “the Gentiles” who were their natural kindred. When he “testifies,” with a pointed emphasis, “that you no longer walk as do indeed the Gentiles,” and when in Eph 4:20 he exclaims, “But you did not thus learn the Christ,” it appears that there were those bearing Christs name and professing to have learnt of Him who did thus walk. This, indeed, he expressly asserts in writing to the Philippians: {Php 3:18-19} “Many walk, of whom I told you oftentimes, and now tell you even weeping,”-the enemies of the cross of “Christ; whose god is their belly, and their glory in their shame, who mind earthly things.” We cannot but associate this warning with the apprehension expressed in Eph 4:14 above. The reckless and unscrupulous teachers against whose seductions the apostle guards the infant Churches of Asia Minor, tampered with the morals as well as with the faith of their disciples, and were drawing them back insidiously to their former habits of life.

The connection between the foregoing part of this chapter and that on which we now enter, lies in the relation of the new life of the Christian believer to the new community which he has entered. The old world of Gentile society had formed the “old man” as he then existed, the product of centuries of debasing idolatry. But in Christ that world is abolished, and, a “new man” is born. The world in which the Asian Christians once lived as “Gentiles in the flesh,” is dead to them. They are partakers of the regenerate humanity constituted in Jesus Christ. From this idea the apostle deduces the ethical doctrine of the following paragraphs. His ideal “new man” is no mere ego, devoted to his personal perfection: he is part and parcel of the redeemed society of men; his virtues are those of a member of the Christian order and commonwealth.

The representation given of Gentile life in the three verses before us is highly condensed and pungent. It is from the same hand as the lurid picture Rom 1:18-32. While this delineation is comparatively brief and cursory, it carries the analysis in some respects deeper than does that memorable passage. We may distinguish the main features of the description, as they bring into view in turn the mental, spiritual, and moral characteristics of the existing Paganism. Mans intellect was confounded; religion was dead; profligacy was flagrant and shameless.

I. “The Gentiles walk,” the apostle says, “in vanity of their mind”-with reason frustrate and impotent; “being darkened in their understanding”-with no clear or settled principles, no sound theory of life. Similarly he wrote in Rom 1:21 : “They were frustrated in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened.” But here he seems to trace the futility further back, beneath the “reasonings” to the “reason” (nous) itself. The Gentile mind was deranged at its foundation. Reason seemed to have suffered a paralysis. Man has forfeited his claim to be a rational creature, when he worships objects so degraded as the heathen gods, when he practises vices so detestable and ruinous.

The men of intellect, who held themselves aloof from popular beliefs, for the most part confessed that their philosophies were speculative and futile, that certainty in the greatest and most serious matters was unattainable. Pilates question, “What is truth?”-no jesting question surely-passed from lip to lip and from one school of thought to another, without an answer. Five centuries before this time the human intellect had a marvellous awakening. The art and philosophy of Greece sprang into their glorious life, like Athene born from the head of Zeus, full-grown, and in shining armour. With such leaders as Pericles and Phidias, as Sophocles and Plato, it seemed as though nothing was impossible to the mind of man. At last the genius of our race had blossomed; rich and golden fruit would surely follow, to be gathered from the tree of life. But the blossoms fell, and the fruit proved as rottenness. Grecian art had sunk into a meretricious skill; poetry was little more than a trick of words; philosophy a wrangling of the schools. Rome towered in the majesty of her arms and laws above the faded glory of Greece. She promised a more practical and sober ideal, a rule of world-wide justice and peace and material plenty. But this dream vanished, like the other. The age of the Caesars was an age of disillusion. Scepticism and cynicism, disbelief in goodness, despair of the future possessed mens minds. Stoics and Epicureans, old and new Academics, Peripatetics and Pythagoreans disputed the palm of wisdom in mere strife of words. Few of them possessed any earnest faith in their own systems. The one craving of Athens and the learned was “to hear some new thing,” for of the old things all thinking men were weary. Only rhetoric and scepticism flourished. Reason had built up her noblest constructions as if in sport, to pull them down again. “On the whole, this last period of Greek philosophy, extending into the Christian era, bore the marks of intellectual exhaustion and impoverishment, and of despair in the solution of its high problem” (Dollinger). The world itself admitted the apostles reproach that “by wisdom it knew not God.” It knew nothing, therefore, to sure purpose; nothing that availed to satisfy or save it.

Our own age, it may be said, possesses a philosophic method unknown to the ancient world. The old metaphysical systems failed; but we have relaid the foundations of life and thought upon the solid ground of nature. Modern culture rests upon a basis of positive and demonstrated knowledge, whose value is independent of religious belief. Scientific discovery has put us in command of material forces that secure the race against any such relapse as that which took place in the overthrow of the Graeco-Roman civilisation. Pessimism answers these pretensions made for physical science by her idolaters. Pessimism is the nemesis of irreligious thought. It creeps like a slow palsy over the highest and ablest minds that reject the Christian hope. What avails it to yoke steam to our chariot, if black care still sits behind the rider? to wing our thoughts with the lightning, if those thoughts are no happier or worthier than before?

“Civilisation contains within itself the elements of a fresh servitude. Man conquers the powers of nature, and becomes in turn their slave” (F.W. Robertson). Poverty grows gaunt and desperate by the side of lavish wealth. A new barbarism is bred in what science grimly calls the proletariate, a barbarism more vicious and dangerous than the old, that is generated by the inhuman conditions of life under the existing regime of industrial science.

Education gives man quickness of wit and new capacity for evil or good; culture makes him more sensitive; refinement more delicate in his virtues or his vices. But there is no tendency in these forces as we see them now in operation, any more than in the classical discipline, to make nobler or better men. Secular knowledge supplies nothing to bind society together, no force to tame the selfish passions, to guard the moral interests of mankind. Science has given an immense impetus to the forces acting on civilised men; it cannot change or elevate their character. It puts new and potent instruments into our hands; but whether those instruments shall be tools to build the city of God or weapons for its destruction, is determined by the spirit of the wielders. In the midst of this splendid machinery, master of the planets wealth and lord of natures forces, the civilised man at the end of this boastful century stands with a dull and empty heart-without God. Poor creature, he wants to know whether “life is worth living”! He has gained the world, but lost his soul. In vanity of mind and darkness of reasoning men stumble onwards to the end of life, to the end of time. The worlds wisdom and the lessons of its history give no hope of any real advance from darkness to light until, as Plato said, “We are able more safely and securely to make our journey, borne on some firmer vehicle, on some Divine word.” Such a vehicle those who believe in Christ have found in His teaching, The moral progress of the Christian ages is due to its guidance. And that moral progress has created the conditions and given the stimulus to which our material and scientific progress is due. Spiritual life gives permanence and value to all mans acquisitions. Both of this world and of that to come “godliness holds the promise.” We are only beginning to learn how much was meant when Jesus Christ announced Himself as “the light of the world.” He brought into the world a light which was to shine through all the realms of human life.

II. The delusion of mind in which the nations walked resulted in a settled state of estrangement from God. They were “alienated from the life of God.”

“Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel,” St. Paul said in Eph 2:12, using as he does here, the Greek perfect participle, which denotes an abiding fact. These two alienations generally coincide. Outside the religious community, we are outside the religious life. This expression gathers to a point what was said in verses 11, 12 of chapter 2 (Eph 2:11-12), and further back in Eph 2:1-3; it discloses the spring of the souls malady and decay in its separation from the living God. When shall we learn that in God only is our life? We may exist without God, as a tree cast out in the desert, or a body wasting in the grave; but that is not life.

Everywhere the apostle moved amongst men who seemed to him dead-joyless, empty-hearted, weary of an idle learning or lost in sullen ignorance, caring only to eat and drink till they should die like the beasts. Their so-called gods were phantasms of the Divine, in which the wiser of them scarcely even pretended to believe. The ancient natural pieties-not wholly untouched by the Spirit of God, despite their idolatry-that peopled with fair fancy the Grecian shores and skies, and taught the sturdy Roman his man, fulness and hallowed his love of home and city, were all but extinguished. Death was at the heart of Pagan religion; corruption in its breath. Few indeed were those who believed in the existence of a wise and righteous Power behind the veil of sense. The Roman augurs laughed at their own auspices; the priests made a traffic of their temple ceremonies. Sorcery of all kinds was rife, as rife as scepticism. The most fashionable rites of the day were the gloomy and revolting mysteries imported from Egypt and Syria. A hundred years before, the Roman poet Lucretius expressed, with his burning indignation, the indisposition of earnest and high-minded men towards the creeds of the later classic times:-

“Humana ante oculos foede cum vita jaceret, In terris oppressa gravi sub religione, Quae caput e coeli regionibus ostendebat Horribili super aspectu mortalibus instans. Primum Graius homo mortalis tollere contra Est oculos ausus primusque obsistere contra.” -” De Rerum Natura,” Bk. 1., 62-67.

How alienated from the life of God were those who conceived such sentiments, and those whose creed excited this repugnance. And when amongst ourselves, as it occurs in some unhappy instances, a similar bitterness is cherished, it is matter of double sorrow, -of grief at once for the alienation prompting thoughts so dark and unjust towards our God and Father, and for the misshapen guise in which our holy religion has been presented to make this aversion possible. The phrase “alienated from the life of God” denotes an objective position rather than a subjective disposition, the state and place of the man who is far from God and his true life. God exiles sinners from His presence. By a necessary law, their sins acts as a sentence of deprivation. Under its ban they go forth, like Cain, from the presence of the Lord. They can no longer partake of the light of life which streams forth evermore from God and fills the souls that abide in His love. And this banishment was due to the cause already described, -to the radical perversion of the Gentile mind, which is re-affirmed in the double prepositional clause of Eph 4:18 : “because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart.” The repeated preposition (because of) attaches the two parallel clauses to the same predicate. Together they serve to explain this sad estrangement from the Divine life; the second because supplements the first. It is the ingrained “ignorance” of men that excludes them from the life of God; and this ignorance is no misfortune or unavoidable fate, it is due to a positive “hardening of the heart.”

Ignorance is not the mother of devotion, but of in devotion. If men knew God they would certainly love and serve Him. St. Paul agreed with Socrates and Plato in holding that virtue is knowledge. The debasement of the heathen world, he declares again and again, was due to the fact that it “knew not God.” The Corinthian Church was corrupted and its Christian life imperilled by the presence in it of some who “had not the knowledge of” 1Co 15:33-34. At Athens, the centre of heathen wisdom, he spoke of the Pagan ages as “the times of ignorance”; {Act 17:30} and found in this want of knowledge a measure of excuse. But the ignorance he censures is not of the understanding alone; nor is it curable by philosophy and science. It has an intrinsic ground, -“existing in them.”

Since the worlds creation, the apostle says, Gods unseen presence has been clearly visible. {Rom 1:20} Yet multitudes of men have always held false and corrupting views of the Divine nature. At this present time, in the full light of Christianity, men of high intellect and wide knowledge of nature are found proclaiming in the most positive terms that God, if He exists, is unknowable. This ignorance it is not for us to censure; every man must give account of himself to God. There may be in individual cases, amongst the enlightened deniers of God in our own days, causes of misunderstanding beyond the will, obstructing and darkening circumstances, on the ground of which in His merciful and wise judgment God may “overlook” that ignorance, eve as He did the ignorance of earlier ages. But it is manifest that while this veil remains, those on whose heart it lies cannot partake in the life of God. Living in unbelief, they walk in darkness to the end, knowing not whither they go.

The Gentile ignorance of God was attended, as St. Paul saw it, with an induration of heart, of which it was at once the cause and effect. There is a wilful stupidity, a studied misconstruction of Gods will, which has played a large part in the history of unbelief. The Israelitish people presented at this time a terrible example of such guilty callousness. {Rom 11:7-10, Rom 11:25} They professed a mighty zeal for God; but it was a passion for the deity of their partial and corrupt imagination, which turned to hatred of the true God and Father of men when He appeared in the person of His Son. Behind their pride of knowledge lay the ignorance of a hard and impenitent heart.

In the case of the heathen, hardness of heart and religious ignorance plainly went together. The knowledge of God was not altogether wanting amongst them; He “left Himself not Without witness,” as the apostle told them. {Act 14:17} Where there is, amid whatever darkness, a mind seeking after truth and right, some ray of light is given, some gleam of a better hope by which the soul may draw nigh to God, in coming whence or how perhaps none can tell. The gospel of Christ finds in every new land souls waiting for Gods salvation. Such a preparation for the Lord, in hearts touched and softened by the preventings of grace, its first messengers discovered everywhere, -a remnant in Israel and a great multitude amongst the heathen.

But the Jewish nation as a whole, and the mass of the pagans, remained at present obstinately disbelieving. They had no perception of the life of God, and felt no need of it; and when offered, they thrust it from them. Theirs was another god, “the god of this world,” who “blinds the minds of the unbelieving”. {2Co 4:3-4} And their “ungodliness and unrighteousness” were not to be pitied more than blamed. They might have known better; they were “holding down the truth in unrighteousness,” putting out the light that was in them and contradicting their better instincts. The wickedness of that generation was the outcome of a hardening of heart and blinding of conscience that had been going on for generations past.

III. By two conspicuous features the decaying Paganism of the Christian era was distinguished, – its unbelief and its licentiousness. In his letter to the Romans St. Paul declares that the second of these deplorable characteristics was the consequence of the former, and a punishment for it inflicted by God. Here he points to it as a manifestation of the hardening of heart which caused their ignorance of God: “Having lost all feeling, they gave themselves up to lasciviousness, so as to commit every kind of uncleanness in greediness.”

Upon that brilliant classic civilisation there lies a shocking stain of impurity. St. Paul stamps upon it the burning word Aselgeia (lasciviousness), like a brand on the harlots brow. The habits of daily life, the literature and art of the Greek world, the atmosphere of society in the great cities was laden with corruption. Sexual vice was no longer counted vice. It was provided for by public law; it was incorporated into the worship of the gods. It was cultivated in every luxurious and monstrous excess. It was eating out the manhood of the Greek and Latin races. From the imperial Caesar down to the horde of slaves, it seemed as though every class of society had abandoned itself to the horrid practices of lust.

The “greediness” with which debauchery was then pursued is at the bottom self-idolatry, self-deification; it is the absorption of the God-given passion and will of mans nature in the gratification of his appetites. Here lies the reservoir and spring of sin, the burning deep within the soul of him who knows no God but his own will, no law above his own desire. He plunges into sensual indulgence, or he grasps covetously at wealth or office; he wrecks the purity, or tramples on the rights of others; he robs the weak, he corrupts the innocent, he deceives and mocks the simple-to feed the gluttonous idol of self that sits upon Gods seat within him. The military hero wading to a throne through seas of blood, the politician who wins power and office by the sleights of a supple tongue, the dealer on the exchange who supplants every competitor by his shrewd foresight and unscrupulous daring, and absorbs the fruit of the labour of thousands of his fellow-men, the sensualist devising some new and more voluptuous refinement of vice-these are all the miserable slaves of their own lust, driven on by the insatiate craving of the false god that they carry within their breast.

For the light-hearted Greeks, lovers of beauty and of laughter, self was deified as Aphrodite, goddess of fleshly desire, who was turned by their worship into Aselgeia, -she of whom of old it was said, “Her house is the way to Sheol.” Not such as the chaste wife and house-keeping mother of Hebrew praise, but Lais with her venal charms was the subject of Greek song and art. Pure ideals of womanhood the classic nations had once known-or never would those nations have become great and famous-a Greek Alcestis and Antigone, Roman Cornelias and Lucretias, noble maids and matrons. But these, in the dissolution of manners, had given place to other models. The wives and daughters of the Greek citizens were shut up to contempt and ignorance, while the priestesses of vice-hetaerae they were called, or companions of men-queened it in their voluptuous beauty, until their bloom faded and poison or madness ended their fatal days. Amongst the Jews whom our Lord addressed, the choice lay between “God and Mammon”; in Corinth and Ephesus, it was “Christ or Belial.” These ancient gods of the world-“mud-gods,” as Thomas Carlyle called them-are set up in the high places of our populous cities. To the slavery of business and the pride of wealth men sacrifice health and leisure, improvement of mind, religion, charity, love of country, family affection. How many of the evils of English society come from this root of all evil!

Hard by the temple of Mammon stands that of Belial. Their votaries mingle in the crowded amusements of the day and rub shoulders with each other. Aselgeia flaunts herself, wise observers tell us, with increasing boldness in the European capitals. Theatre and picture-gallery and novel pander to the desire of the eye and the lust of the flesh. The daily newspapers retail cases of divorce and hideous criminal trials with greater exactness than the debates of Parliament; and the appetite for this garbage grows by what it feeds upon. It is plain to see whereunto the decay of public decency and the revival of the animalism of pagan art and manners will grow, if it be not checked by a deepened Christian faith and feeling.

Past feeling, says the apostle of the brazen impudicity of his time. The loss of the religious sense blunted all moral sensibility. The Greeks, by an early instinct of their language, had one word for modesty and reverence, for self-respect and awe before the Divine. There is nothing more terrible than the loss of shame. When immodesty is no longer felt as an affront, when there fails to rise in the blood and burn upon the cheek the hot resentment of a wholesome nature against things that are foul, when we grow tolerant and familiar with their presence, we are far down the slopes of hell. It needs only the kindling of passion, or the removal of the checks of circumstance, to complete the descent. The pain that the sight of evil gives is a divine shield against it. Wearing this shield the sinless Christ fought our battle, and bore the anguish of our sin.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary

Disfruta de miles de canciones cristianas en exclusiva sólo en Bibles