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Ephesians 4:17-19
Commentary Updated November 17, 2015
Ephesians 4:17 So
with the
that you
as the
in the
of their
So this I say and solemnly testify in [the name of] the Lord [as in
His presence], that you must no longer live as the heathen (the
Gentiles) do in their perverseness [in the folly, vanity, and
emptiness of their souls and the futility] of their minds.
Bible - Lockman)
NKJV: This I
say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer
walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,
NLT: With the Lord's authority let me say this:
Live no longer as the ungodly do, for they are hopelessly confused. (NLT
- Tyndale House)
Phillips: This is my instruction, then, which I give you
from God. Do not live any longer as the Gentiles live. (Phillips:
Wuest: This, therefore, I am saying and solemnly declaring
in the Lord, that no longer are you to be ordering your behavior as
the Gentiles order their behavior in the futility of their mind, (Eerdmans)
Young's Literal: Therefore I warn you, and I implore you in the
name of the Master, no longer to live as the Gentiles in their
perverseness live,
Updated November 16,
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Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians Study Guide
Ephesians Devotional
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4:7-10: Preserving the Unity of the
Spirit -2
Ephesians 4:11-13: P Preserving the Unity of the
Spirit - 3
Ephesians 4:12:
Preserving the Unity of the Spirit - 4
Ephesians 4:13: The Goal of Equipping the Saints
Ephesians 4:14:
Characteristics of the Mature in Christ
Ephesians 4:15: Characteristics of the Mature in Christ 2
Ephesians 4:16: Characteristics of the Mature in Christ 3
Ephesians 4:17-19: A Brand New Way of Life - 1
Ephesians 4:20-24:
A Brand New Way of Life - 2
Ephesians 4:22-27:
A Brand New Way of Life - 3
Ephesians 4:28-29: A Brand New Way of Life - 4
Ephesians 4:31-32:
A Brand New Way of Life - 5
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians:4:29-30 The Rot in Our Talk
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4:11-26
Every Member a Minister
Ephesians 4:15
8 Words to Change Your Family
4:25-32 How to Have a Good Fight
4:26-32 Forgiving and Forgetting
Ephesians 4:28
Finding Worth in Your Work
Ephesians 4 Body
Life (Audio)
Ephesians 4:1-10 Paul Exhorts
Ephesians To Be Christ-like & Unity In The Spirit
Ephesians 4:11-16 The Intended Plan Of God To Use
Offices & Gifts In The Church
Ephesians 4:17-24, "The Importance Of Being Who
We Are In Christ"
Ephesians 4:25-32
Avoid Behavior That Destroys Fellowship
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4:1 Paul's Challenge To The Church
Ephesians 4:1-6 Maintaining The Unity Of The
Church - Part 1
4:1-6 Maintaining The Unity Of The Church - Part 2
4:1-6 Maintaining The Unity Of The Church - Part 3
4:1-6 Maintaining The Unity Of The Church - Part 4
Ephesians 4:1-7 All For One And One For
Ephesians 4:7-16 Out Of Many, One
Ephesians 4:11-32 The Marks of A Maturing
Ephesians 4:17-24 A New Walk For A New Life
Ephesians 4:25-32 The Results Of A Transformed Life -
Part 1
Ephesians 4:25-32 The Results Of A Transformed Life -
Part 2
Ephesians 4:25-32 The Results Of A Transformed Life -
Part 3
Ephesians 4:25-32 The Results Of A Transformed Life -
Part 4
Ephesians 4:26-27 On Standing Ground
Ephesians Sermons - frequent illustrations
Ephesians 4:24 And Every Virtue We
Ephesians Commentary - 140 page
Ephesians 4
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4:1-3 Preserving Unity
Ephesians 4:4-6 The Basis for Christian Unity
Ephesians 4:7-10 Christ's Purpose for His Church
Ephesians 4:11-13 Growing into a Mature Church
Ephesians 4:14-16 Vital Signs of a Healthy Body
Ephesians 4:17-19 How Not to Live
Ephesians 4:17-32 Solving Conflicts
Ephesians 4:20-24 The Changed Life
Ephesians 4:25 To Tell the Truth
Ephesians 4:26-27 How to Be Both
Good and Mad
Ephesians 4:28 To Cure a Thief
Ephesians 4:29 Transformed Talk
Ephesians 4:30 Why Not Sin?
Ephesians 4:31-32 Taming Your Temper
Ephesians 4:32 How Can I Ever Forgive?
Ephesians Expository Notes
Ephesians 4:30
Grieving the Spirit (Click
for 112 Sermons)
Ephesians 4:30
Grieve Not the Spirit
Ephesians 4:32 The
Sweetest Verse in the Bible
Ephesians 4:1 Walk Worthy Of Your Calling
Ephesians 4:2-3 Enduring People In The Church
Ephesians 4:4-7 Unity in the Body
Ephesians 4:8-10 Jesus' Descension
Ephesians 4:11-13 Offices For Equipping
Ephesians 4:14-16 Winds Of Doctrine
Ephesians 4:17-19 The Way The World Walks
Ephesians 4:20-24 Put Aside The Old Self
Ephesians 4:25-32 Lies, Anger and Selfishness
The Epistle to the Ephesians Commentary
Ephesians 4:1-16 The
Calling and the Conduct of the Christian
Ephesians 4:17-24
Leaving Our Old Ways Behind
Ephesians 4:25-27
Putting Off Lies and Embracing the Truth
Ephesians 4:26-27
Righteous Anger
Ephesians 4:28 The
Christian Work Ethic
Ephesians 4:31-32 From
Malice to Mercy
Ephesians 4:7-12
Salvation in the Old Testament
Ephesians 4:13-16
Teaching in a Local Church
Ephesians 4:17-24
Confession of Sin
Ephesians 4:25-32
Sins of the Tongue
Ephesians 4:29 Talk, Edification, the Holy
Ephesians 4:1-3
Walking Worthy of Our Calling
Ephesians 4:1-2
Walking Worthy of Our Calling (2)
Ephesians 4:4-6 One
Body, Spirit, Hope, Lord, Faith, Baptism, God and Father (3)
Ephesians 4:7-13 To
Each One Grace Was Given
Ephesians 4:11-13
Why Christ Gifted the Church
Ephesians 4:14-16
Jesus Is Alive, and As a Result
Ephesians 4:16-37
Anger and the Glory of God
Ephesians 4:17-24
Walk Like A Gentile?
Ephesians 4:25-28
Truth, Anger, and Theft, Lying and the Glory of God
Ephesians 4:28
Stealing and Work, and the Glory of God
Ephesians 4:29-30
Talk, Edification, the Holy Spirit, and the Glory of God
Ephesians 4:31-5:2
Bitterness, Forgiveness, and Being Like God
Ephesians 4:31 Bitterness, Forgiveness,
and Being Like God
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Christian Belief and Behaviour
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4:1,2 Whose
Prisoner Are You?
Ephesians 4: 3-7
Spiritual Unity Is Not Automatic
Ephesians 4:17-27 What
to Do With Anger
Ephesians 4:28-32 Don't
Rob Yourself!
Ephesians 4:7-11 Ministry of the
New Testament Church
Ephesians 4:12-16 The Purpose of
the Ministry of the Appointed Servants
Ephesians 4:17-32 Believers New
Creations in Christ - Walk as a New Man
Ephesians 4:17-32
Sermon Notes
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4:30
Grieving the Spirit (19 pages)
Ephesians 4
Ephesians 4:22-24: Old Man and
New Man in Paul
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians Sermons
Ephesians 4
Ephesians 4
Ephesians 4:1-6 Unity of One Body
Ephesians 4:7-12 The Work of the Ministry -
Ephesians 4:13-16 The Work of the Ministry -
Ephesians 4:17-24 Putting On of the New Man
Ephesians 4:25-5:2 The Christian's Use of
the Tongue
Ephesians 4:1-6: Unity of
the Spirit
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4:20: Christian & Non-Christian
Ephesians 4:1: The Lowly
Ephesians 4:1: The Lowly
Walk-1 Study Guide (see dropdown menu)
Ephesians 4:1: The Lowly
Ephesians 4:1: The Lowly
Walk-2 Study Guide (see dropdown menu)
Ephesians 4:2: The Lowly
Ephesians 4:2: The Lowly
Walk-3 Study Guide (see dropdown menu)
Ephesians 4:2: The Lowly
Ephesians 4:2: The Lowly
Walk-4 Study Guide (see dropdown menu)
Ephesians 4:2: The Lowly
Ephesians 4:2: The Lowly
Walk-5 Study Guide (see dropdown menu)
Ephesians 4:2-6: The Lowly
Ephesians 4:2-6: The Lowly
Walk-6 Study Guide (see dropdown menu)
Ephesians 4:7-11 The Gifts of Christ to
His Church
Ephesians 4:11 Building the Body of
Christ, Part 1
Ephesians 4:11-16 Building the Body of
Christ, Part 2
Ephesians 4:17-20:
Off w the Old, On w the New-1 Study Guide (see dropdown)
Ephesians 4:19-24: Off w
the Old, On w the New-2
Ephesians 4:19-24:
Off w the Old, On w the New-2 Study Guide (see dropdown)
Ephesians 4:25-32:
Principles of New Life - Study Guide
Ephesians 4:1 The Calling and the
Ephesians 4:5 The Threefold Unity
Ephesians 4:7 The Measure of Grace
Ephesians 4:13 The Goal of Progress
Ephesians 4:20, 21 Christ Our
Lesson and our Teacher
Ephesians 4:22 A Dark Picture and A
Bright Hope
Ephesians 4:24 The New Man
Ephesians 4:30 Grieving the Spirit
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4 Study Bible Notes - Defenders Study Bible
The Holy Spirit
Ephesians 4:1-2 Fruit of Spirit -
Ephesians 4:14-15: Our Sheet Anchor
Ephesians 4:10: Descending and
Ephesians 4:22-24: Making A Fresh Start
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4:29-30 Commentary - Verse
by Verse (1891)
Ephesians 4 Commentary p169 click "Front
Cover" at top & go to nearest page
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4
Ephesians 4:1-3
Walking Worthily of God's Call
4:4-6 That They May Be One Even As We Are One"
4:7-16 Diversity Within Unity
4:17-24 You Live What You Know
Ephesians 4:25
Speaking the Truth in Love
4:26-27 Don't Give the Devil an Opportunity
Ephesians 4:28
Sharing with Those in Need
4:29-30 Saying Grace
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4 Notes
Ephesians 4 Sermon Illustrations
also list of more devotionals)
Ephesians 4:29ff Commentary
Ephesians 4:17-32
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4:1-6 Maintain Unity of Spirit
Ephesians 4:1-6 One Lord, Spirit, Body
Ephesians 4:4-16 How Christ Enables...
Ephesians 4:7-16 How Saints Minister Body
Ephesians 4:7-16 Why Saints Minister
Ephesians 4:17-21 Escape From Futility
Ephesians 4:22-24 Put On The New Person
Ephesians 4:22-27 Satan Seeks a Gap
Ephesians 4:25 Speak Truth w Your Neighbor
Ephesians 4:28 Don't Steal, Work And Give!
Ephesians 4:29-30 Make Your Mouth...Grace
Ephesians 4:31-5:2 Be Kind To One Another
Ephesians 4:32-5:2 Forgive just as God in Christ has
Ephesians 4:32-5:2 Christ's Love: Its Cost
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4:32-5:2 Christ's Love: Its Cost
Ephesians 4 Exposition
Ephesians 4:1-6 God Has A Big
Ephesians 4:11 The Shepherd's
Ephesians 4:29-32 Do Not Grieve
the Holy Spirit
Ephesians 4:29-32 Is Total
Forgiveness Realistic?
The Healing Power of Forgiveness
(Book recommendation!)
Ephesians 4 Exposition
(scroll down for homilies)
Ephesians 4 Greek Word Studies
Ephesians 4 The
Purpose Of The Church
Ephesians 4:7-10 The
Purpose Of The Church Part 2 DIVERSITY
Ephesians 4:11-12 The
Purpose Of The Church Part 3 MINISTRY
Ephesians 4:13 The
Purpose Of The Church Part 4 MATURITY
Ephesians 4:14-16 The
Purpose Of The Church Part 5 STABILITY
Ephesians 4:30 Don't
Grieve The Spirit
Ephesians 4:17-32 New
Ephesians 4:1 Sermons
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4 Sermons
Ephesians 4:30
Grieving the Spirit
Ephesians 4 Commentary Notes
Sermon Notes for Ephesians 3:20
Sermon Notes for Ephesians 4:1
Sermon Notes for Ephesians 4:4
Sermon Notes for Ephesians 4:7
Sermon Notes for Ephesians 4:11
Sermon Notes for Ephesians 4:13
Sermon Notes for Ephesians 4:15
Sermon Notes for Ephesians 4:17
Sermon Notes for Ephesians 4:21
Sermon Notes for Ephesians 4:27
Sermon Notes for Ephesians 4:30
The Epistle to the Ephesians
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 5:1 Imitators of God
Ephesians 4:3 True Unity Promoted
Ephesians 4:7-12 The
Ascension of Christ
Ephesians 4:15-16. The Head and the Body
Ephesians 4:15-16. The Head and the
Body - Notes
Ephesians 4:20-21. True Learning
Ephesians 4:20-21. True Learning -
Ephesians 4:30 Grieve Not the Holy Spirit
Ephesians 4:32 For Christ's Sake
Ephesians 4:32:
Forgiveness Made Easy
Ephesians 4:1-3: Why The Church
Ephesians 4:1-6: Cry For Unity
Ephesians 4:7-10: How The Church
Ephesians 4:11-15: What Is Your Gift?
Ephesians 4:11-12: Understanding Your
Ephesians 4:11: The Contemporary
Ephesians 4:11-12:
Church's Building & Maintenance
Ephesians 4:11-12: Shaping Up
Ephesians 4:13-16: On Growing Up
Ephesians 4:17-21: Darkness Of Mind
Ephesians 4:22-24: Putting
Off-Putting On
Ephesians 4:22-27: Practicing
Ephesians 4:28-29: Living In Focus
Ephesians 4:30-32: Forgive And Live
Ephesians 4:1-3 Why The Church Exists
Ephesians 4:4-6 A Cry For Unity
Ephesians 4:7-10 Open Your Gifts!
Ephesians 4:11-12 What Is Your Gift?
Ephesians 4:13-16 Slow Growth
Ephesians 4:17-2l A Radical Change
Ephesians 4:22-32 Put Off And Put On
Ephesians 4:1-16 The Christian Walk
Ephesians 4:17-24 Christological Implications
Ephesians 4:26-27 How to be Good and Angry
Ephesians 4-1-16;
Ephesians 4:17-32
Ephesians 4 Notes
Ephesians 4:1-16 The
Body—Its Walk Part I
Ephesians 4:17-32 The
Body—Its Walk Part II
Life in the Covenant - Ephesians 4:1-6:20
Unity in Diversity - Ephesians 4:1-16
Walk - Ephesians 4:1-3
One - Ephesians 4:4-6
Gift(s) bestowed - Ephesians 4:7
Psalm 68 celebration - Ephesians 4:8
Christ's humiliation and exaltation - Ephesians 4:9-10
Shaping the diversity of the church - Ephesians 4:11
Ministering to others - Ephesians 4:12-15
Body - Ephesians 4:16
Life of the New Nature - Ephesians 4:17-6:9
Sensitivity to sin - Ephesians 4:17-20
Heard Jesus - Ephesians 4:21
To put off . . . to be made new . . . and to put on - Ephesians
Putting off and putting on - Ephesians 4:25-5:5
Do not give the devil a foothold - Ephesians 4:25-29
Do not grieve - Ephesians 4:30-32
Live a life of love - Ephesians 4:32-5:2
Ephesians 4:1-2 Living A Life Worthy Of Grace
Ephesians 4:3-6 Keeping The Unity Of The Spirit
Ephesians 4:7-10 Christ The Giver, And The Gifts
He Gives
Ephesians 4:11 Christ's Foundational Munificence
Ephesians 4:11-13 Pastors And Teachers
Ephesians 4:12 Preparing God's People For
Ephesians 4:13 Christian Maturity
Ephesians 4:14-16 Growing Up Into Christ
Ephesians 4:17-24 Deliverance From Futility
Ephesians 4:25-29 How We Can Change Our Lives
Ephesians 4:30 Grieving The Spirit
Ephesians 4 Devotional Commentary
Ephesians 4
Ephesians 4 Commentary
Ephesians 4 Word Studies in Greek
Ephesians Commentary
Ephesians 4:30: On Grieving the Holy
Ephesians 4
The Holy Spirit in
Ephesians Lesson 1 - 37 pages PDF
Ephesians Lectures
1-10 - Kay Arthur, Pete Delacy
Today in the Word
Illustrations Bible.org
Our Daily Bread
Biblegateway Devotionals
Oswald Chambers
Every Day Light
A W Tozer
TOGETHER WITH THE LORD: Touto oun lego (1SPAI) kai marturomai (1SPMI) en
kurio: (1Corinthians 1:12; 15:50; 2Corinthians 9:6;
Galatians 3:17; Colossians 2:4) (Nehemiah 9:29,30; 13:15; Jeremiah
42:19; Acts 2:40; 18:5; 20:21; Galatians 5:3; 1Thessalonians 4:6)
Paul is saying in
this section...
"you formerly walked according to
the course of this world" (Ep 2:2-note)
" walk no longer just as the
Gentiles also walk" (Ep 4:17-note)
As Ruth Paxson
To be in Christ and not grow
up into Christ makes the Christian life an anachronism, a
monstrosity, a lie.
revelation of Christ in truth must result in the realization of Christ
in life. Paul writes, Ye have heard and accepted "the truth as it is in
Jesus"; now you must live, act and speak according to this new standard.
There can be no compromising alliances, no stultifying reserves, no
divided interests.
"Ye are"
"Be ye"
Here is Paul's forceful challenge
to become what you are. It leads very naturally into his next
practical exhortation: Call to Put Off The Old and to Put On The New.
(Paxson, Ruth: The Wealth, the Walk and the Warfare of the Christian.
1939. Revell)
So (3767)
(oun) means therefore or consequently and is a
term of conclusion.
We cannot escape the word therefore (so) in this letter
for Paul utilizes it serves as a sign post to arrest and compel our
attention. Based upon what Paul has just explained about the importance of unity
and diversity, Paul will give his readers a charge which further
explains what it means to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to
which we have been called. One could also see this "therefore" as a
resumption of the first three verses calling for a worthy walk (see
Ephesians 4:1;
Here Paul begins his appeal for a new morality, an appeal which
extends to Ephesians 5:21.
J Vernon McGee -
We have seen the exhibition of the
new man and the inhibition of the new man. Now we come to the
prohibition of the new man. There is the negative side of the believer's
life, which I think is important for us to see. There is not enough
emphasis on it. We talk about "new morality" which is nothing in the
world but old sin. There is a liberty in Christ, but it is not a license
to sin. (McGee,
J V: Thru the Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson)
Say (3004)
(lego) means to speak or talk, with apparent focus upon the
content of what is said.
Affirm (3143)
(marturomai from mártus = witness)
(See related word studies -
means to
testify or bear witness.
The idea of
marturomai is to bear witness with a solemn protestation,
making an emphatic affirmation or a serious declaration (Acts 20:26,
26:22, Gal 5:3). To make a serious declaration on the basis of presumed
personal knowledge
To affirm
(state positively, assert as valid or confirmed, implying conviction
based on evidence, experience or faith) something with solemnity
(see NT uses below). The verb means to appeal to by something sacred. To
urge as a matter of great importance and thus to affirm, insist or
implore (Ep 4:17-note,
1Th 2:11-note)
To be emphatic in stating an opinion or desire.
It is used in the present verse to convey a solemn declaration of the
nature of an appeal to God. What follows is of vital importance for the
Gentile believers to hear for they still live within the cauldron of
rank paganism and it's manifold and subtle temptations are prone to rear
their ugly head.
Together (1722)
(en) is actually the preposition meaning "in".
With the Lord (kurios) identifies Paul
with Christ and indicates he is giving the exhortation as if made by
Christ Himself. Beloved, our by way of application, our Lord is clearly
speaking to us who live in the midst of a society that is literally
disintegrating morally and ethically. What a vital message to harken to!
By prefacing his exhortation
with "I say and affirm together with
the Lord" Paul is emphasizing the vital importance of what he is
about to say. One feels here the tremendous burden upon Paul's heart to
impress deeply upon those to whom he writes the imperative necessity of
a revolutionary change in their whole manner of living. So his language
corresponds with the truth he frankly and faithfully presents. By adding
"together with the Lord" Paul would have his readers know that he
is not stating personal conviction regarding the standard for their
Christian life, but that it is the living Lord speaking through him. And
so he speaks insistently, earnestly and emphatically saying in essence
"I and the Lord in me are solemnly declaring, so pay very close
attention to what I am about to tell you."
As Wayne Barber says, Paul "wants them to see
that Christianity is radically different from the way the world lives.
These people had come out of the world. The temptation is always to go
back to where we have come from. Paul says, "Oh no." He has given us a
picture of what the Christian life
is all
about, being strengthened in the inner man by the Spirit of God. Now he
is saying, "Don't go back. Live differently. It is a radically different
lifestyle that you have now as a believer." (Ephesians
4:17-19: A Brand New Way of Life)
What is the problem? Why do
believers need this warning
since we have been delivered from our past enslavement to the power of
(Ro 6:11-14- see notes on
Romans 6:11;
The problem all believers must still contend with
is what the Bible refers to as
that evil disposition inherited from Adam and which still resides in the
mortal (physical) bodies even of believers. Peter for example is
addressing believers and exhorts them "as aliens and
strangers to (continually -
present tense)
abstain from fleshly
which wage war (continually -
present tense)
against the soul." (1Pe 2:11-note)
Clearly Peter is implying that the
flesh remains a force with which every believer must daily, earnestly
contend. The
reflects what remains
of the "old man" (inherited from Adam see note
Romans 5:12)
and which still exists even after a person is saved.
is that unredeemed part of a believer that awaits future redemption at
the time of glorification (see note
Romans 8:23).
At that glorious time we will be completely free of not only the
presence of sin but the "pleasure" of sin.
is that moral and spiritual
weakness and helplessness of human nature that still clings to redeemed
souls. In short, the
of Christians is that entity
that remains within us that stimulates evil desires to commit trespasses
and sins.
As long as we inhabit these mortal
bodies, we have to contend with the
which gives rise to deceitful lusts or strong
desires that ever tend to pull us back to the miry clay from which we
were transferred by God when He took us from the kingdom of darkness and
His marvelous light, the kingdom of His beloved Son, in Whom we have
redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
JUST AS THE GENTILES ALSO WALK: meketi humas peripatein (PAN) kathos kai
ta ethne peripatei (3SPAI):
(1Thessalonians 4:1,2;
1Timothy 5:21; 6:13; 2Timothy 4:1) (Ep 1:22; 2:1, 2, 3; 5:3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
8; Romans 1:23-32; 1Corinthians 6:9, 10, 11; Galatians 5:19, 20, 21;
Colossians 3:5, 6, 7, 8; 1Peter 4:3,4)
D L Moody's
quote would make a great title for this section...
You -
refers to the saved Gentiles. In one sense yes they are still "Gentiles"
but in the eternal sense, they belong to a new race, for they are
individually each a new creation (2Cor 5:17-note) and corporately one new man
(Ep 2:15-note).
In a sense then, there are not "3 races", Jews, Gentiles and Christians.
In chapter 1 Paul had explained what transpired to transfer them from
the Kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of light writing...
In Him [Jesus], you also, after
listening to the message of the truth, of the gospel of your
salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy
Spirit of promise. (Eph 1:13-note)
So now don't walk
like you used to walk when you were pagan, idol worshipping, God haters. Don't do it! You are saved to live life on a high plane,
and not in the "sewer" of godless men. Yes, you still live (temporarily)
in this fallen, sin sick, morally decaying world but you have bee set
free from it and are to be "lighthouses" permeating it with the light of
Christ, not being drawn back into its moral mire and spiritual decay and
As Paul reminds us
in Titus...
we also once were foolish ourselves,
disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending
our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. (Titus 3:3-note)
Just as the
Gentiles also walk - Their new position in Christ was the fulcrum of
Paul's argument for a new walk, for he knew that new practice must
result from a new position. So with invincible logic he proceeds to call
them to an altogether different walk from that of the unsaved Gentiles
among whom they still lived. In chapter 2 Paul had repeatedly reminded
the Gentiles of their former manner of walking writing...
And you were dead in your trespasses
and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among
them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh,
indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, even as the rest (Ep 2:1,2,3-See notes
Ep 2:1;
(Comment: They were dead toward God, alive to Satan's power
leading them to disobey and were enslaved to the power of the wicked
lusts of their flesh. And they had no power to change! Paul is saying
don't walk that way anymore. You have been freed from that vile prison.
Don't go back and put those chains on. Paul in his review of their
spiritual history, what he wrote in chapter 2 was "then, but he is
calling for them to live in the "now" of their new life in Christ.)
Wayne Barber paraphrases what
Paul is saying "I have just raised you up to the
highest level of understanding that you could possibly get to. Now I am
warning you. Don't you go back and live like you used to live. When you
do, sin will take you further than you ever wanted to stray, keep you
longer than you ever wanted to stay and cost you more than you ever
dreamed you would pay." Imagine going back to live that way...It is
amazing...how quickly we forget what has caused us so much pain.
4:17-19: A Brand New Way of Life)
As Ruth Paxson
commenting on "walk no longer" writes that "These words have an authoritative
tone of finality about them. "Put off" demands unconditional
renunciation (Ep 4:22-note).
The Christian has begun a walk on a new road in a new sphere leading
to a new goal. Then he must be prepared at the very beginning with
deliberate determination to make a full and final abandonment of the
old life in its entirety. But a walk is taken step by step. So as one
goes along the new road and recognizes soft spots in character,
backslidings in conduct, danger points in companionships,
discrepancies in ethics, departures in morals, and compromises in
standard, there must be an immediate putting off of that old remnant
of the abandoned life. Paul makes this quite clear in Chapters four
and five, as he mentions definite sins still to be found in the lives
of these Ephesian Christians. (Paxson, Ruth: The Wealth, the Walk and
the Warfare of the Christian. 1939. Revell)
(ethnos) in context refers to the unsaved pagan idol worshipers who were
far off from God. They were no longer pagan Gentiles but a new race
called "Christians", a new man who should demonstrate a clean cut
cleavage from their former life of rank paganism. There was a moment in
time in the past when they had crossed the boundary line from eternal
death into eternal life. In that moment of spiritual rebirth something
so tremendously revolutionary had taken place that the sinner had been
made into a saint and thus life could never be as it was before.
Walk (4043)
from peri = about,
around + pateo = walk, tread) (Click
word study on
means literally to walk about here and there or to tread all around.
Peripateo then came to mean, to make one's way, to make progress, to
make due use of one's opportunities and finally (as used by Paul in
Ephesians), to live, to regulate one's life, to conduct one's self.
Most of the NT uses refer to the daily conduct of one's life or how one
orders their behavior or passes their life. The
present tense
points to a habitual
action - don't fall back into the habitual practices of those who do not
know Christ as Lord.
Earlier Paul
explained to the saints at Ephesus that it was in the sphere of
trespasses and sins ...
in which you formerly walked
(peripateo) according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the
sons of disobedience. (See note
Ephesians 2:2)
In Colossians 3
used peripateo in a similar context, describing how the
Colossians saints continually walked before Christ transformed
their heart and mind "In (the sphere of immorality, etc,
all things that on account of the wrath of God will come - see Col 3:5,
Col 3:5,
you also once walked (peripateo), when you were living in them."
(Col 3:7-note)
In other words
before the Ephesian were saved, they ordered every aspect of their
behavior and regulated the totality of their lives within the sphere of
trespasses and sins. Now Paul elaborates on the sphere of influence by
stating that it was in the futility of their mind. Not a ray of
light from God, nothing of God's righteousness or goodness, and not a
single good thing in the sight of God penetrated their circle (sphere)
of "conduct". All their thoughts, words, and deeds were ensphered
in an atmosphere of sin and vanity. Not one of their acts ever got
outside the circle of sin or uselessness.
As Wayne Barber reminds us "spirituality is a
pursuit, not an arrival. The moment I stop pursuing Him (Christ), guess what I am
I am letting the
dictate my
life. There are fleshly lusts we have to deal with. So Paul is saying,
"Don't go back and live like you used to live. Be careful. There is a
tendency like a magnet which is pulling you back to live after the
The Apostle Paul is warning them: "Look out. Look out. You came out of
the world." Ephesus was the most wicked place you could find on the face
of this earth. These young Christians had to live in the midst of all of
that wickedness. He is saying, "Listen, don't you dare go back to it.
You have come out of it. Now be strengthened in the inner man by the
power of God."
4:17-19: A Brand New Way of Life)
KJV Bible Commentary -
Let the daily conduct of your lives conform with your new life in
Christ. Make a clean break with your old life and stop living by the
standards of behavior of the pagan people. The low standards of the
world must be abandoned and repudiated, and the Christian must live
ethically and morally in segregation from the world (2 Cor 6:14). The
church is a colony of heaven living here on earth (Dobson,
E G, Charles Feinberg, E Hindson, Woodrow Kroll, H L. Wilmington: KJV
Bible Commentary: Nelson)
en mataioteti tou noos auton: (Ps 94:8, 9, 10, 11; Acts
Futility (3153)
= vain, empty <> derived from
maten = to no purpose or in vain)
means emptiness, vanity, nonsense,
nothingness! Thayer says mataiotes is a "purely Biblical and
ecclesiastical word" which describes "what is devoid of truth and
appropriateness". It defines the
inability to reach a goal or achieve a purpose. Mataiotes describes the
state of being without use or value, emptiness, futility,
purposelessness, transitoriness. It has the quality of
being empty, fruitless, nonproductive, useless. Mataiotes speaks
of want of attainment with the idea of aimlessness or of leading to no
object or end.
It is interesting to note that "vain
things" was a Jewish name for the Gentile idols, which represented ideas
and conceptions of a god that had no intrinsic value or correspondence
to the real truth about the Living God.
The heathen are concerned with empty
things which do not matter in the eternal scheme of things. Their mind
was void of useful aims or goals (eternally speaking).
In Romans 1 we see how this futility
of their mind was a consequence of their rejection of the truth
about God...
For even though they knew God, they
did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became
futile (passive
voice) in their
speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (See note
Romans 1:21)
(Comment: Unbelieving Gentiles rejected the truth about God and
thus failed to attain the true purpose of the mind which is to receive
God's revelation which would have led them to see there is a Creator).
McGee comments that the
futility of their mind "means the empty illusion of the life
that thinks there is satisfaction in sin. Oh, how many people walk that
way! I feel so sorry for these young people who have been taken in by
the promoters of immorality as a life style. (McGee,
J V: Thru the Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson)
MacDonald puts it this way -
Their life was empty, purposeless,
and fruitless. There was great activity but no progress. They chased
bubbles and shadows, and neglected the great realities of life. (MacDonald,
W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson)
Matthew Poole in a
commentary published in the 1680's writes that "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 (are) therefore are vain, viz. their
idols, their worldly enjoyment, etc."
Vincent has an interesting note on
mataiotes in (Romans 8:20)
writing that "Kenos
signifies empty;
mataios idle,
resultless. Kenos, used of persons, implies not merely the absence of
good, but the presence of evil. (See Ja 2:20). The Greek proverb runs:
"The empty think empty things."
expresses aimlessness. All which
has not God for the true end of its being is
. Pindar describes
the vain man as one who hunts bootless things with fruitless hopes.
Plato ("Laws," 735) of labor to no purpose. Ezek. 13:6, "prophesying
vain things (mataia)," things which God will not bring to pass. Compare
Titus 3:9.
Romans 8:20
the reference is to a perishable and decaying condition, separate from
and pursuing false ends.
There are three uses of mataiotes
in the NT (see the other 2 verses below) but some 46 verses (most in
Ecclesiastes) in the
Septuagint (LXX)
4:2; 26:4; 31:6; 38:12; 39:5; 40:4; 52:7; 62:9; 78:33; 119:37; 139:20;
144:4, 8, 11; Pr. 22:8; Eccl. 1:2, 14; 2:1, 11, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26;
3:19; 4:4, 7-8, 16; 5:7, 10; 6:2, 4, 9, 11-12; 7:6, 15; 8:10, 14; 9:2,
9; 11:8, 10; 12:8). For example...
Ps 144:4
Man is like a mere breath (Lxx = mataiotes = nothingness, emptiness);
His days are like a passing shadow.
The other 2 NT uses of mataiotes
Romans 8:20
(see note)
For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will,
but because of Him who subjected it,
in hope
2 Peter 2:18
(see note)
For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly
desires, by sensuality, those who
barely escape from the ones who live in error,
Mind (3563)
(nous) refers to
the organ of mental perception and apprehension, of conscious life, of
the consciousness preceding actions or recognizing and judging them.
Nous represents the seat of
understanding and intellect, the reasoning capacity or the thinking
faculty. Believers have a new mind "the mind (nous) of Christ" (1
Cor 2:16)
which can be renewed as they chose not to be conformed to this world's
way of thinking but to be radically transformed (see expository note
Romans 12:2).
The mind (nous) Paul is describing in this verse is what he refers to
elsewhere as the "fleshly mind" or
Marvin Vincent calls nous
"the intellectual faculty in its
moral aspects as determined by the fleshly, sinful nature" (see note
Colossians 2:18)
Nous is the God given faculty
of perceiving and understanding and is the channel through which truth
reaches the heart. Paul says that believers "have the
of Christ." (1Cor
2:16) Although
present-day believers are typically not concerned with Jewish ritual
observances, the principle is still applicable. We should be more
concerned about renewing our mind and focusing it on Jesus than
observing a list of rules that have no biblical support.
Paul's point is that when they were
unregenerate Gentiles, they
could not understand spiritual truth. The way the pagan world thinks is
totally foreign to they way God thinks. In fact, every person still
spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins does not even have the
capability to comprehend God. As Paul explained to the church at
natural (unsaved, still "in Adam", not "in Christ") man does not accept
(dechomai = deliberately and
receive kindly, they do not "put out a welcome mat"! =
present tense)
the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness (moria = that
which is considered intellectually weak, irrational) to him, and he
cannot (dunamai =
present tense
= have intrinsic power - natural men lack the inner, inherent ability
and resources on their own to) understand (verb ginosko = know by
experience) them, because they are spiritually appraised
(anakrino = sift up and down and so to scrutinize, to examine
accurately and carefully with exact research like in legal processes)."
(1Cor 2:14-note)
In the next verse Paul explains why the
unsaved man cannot comprehend the things of God.
Expositor's Greek Testament
writes that "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. (Ephesians 4 Commentary
S Salmond)
Ephesians 4:18 being
in their
from the
of the
that is in them,
of the
of their
Their moral understanding is darkened and their reasoning is
beclouded. [They are] alienated (estranged, self-banished) from the
life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the ignorance
(the want of knowledge and perception, the willful blindness) that is
deep-seated in them, due to their hardness of heart [to the
insensitiveness of their moral nature].
Bible - Lockman)
NKJV: having
their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God,
because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of
their heart;
NLT: Their closed minds are full of darkness; they are
far away from the life of God because they have shut their minds and
hardened their hearts against him. (NLT
- Tyndale House)
Phillips: For they live blindfold in a world of
illusion, and cut off from the life of God through ignorance and
insensitiveness. (Phillips:
Wuest: being those who have their understanding darkened,
who have been alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
which is in them, through the hardening of their hearts, (Eerdmans)
Young's Literal: with darkened understandings, having by reason
of the ignorance which is deep-seated in them and the insensibility of
their moral nature, no share in the Life which God gives.
UNDERSTANDING: eskotomenoi (RPPMPN) te dianoia ontes:
(Psalms 74:20; 115:4, 6, 7, 8; Isaiah 44:18, 19, 20; 46:5, 6, 7, 8; Acts
17:30; 26:17,18; Romans 1:21, 22, 23,28; 1Corinthians 1:21; 2Corinthians
4:4; Galatians 4:8; 1Thessalonians 4:5)
(skotoo from
skotos = darkness, gloom)
(Note that Textus Receptus - KJV - has
skotizo 4654)
literally means to be or become dark, to cover with darkness.
Figuratively, skotoo means to darken or blind the mind. It means
to become unable to perceive and thus unable to understand. We see a
secular use of skotoo in the following sentence "I think that the
new wine has already blinded them".
It is the
passive voice
which means the effect of darkening comes from outside. The
perfect tense
speaks of a process completed in past time having present
results. Paul uses the perfect tense here to show the finished and
permanent result of the blinding of the mind by the "sin virus" every
person ever born has inherited from Adam (Ro 5:12). The perfect tense describes
the enduring state of darkness the believers at Ephesus (most of whom
were Gentiles) before they were
regenerated by the Gospel of grace. They were in a sense impeded by a mental fog that blotted out
the divine light. Not to mention that the god of this world had blinded
their eyes as Paul explained to the saints at Corinth writing...
And even if our gospel is veiled
(perfect tense
passive voice
just as with the verb "darkened"), it is veiled to those who are
perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded (Again
perfect tense
passive voice
= speaking of the permanent condition unless such a one is born again)
the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ (Note that the Gospel is light for
spiritual darkness), Who is the image of God. (2Co 4:3, 4-note)
KJV Bible
Commentary phrases it this way - Their beclouded intellect and their
emotions have been darkened permanently so that they are without the
faculty of discernment and are unable to distinguish clearly between
right and wrong. (Dobson,
E G, Charles Feinberg, E Hindson, Woodrow Kroll, H L. Wilmington: KJV
Bible Commentary: Nelson)
explains that being darkened "means that the lost man has lost his
perception of moral values. That is exactly what is being promoted in
our day—a loss of perception of moral values (Ed: "Values
clarification", "If it feels good...just do it", "You only go around
once, grab for all the gusto you can", etc). (McGee,
J V: Thru the Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson)
The only other
Biblical uses of skotoo refer to the darkening of the heavenly
bodies in the Revelation...
Revelation 9:2 And
he opened the bottomless pit; and smoke went up out of the pit, like the
smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the
smoke of the pit.
Revelation 16:10
And the fifth angel poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast;
and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues
because of pain
NIDNTT adds
this comment on the word group dealing with darkness, noting that...
In classic Greek darkness
applies primarily to the state characterized by the absence of light
(phos) without any special metaphysical overtones. The thought is
chiefly of the effect of darkness upon man. In the dark man gropes
around uncertainly (Plato, Phaedo, 99b), since his ability to see is
severely limited. Thus the man who can see may become blind in the
darkness, and no longer know which way to turn. Hence darkness appears
as the "sphere of objective peril and of subjective anxiety" (H.
Conzelmann, TDNT VII 424). Since all anxiety ultimately derives from the
fear of death, the ominous character of darkness culminates in the
darkness of death which no man can escape (cf. Homer, Il., 4, 461).
Darkness is therefore Hades, the world of the dead, which already
reaches out into our world in the mythical figures of the Eumenides, the
children of Skotos and Gaia (Soph., Oedipus Coloneus, 40).
Freed from their proper, temporal
sense, the words of this group can be used in a metaphorical sense to
describe human ways of life and behaviour. Thus they can describe a
man's seclusion or obscurity. They can also indicate the secrecy,
furtiveness or deceitfulness of his activity, the abstruseness of his
speech, lack of enlightenment, insight and knowledge. "The word does not
attain to high conceptual rank in philosophy. Mention of darkness serves
to set off light; it has no philosophical content of its own" (TDNT VII
Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986.
Zondervan or
Computer version)
from dianoéomai = to agitate in mind
in turn from dia = separation + noeo = to think over, nous
= mind, intellect, thought, reason)
means thinking through something, meditating, reflecting. It refers to
the intellect, moral understanding or the way of thinking. It is the
faculty of thinking, comprehending, and reasoning. Dianoia is the
seat of perception and thinking, the faculty of understanding, feeling,
Vine - The word dianoia, "mind," is
not merely, like nous, the seat of the faculty of perception, it
is the thinking faculty of reflection itself, a disposition (not
a function, but a product), which may be good, e.g., He 8:10-note
and He 10:16-note,
or evil, as here (Col 1:21-note)
and in Luke 1:51, "imagination."
W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson
Dianoia: the faculty or organ of
perception. This is one of the nous group in its root and has a meaning
very close to nous itself. It focuses on one's ability to think or
perceive and thus designates the mind with which one organizes
This is the word chosen in the
Gospels where Jesus states the first and great commandment of the law:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind" (Mt 22:37; Mk 12:30). But again the NT witnesses
against the bent of mind of the unsaved: "They are darkened in their
understanding and separated from the life of God because of the
ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts" (Ep
"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because
of your evil behavior" (Col 1:21).
Two passages remind us again that only God can open the human
understanding to spiritual truth. Hebrews twice quotes God's promise
under the new covenant: "I will put my laws into their minds" (He 8:10-note
and He 10:16-note).An
inner transformation of the human personality, accomplished by a work of
God, is necessary to open man's mind to the Lord. This is why Paul
focuses his prayers on the minds of the Ephesian believers, that they
might be "enlightened in order" that they might "know the hope to which
he [had] called [them]" (Ep 1:18-note).
L O: Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency
Computer Version - New International Encyclopedia of Bible Words)
TDNT writes
that dianoia is the "common word for "thought" has such
varied senses as (1) thought as a function, (2) the power of thought,
the thinking consciousness, (3) the way of thought, (4) the result of
thought, e.g., thought, idea, opinion, or judgment, (5) resolve of
intention, and (6) the meaning of words or statements. The
uses it as an equivalent of
kardia, and the usage is much the same in other Jewish works. (Kittel,
G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament. Eerdmans)
NIDNTT has
this to say about the use of this word group (nous = mind is the basic
(In Classic Greek usage) 1. (a) The
Gk. word nous, attested since Linear B, probably goes back
etymologically to the root snu (cf. Ger. schnaufen, to pant; schnuppern,
to sniff). Originally it refers to the inner sense, directed at an
object; then, disposition, understanding, insight, reason, mind. Along
with feeling and will, understanding belongs, as the ability to think,
to the inner powers of man (e.g. Parmenides, 16, 2). Plutarch (On the
Education of Children 8) puts logos, word, and nous in a definite
relationship to one another: the understanding rules the word, the word
serves the understanding. nous is also, however, the moral attitude,
disposition, which is determined by the reflection of the mind (e.g. Hdt.,
7, 150; Soph., OT 600). It also means resolve and intention (e.g. Homer,
Il. 9, 104 f.; Hdt., 1, 27)....
usage) dianoia is also used in the LXX to translate heart.
It can be used to express the idea of to oneself, in one's heart, in
one's mind, and so comes to be used to express emotions and acts of will
(Is 35:4; Ex 35:22). It can also express the whole of one's inner life
(Ge 8:21). Occasionally it renders the Heb. mahªsabôt, plots, plans (Da
11:25), and also bînâh, understanding (Da 9:22). In the apocryphal
writings dianoia means spirit, mind, consciousness, disposition,
especially in a moral sense. God is the guide of the dianoia (Aristeas
238). The good, moral, pure mind can be beguiled (Test.Ben. 8:2;
Test.Jud. 11:1)
Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986.
Zondervan or
Computer version)
occurs 81 times in Scripture, 12 times in the NT (see below) and 69 times in the
Septuagint (LXX)
= Ge. 8:21; 17:17; 24:15, 45; 27:41; 34:3; 45:26; Ex. 9:21; 28:3; 35:22,
25, 26, 29, 34, 35; 36:1; Lev. 19:17; Num. 15:39; 22:18; 32:7; Deut.
4:39; 7:17; 28:28; 29:18; Jos. 5:1; 22:5; 1 Chr. 29:18; Job 1:5, 8; 9:4;
36:28; Pr. 2:10; 9:10; 13:15; Isa. 14:13; 35:4; 55:9; 57:11; 59:15; Jer.
31:33; Ezek. 14:4; Dan. 9:22; 11:14, 25
Below are all the
NT uses of dianoia...
Matthew 22:37 And He said to
him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with
all your soul, and with all your mind.'
Mark 12:30 and you shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with
all your mind, and with all your strength.'
Luke 1:51 "He has done mighty
deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the
thoughts of their heart.
Luke 10:27 And he answered and
said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with
all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind;
and your neighbor as yourself."
Ephesians 1:18 (note)
(Only in the Textus Receptus) I pray that the eyes of your heart (NAS =
Kardia) (Ep 1:18KJV = understanding = dianoia) may be enlightened, so
that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches
of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
2:3 (note) Among them we
too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of
wrath, even as the rest
Ephesians 4:18 being 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;
Colossians 1:21 (note) And although
you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil
Hebrews 8:10 (note) "For this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days,
says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, And I will
write them upon their hearts. And I will be their God, And they shall be
My people.
Hebrews 10:16 (note) This is the
covenant that I will make with them After those days, says the Lord: I
will put My laws upon their heart, And upon their mind I will
write them," He then says,
1 Peter 1:13 (note) Therefore, gird
your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope
completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus
2 Peter 3:1 (note) This is now,
beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up
your sincere mind by way of reminder,
1 John 5:20 And we know that
the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order
that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in
His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
It's dangerous
enough to walk in the physical darkness, unable to understand where you
are. It is even more dangerous to walk in spiritual darkness, which is
exactly what these Gentile believers (and you and I dear believing
reader) did for all of their life until Christ rescued them from the
darkness and into the His marvelous Light. How foolish are we when we
choose to walk back into this darkness, even for a moment, now that we
have been graced with so great a salvation. What is your view of
salvation -- high or low? Is it just a "ticket to ride" the escalator to
heaven? Or is it a gracious entree into a whole new way of walking,
supernaturally, in His power, in His light and love? Let us daily
surrender our will to the Spirit's sweet will and walk worthy of our
high calling in Christ for the glory of our Father Who art in heaven.
Wayne Barber
reminds us that...
Think about this
when you think of the world. When you go to school next week, when you
go to work next week, you are walking out into this. The Gentile
nations, the world, has no ability on their own to understand spiritual
truths because their ability to understand has been darkened. As
a result, they live totally unacceptable lives. So when we go out into
darkness, among people with darkened minds, we are not to allow
our flesh to pull us back to the way we
used to
live. They are living a detestable lifestyle. They are a generation
after generation after generation of people who don't have a capacity to
even understand God. There is one thing I want you to get in your mind.
"Being darkened" has the idea that God darkened them, but
remember this. They would not, so therefore, they could not. It is not a
matter of God being a mean God, and just darkening them. No, He knows
the hearts of all men and nations who have turned against Him. He knows
that. It began with Adam and filtered down through the nations and
because of that, they have been unwilling to bow to Him. Therefore, God
has darkened their minds. In reality, it is their own unwillingness that
has brought the darkness upon them. (A
Brand New Way of Life - Part 1)
BECAUSE OF THE IGNORANCE THAT IS IN THEM: apellotriomenoi (RPPMPN) tes
zoes tou theou dia ten agnoian ten ousan (PAPFSA) en autois:
(Eph 2:12; Romans 8:7,8; Galatians 4:8; Colossians 1:21; 1Thessalonians
4:5; James 4:4) (Romans 1:21; 2:19; 1John 2:11)
Greek Testament writes that "This sentence is a further
description of the walk of the Gentiles and an explanation of its
vanity. Their walk is what it is because of their condition of moral
darkness into which they were born and in which they continued. (Ephesians
4:18 Commentary) (The point is that it is imminently fair that they
are excluded from the life of God because their ignorance - their
ignorance is not
accidental but willful! "They are without excuse" - see why in Ro 1:18,
Ro 1:20-note)
Excluded (526)
[word study]
from apó = marker of dissociation implying
rupture of former association emphasizing separation + allotrióo
= alienate) means to alienate entirely, to be estranged, which is
hostility with consequent separation or divorcement. They were at a
great distance from God. To alienate always
implies loss of affection or interest.
(like darkened in the previous clause)
is in the
perfect tense
which indicates a past completed action with ongoing effect or results.
Because of Adam's sin all his offspring are born as "little sinners" (cf
Ps 51:5-note,
Ro 5:12-note)
alienated from God out of the womb, with this alienation persisting all
their life (unless they are saved by the gospel by grace through faith).
In other words the Gentile believers reading Paul's letter had previously
been in an enduring state of
separation, alienation and estrangement from God because of sin.
Greek Testament has "Being in a state of moral darkness,
they also become alienated from the true life. (Ephesians
4:18 Commentary)
Apallotrioo was used earlier
by Paul to describe the condition of the Gentiles in their unregenerate
that you were at that time (as Gentiles, heathens, before you became
believers) separate from Christ, excluded (utterly alienated -
apallotrioo) from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the
covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (Ep
Comment: An alien is
one who does not "belong." He is a stranger and foreigner, without the
rights and privileges of citizenship. As far as the community of Israel
was concerned, the Gentiles were on the outside, looking in.
is used in the Septuagint where David explains that "The wicked are estranged
(apallotrioo) from the womb. These who speak lies go astray from birth."
(Ps 58:3)
David's point is
that their corruption was not a development of later life but could be
traced to their birth. They were alienated and estranged from birth.
Their lawlessness and rebellion are inborn, so that as men begin to
talk, they begin to lie! They don't have to be taught!
In Ezekiel God
shows that this was not just the unsaved Gentiles condition but also
applied to the unsaved Jew declaring that
"the hearts of the house of
Israel...are estranged (apallotrioo) from Me through all their
idols." (Ezekiel 14:5)
(zoe) state of one who is possessed of vitality or is animate.
Life as a principle. It is the absolute fullness of life, both essential
and ethical, which belongs to the Father. Paul is referring to life that
is real and genuine, active and vigorous.
Zoe does
not refer to the course of one's life but to life itself, as the
principle which is opposed to death. In this verse zoe refers to
the spiritual life conferred by God to men who are otherwise dead in
their trespasses and sins. The life of God is the life that God has in
Himself and that which He imparts to the believing sinner. The
unregenerate Gentiles have no concept of the life that God commands, of
which He approves and whereby God in the Spirit of Christ lives in
believers and they in Him (Gal 2:20-note).
Because of
(dia) is a marker of instrumentality by which something is
accomplished. It is a primary preposition denoting the channel of
an act. Dia in this context is a marker of a participant
constituting the cause or reason for an event or state. The fact that
the Gentiles were excluded from the life of God was because of
their ignorance of God and this is because of the hardening of their
hearts, their being insensitive to God and His ways.
[word study] from
= not to know in turn from a
= not +
= perceive, understand) means want of knowledge. The
pagan world was always haunted by the unknowability of God; at best men
could but grope after his mystery.
Agnoia - 4x
- Acts 3:17 Acts 17:30 Eph 4:18 1 Pet 1:14
Greek Testament notes that agnoia "is not a term merely of
intellect. It denotes an ignorance of divine things, a want of
knowledge that is inexcusable and involves moral blindness (Acts
3:17, 17:30, 1Pe 1:14-note).
It is further defined here not simply as 'their ignorance,' but as an
ignorance 'being in them'—surely a phrase that is neither
tautological nor without a purpose, but one that describes their
ignorance in respect to its seat. Their alienation had its cause,
not in something external, casual, or superficial, but in themselves,—in
a culpable ignorance in their own nature or heart." (Ephesians
4:18 Commentary)
Paul explains that
this was willful ignorance in Romans as he explains the
pathogenesis of mankind's rejection of God's revelation of Himself in
nature. It all began
with sin entering the world, this sin principle then manifesting itself in Romans 1 with a
progressive decline of man's moral/ethical mind.
Romans 5:12-note
Therefore, just as through one
man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death
spread to all men, because all sinned.
Romans 1:21-note For even though they
knew God (Man is conscious of God's existence, power, and divine nature
through His Creation, general revelation "For since the creation of
the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so
that they are without excuse" - Ro 1:20-note),
they did not honor (they glorified Him not as God = they did not have a
proper opinion of Him. Man's chief end is to glorify God) Him as God or
give thanks (Thanklessness toward God is a proof of alienation from
Him), but they became futile (worthless, meaningless, vain) in their
speculations, (compare to "walk in the futility of their mind")
and their foolish heart was darkened.
Comment: The problem is not that man did not know God, but that
he did know Him - yet we refused to glorify Him as God. They were
darkened in their understanding because they rejected God and hardened
their hearts toward what He had revealed of Himself. Ignorance is not
sin, but willful ignorance is. The light that God had given men in
nature became darkness in them. The faculty of reason becomes impaired
by its abuse. see Mt 6:23-note
Aristotle spoke of
God as the supreme cause (supreme
cause), by all men dreamed of and by no man known. The
ancient world did not doubt that there was a God or gods but it believed
that such gods as there were were quite unknowable and totally
uninterested in men and the universe. In a world without Christ God was
a being of mystery and power but not a God of infinite, indescribable love.
The tragedy of the philosophical views like Aristotle is that there was no
so-called god to whom men could
reach out to for help or hope. The ancient world was filled with
hopelessness, as is every person outside of Christ. (cp Ep 2:12-note)
HEART: dia ten porosin tes kardias auton: (Daniel 5:20;
Matthew 13:15; John 12:40; Romans 11:25)
Because of
(dia) is a marker of instrumentality by which something is
accomplished It is a primary preposition denoting the channel of
an act. Dia in this context is a marker of a participant
constituting the cause or reason for an event or state. Remember that
whenever you encounter one of these
terms of explanation
(like "for" or "because"), you want to stop and interrogate the text
with the 5W/H
questions. In so doing you are practicing
on the passage, not to mention that you are
the text which will
yield the most accurate
of the text and
in turn the most appropriate
of the text! So to pause and ponder is by no means a "waste of time",
but to the contrary is a inestimably valuable way to redeem the time (cp
Eph 5:16).
= to harden, petrify, render
insensitive) literally describes the covering of a part with a callus or thick growth
of skin (Hippocrates used it as a technical medical term).
Have you
ever done hard manual labor especially the type that required you to
repetitively use your hands? If you have, you probably developed a
callus and you can better understand what Paul is portraying with this
word. In this verse he is using
porosis figuratively to describe the moral or ethical hardness,
callousness, blindness or insensitivity of the hearts of the Gentiles in their former
unregenerate state.
expresses the condition of moral insensibility "the deadness that
supervenes when the heart has ceased to be sensible of the stimuli of
the conscience" (Ellicott).
There are 3 uses
of porosis in Scripture and here are the other two uses...
Mark 3:5 And after looking
around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said
to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his
hand was restored.
Romans 11:25
For I do not want
you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in
your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel
until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in;
writes that...
Porosis comes from poros, which
originally meant a stone that was harder than marble. It came to have
certain medical uses. It was used for the chalk stone which can form in
the joints and completely paralyze action. It was used of the callus
that forms where a bone has been broken and re-set, a callus which is
harder than the bone itself. Finally the word came to mean the loss of
all power of sensation; it described something which had become so
hardened, so petrified that it had no power to feel at all. That is what
Paul says the heathen life is like (Eph 4:18) It has become so hardened
that it has lost the power of feeling. In the Epistle to a Young Friend,
Robert Burns wrote about sin:
"I waive the quantum o' the sin,
The hazard of concealing;
But och! it hardens a' within,
And petrifies the feeling!"
The terror of sin is its petrifying
effect. The process of sin is quite discernible. No man becomes a great
sinner all at once. At first he regards sin with horror. When he sins,
there enters into his heart remorse and regret. But if he continues to
sin there comes a time when he loses all sensation and can do the most
shameful things without any feeling at all. His conscience is petrified.
(Ed note: This is because all men in Adam are totally depraved and have
an inherent sin nature from Adam to commit sins). (Barclay,
William: New Testament Words:. Westminster John Know Press, 1964)
[word study]) does not refer to the physical organ but is
always used figuratively in Scripture to refer to the seat and center of
human life. The heart is the center of the personality, and it controls
the intellect, emotions, and will. No outward obedience is of the
slightest value unless the heart turns to God.
While kardia
does represent the inner person, the seat of motives and attitudes, the
center of personality, in Scripture it represents much more than
emotion, feelings. It also includes the thinking process and
particularly the will. For example, in Proverbs we are told, "As (a
man) thinks in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs
23:7). Jesus asked a group of scribes, "Why are you
thinking evil in your hearts?" (Matthew
9:4). The heart is the control center of mind and will as
well as emotion.
Vine writes
that kardia "came to denote man's entire
mental and moral activities, and to stand figuratively for the hidden
springs of the personal life, and so here signifies the seat of thought
and feeling. (Vine,
W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson
commenting on kardia writes that "While we often relate heart
to the emotions (e.g., "He has a broken heart"), the Bible relates it
primarily to the intellect (e.g., "Out of the heart come evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
slanders," Matt 15:19). That's why you must "watch
over your heart with all diligence" (Proverbs 4:23-note). In a secondary way, however, heart relates to
the will and emotions because they are influenced by the intellect. If
you are committed to something, it will affect your will, which in turn
will affect your emotions." (Drawing Near. Crossway Books) MacArthur
adds that "In most modern cultures, the heart is thought of as
the seat of emotions and feelings. But most ancients—Hebrews, Greeks,
and many others—considered the heart to be the center of
knowledge, understanding, thinking, and wisdom. The New Testament also
uses it in that way. The heart was considered to be the seat of
the mind and will, and it could be taught what the brain could never
know. Emotions and feelings were associated with the intestines, or
bowels." (MacArthur,
J: Ephesians. 1986. Chicago: Moody Press)
In summary, these Gentiles were alienated from God through their
culpable moral and spiritual ignorance and through the
hardening of their hearts.
Ephesians 4:19 and
they, having
for the
In their spiritual apathy they have become callous and past feeling
and reckless and have abandoned themselves [a prey] to unbridled
sensuality, eager and greedy to indulge in every form of impurity
[that their depraved desires may suggest and demand]. (Amplified
Bible - Lockman)
NKJV: who,
being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work
all uncleanness with greediness.
NLT: They don't care anymore about right and wrong,
and they have given themselves over to immoral ways. Their lives are
filled with all kinds of impurity and greed. (NLT
- Tyndale House)
Phillips: They have stifled their consciences and then
surrendered themselves to sensuality, practising any form of impurity
which lust can suggest. (Phillips:
Wuest: who, being of such a nature as to have become callous,
abandoned themselves to wantonness, resulting in a performing of every
uncleanness in the sphere of greediness. (Eerdmans)
Young's Literal: Such men being past feeling have
abandoned themselves to impurity, greedily indulging in every kind of
hoitines apelgekotes (RAPMPN): (1Ti 4:2)
Having become
callous (524)
(apalgeo from apó = denoting privation + algéo = to
feel pain) means to become apathetic, to cease to feel pain or grief or
to be insensitive to pain. It is used metaphorically here meaning
to be insensitive to honor or shame. It means to lose the ability to feel
shame or embarrassment. To be so accustomed to something undesirable
that one is not bothered by the implications of what one is doing. This
is the word from which the English. "analgesic" is derived which is that
which takes away pain.
Note that once
again Paul uses
perfect tense
(past completed action with ongoing effect) to describe the permanence of
their condition.
writes that apalgeo "means to cease from feeling pain.
Hence to be apathetic. (Ephesians 4)
Greek Testament says that apalgeo "expresses the condition, not of
despair merely, but of moral insensibility, 'the deadness that
supervenes when the heart has ceased to be sensible to the stimuli of
the conscience' (Ellicott). (Ephesians
4:19-20 Commentary)
In his first
epistle to Timothy, Paul paints a parallel picture of those who have
fallen from the faith (not lost their salvation - they were never saved
in the first place) and paid attention to deceitful spirits and
doctrines of demons (1Ti 4:1) and who...
by means of the hypocrisy of liars
(speak lies disguised as truth, pretending to be religious, wrong
doctrinally and so wrong morally - believing and behaving always travel
the same road) seared in their own
conscience ( scarred to the
point where they can carry on their hypocritical lies with no
compunctions because their consciences have been destroyed) as with a
branding iron (branded with a hot iron - gives us English cauterize or
sear tissues with heat) (1Ti 4:2)
The pagan,
godless, God hating (Ro 1:30-note) Gentiles
are past feeling, an
accurate expression of the idea inherent in apalgeo. They can no
longer respond to moral stimuli. Their consciences are so atrophied that
sin registers no stab of pain. The lack of moral feeling and discernment
means that they in turn manifest an inability to exercise proper restraint in moral
and ethical
What Paul is
saying is that they don't experience pain any more. Beloved, our
physical bodies are in great danger when we don't experience physical pain. You
might think, "I don't want pain". Sure pain is an uncomfortable
sensation but it serves a vital function, as it warns the body that
something is wrong. Pain causes us to experience caution. Picture, the
tragic state of a leper who has lost the sensation of touch and
pain in his hands. And because the leper cannot feel, he can burn
himself producing great damage. How tragic to keep hurting himself,
because he doesn't feel pain any longer. That's what the unregenerate
sinner does to himself or herself. And it is a tragic state, producing
damage far greater than the physical damage inflicted by the leper. Paul
says don't go back to your spiritually "leprous" state!
Now ponder these "attributes" of the unregenerate pagans for a
moment. Is it any wonder that it very difficult to speak with them about
the Truth about God and the Bible! But remember that this picture
describes not just "them" but it was "us" before we were saved by grace
through faith. We should never forget what God has saved us from. We
need to continually remember where we came from, so that we
maintain a high view of His miracle working gift of salvation
transferring us from the kingdom of darkness to light (Acts 26:18 where
= Satan's right to rule over us! Col 1:13-note
= where "domain"
='s the right and might of the darkness to control us! 1Pe 2:9-note). Remembering
from where God has rescued us, should keep us
grateful and foster loving obedience (Jn 14:15, 21, 23), and even that obedience
(Php 2:12-note) only
possible by His grace and Spirit (Php 2:13-note,
Ro 8:13-note). I think that is one aspect of what
Jesus meant when He said "Do this in remembrance of me" (1Co
11:24, 25). The Lord's
Supper can be a profitable time to ponder what it cost God to redeem us from the
guttermost to the uttermost!
reminds us that we as believers have been rescued from futile thinking
and darkened understanding, writing...
And we know that the Son of God has
come, and has given us understanding (dianoia), in order that we might know Him
who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God and eternal life (1Jn 5:20)
J Vernon McGee
writes that the Gentile's "continuance in this state of moral
ineptitude brings them down to the level where they have no feeling of
wrongdoing. There are a lot of folk like that today. They are apathetic.
The resultant condition is to plunge further into immorality and
lasciviousness. This vicious cycle leads to a desire to go even deeper
into sin. If you paint the town red tonight, you have to have a bigger
bucket and a bigger brush for tomorrow night. The meaning here is to
covet the very depths of immorality. Men in sin are never satisfied with
sin. They become abandoned to sin. This is what it means in chapter 1 of
Romans that God gave them up to all uncleanness through their own lusts.
You can reach the place, my friend, where you are an abandoned sinner. (McGee,
J V: Thru the Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson)
W. C. Wright
explains "Moule translates it: "having got over
the pain." How expressive! When conscience is at first denied, there is
a twinge of pain; there is a protest that can be heard. But if the voice
is silenced, presently the voice becomes less clear and clamant; the
protest is smothered; the twinge is less acute, until at last it is
possible to "get over the pain." (Ephesians)
heautous paredokan (3SPAI) te aselgeia eis ergasian akatharsias pases en
pleonexia: (Eph 4:17; Romans 1:24, 25, 26; 1Peter 4:3) (Job
15:16; Isaiah 56:11; 2Pe 2:12, 13, 14,22; Jude 1:11; Rev 17:1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6; 18:3)
Note how the
downward spiral culminates in an abominable description of their warped,
despicable behavior.
themselves over to sensuality - When they became spiritually
callous, their hearts were insensitive to pain and to God, and being
"past feeling", those sins governed by sensuality become easy choices to
make. And so they delivered themselves over to the power and passing
pleasure of lasciviousness which is always a poor choice. See the
verses below from Romans 1 which describe God's giving them over to the
power of their fallen nature!
Have given over
[word study]
from para = alongside, beside + didomi
= give) means literally to give over. It means to give over into (one's)
power or use and involves either the handing over of a presumably guilty
person for punishment by authorities or the handing over of an
individual to an enemy who will presumably take undue advantage of the
Paul gives the other side of the
tragedy in Romans 1. Here in Ephesians 4, they had volitionally, of
their free choice, given themselves over (surrendered, yielded) to
unrestrained living and licentiousness. In Romans we see that it is God
Who gives them over (so in a sense their giving over becomes at
once their own guilty choice and at the same time a judicial act of
Therefore (because they exchanged the
glory of the incorruptible God for an image) God gave them over
(paradidomi) in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies
might be dishonored among them. (Ro 1:24-note)
For this reason God gave them over
(paradidomi) to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the
natural function for that which is unnatural, (Ro 1:26-note)
And just as they did not see fit to
acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over (paradidomi)
to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, (Ro 1:28-note)
comments that paradidomi "is frequently used of Christ giving Himself for the world. (Ro 4:25-note;
Gal 2:20-note;
Eph 5:5-note,
Eph 5:25-note.
It indicates a complete surrender. Meyer says, "with frightful
emphasis." Where men
from aselges
= licentious, brutal in turn from a = negates next word +
selges = continent) originally referred to any excess or lack of
restraint and came to be associated primarily with sexual excess. It is
uninhibited sexual indulgence without shame and w/o concern for what
others think or how affected (or infected). (Ephesians 4)
was used almost exclusively of especially lewd sexual immorality, of
uninhibited and unabashed lasciviousness. It refers to the kind of
sexual debauchery and abandonment that characterizes much of modern
society and that is often flaunted almost as a badge of distinction!
The Greeks defined
aselgeia as
"a disposition of soul that resents all discipline," as "a spirit
that acknowledges no restraints, dares whatsoever its caprice and wanton
insolence may suggest."
The short
definitions of aselgeia are unrestrained living or shameless wantonness!
The walls of Pompeii tell the story of shame and lost decency and the
same sins characterize the Gentile world today via a new, even more
sinister modality, the internet.
comments that "The aselgeia person is one who
acknowledges no restraints, who dares whatsoever his caprice and wanton
petulance may suggest. "Wantonness" is the best word to describe it. The
word speaks of a complete surrender of self.
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans)
writes that "Aselgeia (sensuality) refers
to total licentiousness, the absence of all moral restraint, especially
in the area of sexual sins. One commentator says the term relates to "a
disposition of the soul incapable of bearing the pain of discipline."
The idea is that of unbridled self–indulgence and undisciplined
obscenity... All people initially recognize at least some standard of
right and wrong and have a certain sense of shame when they act against
that standard. Consequently, they usually try to hide their wrongdoing.
They may continually fall back into it but still recognize it as wrong,
as something they should not be doing; and conscience will not let them
remain comfortable. But as they continue to overrule conscience and
train themselves to do evil and to ignore guilt, they eventually reject
those standards and determine to live solely by their own desires,
thereby revealing an already seared conscience. Having rejected all
divine guidelines and protection, they become depraved in mind and give
themselves over to sensuality. Such a person cares nothing about what
other people think—not to mention about what God thinks—but only about
what gratifies the cravings of his own warped mind. (MacArthur,
J: Ephesians. Chicago: Moody Press)
Barclay writes that
from ergázomai = to
toil, work) means to engage in some type of activity or behavior with
sustained interest and thus describes a pursuit. Ergasia can mean
employment, craft, profession; profit or gain, this latter describing
the outcome of work.
Ergasia is used of business
(see uses in Acts), giving us
the horrible picture here in Ephesians 4, that these unsaved men
actually made a business of every kind of moral
uncleanness! It does not take much thought to imagine what kind of vile
business and illicit profit was associated with every kind of
impurity! It reminds one of John's statement about the final
destruction of the evil world system which had made a business
trafficking in "human lives" (Rev 18:13).
John MacArthur
elaborates on this same idea noting that...
Ergasia (practice) can refer
to a business enterprise, and that idea could apply here. The ungodly
person often makes business out of every kind of impurity. A Christian
leader commented some years ago that many of the books published in the
United States today rival the drippings of a broken sewer. Yet
pornography, prostitution, X–rated films, suggestive TV programs, and
every kind of impurity form perhaps the largest industry in our
country. The vast majority of it is open, unashamed, and legally
protected. An article in Forbes magazine (Sept. 18, 1978, pp. 81–92)
entitled "The X–Rated Economy" began by stating the
obvious—pornography is no longer an illegal business. The market for
pornography is not confined to perverts or other emotional cripples. To
the contrary, the largest part of the market is middle class people. In
an increasingly permissive society those who enjoy pornography are free
to revel in it. The surprising revelation was that, according to one
official estimate, the nation's pornographers do more than four billion
dollars worth of business a year—more than the combined incomes of the
often supportive movie and music industries! Other estimates place the
total pornographic business—including a large segment of the burgeoning
home video market—at three times that much. (Ed note: And now we can add
internet pornography - as Paul said in Romans 1 rejectors of the truth
about God will become "inventors of evil"!)
J: Ephesians. Chicago: Moody Press)
Ergasia is
found 6 times in the NT...
Luke 12:58 "For while you are
going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate, on your way
there make an effort to settle with him, in order that he may not
drag you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to the constable,
and the constable throw you into prison. (Comment: Ergasia
in this context means to do one's best in attempting to accomplish
Acts 16:16 And it happened
that as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave-girl
having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much
profit by fortunetelling.
Acts 16:19 But when her
masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul
and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities,
Acts 19:24 For a certain man
named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was
bringing no little business to the craftsmen;25 these he gathered
together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, "Men, you know
that our prosperity depends upon this business.
Ephesians 4:19 and they,
having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the
practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
Ergasia is
used 32 times in the
Septuagint (LXX)
(Ge 29:27; Ex
26:1; 38:24; Lev 13:51; Num. 31:20; Ruth 2:12; 1 Chr. 6:48f; 9:13;
26:8, 29, 30; 28:13, 20; 2 Chr. 4:11; 5:1; 8:16; 15:7; 24:12; 31:21; 34:13,
17; Ps. 104:23; 107:23; Pr. 6:8; Eccl. 9:1; Isa. 1:31; 41:24; Ezek.
15:3, 4, 5, Jon 1:8)
notes that ergasia
In Acts 19:25, used of a trade. Not
precisely in this sense here, yet with a shade of it. They gave
themselves up as to the prosecution of a business. The preposition eis
or unto is very forcible. (Ephesians 4)
Every kind
(pas) means all without exception which is a striking way to
describe their impurities, indicating they trafficked in moral
uncleanness in the widest sense.
from a =
without + kathaíro = cleanse) (Click
word study on
is a broad term
referring to moral uncleanness in thought, word, and deed. It describes
a state of moral impurity, especially sexual sin. The term akatharsia
refers to filth or refuse.
describes a filthiness of heart and mind (so it is internal as compared
to anomia discussed below) that makes the person defiled. The unclean
person sees dirt in everything. The word akatharsia suggests
especially that it defiles its participants, making them unusable for
sacred purpose. While akatharsia includes sexual sin, it comes
from a wider Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew OT) usage where
"unclean" could refer to anything that made a person unfit to go to the
temple and appear before God. In a medical sense Hippocrates used this
word to describe an infected, oozing wound with pus and crusty
impurities that gather around the sore or wound. What is "impure" is
filthy and repulsive, especially to God. Akatharsia was a general
term often used of decaying matter, like the contents of a grave. In
short akatharsia describes any excessive behavior or lack of restraint
and speaks more of an internal disposition. An immoral filthiness on the
inside whereas the lawless acts of ''immorality'' are on the outside.
Barton says
that akatharsia refers to "Moral uncleanness. Perhaps no sexual
act has taken place, but the person exhibits a crudeness or
insensitivity in sexual matters that offends others and leads them to
false conclusions about the other person's character. An example today
would be the excessive use of sexual humor (or what is supposed to be
humor), where people make statements with a sexual double meaning."
(Barton, B. B. Life application Bible commentary. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale
William Barclay
writes that akatharsia means...
"...everything which would unfit a
man to enter into God's presence. It describes the life muddied with
wallowing in the world's ways. Kipling prayed,
"Teach us to rule ourselves always,
Controlled and cleanly night and day."
Akatharsia is the very opposite of that clean purity...It can be
used for the pus of an unclean wound, for a tree that has never been
pruned, for material which has never been sifted. In its positive form (katharos,
an adjective meaning pure) it is commonly used in housing contracts to
describe a house that is left clean and in good condition. But its most
suggestive use is that katharos is used of that ceremonial
cleanness which entitles a man to approach his gods. Impurity,
then, is that which makes a man unfit to come before God, the soiling of
life with the things which separate us from him....Jesus used the word
to describe the rottenness of decaying bodies in a tomb (Matthew
23:27). The other ten times the word is used in the New
Testament it is associated with sexual sin. It refers to immoral
thoughts, passions, ideas, fantasies, and every other form of sexual
corruption." (W. Barclay, The Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed.
Philadelphia: The Westminster Press) (Bolding added)
With greediness - describes the condition or frame of mind in
which the Gentiles practiced the moral uncleanness. They were not merely
indulging in moral impurity but indulging in it with a greedy desire to
have more which is a graphic picture of the insatiable nature of sinful
KJV Bible Commentary adds that with
greediness describes "insatiable desires to have
more, with no regard for the person or property of others. He gets what
he wants no matter whom he hurts and no matter what methods he uses. (Dobson,
E G, Charles Feinberg, E Hindson, Woodrow Kroll, H L. Wilmington: KJV
Bible Commentary: Nelson)
( pleonexia
from pleíon =
more + écho = have) (Click
word study on
literally to have more.
Pleonexia is a strong desire to acquire more and more material
possessions, especially that which is forbidden. It is a desire to have
more irrespective of one's need and is always used in bad sense. It
describes an insatiable selfishness. Is describes the attitude of heart
in which one desires to have more than one's due.
In short,
pleonexia describes an insatiable craving greed, consuming ambition
and/or giving rein to the appetites and desires which are against the
laws of God and man. The picture is of indulging in
self-gratification with no regard for others, willing to do almost
anything in an attempt to gratify their flesh.
It describes covetous, a trait marked
by inordinate desire for wealth or possessions or for another's
possessions. Contentment is the opposite of covetousness. Attacking
covetousness lays the ax to a root cause of sin because pleonexia
is the root of the other sins listed in this verse. When contentment
replaces covetousness, the latter cannot give rise to the process that
culminates in an act of sin.
Greed is
what you desire and what you desire more of becomes your ''god'' and you
end up serving (latreuo) that ''god.'' In God's sight, greed is
worshipping the god mammon, and "you cannot serve God and mammon" (see
Matthew 6:24)
Vincent notes that pleonexia is...
Covetousness Lit., the desire of having more. It is to be
distinguished from philarguria rendered love of money, 1Tim. 6:10,
and its kindred adjective, philarguros which A. V. renders covetous,
Luke 16:14;
2 Timothy 3:2 (see note);
properly changed by Rev. into lovers of money. The distinction is
expressed by covetousness and avarice. The one is the desire of getting,
the other of keeping.
Covetousness has a wider and deeper sense, as designating the sinful
desire which goes out after things of time and sense of every form and
kind. Hence it is defined by Paul (see note
Colossians 3:5) as
idolatry, the worship of another object than God, and is so often
associated with fleshly sins, as 1Cor. 5:11;
Ephesians 5:3
(note), 5; Col. 3:5. Lightfoot says:
and covetousness may be said to divide between them nearly the whole
domain of selfishness and vice."
quotes an anonymous author who compares the region of the desires in the
wicked to a vessel full of holes, and says that, of all the souls in
Hades, these uninitiated or leaky persons are the most miserable, and
that they carry water to a vessel which is full of holes in a similarly
holey colander. The colander is the soul of the ignorant (Plato,
"Gorgias," 493). Compare, also, the description of covetousness and
avarice by Chaucer, "Romaunt of the Rose," 183–246. (Ephesians 4) (Bolding added)
Expositor's Greek Testament sums up this section writing that...
Uncleanness and greed or covetousness ranked as the two great heathen
vices. So the Gentiles, darkened and alienated from the life of God, had
become men of such a character that they gave themselves willfully over
to wanton sensuality, in order that they might practice every kind of
uncleanness and do that with unbridled greedy desire. (Ephesians
4:19-20 Commentary)
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Last Updated February 21, 2015


text:
Published: February 8, 2011
Canfield High School students work to edit a commercial they made, advertising the clothing they will sell through their Intro to Business class. Seniors Brad Kelly, left, Ryan Camardo and Ryan O'Hara and freshman Alex Heldrerk shot the video in class last week.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Fixed-Price - Intermediate ($$) - Est. Budget: $50 - PostedSkills: Adobe Dreamweaver Content Writing CSS3 Graphic design
Building Futures Foundation is a non-profit startup Integrating Early Childhood Intervention Coupled With Teen Vocational Training. Autistic and Special Needs Children of all ages are served through this foundation. Make Build Futures Foundation YOUR BFF! We do this because: 1. we have been blessed with an autistic child and understand the challenges. 2. We have discovered Lego bricks encourage communication and interaction even between autistic children. 3. With this experience, we feel we have an obligation to help others navigate this challenge. 4. Discovered the entire family joins in. Relationships between siblings, parents and children, and even the parents themselves. 5. Not everyone can afford Lego. We wish to bring free packages of Lego bricks to deserving children and their families. We are equipped to do this as 1.The son is now a teen almost graduating. He strives to bring innovation and an inside view to BFF. He loves Lego and wants to share them with everyone he can! 2. She is a PhD in School Psychology and has extensive experience focusing on autistic, traumatic brain injury, heavy metal poisoni, and many others. 3. He is an engineer brought up on Legos, but sold them in high school. When his son was diagnosed with autism, Legos were the tool that brought them together again. What we need: 1. A professional web site 2. Someone in the field to create a high quality product that will encourage the spread of this cause. 3. Artwork and Logos will be provided. Other content will need to be created. 4. Assist in connecting various social media platforms to the created website. 5. Have a passion for helping kids AND being a kid! 6. Be able to laugh and enjoy this project! YOU have the creative freedom to build something YOU love! 7. Know that we do this because everyone knows a child touched with these difficulties. 8. Help us bring mental health stigmas out of the dark ages. Make a BFF!!! Building Futures Foundation Detroit. MI


text:
So we have been talking about seamless upgrade. Following are the operations setup performs in order to ease the upgrade pain. Basically, the whole process of upgrading from BizTalk Server 2004 to BizTalk Server 2006 is divided in four steps:
In case of any unexpected failure while upgrading, we can resume the upgrade from the middle. To consider a scenario, let us say the machine being upgraded goes off the network while upgrading the remote databases. The upgrade can still be resumed from that stage by simply restoring the database that was being upgraded (from its backup) and executing the setup again.
Similarly, in case post upgrade configuration fails because of a similar reason, add a DWORD registry entry RerunUpgrade=1 under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\BizTalk Server\3.0_Migrated. The setup can be executed multiple times even after the BizTalk 2006 installation. This enables us to complete the upgrade successfully in case it fails because of some unprecedented scenario.


text:
Colors in a Dish
Credit: Feng Zhao
Creative #: 93504299
Licence type: Royalty-freeRoyalty-free pricing is based solely on the size of the product you need, not the specific use. You don't have to pay any additional royalties on a use-by-use basis. Once you license a royalty-free product, you may use it multiple times for multiple projects without paying additional fees. (Pornographic, defamatory, libellous or otherwise unlawful use of any image is, of course, prohibited.)
Collection: Moment
Release info: No release required
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Colors In A Dish Stock PhotoChicken Meat,Chinese Food,Close-Up,Cooked,Day,Differential Focus,Food and Drink,Freshness,Healthy Eating,Horizontal,Indoors,Kung Pao,No People,Part Of,Photography,Plate,Ready to Eat,Serving Dish,USAPhotographer Feng ZhaoCollection: Moment Copyright 2008 Feng ZhaoKung Pao Chicken, Home made


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Quick Cooking
"The main issue in home management is time management. Keep in mind that things will often take longer than you think they will," says Robertson. Part microwave, part convection oven, the Velos SpeedCook Oven from Whirlpool fits over the range and can cut down cooking times significantly. The multi-tasking appliance can grill, bake, and brown. The CleanRelease non-stick interior and dishwasher-safe grease filters make cleanup easier. Available in black, white, stainless steel with black accents, or monochromatic stainless steel. About $869-$989; Whirlpool


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Hi Otto,
First of all, let me congratulate you for the release of the long-awaited 1.0 version of your excellent plugin ! ;-)
Here are my remarks and questions regarding the new version. Hope this might help you :
- In the facebook page for developers https://developers.facebook.com/apps , my Fan page appears as an application. I was wondering if I still need an application to publish on my own facebook page ?
- it would be great if we can translate the text displayed once someone is logged in to comment "Hi X, you are connected to your facebook account, etc." and "share this comment on facebook".
- I would love to have checkboxes to display the photos in the like plugin
- I don't if it's possible to include recommendations in the activity stream
I know we could do many of these things by digging into the code or using the functions, but just my 2 cents & my questions of this great plugins.