Eph 4:17-24 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 17. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord . I bear witness in the name of the Lord Jesus, or ministering by his authority. The object of this is to exhort them to walk worthy of their high calling, and to adorn the doctrine of the Saviour. With this view, he reminds them of what they were before they were converted, and of the manner in which the heathen around them lived. That ye henceforth walk not . That you do not henceforth live--the Christian life being often in the Scriptures compared to a journey. As other Gentiles walk . This shows that probably the mass of converts in the church at Ephesus were from among the heathen, and Paul regarded them as Gentile converts. Or it may be that he here addressed himself more particularly to that portion of the church, as especially needing his admonition and care. In the vanity of their mind . In the way of folly, or in mental folly. What he means by this he specifies in the following verses. The word "vanity," in the Scriptures, means more than mere emptiness. It denotes moral wrong, being applied usually to those who worshipped vain idols, and then those who were alienated from the true God.

Ephesians 4:17-24

Verse 17. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord. I bear witness in the name of the Lord Jesus, or ministering by his authority. The object of this is to exhort them to walk worthy of their high calling, and to adorn the doctrine of the Saviour. With this view, he reminds them of what they were before they were converted, and of the manner in which the heathen around them lived.

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

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

In the vanity of their mind. In the way of folly, or in mental folly. What he means by this he specifies in the following verses. The word "vanity," in the Scriptures, means more than mere emptiness. It denotes moral wrong, being applied usually to those who worshipped vain idols, and then those who were alienated from the true God. Verse 18. Having the understanding darkened. That is, because they were alienated from the true God, and particularly because of "the blindness of their hearts." The apostle does not say that this was a "judicial" darkening of the understanding; or that they might not have perceived the truth; or that they had no ability to understand it. He speaks of a simple and well-known fact--a fact that is seen now as well as then--that the understanding becomes darkened by indulgence in sin. A man who is intemperate has no just views of the government of the appetites. A man who is unchaste has no perception of the loveliness of purity. A man who is avaricious or covetous has no just views of the beauty of benevolence. A man who indulges in low vices will weaken his mental powers, and render himself incapable of intellectual effort. Indulgence in vice destroys the intellect as well as the body, and unfits a man to appreciate the truth of a proposition in morals, or in mathematics, or the beauty of a poem, as well as the truth and beauty of religion. Nothing is more obvious than that indulgence in sin weakens the mental powers, and renders them unfit for high intellectual effort. This is seen all over the heathen world now-- in the stolid, stupid mind; the perverted moral sense; the incapacity for profound or protracted mental effort, as really as it was among the heathens to whom Paul preached. The missionary who goes among the heathen has almost to create an intellect as well as a conscience, before the gospel will make an impression. It is seen, too, in all the intellect of the bar, the senate, the pulpit, and the medical profession, that is ruined by intemperance, and in the intellect of multitudes of young men wasted by licentiousness and drunkenness. I know that under the influence of ambition and stimulating drinks the intellect may seem to put forth unnatural efforts, and to glow with an intensity nowhere else seen; but it soon burns out--and the wastes of such an intellect become soon like the hardened scoriae of the volcano, or the cinders of the over-heated furnace. Learn hence, that if a man wishes to be blessed with a clear understanding, he should be a good man; he who wishes a mind well balanced and clear, should fear and love God; and had Christianity done no other good on earth than to elevate the intellect of mankind, it would have been the richest blessing which has ever been vouchsafed to the race. It follows, too, that as man has debased his understanding by sin, it is needful to make an exertion to elevate it again; and hence a large part of the efforts to save men must consist in patient instruction. Hence the necessity of schools at missionary stations.

Being alienated. Eph 2:12.

From the life of God. From a life like that of God, or a life of which he is the source and author. The meaning is, that they lived a life which was unlike God, or which he' could not approve. Of the truth of this, in regard to the heathen every- where, there can be no doubt. Rom 1:20; and Rom 1:21-23.

Through the ignorance that is in them. The ignorance of the true God, and of what constituted virtue. Rom 1:20; and Rom 1:21-23.

Because of the blindness of their heart. Marg., hardness. Hardness is a better word. It is a better translation of the Greek; and it better accords with the design of the apostle. Here the reason is stated why they lived and acted as they did, and why the understanding was blinded. It is not that God has enfeebled the human intellect by a judicial sentence on account of the sin of Adam, and made it incapable of perceiving the truth; it is not that there is any deficiency or incapacity of natural powers; it is not that the truths of religion are so exalted that man has no natural ability to understand them, for they may be as well understood as any other truths, 1Cor 2:14. The simple reason is, "the hardness of THE HEART." That is the solution given by an inspired apostle, and that is enough. A man who has a blind and hard heart sees no beauty in truth, and feels not its force, and is insensible to all its appeals. Learn then,

(1.) that men are to blame for the blindness of their understanding. Whatever proceeds from a wicked heart they are responsible for. But for mere inferiority of intellect they would not be to blame.

(2.) They are under obligation to repent and love God. If it was required of them to enlarge their intellects, or create additional faculties of mind, they could not be bound to do it. But where the whole thing required is to have a better heart, they may be held responsible.

(3.) The way to elevate the understandings of mankind is to purify the heart. The approach must be made through the affections. Let the man feel right towards God, and they will soon think right; let the heart be pure, and the understanding will be clear.

(a) "darkened" Acts 26:18 (1) "blindness" "hardness" Verse 19. Who being past feeling. Wholly hardened in sin. There is a total want of all emotion on moral subjects. This is an accurate description of the state of a sinner. He has no feeling, no emotion. He often gives an intellectual assent to the truth, but it is without emotion of any kind: the heart is insensible as the hard rock.

Have given themselves over. They have done it voluntarily. In Rom 1:24, it is said that "God gave them up." There is no inconsistency. Whatever was the agency of God in it, they preferred it. Rom 1:21.

Unto lasciviousness. Rom 1:24, Rom 1:25-26.

(b) "given themselves" Rom 1:24,25 Verse 20. But ye have not so learned Christ. You have been taught a different thing by Christ; you have been taught that his religion requires you to abandon such a coarse of life. Verse 21. If so be that ye have heard him. If you have listened attentively to his instructions, and learned the true nature of his religion. There may be a slight and delicate doubt implied here whether they had attentively listened to his instructions. Doddridge, however, renders it, "Seeing ye have heard him." Eph 3:2.

And have been taught by him. By his Spirit, or by the ministers whom he had appointed.

As the truth is in Jesus. If you have learned the true nature of his religion as he himself taught it. What the truth was which the Lord Jesus thought, or what his principles implied, the apostle proceeds to state in the following verses. Verse 22. That ye put off. That you lay aside, or renounce. The manner in which the apostle states these duties renders it not improbable that there had been some instruction among them of a contrary character, and that it is possible there had been some teachers there who had not enforced, as they should have done, the duties of practical religion.

Concerning the former conversation. The word conversation here means conduct--as it commonly does in the Bible. 2Cor 1:12. The meaning here is, "With respect to your former conduct or habits of life, lay aside all that pertained to a corrupt and fallen nature. You are not to lay everything aside that formerly pertained to you. Your dress, and manners, and modes of speech and intercourse, might have been in many respects correct. But everything that proceeded from sin; every habit, and custom, and mode of speech and of conduct that, was the result of depravity, is to be laid aside. The peculiar characteristics of an unconverted man you are to put off, and are to assume those which are the proper fruits of a renewed heart."

The old man. Rom 6:6.

Which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. The meaning is,

(1.) that the unrenewed man is not under the direction of reason and sound sense, but is controlled by his passions and desires. The word lusts has a more limited signification with us than the original word. That word we now confine to one class of sensual appetites; but the original word denotes any passion or propermiry of the heart. It may include avarice, ambition, the love of pleasure or of gratification in any way; and the meaning here is, that the heart is by nature under the control of such desires.

(2.) Those passions are deceitful. They lead us astray. They plunge us into ruin. All the passions and pleasures of the world are illusive. They promise more than they perform; and they leave their deluded votaries to disappointment, and to tears. Nothing is more "deceitful" than the promised pleasures of this world; and all who yield to them find at last that they "flatter but to betray."

(c) "concerning" Col 3:8,9 (a) "which is corrupt" Rom 6:6 Verse 23. And be renewed. That is, it is necessary that a man who has been following these should become a new man. Jn 3:3, seq. Comp. 2Cor 4:16. The word here used--ανανεοω--does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament; but it has the same meaning as the word used in 2Cor 4:16, and Col 3:10. It means to make new, and is descriptive of the work of regeneration. This was addressed to the church, and to those whom Paul regarded as Christians; and we may learn from this,

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

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

(3.) That it is a matter of obligation to be renewed. Men are bound thus to be renovated. And

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

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

(b) "in the spirit" Rom 12:2 Verse 24. And that ye put on the new man. The new man refers to the renovated nature. This is called, in other places, the "new creature, or the new creation," 2Cor 5:17, and refers to the condition after the heart is changed. The change is so great, that there is no impropriety in speaking of one who has experienced it as "a new man." He has new feelings, principles, and desires. He has laid aside his old principles and practices, and, in everything that pertains to moral character, he is new. His body is indeed the same; the intellectual structure of his mind the same; but there has been a change in his principles and feelings which make him, in all the great purposes of life, a new being. Learn, that regeneration is not a trifling change. It is not a mere change of relations, or of the outward condition. It is not merely being brought from the world into the church, and being baptized, though by the most holy hands; it is much more. None of these things would make proper the declaration, "he is a new man." Regeneration by the Spirit of God does.

After God. καταθεον. In respect to God. The idea is, evidently, that man is so renewed as to become like God, or the Divine image is restored to the soul. In the parallel passage in Colossians Col 3:10 the idea is expressed more fully--"renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." Man, by regeneration, is restored to the lost image of God. Comp. Gen 1:26.

Is created. A word that is often used to denote the new birth, from its strong resemblance to the first act of creation. See it explained 2Cor 5:17.

In righteousness. That is, the renewed man is made to resemble God in righteousness. This proves that man, when he was made, was righteous; or that righteousness constituted a part of the image of God in which he was created. The object of the work of redemption is to restore to man the lost image of God, or to bring him back to the condition in which he was before he fell.

And true holiness. Marg., as in Greek, holiness of truth-- standing in contrast with "lusts of deceit" (Greek) in Eph 4:22. Holiness properly refers to purity towards God, and righteousness to integrity towards men; but it is not certain that this distinction is observed here. The general idea is, that the renovated man is made an upright and a pious man; and that therefore he should avoid the vices which are practised by the heathen, and which the apostle proceeds to specify. This phrase also proves that, when man was created, he was a holy being.