Hypocrites and BackslidersLesson 28

Spiritual Death

Spiritual Death

• This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts, 19 because they have become callous and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness for the greedy practice of every type of impurity.

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Eph 4:18 - Ignorance• Δια + the accusative = because of ignorance. A

total lack of understanding ἄγνοια, ἀγνωσία. • The Philosophical and Legal Usage.ἄγνοια,

meaning "ignorance” in all the difference nuances of the Greek concept of knowledge (→ γινώσκω), is used in the first instance of ignorance of something specific.

• Yet the term was obviously used in Greek earlier than γνῶσις in an absolute sense to denote ignorance generally in the sense of not knowing essentials and therefore of being "uncivilised."

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Eph 4:18 - Ignorance• 2. The Dualistic Gnostic Usage of Hellenism:• Both ἀγνωσία and ἄγνοια (also ἀγνοεῖν) are used

quite characteristically in the dualistic Gnostic language of Hellenism, which offers a parallel to the Stoic usage and is obviously influenced by it.12

• The term ἀγνωσία now signifies lack of the knowledge essential to the salvation of the soul, i.e., the knowledge of God, of the fate of the soul and of true direction for life (→ γινώσκω).

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Eph 4:18 - Ignorance• Men are entangled in such ἀγνωσία before

they receive revelation, i.e., before they believe, and so long as the intoxication of the senses holds them captive.

• Hence ἀγνωσία is again κακία (τῆς ψυχῆς), except that now this is not equated with lack of culture, and we thus have a parallel to the Jewish modification of Stoic usage.

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Eph 4:18 - Ignorance• Early Christianity could accept this usage to the

extent that it expresses the destiny of the world's alienation from God, its fallen estate, and its dependence upon revelation, and therefore to the extent that it rests on a view of man in which the idealistic Greek understanding of man is broken.

• For this reason it is characteristic that early Christianity, like Hellenistic Judaism, could appropriate the language of the Stoa, in which man's responsibility for his knowledge is asserted.

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Eph 4:18 - Ignorance• “Ignorance” is agnoia, which Expositors says “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, I Peter 1:14).

• It is further defined here not simply as ‘their ignorance,’ but as an ignorance ‘being in them’—

• 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.”

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Eph 4:18 - Ignorance

• 1 Thessalonians 4:5 (AMP)

• 5 Not [to be used] in the passion of lust like the heathen, who are ignorant of the true God and have no knowledge of His will,

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Eph 4:18 - Ignorance• 1 John 5:20 (AMP)

• 20 And we [have seen and] know [positively] that the Son of God has [actually] come to this world and has given us understanding and insight [progressively] to perceive (recognize) and come to know better and more clearly Him Who is true; and we are in Him Who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah). This [Man] is the true God and Life eternal.H & B-028 9LWBC 3-30-08

Eph 4:18 - Ignorance - O'Brien

• As if to underscore the point, Paul adds that their delusion is ‘due to hardness of heart’.

• This second causal clause is subordinate to the first,200 rather than coordinate or parallel with it: the Gentiles’ culpable ignorance arose out of their obstinate rejection of God’s truth.

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Eph 4:18 - Ignorance - O'Brien

• Although the term rendered hardening has been interpreted to mean ‘blindness’201 (cf. AV; and note Calvin), in the New Testament it consistently refers to ‘stubbornness’, and here it signifies that ‘pagan immorality is … wilful and culpable . . . , the result of their deliberate refusal of the moral light available to them in their own thought and conscience’.202

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Eph 4:18 - Ignorance - O'Brien

• And an obstinate rejection of the truth of God is the beginning of the terrible downward path of evil.

• O'Brien, Peter Thomas: The Letter to the Ephesians. Grand Rapids, Mich. : W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999 (The Pillar New Testament Commentary), S. 322

•

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Eph 4:18 - hardness• The word “blindness” is pōōis, “hardness.” It

means literally “the covering with a callous.” • The word occurs in Mark 3:5; Romans

11:25, and here, and is used of mental or moral hardening.

• These Gentiles were alienated from God through their culpable moral and spiritual ignorance and through the hardening of their hearts.

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Eph 4:18 - hardness• "to make dull or insensitive," physically, or

mentally. • The verb occurs 5 times in the NT and is

always fig., usually of the heart. • It refers to the hardening of the Jews in Jn.

12:40; R. 11:7; 2 C. 3:14, and in Mk. 6:52; 8:17 to that of the disciples, whose misunderstanding is presented as a relapse into Jewish modes of thought,

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Eph 4:18 - hardness

• Romans 11:7 (AMP)

• 7 What then [shall we conclude]? Israel failed to obtain what it sought [God’s favor by obedience to the Law]. Only the elect (those chosen few) obtained it, while the rest of them became callously indifferent (blinded, hardened, and made insensible to it).

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Eph 4:18 - hardness•

• Romans 11:25 (AMP)

• 25 Lest you be self-opinionated (wise in your own conceits), I do not want you to miss this hidden truth and mystery, brethren: a hardening (insensibility) has [temporarily] befallen a part of Israel [to last] until the full number of the ingathering of the Gentiles has come in,

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Eph 4:18 - hardness•

• 2 Corinthians 3:14 (AMP)• 14 In fact, their minds were grown hard and

calloused [they had become dull and had lost the power of understanding]; for until this present day, when the Old Testament (the old covenant) is being read, that same veil still lies [on their hearts], not being lifted [to reveal] that in Christ it is made void and done away.

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Eph 4:18 - Ignorance• "because of the ignorance that is in them" • This refers to self-willed ignorance (cf.

Romans 1:18-3:20). • "because of the stubbornness of their

hearts"• This is the abiding result of the fall (cf. Gen.

3; John 3:17-25).

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Eph 4:18 - hardness

• John 12:40 (AMP)40 He has blinded their eyes and hardened and benumbed their [callous, degenerated] hearts [He has made their minds dull], to keep them from seeing with their eyes and understanding with their hearts and minds and repenting and turning to Me to heal them.

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Eph 4:18 - hardness• Romans 11:25 (AMP)25 Lest you be self-

opinionated (wise in your own conceits), I do not want you to miss this hidden truth and mystery, brethren: a hardening (insensibility) has [temporarily] befallen a part of Israel [to last] until the full number of the ingathering of the Gentiles has come in,

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Eph 4:18 - hardness• 2 Corinthians 3:14 (AMP)14 In fact, their

minds were grown hard and calloused [they had become dull and had lost the power of understanding]; for until this present day, when the Old Testament (the old covenant) is being read, that same veil still lies [on their hearts], not being lifted [to reveal] that in Christ it is made void and done away.

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Eph 4:18 - hardness• Mark 6:52 (AMP)52 For they failed to consider or

understand [the teaching and meaning of the miracle of] the loaves; [in fact] their hearts had grown callous [had become dull and had lost the power of understanding].

• Mark 8:17 (AMP)17 And being aware [of it], Jesus said to them, Why are you reasoning and saying it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet discern or understand? Are your hearts in [a settled state of] hardness?

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Eph 4:18 - hardness• The sin which derives from man's will must be

worked out wholly and utterly in the sphere of his will.

• The people which will not hear, which is deaf to the divine admonitions (Is. 1:2-5), will have this obduracy as its penalty and judgment (Is. 6:9 f.).

• There is no more hope of amendment or instruction.

• The only remaining possibility is that of complete renewal, of new creation after the destruction of the old, Is. 6:11-13.

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Spiritual Death: Eph 4:19• 19 who, having become callous, have given

themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

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Hardening - O'Brien

• The recital of the Gentiles’ lifestyle concludes with a brief but stark sketch of the moral depravity into which they have sunk.

• The thought of hardening their hearts (v. 18) continues203 in the statement that they have ‘lost all sensitivity’, a vivid classical term204 which literally could refer to skin that had become callous and no longer felt pain.

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Hardening - O'Brien• Here it means to ‘lose the capacity to feel shame

or embarrassment’,205 while the perfect tense describes a state of affairs that led to (or else accompanied) the loss of all self-control.206

• Because of their lack of moral feeling and discernment there were no restraints to their plunging into all kinds of degrading activities.

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Hardening - O'Brien• They abandoned themselves to

debauchery, impurity, and covetousness. • According to Romans 1, the element of

divine retribution is emphasized: God delivered humanity over (vv. 24, 26, 28) to their own desires, especially to unnatural vices (vv. 24–32), because they refused to accept his self-revelation.

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Eph 4:19 - Callous• (4:19) “Who” is hoitines, a relative and

indefinite pronoun showing character or nature, “who are of such a nature that.”

• “Being past feeling” is apalgeō, a participle in the perfect tense. “to cease to feel pain or grief, to become callous, insensible, apathetic.”

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"given themselves over" - O'Brien• Here in the context of Ephesians the ‘handing

over’ is ascribed to the heathen ‘themselves’, with their active pursuit of evil brought out in the phrase ‘for the practice [of]’ (NIV: so as to indulge).

• The two emphases are not contradictory: God gives men and women over to the debased behaviour which they gladly choose.

• In the human activity the divine judgment takes place, and it is at the same time a self-judgment.207

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Eph 4:19 - Given themselves

• “Have given themselves over” is paradidōi literally, “to give alongside.”

• Today we would say, “sell down the river.”

• The verb means “to give into the hands of another, to betray, to hand over, give one’s self up, present one’s self.”

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Eph 4:19 - Given themselves

• ἀ ｹ οδίδωμι. verb, third person, plural, aorist, active, indicative1.

• a. "To give or do something which one should in fulfillment of an obligation or expectation." Mt. 20:8; 2 Tm. 4:8 (a reward); Mt. 21:41 (fruits of the leased vineyard); Mk. 12:17 (Mt. 22:21; Lk. 20:25) (taxes); Mt. 27:58 (the requested body of Jesus);

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"licentiousness"- O'Brien• The three evils to which pagans have given

themselves, namely, debauchery [licentiousness], impurity [uncleanness], and covetousness, frequently appear in catalogues of vices.208

• 'licentiousness or ‘Debauchery’, which according to Galatians 5:19 is one of the works of the flesh, is that vice which ‘throws off all restraint and flaunts itself, “unawed by shame or fear,” without regard for self respect, for the rights and feelings of others, or for public decency’.209

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"impurity" - O'Brien• The Gentiles have given themselves over to it in

order to indulge in every kind of ‘impurity’. • This term,210 which has a wide range of

meanings and encompasses riotous and excessive living, can refer to unrestrained sexual behaviour.

• Although the latter may be particularly in view, the reference here cannot be restricted to this, since the text speaks of ‘every kind of impurity’.

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Eph 4:19 - Lasciviousness• “Lasciviousness” is aselgeia (ἀu963 εu955 γu949

ιu945 ), “wanton lawless insolence.” The aselgeia (ἀu963 εu955 γu949 ιu945 ) 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.

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Eph 4:19 - Lasciviousness• To lasciviousness (τῃ ἀσελγειᾳ [tēi aselgeiāi]).

Unbridled lust as in II Cor. 12:21; Gal. 5:19. ἀσέλγεια (aselgeia), ας (as), ἡ (hē): n.fem. sensuality, debauchery, licentiousness, lewdness, i.e., be unrestrained in moral attitudes and behaviors (Mk 7:22; Ro 13:13; 2Co 12:21; Gal 5:19; Eph 4:19; 1Pe 4:3; 2Pe 2:2, 7, 18; Jude 4+)

• Swanson, James: Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Greek (New Testament). electronic ed. Oak Harbor : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, S. GGK816H & B-028 35LWBC 3-30-08

Eph 4:19 - Lasciviousness• ἀσέλγεια] Vg. impudicitia. Cf. Gal. 5:20 πορνεία

ἀκαθαρσία ἀσέλγεια, on which Lightfoot remarks: “a man may be ἀκάθαρτος and hide his sin; he does not become ἀσελγής, until he shocks public decency.”

• Swete, Henry Barclay (Hrsg.): The Gospel According to St. Mark. The Greek Text With Introduction, Notes and Indices. London; New York : MacMillan and co., limited; The MacMillan company, 1898, S. 154H & B-028 36LWBC 3-30-08

Eph 4:19 - To work

• “To work” is eis ergasian (εu7984 ςἐu961 γu945 σu953 αu957 ), literally, “to a working.” Vincent says, “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.

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Eph 4:19 - Work• εργασια = to make a business of something.

When you get into promiscuity, you have made a profession of uncleanness.

• The soul is not clean and now is becoming covered with scar tissue. Increased scar tissue on the soul.

• Frantic search for happiness, which comes up next: with greediness, which is πληονιζια = an insatiable, unsatisfied desire or lust.

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Eph 4:19 - To Uncleanness• The eis (εu7984 ς), ‘unto,’ is very forcible.” “All

uncleanness” is akatharsias pasē (ἀu954 αu952 αu961 σu953 αu962 πu945 σu951 ς), “every kind of uncleanness,” moral uncleanness in the widest sense.

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Eph 4:19 - Greediness• The Frantic search for happiness, which comes up

next: with greediness, which is πληονιζια = an insatiable, unsatisfied desire or lust.

• one who always wants more• This means more and more for me at any cost (cf.

Col. 3:5). • Humans live only for themselves, for the moment. • This is the curse of the Fall of Genesis 3

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"greediness" - O'Brien

• Finally, [greediness] ‘covetousness’211 appears as the climax of the list (cf. the similar position in Eph. 5:5; and Col. 3:5, where it is emphatically stressed because of its close relationship to idolatry).

• Although it is possible to understand ‘greed’ as a third vice, alongside debauchery and impurity, the prepositional expression ‘with covetousness’ suggests that the indecent conduct already described was practised with a continual lust for more.

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"greediness" - O'Brien

• The pagan way of life was characterized by an insatiable desire to participate in more and more forms of immorality.

• ‘Ultimately, it becomes a vicious circle because new perversions must be sought to replace the old’.212

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Eph 4:19 - Greediness• The word means first a. "having more", then b.

"receiving more," and finally c. "wanting more." • "hunger for power" - Power• "striving for power" - Power• "to take the greater share" - Materialism • "to increase one's possessions" - Materialism • "to seek aggrandisement" - Approbation• "insatiability" in respect of food and pleasures -

Chemical

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Eph 4:19 - Greediness• "to take advantage of" - Sexual• "to seek political gain" - Power• "robber" - Materialism• "the will to press one's advantage" • "selfishness"• "presumptuous" ("overstepping due bounds

(as of propriety or courtesy) : taking liberties")

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Eph 4:19 - Greediness• "to outdo someone (gen.) in something" (dat.), • "to be superior" in number and weapons, • "to take precedence" in power, • "to forge ahead" at the expense of others, • "to treat someone arrogantly,"

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Eph 4:19 - Greediness• "to receive more" in material distribution, • "to be at an advantage" in dealings with the gods -

Religious • "to gain advantages,"• "to take advantage of someone," • "to seize the goods of others,"• "to seek something by force," - Power

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The Results

Unclean

Lascivious

Greedy

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Definition Resource

• Kittel, Gerhard (Hrsg.) ; Bromiley, Geoffrey William (Hrsg.) ; Friedrich, Gerhard (Hrsg.): Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. electronic ed. Grand Rapids, MI : Eerdmans, 1964-c1976, S. 5:1022

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