Free Bible Commentary
“Ephesians 4:17-19”
Categories: Ephesians“So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 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; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.”
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Starting in verse 17 and extending through the rest of chapter 4, the Apostle Paul and the Lord Jesus “affirm” together our need for a total makeover. In this section of the letter we are told to “lay aside the old self” (verse 22), and “put on the new self” (verse 23), in a continual renewing and remodeling of our lives after the perfect example of Christ. We simply can “no longer” live our lives (“walk”), the in the sinful ways that we used to before we came to the Lord in obedient faith.
Before we were touched and enlightened and saved by the Gospel, we existed in a shroud of spiritual darkness. We did not have a good understanding of God’s will for our lives, and the damage that we were doing to ourselves, because of “ignorance”. This lack of understanding on our part was likely a combination of willful ignorance and a careless unawareness. But whether our ignorance was intentional or inadvertent, it still “excluded” us “from the life of God.”
Persisting in this condition of alienation from God and deviation from His will for a prolonged period of time can ultimately lead to a “hardened” and “calloused” heart. We can actually progress in our stubborn rebellion and sinfulness to such a degree that we become “past feeling” (verse 19 – NKJV). In this horrid condition a person becomes completely “given” over to “sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity.”
The point is that we can start to slip backward and drift in the wrong direction at any time if we are not overly careful, and this can eventually lead to a “spiritual freefall”. We must continually be “checking our walk” and repenting and making the necessary corrections and improvements that point us in the direction of godliness. There is no more devastating place for any person to find himself than “excluded from the life of God”!
Please read Ephesians 4:20-24 for tomorrow.
Blessings!
- Louie Taylor
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