“So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 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. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.” v17-20
I tell – lego, laying an argument to closure or rest
insist – martyromai, to call upon as a witness, solemnly charge
futility – mataiotes, aimlessness due to lacking purpose or any meaningful end, nonsense because transitory
mind – nous, the God-given capacity of each person to reason, the organ of receiving God’s thoughts, through faith
darkened – skotoo, condition of moral, spiritual blindness
thinking – dianoia, critical thinking, required in loving God and neighbours (Mk 12:30 – love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength) but self-destructive if used without God’s light and power (Lk 1:51 – He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts)
life – zoe, all physical and spiritual life, gifted by God and given to us who are made in his image and know Him
separated – alienated
ignorance – agnoia, sometimes wilful disregard
hardening – porosis, hardness that is due to petrifaction, hardness then the result, meaning insensibility, numbness, deadness
sensitivity – apalgao, am past feeling, cease to care, become callous or reckless
given themselves over – paradidomi, to deliver over with a sense of personal involvement
sensuality – aselgeia, lost all restraint
greed – pleonexia, desire for advantage
This description of the Gentiles is eye opening in that it depicts a wilful decision to cut off the God-given capacity for critical reasoning which allows them to appreciate and receive all life, in order to indulge oneself in whatever one chooses, to the point that the only consideration is to desire an advantage over others. Paul insists on us NOT being like this – to the point of a legal order.
“That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.” v20-21
learned – manthano, as someone learns from experience, often with self-reflection
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your mids; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” V22-24
3 things here:
Put off old self – apotithemi, to renounce, cast off, put away, to take off and put away a husk that is rotting away, however much we try to brush or touch it up to look presentable
To be made new in the attitude of your mind – ananeoo, completing a process, going up to a higher level, but only in Eph 4:23, up to new levels of spiritual comprehension and reality, sanctified reasoning, ‘attitude’ here is denoted as spirit – pneumati, could refer to the holy Spirit but also a wind, breath
Put on new self – enduo, sinking into a new garment, ‘new’ is ‘kainon’ – fresh, unused
This sounds a bit like the joke of how to get an elephant into a fridge – you open the door, put the elephant in and close the door. The steps make sense, but there is a great weight to each step. Each step requires a wilful decision and action on our part. To put off the old self, a rejection of our trappings and life-mindset as well as conscious steps away from them must be done. TO be made new is to ask God to continually fill and renew us and in physically setting aside time to be filled with His truth, and to rest and actively hear from Him. To put on the new self is to take on the identity that Christ has given us – His children, priest-kings, to step away from guilt and all the connotations of our past identity and delight in our new unused place at His side.
Out With The Old 