Ephesians 4:17 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Ephesians 4:17

Comments

In this practical part of the epistle Paul now turns to consider the new person that results from conversion. But first, to draw attention to the greatness of the change, he begins a few verses on the sad state of the human heart before we are saved. What an amazing analysis this is of the fallen state of mankind. Here is the doctrine of sin; here is the biblical picture of the fallen person. ‘This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye’ from now on walk not as other Gentiles, the unsaved Gentiles walk, ‘in the vanity of their mind.’ That word ‘vanity’ we most often associate with pride today, but that is not the meaning here in the Bible. The word vanity here translates the Greek term for emptiness and so in Bible usage it means, futility. The other Gentiles walk in the futility or emptiness of their mind.What they once were, as children of wrath, they must be no more. They were Gentiles by birth and the Gentiles had a well-deserved reputation for godlessness among the Old Testament people of God. Now they are called to live an entirely different manner of life and to deliberately repudiate that life which they have followed so far. Paul is deeply concerned that their lives should reflect their calling and their faith. The rest of Gentiles will continue to walk in their godless ways and the Ephesians cannot prevent this, but they are to leave behind such ways themselves. He uses the term ‘walk’ because it so accurately describes the Christian life: it is a continual steady progress. For the other Gentiles it is a life of continuing sin and disobedience to God, but for the believer it is a life of sanctification and willing obedience to God, delighting in his ways and rejoicing in the power given by the Spirit to put to death sin. There must be a difference between believers and unbelievers and a difference which is evident even to the world.Paul solemnly invokes the Lord’s authority as he exhorts the church, for what he says is not just his own view but the will of God for every believer. To ignore his words is then not just to ignore Paul, a man, but to ignore the Lord who speaks through him.

Application

Futility, emptiness, means there is absolutely no context or meaning to life, and atheism is proud of it – of course not, it says. When you die, you are dead. You are just a collection of particles and one day they will disintegrate and you will be no more and you will be reabsorbed, you will disappear. One day it will happen to the whole world. They even glory in the absence of any context or depth or purpose or meaning. Astonishing!

The mind is the greatest part of the human constitution, the reasoning faculty. This is the thing that marks us out so greatly from the animals, and yet in the case of the unsaved it is full of what Scripture calls emptiness: it is futile. That is the description of us before conversion. By futile, he means that we have no direction, we have no context for life. What is life? Who am I? Where do I fit in? What is the place of the human race? What is its purpose? Well, there is none, there is no context. After death, does life go on? They are futile in their aspirations, setting their minds entirely on gain in this world and praise from men – things which cannot profit or be retained. They are futile in their worship, serving gods of their own making who cannot bless them or save them, and not the true God. They are futile because they are ignorant of the truth and willfully ignorant and waste much effort to no gain, never seeing life in its true perspective. They do not wish to retain the knowledge of God and so are carried away by all manner of false ideas that turn upside down the true scale of values. They lose track of what is right and wrong, because they reject those standards that are written on their hearts and invent standards which are the opposite of those by which they will finally be judged.

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Ephesians 4:17 Commentary and Bible Study

Explain meaning of Ephesians 4:17