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Darkness in the Soul (Ephesians
This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as
other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.
This passage of Ephesians, verses 17 to 24, is probably the strongest and most
graphic warning to Christians in the New Testament!
Paul issues this warning now because he knows that the great results of the
previous verses depend on the personal choices that people make in the Christian
life.
In this passage we are shown that it is possible for a Christian to have a
darkened spirit (soul), an understanding that is like that of an unbeliever
(other Gentiles), and the empty soul that has no spiritual understanding in it.
And we are also shown that it is completely unnecessary for any of us to have
these problems. But as long as we live we are dependent on doctrine from the
Word of God and on our day-to-day resolve to learn Bible truth at the feet of
those the Lord has provided as communicators.
The developed Christian life in Grace is supposed to lead to maturity,
edification, and effective function, as described in
But God has ordained a system for getting Bible truth into the believer, via the
public proclamation of the Word of God and the teaching ministry of the Holy
Spirit. It is incumbent upon every believer to keep himself on track by staying
in God's plan for spiritual growth.
"This I say, therefore"
"This" is a reference to the statements which follow, comments on the subject of
insensitivity, obtuseness, and indifference in the soul. Indifference to the
Word of God is a Christian's greatest occupational hazard. The apostle warns
about the hardness of soul which is the direct result of failure to obtain Bible
teaching and spiritual understanding.
The first hints about the problems of immaturity are brought out in Eph. 4:14.
Immature Christians are "children", gullible, pushed about by every phony idea
that comes along ("winds of doctrine"), and easily fooled by crafty imitators.
Everyone begins the Christian life as a novice; we all started our Christian
walk as "babes in Christ." A new believer is expected to be naive, to behave as
a "child", and not to know how to function as an "adult." Young children have to
grow up.
But the spiritual "babe" needs to take in spiritual food every day in order to
grow. Otherwise, the effects of spiritual malnutrition will be obvious for
everyone to see. Verses 11 to 16 tell us how to grow up spiritually and function
like adults. Verses 17 to 19 verses show what happens to Christians who do not
follow the Lord's plan for growth.
"and testify in the Lord" - a use of the verb MARTUREW, "to make a solemn
appeal".
Paul is very concerned for his Ephesian friends and colleagues. In his wide
travels he has seen every kind of dysfunctional Christian. He knows what
Christians need for Christian growth and spiritual health, and he knows how easy
it is for indifference to develop. He begs his friends not to "walk as other
Gentiles walk".
"that you walk not as other Gentiles walk"
"walk" refers to the pattern of life a person follows. Chapter 4 began with his
exhortation to "walk worthy of the vocation to which you are called." And he
continues in chapter 5 with "Therefore, be followers of God, as dear children,
and walk in love..."
"Gentiles" is ETHNEI, the plural of ETHNOS, "a nation; a people". Here the
reference is to the rest of the "general population" who have not accepted
Christ as Savior. Paul is pointing out that if a Christian has deadness of soul,
his manner of life will exactly resemble that of the unbeliever.
1 Cor. 3:3, "For ye are yet carnal; for whereas there is among you envying, and
strife, and divisions, are you not carnal, and walk as men?"
Christians are supposed to be distinguished by their walk. But there are
believers, just as there are unbelievers, who are moral or immoral, religious or
irreligious, self-righteous and legalistic, living in overt sin or not, in short
having nothing to distinguish them from other people.
Now begins the statement of the main problem in Christianity and in individual
Christians' lives.
"in the vanity of their mind"
"Vanity" is the Greek word MATAIOTEIS, "emptiness; vain; fruitless; without
profit".
A believer who is occupied with Christ and living in the Word is constantly
"renewing his mind" by a process in which he continually takes in (inhales) the
Word of God and exercises the Word (exhales). Let's read ahead...
Eph. 4:22-24, That you put off concerning the former manner of life the old man,
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and BE RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT
OF YOUR MIND, and that you put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness.
The apostle Paul makes a very similar plea to the Christians in
Romans 12:1,2, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that
you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye
transformed by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, that you may prove what is that good,
and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The opposite of a RENEWED mind is an EMPTY mind.
A negative Christian "exhales", that is, he thinks, speaks, and acts based on
the contents of his mind. "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." However,
because he does not "inhale" the Word of God, he can only "exhale" his own
ideas, his own doctrines, or the ideas and doctrines that he has picked up from
whatever sources in the world.
When a soul is empty, there is a resulting "vacuum" that pulls in false
doctrines, doctrines of demons, darkness. Satan has a complete system of false
theology to be used to ensnare the novice, the unprotected, the gullible. Today
these doctrines may be any system of religion, existentialism, communism, or any
other non-biblical proposition. Into the "vacuum" will go misery, mental
attitude sins, religion, legalism, emphasis on details of life, human viewpoint,
and so forth.
Topic: SATAN
1 Tim. 4:1-3, Now the Spirit speaks expressly that, in the latter times, some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of
demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot
iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods, which God has
created to be received with thanksgiving by them who believe and KNOW THE TRUTH.
"of their mind" - NOUS. This word is a reference to the mind as a container of
the thoughts of the soul. The phrase is not "...vanity of thoughts" but
"...emptiness of the mind, the container of thoughts."
The verb equivalent to NOUS is NOEW, "to think". The noun, therefore, means
"place of thinking". Both these words are used extensively in the Greek New
Testament; and both words are used with various prefixes to indicate different
kinds of thinking.
For example, DIANOIA is DIA + NOUS. DIA is the preposition "through", so DIANOIA
are thoughts moving "through the mind", or simply "active thoughts." This is
used in Eph. 4:18.
In another example, the Greeks had an expression for changing one's thoughts,
METANOIA, the "changing of the mind." This word was translated "repentance" in
the King James Version, and the word "repent" 17th Century England meant "to
rethink" or to change one's mind about something. The change in idiom in modern
times has resulted in a lot of confusion about repentance; but repentance is
simply changing one's mind, reversing previous thinking.
Verse 17 reads, then, "This is say, therefore, and make a solemn warning in the
Lord that your manner of life is not to be as the Gentiles manner of life, in
the emptiness of the mentality of the soul."
"Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through
the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;"
"Understanding" is DIANOIA, the activity of thinking in the soul.
READ Isa. 55:7-9, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord ..."
There are two types of active thinking [DIANOIA] that are available to a
Christian.
The first type is called DARKNESS and refers both to satanic thoughts and human
viewpoint.
Col. 1:21, And you that were once alienated and enemies in mind by wicked works,
yet now has he reconciled."
2 Cor. 10:5, Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every though to the
obedience of Christ.
And from 1 Tim. 4:1, "...doctrines of demons"
The opposite type of active thinking is DOCTRINE, which is the Word of God
active in the mind of the believer.
Again - the way a believer sets himself up for trouble and darkness in the soul
is to NEGLECT BIBLE TEACHING. It happens when one is too busy, apathetic,
antagonistic toward doctrine, or antagonistic toward the teacher of doctrine.
"darkness" is SKOTIDZW, "to shroud in darkness; to be benighted; to bring about
moral obscurity."
The process of darkness: the Christian who is negative toward Bible truth opens
up his soul and empties it; satanic doctrines occupy the soul by moving into the
vacuum. There are scores of repercussions; here are eight of them.
1. Darkness causes a Christian
to fail to orient to the plan of God. He does not know God's plan or how it
works, and he does not know how he fits into God's plan.
2. Darkness brings about a
failure to orient to the grace of God. The result is arrogance and legalism,
lack of forgiveness, lack of graciousness.
3. Darkness causes inner
misery, unhappiness, lack of peace. These things cannot be compensated for by
anything in life, but the negative Christian spends his life in a frantic but
futile pursuit of happiness through the details of life.
4. Darkness can bring about
neuroses and psychoses.
Phil. 4:6,7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God,
which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard [STABILIZE] your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus.
5. Darkness results in a
frantic search for happiness through details of life, or through some form of
sublimation.
6. Darkness leads to slavery
to the details of life. Sins may grow out of legitimate things in life (money,
success, pleasure, sex, social life, family, loved ones, career, hobbies,
health, status symbols).
7. Darkness leads to apostasy,
erroneous thinking, false doctrine in the soul.
8. Darkness is accompanied by
a lack of capacity to love, leading to pseudo-love towards God, family, the
community.
"being alienated from the life of God" - the perfect passive participle of
APALLOTRIOW, "to alienate".
Disorientation to the plan of God is a result of darkness. A Christian can live
his whole life on this earth and always be out of phase with God's plan for his
life. This can go on indefinitely as long as the believer refuses to hear and
believe the Word of God.
All of this is caused by...
"through the ignorance that is in them" - DIA plus AGNOIA. "By means of" or
"because of" the "ignorance" that is in them.
This word is, literally, "no thinking". The Greek word describes someone who is
ignorant of the content of something that he is supposed to know. To "ignore"
means "not to think about".
Therefore, the Christian in darkness either has not learned Bible doctrine, or
he does not think of the Bible doctrine to which he has been exposed. So he
lives in darkness. Without knowledge of the Word of God it is impossible to
orient to God's plan of Grace. When a believer lacks knowledge and edification
he is out of step with the plan of God.
"in them" refers to believers who have darkness in their souls.
"because of the blindness of their hearts"
"Blindness" is POROSIS, which is a direct cognate of the English word "porosis".
POROSIS means "callous" or "something which has hardened or petrified". It is
used for the buildup of scars from multiple wounds in the same place, hence
"scar tissue."
So verse 18 reads, "Having become darkened in thinking, having been alienated
from the life of God, because of the ignorance which is in them, because of the
callous on their heart."
So, in verses 17 and 18, all the ingredients for soul blackness have been
presented:
1. Negative volition towards
Bible truth
2. The resulting callous (scar
tissue) on the soul
3. The opening up of the
vacuum (emptiness) of the soul
4. Darkness in the soul
5. Subjectivity
6. Alienation from the life of
God.
"Who, being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to
work all uncleanness with greediness."
Remember - Paul is warning Christians not to fall into this lifestyle. It is
easy to associate a sinful manner of living with non-Christians. But Christians
who live apart from the plan of God can easily be involved in "Gentile"
lasciviousness or uncleanness.
"Who" is a relative pronoun referring to people who have callous on their souls,
who are negative toward Bible teaching.
"being past feeling" is APALGEO, "to cease to feel anything; to become
calloused". Callous develops from failure to learn and appropriate the Word of
God. For the negative Christian, callous remains on the soul and accumulates,
resulting in a lack of feeling. In other words, his situation continually gets
worse.
Darkness of the soul is characterized by mental attitude sins, such as
arrogance, bitterness, jealousy, worry, vindictiveness, implacability.
The antidote is first, Confession of Sin; then, Occupation with Christ and
Living in the Word.
"have given themselves over unto lasciviousness". Literally, "have betrayed
themselves into immoral sexual activity (ASELGEIA)"
"to work all uncleanness" - or, "to make a profession of impurity".
"with greediness" - this is the frantic search for happiness through the details
of life. Because details of life cannot satisfy, the search becomes more and
more intense, resulting in greediness.
Greediness is the willingness to do something immoral, illegal, or harmful to
other people in order to obtain something one desires. The Christian life
removes greediness because a believer trusts God to supply all needs and has the
patience to wait for God's timing in everything.
But you have not so
learned Christ; If so be that you have heard him, and have been taught by him,
as the truth is in Jesus: