Charles Hodge · 19 of 30

Chapter IV. An Exhortatin to Unity, vs. 1-16—An Exhortation to Holiness and to Specific Virtues, vs. 17-32 · Part 4

The principal difficulty in this verse concerns the relation of its several clauses. First, the participle ὄντες may be connected with the second clause, so as to read, "Dark as to the understanding, being (ὄντες) alienated from the life of God." This is the view taken by our translators, which supposes that the first clause merely expresses a characteristic of the , for which the second assigns the reason. ‘They are darkened, because alienated.’ But this is not consistent with the relation of this verse to the preceding. ‘The heathen walk in because darkened,’ &c. Besides, according to the apostle, the heathen are not in darkness because alienated from the life of God, but they are alienated from that life because of their ignorance. Secondly, the four clauses included in the verse may be considered as so related that the first is connected with the third, and the second with the fourth. The passage would then read, ‘Having the understanding darkened on account of the ignorance that is in them; alienated from the life of God on account of the hardness of their hearts.’ But this unnaturally dissociates the clauses, contrary to one of the most marked peculiarities of the apostle’s style; whose sentences are like the links of a chain, one depending on another in regular succession. This mode of construction also makes ignorance the cause of the darkness, whereas it is the effect. A man’s being enveloped in darkness is the cause of his not seeing, but his not seeing is not the cause of the darkness. Idiocy is the cause of ignorance and not the reverse. The apostle conceives of the heathen as men whose minds are impaired or darkened, and therefore they are ignorant. Thirdly, the clauses may be taken as they stand, ὄντες being connected with the first clause. ‘The heathen walk in vanity, being (i. e. because they are) darkened as to the understanding, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, through the hardness of their heart.’ Darkness of mind is the cause of ignorance, ignorance and consequent obduracy of heart are the cause of alienation from God. This is both the logical and theological order of sequence. The soul in its natural state cannot discern the things of God—therefore it does not know them, therefore the heart is hard and therefore it is destitute of . This is what the apostle teaches in 1 Cor. 2, 14-16. The blind cannot see; therefore they are ignorant of the beauty of creation, therefore they are destitute of delight in its glories. You cannot heal them by light. The eye must first be opened. Then comes vision, and then joy and love. This view of the passage is in accordance with the analogy of Scripture; which constantly represents as necessary to spiritual discernment, and spiritual discernment as necessary to holy affections. Therefore the apostle says of the heathen that their understanding is darkened, a film is over their eyes, and they are alienated from God because of the ignorance consequent on their mental blindness.

V. 19. Who, not the simple relative, but οἵτινες, such as who. The practical proof of their being in the state described is to be found in the fact that being without feeling they give themselves over to the sins mentioned. Ἀπηλγηκότες, no longer susceptible of pain. Conscience ceases to upbraid or to restrain them. They, therefore, give themselves up to excess, to practise all kinds of uncleanness, ἐν πλεονεξίᾳ, with greediness, i. e. insatiably. The parallel passage, 2 Pet. 2, 14, "Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin," would favour this interpretation so far as the idea is concerned. But the word πλεονεξία always elsewhere means, covetousness; a desire to have more. And as this gives a good sense it is not right to depart from the established meaning. Ἐν πλεονεξίᾳ, therefore, means with, i. e. together with, covetousness. The heathen give themselves up to uncleanness and covetousness. These two vices are elsewhere thus associated, as in ch. 5, 3. 5, "Let not uncleanness or covetousness be named among you." "No unclean person, nor covetous man, &c." See also Col. 3, 5. Rom. 1, 29. 1 Cor. 5, 10. Here as in Rom. 1, 24, immorality is connected with impiety as its inevitable consequence. Men in their folly think that morality may be preserved without religion, and even that morality is religion; but reason, experience and Scripture all prove that if men do not love and fear God they give themselves up to vice in some form, and commonly either to uncleanness or avarice. There is a two-fold reason for this; one is the nature of the soul which has no independent source of goodness in itself, so that if it turns from God it sinks into pollution, and the other is the punitive justice of God. He abandons those who abandon him. In Rom. 1, 24 and elsewhere, it is said ‘God gives the impious up to uncleanness;’ here it is said, they give themselves up. These are only different forms of the same truth. Men are restrained from evil by the hand of God, if he relaxes his hold they rush spontaneously to destruction. All systems of education, all projects of reform in social or political life, not founded in religion, are, according to the doctrine of this passage and of all Scripture, sure to lead to destruction.

V. 20. But ye have not so learned Christ. That is, your knowledge of Christ has not led you to live as the heathen. As we are said to learn a thing, but never to learn a person, the expression μανθάνειν τὸν Χριστόν, is without example. But as the Scriptures speak of preaching Christ, which does not mean merely to preach his doctrines, but to preach Christ himself, to set him forth as the object of supreme love and confidence, so "to learn Christ" does not mean merely, to learn his doctrines, but to attain the knowledge of Christ as the Son of God, God in our nature, the Holy one of God, the Saviour from sin, whom to know is holiness and life. Any one who has thus learned Christ cannot live in darkness and sin. Such knowledge is in its very nature light. Where it enters, the mind is irradiated, refined, and purified. Nihil ergo de Christo didicit qui nihil vita ab infidelibus differt; neque eninm a mortificatione carnis separari potest Christi cognitio.—CALVIN.

V. 21. If so be ye have heard him. "To hear him does not mean to hear about him. This the apostle in writing to Christians could not express in a hypothetical form. He knew that the Ephesian Christians had heard about Christ. To hear, in this connection, implies intelligence and obedience, as in the frequently occurring phrase, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear;" and "To-day if ye will hear his voice, &c.," and in a multitude of other cases. To hear the voice of God or of Christ, therefore, is not merely to perceive with the outward ear but to receive with the understanding and the heart. The particle εἴγε, if indeed, does not express doubt; but ‘if, as I take for granted.’ The apostle assumes that they were obedient to the truth. ‘Ye have not so learned Christ as to allow of your living as do the , if, as I take for granted, you have really heard his voice and have been taught by him. Ἐν αὐτῷ, however, does not properly mean by him, but ‘in communion with him.’ ‘Ye have been taught in him, inasmuch as truth is in Jesus, to put off the old man.’ The knowledge of Christ, hearing him, union with him, his inward teaching, are necessarily connected with the of sin.

The clause καθώς ἐστιν ἀλήθεια ἐν τῷ Ἰησοῦ, rendered in our version as the truth is in Jesus, is variously explained. The interpretation intimated above supposes καθώς, to have its frequent causal sense; since, inasmuch as; and truth to mean moral truth, or excellence. This sense it very often has. It frequently means true religion, and is used antithetically to unrighteousness, as in Rom. 2, 8. The principle here involved is, that knowledge of God is inconsistent with a life of sin, because knowledge implies love, and God is holy. To know him, therefore, is to love holiness. The apostle’s argument is: ‘If you know Christ you will forsake sin, because he is holy—truth, i. e. moral excellence is in him. If you have been taught any thing in virtue of your communion with him, you have been taught to put off the old man.’

Another interpretation supposes καθώς to mean as, expressing the manner. ‘If ye have been taught as the truth is in Jesus,’ i. e. correctly taught. But this requires the article even in English—the truth, meaning the definite system of truth which Jesus taught. In the Greek, however, the article necessary to give colour to this interpretation is wanting. Besides, the expression "the truth is in Jesus" is obscure and unscriptural, if truth be taken to mean true doctrine. And more than this, this interpretation supposes there may be a true and false teaching by, or in communion with, Christ. This cannot be. The apostle’s hypothesis is, not whether Christ has taught them correctly, but whether he has taught them at all.

A third interpretation makes the following infinitive the subject of the sentence; ‘Truth in Jesus is, to put off the old man.’ The meaning of the whole passage would then be, ‘If you know Christ ye cannot live as the heathen, for truth in Jesus is to put away sin,’ i. e. true fellowship with Christ is to put off, &c. But this violates the natural construction of the passage, according to which the infinitive ἀποθέσθαι depends on ἐδιδάχθητε, ‘Ye have been taught to put off, &c.’ And the expression, ‘It is truth in Jesus to put away sin’ is in itself awkward and obscure. The first mentioned interpretation, therefore, is on the whole to be preferred.

V. 22. includes dying to sin, or mortification of the flesh, and living to ; or as it is here expressed, putting off the old man and putting on the new man. The obvious allusion is to a change of clothing. To put off, is to renounce, to remove from us, as garments which are laid aside. To put on, is to adopt, to make our own. We are called upon to put off the works of darkness, Rom. 13, 12, to put away lying, Eph. 4, 25; to put off anger, wrath, malice, &c., Col. 3, 8; to lay aside all filthiness, James 1, 21. On the other hand, we are called upon to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, Rom. 13, 14, Gal. 3, 27; the armour of light, Rom. 13, 12; bowels of mercy, Col. 3, 12; and men are said to be clothed with power from on high, Luke 24, 49; with immortality or incorruption, &c., 1 Cor. 15, 53. As a man’s clothes are what strike the eye—so these expressions are used in reference to the whole phenomenal life—all those acts and attributes by which the interior life of the soul is manifested;—and not only that, but also the inherent principle itself these acts flow. For here we are said to put off the old man, that is, our corrupt nature, which is old or original as opposed to the new man or principle of spiritual life. Comp. Col. 3, 9, "Lie not one to another, seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds." Rom. 6, 6, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him." What is here called "the old man " Paul elsewhere calls himself, as in Rom. 7, 14, "I am ," "In me there dwelleth no good thing," v. 18; or, "law in the members," v. 23; or "the flesh" as opposed to the spirit, as in Gal. 5, 16. 17. This evil principle or nature is called old because it precedes what is new, and because it is corrupt. And it is called "man," because it is ourselves. We are to be changed—and not merely our acts. We are to crucify ourselves. This original principle of evil is not destroyed in regeneration, but is to be daily mortified, in the conflicts of a whole life.

The connection, as intimated above, is with the former clause of v. 21,ἐδιδάχθητε—ἀποθέσθαι ὑμᾶς. When the subject of the infinitive in such construction is the same with that of the governing verb, it is usually not expressed. The presence of ὑμᾶς therefore in the text is urged as a fatal objection to this construction. A reference, however, to Luke 20, 20, Rom. 2, 19, Phil. 3, 13, will show that this rule has its exceptions.

The intervening clause, κατὰ τὴν προτέραν ἀναστροφὴν, concerning the former , belongs to the verb and not to the following noun. The meaning is not, ‘the old man as to the former conversation,’ (which would require τὸν κατὰ τὴν προτ. κτλ.); but, ‘put away as concerns the former conversation the old man.’ It is not the old nature as to its former manifestations only that is to be put away, but the old principle entirely. And as that was formerly dominant, the apostle says, as to your former manner of life, put off the old man.

"Which is corrupt," φθειρόμενον; "which tends to destruction." This latter rendering is to be preferred, because the epithet old includes the idea of corruption. It would be, therefore, tautological to say, ‘the corrupt man which is corrupt.’ It is the old man or corrupt nature which tends to perdition (qui tendit ad exitium.—GROTIUS), which is to be laid aside, or continually mortified.

It tends to destruction, κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης, according to the deceitful lusts, or as ἀπάτης has the article and therefore is not so properly a mere qualifying genitive—the lusts which deceit has. The apostle says, Rom. 7, 11, sin deceived him, and Heb. 3, 11, speaks of "the deceitfulness of sin." It is indwelling sin itself which deceives by means of those desires which tend to destruction.

V. 23. In this and the following verse we have the positive part of sanctification which is expressed by "renewing" and "putting on the new man." The verb ἀνανεοῦσθαι, to be made new, is passive. This renewal is always represented as the work of God. "We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works," ch. 2, 10. It is therefore called "a renewing of the ." Titus 3, 5. Both these phrases "to be renewed" and "to put on the new man" may express either the instantaneous act of regeneration, or the gradual work of sanctification. Thus in Rom. 12, 2, we are exhorted "not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of the mind." So in this place, and in the parallel passage in Col. 3, 9. 10, these terms express the whole process by which the soul is restored to the image of God. It is a process of renewal from the beginning to the end. The apostle says, "his inner man is renewed day by day." 2 Cor. 4, 16.

The distinction between νέος, young, new as to origin; and καινός, fresh, bright, unused, new as to natue or character, is generally preserved in the New Testament. Thus i n Matt 9, 17, οἶνον νέον εἰς ἀσκοὺς καινούς, recent, or newly made wine into fresh bottles. Μνημεῖον καινὸν, new sepulchre, i. e. one which had not been used, however long it may have been prepared. Hence καινός, is an epithet of excellence. In the passage "Until I drink it new with you in the kingdom of God," Mark 14, 25, the word is καινόν, not νέον. The same idea is implied in all the expressions, new creature, new heavens, new commandment, new name, new Jerusalem, &c., &c. In all these cases the word is καινός. The same distinction properly belongs to the derivatives of these words; ἀνανεόω is to make νέος, and ἀνακαινίζο, ἀνακαινόω, is to make καινός. Hence when reference is had to the renewal of the soul, which is a change for the better, the words used are always the derivatives of καινός, except in this passage. See Rom. 12, 2; 2 Cor. 4, 16; Col. 3, 10; Tit. 3, 5. Still as what is νέος is also καινός; as freshness, vigour and beauty are the attributes of youth, the same thing may be designated by either term. The soul as renewed is, therefore, called in this passage καινὸς ἄνθρωπος and νέος ἄνθρωπος in Col. 3, 10; and the spiritual change which in Col. 3, 10, is expressed by ἀνακαινόω, and in Rom. 12, 2, and Tit. 3, 5, by ἀνακαίνωσις, is here expressed by ἀνανεόω.

The subject of this renewal, that as to which men are to be made new, is expressed in the clause τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ νοὸς ὑμῶν, i. e. as to the spirit of your mind. This combination is unexampled. Grotius says: Spiritus mentis est ipsa mens; as Augustin before him had said: Spiritum mentis dicere voluit eum spiritum, quae mens vocatur. But here spirit and mind are distinguished. The spirit of a man is not that spirit which is a man; but which man has. Others take the word spirit here to be temper, disposition. "Renewed as to the temper of your mind." This is a very unusual, if not doubtful meaning of the word in the New Testament. Others, again, say that the word spirit means the Holy Spirit, and that the passage should be rendered, "by the Spirit which is in your mind." But this is impossible. The "spirit of the mind" is here as plainly distinguished from the Spirit of God as in Rom. 8, 16, where the Spirit of God is said to bear witness with our spirit.

It may be remarked in reference to this phrase:—1. That although the passage in Rom. 12, 2, "renewal of your mind," obviously expresses the same general idea as is here expressed by saying, " renewed as to the spirit of the mind," it does not follow that "mind" and "spirit of the mind," mean exactly the same thing. The one expression is general, the other precise and definite. 2. The words πνεῦμα, νοῦς, καρδία, ψυχή, spirit, mind, heart, soul, are used in Scripture both for the whole immaterial and immortal element of our nature, that in which our personality resides; and also for that element under some one of its modes of manifestation, sometimes for one mode and sometimes for another; as νοῦς sometimes designates the soul as intelligent and sometimes the soul as feeling. 3. Though this is true, yet predominantly one of these terms designates one, and another a different mode of manifestation; as νοῦς the understanding, καρδία the feelings, ψυχή the seat of sensation. 4. Of these terms πνεῦμα is the highest. It means breath, wind, invisible power, life. The idea of power cannot be separated from the term; τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστιν τὸ ζῳοποιοῦν. John 6, 63. It is, therefore, applied to God, to the Holy Ghost, to angels, to Satan, to demons, to the soul of man. The "spirit of the world," 1 Cor. 2, 12, is the controlling, animating principle of the world, that which makes it what it is. The spirit of the mind therefore is its interior life; that of which the νοῦς, καρδία, ψυχή are the modes of manifestation. That, therefore, which needs to be renewed, is not merely outward habits or modes of life; not merely transient tempers or dispositions, but the interior principle of life which lies back of all that is outward, phenomenal, or transient.

V. 24. Καὶ ἐνδύσασθαι τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον, and that ye put on the new man. As we are called to put off our corrupt nature as a ragged and filthy garment, so we are required to put on our new nature as a garment of light. And as the former was personified as an old man, decrepit, deformed, and tending to corruption, so the latter is personified as a new man, fresh, beautiful, and vigorous, like God, for it is τὸν κατὰ Θεὸν κτισθέντα, κτλ., after God created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. In the parallel passage it is said to be renewed "after the image of God," Col. 3, 10. "After God," therefore, means after his image. That in which this image consists is said to be righteousness and holiness. The former of these words, δικαιοσύνη, when it stands alone often includes all the forms of moral excellence; but when associated with ὁσιότης, the one means rectitude, the being or doing right; and the other, holiness. The one renders us just to our neighbours; the other, pious towards God. The two substantives are united in Luke 1, 75; the adjectives, just and holy, in Tit. 1, 8; and the adverbs, holily and justly, in 1 Thess. 2, 10. The Greeks made the same distinction, πρὸς θεοὺς ὅσιον καὶ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους δίκαιόν ἐστι. In our version this clause is rendered, "in righteousness and true holiness;" but the word ἀληθείας stands in the same relation to both nouns, and if taken as a mere qualifying genitive the translation should be, "in true righteousness and holiness." Most modern commentators, however, consider "the truth" here as opposed to "the deceit" spoken of in verse 22. "Righteousness and holiness of the truth" would then mean that righteousness and holiness which the truth has, or which the truth produces. If the principle of indwelling sin is there personified as ἀπάτη, deceit, producing and exercising those lusts which lead to destruction; the principle of spiritual life is here personified as ἀλήθεια, truth, which produces righteousness and holiness. Truth is spiritual knowledge, that knowledge which is eternal life, which not only illuminates the understanding but sanctifies the heart. The Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of truth as the author of this divine illumination which irradiates the whole soul. This truth came by Jesus Christ, John 1, 17. He is the truth and the life, John 14, 6. We are made free by the truth, and sanctified by the truth. The Gospel is called the word of truth, as the objective revelation of that divine knowledge which subjectively is the principle of spiritual life. Taking the word in this sense, the passage is brought into nearer coincidence with the parallel passage in Col. 3, 10. Here the image of God is said to consist in righteousness and holiness of the truth; there it is said to consist in knowledge. "The new man is renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him." These passages differ only in that the one is more concise than the other. Knowledge (the ἐπίγνωσις τοῦ Θεοῦ) includes righteousness, holiness, and truth. Nothing, therefore, can be more contrary to Scripture than to undervalue divine truth, and to regard doctrines as matters pertaining merely to the speculative understanding. Righteousness and holiness, morality and religion, are the products of the truth, without which they cannot exist.

This passage is of special doctrinal importance, as teaching us the true nature of the image of God in which man was originally created. That image did not consist merely in man’s rational nature, nor in his immortality, nor in his dominion, but specially in that righteousness and holiness, that rectitude in all his principles, and that susceptibility of devout affections which are inseparable from the possession of the truth, or true knowledge of God. This is the scriptural view of the original state of man, or of original righteousness, as opposed, on the one hand, to the theory that man was created without moral character; and on the other, to the Romish doctrine, that original righteousness was a supernatural endowment not belonging to man’s nature. Knowledge, and consequently righteousness and holiness, were immanent or concreated in the first man, in the same sense as were his sense of beauty and susceptibility of impression from the external world. He opened his eyes and saw what was visible, and perceived its beauty; he turned his mind on God, perceived his glory, and was filled with all holy affections.

V. 25. Having enforced the general duty of holiness, or of being conformed to the image of God, the apostle insists on specific duties. It will be observed that in almost every case there is first a negative, then a positive statement of the duty, and then a motive. Thus here: lie not, but speak truth, for ye are members one of another. , i. e. on the ground of the general obligation to be conformed to the divine image, putting away lying, as one part of the filthy garments belonging to the old man; speak every man truth with his neighbour. A neighbour, ὁ πλησίον, the Scripture teaches us, is any one near to us, a fellow man of any creed or nation; and to all such we are bound to speak the truth. But the context shows that Paul is here speaking to Christians, and the motive by which the duty is enforced shows that by neighbour he here means a fellow-Christian, as in Rom. 15, 2. The motive in question is the intimate relation in which believers stand to each other. They are all members of the same body intimately united, as he taught in verse 16, with each other and with Christ their common head. As it would be unnatural and absurd for the hand to deceive the foot, or the eye the ear, so there is a violation of the very law of their union for one Christian to deceive another. It is characteristic of the apostle and of the Scriptures generally, to enforce moral duties by religious considerations. This method, while it presents the higher and peculiar ground of obligation, is not intended to exclude other grounds. The obligation of veracity rests on the intrinsic excellence of truth, on the command of God, and on the rights of our fellow men. They have the same right that we should not deceive them as that we should not defraud them. But all this does not hinder that the duty should be enforced by a reference to the peculiar relation of believers as united by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit into the mystical body of Christ.

Vs. 26. 27. His next exhortation has reference to anger; with regard to which he teaches —1. Not to allow anger to be an occasion of sin. 2. Not to cherish it. 3. Not to give Satan any advantage over us when we are angry. The words ὀργίζεσθε καὶ μὴ ἁμαρτάνετε, be ye angry and sin not, are borrowed from the Septuagint version of Ps. 4, 5, and admit of different interpretations. 1. As the original text in Ps. 4, 5, admits of being rendered Rage and sin not, i. e. do not sin by raging—so the words of the apostle may mean, do not commit the sin of being angry. To this it is objected, that it makes the negative qualify both verbs, while it belongs really only to the latter. It is not necessary to assume that the apostle uses these words in the precise sense of the original text; for the New Testament writers often give the sense of an Old Testament passage with a modification of the words, or they use the same words with a modification of the sense. This is not properly a quotation; it is not cited as something the Psalmist said, but the words are used to express Paul’s own idea. In Rom. 10, 18, "Their sound is gone into all the earth," we have the language of the 19th Ps. but not an expression of the sense of the Psalmist. 2. Others make the ‘first imperative in this clause permissive and the second commanding, ‘Be angry and (but) do not sin.’ 3. Or the first is conditional, ‘if angry, sin not.’ That is, sin not in anger; let not your anger be an occasion of sin. Repress it and bring it under control that it may not hurry you into the commission of sin. The meaning is the same as would be expressed by saying, ὀργίζόμενοὶ μὴ ἁμαρτάνετε, being angry sin not. This is perhaps the most satisfactory view of the passage. It is indeed objected that the apostle is here speaking of sins, and that in v. 31, he forbids all anger, and therefore any interpretation which assumes that anger is not itself a sin is inadmissible. But it is certain that all anger is not sinful. Christ himself, it is said, regarded the perverse Jews "with anger." Mark 3, 5. The same generic feeling, if mingled with holy affections, or in a holy mind, is virtuous; if mingled with malice it is sinful. Both feelings, or both combinations of feeling, are expressed in Scripture by the term anger. Nothing in itself sinful can be attributed to God, but anger is attributed to him. Verse 31 is not inconsistent with this interpretation, for there the context shows the apostle speaks of malicious anger—just as "all hatred" means all malice, and not the hatred of evil.

Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. The word is here παροργισμός, paroxysm or excitement. Anger even when justifiable is not to be cherished. The wise man says: "Anger resteth in the bosom of fools." Eccl. 7, 9.

Neither give place to the devil.—"So give place to" is to get out of the way of, to allow free scope to; and therefore to give an occasion or advantage to any one. We are neither to cherish anger, nor are we to allow Satan to take advantage of our being angry. Anger when cherished gives the Tempter great power over us, as it furnishes a motive to yield to his evil suggestions. The word διάβολος is rendered by Luther, Lästerer, slanderer. It is used as an adjective in that sense in 1 Tim. 3, 11; 2 Tim. 3, 3, and Tit. 2, 3, but with the article (ὁ διάβολος) it always means Satan—the great accuser—the prince of the demons or fallen angels, who is the great opposer of God and seducer of men against whose wiles we are commanded to be constantly on our guard.