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THE K ING ’S BUSINESS
darkness ' over 'the reason, and shut out from it the most important truths, those about God and eternal things. An unregen erate scientist or philosopher talks like a fool when he talks about God and eternity (cf. l 'Cor. 2:14). (3) They are “alienated from the life o f God.” The original state o f each one o f us is not the state in which we were born as individuals into this world, but the state in which we were created in Adam. That was a state o f union with “the life o f God,” but each o f us has been “alienated from 'the life of God.” (4) This alienation from the life o f God is “because o f the ignorance (ignorance o f God and eternal realities-^cf. Rom. 1 :28) that is in them” (cf. John 17:3). (5) This igno rance is not so much intellectual in it's origin as it is moral; -it is “because o f the hardening o f their heart.” The blindness o f the unregenerate mind, even in intelli gent and scholarly men, to the simplest religious truths, truths that are as plain as day even to a regenerate child, is almost incredible. ( 6 ) 'Unregenerate men as they go on become “past feeling.” They are like a diseased body when mortification sets in, no pain (o f an accusing conscience) is any longer felt. (7) Therefore they “give them selves up (or betray themselves) to las civiousness (wantonness), to work (more exactly, to make a business o f) all unclean ness with (rather, in) greediness.” Only those who have had much experience with men and women in the unburdening pf their hearts can appreciate what an exact picture this is which Paul here draws o f the unre generate life when it is ripe. Paul here describes what a believer in Christ should be in contrast with what the unregenerate actually are. He says, “Ye did not so learn, (the) Christ:” This is a very suggestive expression. It indicates that the whole substance o f what the believers in Ephesus had been taught was “the Christ.” In verse 21 Paul introduces a qualifying statement in which he tells Wednesday, July 31 . Eph. 4 : 20 - 24 .
them that they “ did not so learn Christ,” “ If so be that ye heard Him, etc.” The Greek construction makes it plain that Paul did not mean “ if ye heard Him” as the one who was speaking, but “if ye heard Him” as the subject o f the message that was spoken. The “ Him” is emphatic. T o hear any true Christian preaching or teaching is to hear Christ, i. e., Jesus Christ Himself will be the whole heart and substance o f the preaching. True teaching is “ in Him” (v. 21, R. V .). The real truth is “the truth as it is in Jesus,” not the truth as it is in some ideal or unhistoric Jesus, but as it is in the actual historic Christ Jesus. When the saints in Ephesus had been taught as “the truth as it is in Jesus” was that they should “put away, as concerning your former manner o f life, the old man (i. e., their old estate, all they were as unregener ate men and women).” “The old man,” unless put away, “waxeth corrupt (groweth more and more corrupt) after (according to) the lusts o f deceit.” Carnal desires are “ desires o f deceit,” i. e., the satisfaction o f them never proves to be what we anticipated it would be. Nevertheless, however many times we find out their deceitful character, we are ever ready to be led away and corrupted by them again' until we are regenerated and thus “put away the old man.” The Ephesians had been taught fur thermore, to “ be renewed (the tense o f the verb denotes a continual renewing) in the spirit o f their (your) mind.” Our “spirit” is the point o f contact with the Holy Spirit. It is in our spirit that He directly works. The mind is mentioned because the result is a renewed and so an illuminated mind as contrasted with the darkened understand ing (v. 18) of the unregenerate. The Ephesian believers had been still further taught to “put oh (or that they had put on) the new man (i. e., our new and utterly transformed state, all that we become by regeneration (cf, 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 3 :7 ).” The old man is put away and the new man is put on a t ' regeneration (this is implied in the Greek text by the aorist tense used in verses 22 and 24— cf. Col.
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