The Summation of All Things in Christ

Studies in Ephesians with a Local Church Emphasis

Lesson 96 : The Unsaved Described (4:17-19)

Connections with what Paul writes elsewhere in Ephesians  –  Parallel thoughts in Romans and Colossians  –  Was this related to early Baptismal catechesis?  –  Resumes what Paul began in 4:1-3  –  Paul is not swearing an oath but emphasizing his authority  –  The danger was not persecution but a relapse into their former life  –  ‘To walk’ used throughout Ephesians  –  If one is a believer, there is to be a difference  –  ‘Gentile’ is context driven  –  The importance of right thinking  –  Our mind’s influence on the emotions and vice versa  –  The first of three perfect participles: ‘darkened’  –  Darkened is a state of blindness  –  Contrast with illuminated heart of believers  –  Tense indicates a finished and permanent result of a past event  –  The second of three perfect participles: ‘alienated, separated’  –  ‘The life of God’ is a unique phrase in the NT  –  Separated from the life that proceeds from God  –  Death does not mean ‘cease to exist’ but ‘separation’  –  Life is more than mere existence  –  Unsaved alienated due to their ignorance  –  This ignorance was a choice and man is therefore culpable  –  ‘Knowing God’ is more than a mental response  –  Who hardens hearts and how is this accomplished?  –  The third of three perfect participles: ‘calloused, pass feeling’  –  They have reached a point of a hard, impenetrable shell that renders them insensitive to God  –  Review of these verses