49-27 The Way of the World
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Ephesians 4:17-19
Ephesians 4:17-19
All around us the calls to conform, the pressures to conform to the way of the world are intensifying. It follows along the lines of the adage “when in Rome do as the Romans do.” There is a massive push to be like the world—to adopt their ideas, values, shared understandings that allow people to trust each other and work together (to what end is not defined—but known as “social capital” (building social assets by way of conforming). Don’t stand out, just go with the flow—these are common expressions that are meant to shame people who “don’t do as the Romans do.” It is a strong message sent by the world in which we live and its a powerful motivator as deeply imbedded in the human heart is the desire for acceptance.
Its like the man from Brooklyn who kept changing his names:
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 775 Changing Neighborhood Means Change Names
A man from Brooklyn had his name changed from Kelly to Feinberg. Then, a year later, he had it changed from Feinberg to Garibaldi. “Are you trying to make the court look foolish?” thundered the judge.
“Not at all, Your Honor,” said the applicant. “My neighborhood keeps changing.”
He just wanted to fit in. Conformity to the way of the world is contrary to the way of Christ. It stands opposed to the very nature and purpose of your salvation.
New man created in holiness of truth (Eph 4:24)
Chosen to be holy (Eph 1:4)
Redeemed to be holy (Col 1:22)
HS calls us to holiness (1 Th 4:7-8)
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Called to a life of holiness…does this sound like a call to conform? The holy life is set before us and perfectly manifest in LJC. That God is holy helps us understand what we are called to.
RC Sproul (The Holiness of God) “When the Bible calls God holy, it means primarily that God is transcendentally separate. He is so far above and beyond us that He seems almost totally foreign to us. To be holy is to be “other,” to be different in a special way.”
That’s what God calls every believer to. To be different in a special way. And as difficult as this is in a world that applauds conformity—it is not an impossible command to obey—the grace that freed you from the power and guilt of sin is the same grace that frees you to be holy. And holiness will have a profound impact on your life, your family, even the society (the way to influence is not conformity but otherness).
This is the result of sanctification: progressive in practice but perfected in position (1 Cor 6:9-11; despite all levels of worldliness in that church—they were sanctified).
mind/heart established in truth
conformity will be to the image of Christ
purity in life’s relationships
Holiness will make you an “other” in the eyes of the world. It is the calling to not only resist calls to conform to the way of the world, but an all-out rejection of the values, ideals, mores, philosophies, pursuits and desires of this world. We need constant admonition to stand apart:
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
Every believer used to walk as the Gentiles walk (remember walk is just the term that refers to your conduct or lifestyle). Gentiles in this context refers to an unbeliever (cf. 2:11-12), those who are ungodly—those who do not know God (1 Th 4:5).
in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
This call (by Paul and ultimately LJC) is to not make your “walk” the habit of their “walk.” It should be clear to every believer why (in accordance with holiness) every Xn must conduct themselves in holiness (the only way to the worthy walk). The world is concerned about things which do not matter. (Like what?) (Temporal, worldly, lust of flesh, eyes, pride of life)
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
And as believers who are joined to Christ—they mean nothing to us and in fact are repulsive.
2 Cor 6:14-7:1 (to the same church that had been sanctified)
In Eph 4:17-19 Paul identifies 4 essential characteristics of the walk of the unbeliever—it is the way of the world (depicted in 4 ways) that we are called to make a habit of avoiding.
1. Empty Minds
1. Empty Minds
“the futility of their mind”
It is important to understand that your mind governs your behavior. Your conduct is governed by your mind—what you think (Prov 23:7).
The term nous denotes the mind or disposition, practical reason (the moral consciousness as it determines will and action”, understanding, thought, judgments opinions and the like. It is a comprehensive term as Donald Eggleston “the total inner man viewed from the mental perspective, which consciously acts in making practical moral judgments.”
The mind of the natural man (unbeliever) is described in NT:
depraved Rom 1:28
self-centered Col 2:18
corrupt/defiled 1 Tim 6:5; 2 Tim 3:8; Tit 1:15
unable to comprehend the things of God 1 Cor 2:14-16
Empty/futile Eph 4:17
Because of this the mind stands in desperate need of divine intervention. The unbeliever needs God to bring illumination (understanding) to the mind so that one can respond to God’s grace in repentance (change of mind) and trust in LJC for salvation.
The Xns mind is all together different.
For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
B/c the Xns mind is different from the unbeliever (the mind which determines will and action)—so too should be our conduct, lifestyle (walk no longer…)
“futility” is a word that refers to deception or what is an illusion. Because it relates to nothingness it is rendered “vanity or futility—emptiness.” The thinking of unbelievers amounts to emptiness or nothingness as they often mistake the lie for truth; sin for happiness; evil for good.
“Surely every man walks about as a phantom; Surely they make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.
All human endeavors & life in general amount to nothing—including the wealth/prosperity.
The NT discusses the emptiness of the mind of unbelief as it pertains particularly to idolatry—exchanging the Creator for creation.
Ps 94:8-11
Jer 2:5; 10:3
Rom 1:18-32
Acts 14:12-15
The impact this has on society cannot be overstated. 2 Tim 3:2-9
We are very much in times similar to Isaiah’s
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Today we see the way of the world: promoting same-sex marriage, praising LGBTQ+, applauding abortion, intent on destroying marriage and the family, supporting “equality, equal justice” at the expense of true justice and equality. The current movement seeking to right all prior “injustices” is called “Critical Race Theory.” Neil Shenvi defines critical race theory (CRT) as “an ideology that divides the world into oppressed groups and their oppressors and aims to liberate the oppressed.” By dividing the world into these groups they think they can bring justice and equality. This is a foolish and false worldview—but it cannot be helped. This is the emptiness of thinking of unbelief.
You can begin to understand why Paul says their mind is futile/empty—nothingness. The mind of the unbeliever is self-seeking, self-promoting, self-centered, self-focused, self-absorbed (if you don’t believe me—the overwhelming majority of social media posts are promotion of self--”look at me”.) The way of the world is given over (act of judgment by God—wrath of abandonment) to things that are devoid of worth and reality. And it is why the only hope is divine intervention.
Ironside writes “Unsaved men have illusions of their own minds, they see mirages of all kinds and imagine them to be real, but they are not. They believe all sorts of theories, scholastic ideas, and such like
Ironside, H. A. (1937). In the heavenlies : practical expository addresses on the Epistle to the Ephesians. (p. 208). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers...Men and women have come under the influence of the awful deadening power of sin and their hearts are hardened, they are blinded, and they do not understand the real state of affairs, they do not understand their own condition, the condition of their country or of the world around them. Sin has a terrible, hardening, blinding, deadening, effect upon people
Ironside, H. A. (1937). In the heavenlies : practical expository addresses on the Epistle to the Ephesians. (p. 210). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers.
Paul says make yours the habit of avoiding the way of the world. You have nothing in common with them.
2. Darkened Understanding
2. Darkened Understanding
It’s bad enough that the way the world thinks amounts to an illusion—but adding to that is the darkening of one’s understanding. Paul is referring to the reasoning process of the mind, the thoughts, the actual process of thinking—which is said to be “darkened”.
This can refer to physical darkness (6th-9th hour of the cross) or metaphorically for spiritual darkness.
For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
“Let their eyes be darkened to see not, And bend their backs forever.”
The darkness for Israel was b/c of their blindness. Similarly, the reasoning process of Gentiles is due to a spiritual blindness making them unable to apprehend spiritual truth—and Paul makes it clear that this is a condition that remains for every unbeliever.
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Spiritual darkness is a reality of this present world. The message of the cross will always be foolishness to them (1 Cor 1:18). It is why salvation begins with the change in the mind, of thinking—which requires an act of God’s grace to bring the word to light in the minds/understanding of unbelievers.
And even as we recognize how it influences the reasoning of unbelievers—we are not free from its sway...
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
3. Excluded From Life
3. Excluded From Life
For the Xn—there is life. Whereas there once was death/deadness (Eph 2:1,5); there is now life resulting from God’s grace producing faith—and new life.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
“I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
The unbeliever is excluded from that life—they are separated from the life that comes from God. Consequently their conduct is clearly identifiable:
1 Cor 6:9-10; Gal 5:19-21
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
Eph indicates 2 reasons for being excluded from life:
Ignorance—term that simply means “without knowledge; lacking information”. It is why Peter says to the Jews in Act 3:17, that they crucified LJC. It is what Paul tells the men of Athens they were worshiping “unknown god” Act 17:23,30. In Eph Paul simply means that unbelievers have rejected the revelation of God and His will…a deliberate refusal excludes them from the life of God.
Hardness of heart—this is perhaps most condemning. Hardness is Gk porosis which means to petrify and originally referred to a stone harder than marble. Later the word became a medical term which meant hardening or thickening. It was used to describe the hardening of a bone when it was fractured.
When I was 10—broke my arm (how is not important…) The doctor kept insisting that when it was fully healed that the bone around the break would be stronger than other bone. It was hardened—porosis.
It was also used when the skin became hardened to the point where it was insensitive, void of feeling. That’s where Paul is going with this word—the inability of God’s revelation (the truth) to penetrate the heart of unbelievers. This is a term used several other places:
Mark 3:1-5
For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;
“He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.”
The hardening is self-inflicted (where people are held responsible) but also an act of divine judgment that solidifies a person in their rejection of the truth. And again, it is manifest in the things which unbelievers advocate—things morally reprehensible to believers.
4. Moral Apathy
4. Moral Apathy
The final characteristic of the walk of the unbeliever is that they stand in a condition of being calloused to God and His ways. The term “callous” means insensitive, dead to feeling and in this spiritual context it means that the Gentiles (ungodly) are so accustomed to living the depraved life that they are no longer bothered by (do not care about) the implications of what they’re doing. This describes a downward spiral where as an unbeliever continues to sin (like friction which causes callouses on skin) there is no longer a sensitivity to wrong doing.
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,
It is what 1 commentator writes “‘they have deadened their conscience and do not feel its stings” (Lock).
Barclay writes “bad people usually try to hide their sin, but someone with aselgeia in the soul does not care how much public opinion is shocked as long as that person’s personal desires are gratified. Sin can get such a grip of people that they are lost to decency and shame. They are like drug addicts who first take the drug in secret, but come to a stage when they openly beg for the drug on which they have become dependent. People can become slaves to alcohol to such an extent that they do not care who sees them drunk. People can let their sexual desires control them to such an extent that their only concern is to satisfy those desires.
Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians (p. 176). Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press.
Now, the society where this is the pattern—where there is moral apathy—indifference to what is good and upright…immorality of all kinds will certainly follow.
So Paul says “they have given themselves...”
“sensuality” refers to BDAG “lack of self-constraint which involves one in conduct that violates all bounds of what is socially acceptable” it is freedom without boundaries (Plato) referring to all kinds of sensual appetites including sexual lust, drunkeness, unrestrained desires.
That sensuality is described as “practice of every kind...”
“impurity” uncleanness…with “greediness” unbelievers are greedy to satisfy their own desires and each single sin, while not satisfying only leaves the sinner desiring more impurity .
Paul looks at the world, its pursuits, passions, desires and he says it is self-centered, ignorant, hardened immoral and shameful. And because he is writing to the church—saints, Xns:
But you did not learn Christ in this way,
Your walk, conduct, lifestyle must be different than the world’s. You used to live that way but since receiving the precious gift of life, your walk ought to be entirely different.
so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
Wiersbe “The Christian cannot pattern himself after the unsaved person, because the Christian has experienced a miracle of being raised from the dead. His life is not futile, but purposeful. His mind is filled with the light of God’s Word, and his heart with the fullness of God’s life. He gives his body to God as an instrument of righteousness (Rom. 6:13), and not to sin for the satisfaction of his own selfish lusts. In every way, the believer is different from the unbeliever, and therefore the admonition: “Walk not.”
Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, pp. 39–40). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.