Charles Hodge on Ephesians 4:18

V. 18. 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. This verse at once explains and confirms the preceding statement. The heathen walk in vanity, i. e. in intellectual and moral darkness, because their understanding is darkened, and because they are alienated from the life of God.

The word διανοία, understanding, in the first clause, means a thinking through; the mind (quatenus intelligit, appetit et sentit) as opposed to the body; an act of the mind, a thought, purpose, or disposition; the intelligence as opposed to the feelings. We are required to love God, ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ διανοίᾳ, with the whole mind; men are said to be enemies, τῇ διανοίᾳ, Col. 1, 21, as to their state of mind, and proud τῇ διανοίᾳ τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν. The apostle Peter exhorts us "to gird up the loins of the mind;" and speaks of our "pure mind." And the apostle John says: " God has given us διανοίαν that we may know." The word is opposed σάρξ in Eph. 2, 3, and to καρδία in Matt. 22, 37, Heb. 8, 10 and elsewhere. It depends therefore on the connection whether the word is to be understood of the whole soul, or of the intelligence, or of the disposition. In this case it means the intelligence; because it is distinguished from νοῦς in the preceding verse, and from καρδία in the last clause of this one.

"Alienated from the life of God," means strangers to that life. "The life of God," means the life of which God is the author. It is spiritual life. That is, the life of which the indwelling Spirit is the principle or source. "Vitam Dei," says Beza, "appellat vitam illam, qua Deus vivit in suis." Comp. 3, 16, 17, and the remarks on that passage.

In the last clause of the verse πώρωσις is rendered blindness, it more properly means hardness. It does not come from πωρός, blind, but from πῶρος a peculiar kind of stone, and then any thing hard or callous. The verb πωρόω is rendered to harden, Mark 6, 52; 8, 17; John 12, 40, and in all these passages it is used of the heart. So in Rom. 11, 7, "the rest were hardened." The noun is rendered "hardness" in Mark 3, 5, and "blindness" in Rom. 11, 25. This is easily accounted for, as the verb is often used in reference to the eyes when covered with an opaque hardened film, and hence πεπώρωται is the same at times with τετύφλωται. The phrase, therefore, πώρωσιν τῆς καρδίας, may be rendered either blindness or hardness of the heart. The latter is the proper meaning, unless the other be required by the context, which is not the case in the present instance.

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 heathen, 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 vanity 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 holiness. 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 regeneration 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.