Berean Standard Bible
Ephesians 4:18
18They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.
Ephesians 4:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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:
- New International Version (NIV)They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
- English Standard Version (ESV)They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
- New King James Version (NKJV)having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;
Context of Ephesians 4:18
16From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part. 17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. 19Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more. 20But this is not the way you came to know Christ.
Read all of Ephesians 4Ephesians 4:18 word by word
ἐσκοτωμένοι τῇ διανοίᾳ ὄντες, ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τὴν οὖσαν ἐν αὐτοῖς, διὰ τὴν πώρωσιν τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν·Read the interlinear
- They are darkenedσκοτόωskotoō · to darkenG4656
- inὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
- understandingδιάνοιαdianoia · mindG1271
- ·εἰμίeimi · to beG1510
- alienated fromἀπαλλοτριόωapallotrioō · to alienateG526
- lifeζωήzōē · lifeG2222
- of Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316
- because ofδιάdia · through/because ofG1223
- ignoranceἄγνοιαagnoia · ignoranceG52
- inἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
- themαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
- hardnessπώρωσιςpōrōsis · hardeningG4457
- heartsκαρδίαkardia · heartG2588
Cross-references for Ephesians 4:18
- Psalms 74:20Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
- Psalms 115:4Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Isaiah 44:18They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.
- Isaiah 46:5To whom will you liken Me or count Me equal? To whom will you compare Me, that we should be alike?
- Acts 17:30Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.
- Acts 26:17I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them
- Romans 1:21For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
- 1 Corinthians 1:21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
- 2 Corinthians 4:4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
- Galatians 4:8Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:5not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God;
- Ephesians 2:12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
- Romans 8:7because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
- Colossians 1:21Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds.
- James 4:4You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.
- Romans 2:19if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those in darkness,
Commentaries on Ephesians 4:18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 182. Having the understanding darkened - This is the second instance alleged by the apostle of the degradation of the Gentiles. Having no means of knowledge, the heart, naturally dark, became more and more so by means of habitual transgression; every thing in the Gentile system having an immediate tendency to blind the eyes and darken the whole soul. 3. Being alienated from the life of God - The original design of God was to live in man; and the life of God…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 18Having the understanding darkened - That is, because they were alienated from the true God, and particularly because of “the blindness of their hearts.” The apostle does not say that this was a “judicial” darkening of the understanding; or that they might not have perceived the truth; or that they had no ability to understand it. He speaks of a simple and well-known fact - a fact that is seen now as well as then that the understanding becomes darkened by…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 17-24Verses 17-24 The apostle charged the Ephesians in the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus, that having professed the gospel, they should not be as the unconverted Gentiles, who walked in vain fancies and carnal affections. Do not men, on every side, walk in the vanity of their minds? Must not we then urge the distinction between real and nominal Christians? They were void of all saving knowledge; they sat in darkness, and loved it rather than…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 18Their minds are full of darkness because their minds are closed and hearts are hard (see 2 Corinthians 4:4). This means they cannot understand spiritual truths clearly. Their minds are "closed," which means they are unwilling or unable to accept God's truth. Their hearts are "hard," which means they have become insensitive to God's guidance.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1818. More literally, "Being darkened in their understanding," that is, their intelligence, or perceptions (compare Ep 5:8; Ac 26:18; 1Th 5:4, 5). alienated--This and "darkened," imply that before the fall they (in the person of their first father) had been partakers of life and light: and that they had revolted from the primitive revelation (compare Ep 2:12). life of God--that life whereby God lives in His own people: as He was the life and light in Adam…Read the comment
Topics related to Ephesians 4:18
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Ephesians 4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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