EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Ephesians 4:18
18They cannot understand God's true message because their minds are in the dark. They have not accepted the life that God gives. They have decided that they do not want to know about God. They do not even try to understand.
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
16As its head, he helps the whole body to grow well. Each part joins with the other parts so that the whole body becomes strong. As each separate part does its proper work, we love each other more and more. 17So I say this to you. I am sure that I have the Lord's authority to say it. You must not live any longer like the Gentile people who do not know God. They do whatever their silly ideas teach them to do. They cannot understand God's true message because their minds are in the dark. They have not accepted the life that God gives. They have decided that they do not want to know about God. They do not even try to understand. 19They do not feel ashamed when they do all kinds of disgusting things. They do more and more bad things just to please themselves. 20But when you learned about Christ, you did not learn to do things like that!
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
Words taken from the KJV.
- ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
- Havingσκοτίζωskotizō · to darkenG4654
- the understandingδιάνοιαdianoia · mindG1271
- beingεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
- alienated fromἀπαλλοτριόωapallotrioō · to alienateG526
- the lifeζωήzōē · lifeG2222
- of Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316
- throughδιάdia · through/because ofG1223
- the ignoranceἄγνοιαagnoia · ignoranceG52
- inἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
- themαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
- of the blindnessπώρωσιςpōrōsis · hardeningG4457
- heartκαρδίαkardia · heartG2588
Cross-references for Ephesians 4:18
- Psalms 74:20Remember what you have promised to do for us. There are dark places everywhere, where cruel people hide.
- Psalms 115:4Those people's idols are made from silver and gold. Yes, human hands make them!
- Isaiah 44:18People like that are stupid. They do not understand anything. They cannot see the truth, as if they are blind. Their minds cannot think properly.
- Isaiah 46:5You know that there is no God like me! You cannot say about any god, that he is the same as me.
- Acts 17:30In past times people did not know the true things about God. Because of this, God did not punish them. But now God tells people everywhere, “Stop doing bad things and turn to me!”
- Acts 26:17I will send you to speak about me to Jews and to Gentiles. Some of them will want to hurt you. But I will keep you safe.
- Romans 1:21Those people really knew about God. But they did not respect him as a great God, and they did not thank him. They did not even think clearly any more. Their minds became confused and they did not understand God's message.
- 1 Corinthians 1:21God himself is wise. He has decided that people cannot know him just because they are wise in their own way. Instead, God uses the message about Jesus to save people. That message may seem to be silly to some people. But when we tell it to people, God saves them if they believe it.
- 2 Corinthians 4:4Those people do not accept God's good news. The god of this world has confused their minds. They cannot see the light that the good news brings. That message teaches about the great power of Christ, who shows us exactly what God is like.
- Galatians 4:8Before, when you did not know God, you served false gods. They were not gods at all, but you were their slaves.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:5People who do not know God strongly want to have sex in a wrong way. They cannot control themselves. You must not be like those people.
- Ephesians 2:12At that time, you did not know about Christ, God's special Messiah. You did not belong to the nation of Israel's people. You did not know about the good things that God had promised to his people. You were living in this world with nothing good to hope for. You were living without God's help.
- Romans 8:7If our weak human thoughts rule us, we become God's enemies. People like that do not want to obey God's Law. They are not even able to obey it.
- Colossians 1:21As for you, you were far away from God at one time. You thought bad things and you did bad things. As a result, you were God's enemies.
- James 4:4You are turning away from God, like a woman who is not faithful to her husband. You choose to be friends with people who are against God. So you yourselves become enemies of God. You should know that!
- Romans 2:19You are sure that you yourself can teach other people about God. You think that you can be like a guide to blind people. You think that you can be like a light to people who are in the dark.
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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