Transcript

Several years ago, some mountain hunters had played a joke on another hunter in their coon club. They lowered the sight on his rifle. After they did this their friend was missing everything he was shooting at.

One day, they were out hunting together when he shot at a raccoon in a tree. Of course, his bullet went under the coon. He got frustrated and couldn’t figure out how he missed it. The others all ribbed each other and chuckled privately, planning on telling him later.

Later, one of the hunters climbed a tree and shook it. A raccoon fell out of the tree and landed on the head of one of the hunters.

The friend that had his gun sight altered took aim at the coon on top of his friend’s head. And the hunter started yelling: AIM HIGH! AIM HIGHER!

That’s the message of Paul to the Ephesians when he wrote, “walk not as other Gentiles walk.” In living for the Lord, our standards are much higher than the world’s, and we are to aim high in our daily walk.

Ephesians 4:17 reads, “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.”

Among other things that it refers to, Paul’s “therefore” looks back to verse 1, “that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.”

Verse 1 is an appeal by Paul for the Church to walk worthy of our high and heavenly calling. For this to be the case, verse 17 is also necessary: not walking as the world does.

Verse 1 is a positive appeal, while verse 17 is a negative similar charge for the Church to walk according to our high calling in Christ. Then in verse 2, Paul had given the Church the positive attributes of a worthy walk. While in verses 17-19, he presents the negative characteristics of an “unworthy” walk, which the Church is to avoid.

Paul wrote in verse 17 here, “This I say…and testify in the Lord.” By this, Paul is solemnly testifying to the vital importance of what he is about to say.

He stated that his words were not his alone. What Paul was about to “say” was backed by divine authority, because he testified “in the Lord.”

What follows is what the Lord desires from each of us. This is actually a solemn exhortation from the Lord Himself. It is the living Head speaking through Paul to the members of Christ’s Body, the Church, making known to us His will for our lives.

And His will is, “that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk.” Our Lord wants our daily walk in our journey through life to not be carried out as other Gentiles.

The word “ye” means “you Gentiles,” as Paul addressed them in chapter 3, verse 1, and also “the saints which are at Ephesus” as verse 1 of the letter says. Putting both together, Paul was addressing “you Ephesian saints” or “you saved Gentiles.”

The term “henceforth,” means that the members of Christ’s Body need to renounce their old worldly way of living and “henceforth,” from this point move forward to something new, to make a break from their past and move on to something better.

Then Paul wrote, “walk not.” To walk in its Biblical meaning, includes all parts of one’s daily life, inward and outward, seen and unseen. Our walk does not exclusively express our actions that are outward and visible.

When Enoch and Noah are said to have “walked with God,” this refers to both the fellowship of their inward spirit with God and their personal relationship with Him, as well as their godly outward life and actions that sprung from that relationship.

So when Paul wrote for the Church to “walk not,” he instructs us not to follow and to avoid not only the visible, outward characteristics and actions of the world but also their inward thinking and beliefs from which one’s outward, visible actions stem.

The Lord’s words through Paul continue by telling us to “walk not as other Gentiles walk.” “Other Gentiles” refers to Gentiles in the way 1 Thessalonians 4:5 describes them: “the Gentiles which know not God.”

Thus, “other Gentiles” means the unregenerate, unbelieving people of the nations.

Again, the Ephesians were Gentiles and before they got saved they had lived as other Gentiles did in the past. The solemn admonition here is a call to an altogether different walk and lifestyle from that of unsaved Gentiles.

In chapter 2, Paul had reminded the Ephesians of their former manner of walking.

“And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye WALKED according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

“Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind…” (Eph. 2:1-3).

Before they were saved, they were dead in their sins, dead toward God, walking in step with the anti-God thinking, views, and actions of the world, influenced and led astray by the devil and in rebellion against God just like him, enslaved to the strong power of the wicked lusts of the flesh, living day in and day out by its base desires.

Paul is telling the Church here not to walk that way anymore because we have been freed from that prison, and we don’t need to go back and put those chains on.

The believer has begun a walk on a new road in a new sphere leading to a new goal in being like Christ. But the reason believers are exhorted to “walk not as other Gentiles walk,” is because the believer still can. A believer who has trusted Christ and is complete in Him and is heaven-bound, like the Ephesians were, can still live like the world.

But for our good, the Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ, is telling each of us that His will is that we break from following the world and its lifestyle, and we move forward in our walk with Him and follow His leading.

God wants our daily living to conform with our new life in Christ and to be carried out in light of our high, heavenly position in Him.

As believers, we have a proper way and place to walk. It is as if Christ turned us around and put us in the right direction, and now we must walk and progress in that direction.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world…For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof…” (1 John 2:15-17).

This world, this world system, is all temporal and will pass away. Out of His love and care, our Head, the Lord Jesus, wants us to live for the eternal and for what is lasting.

So the Lord, through Paul, challenges us not to walk like the unbelieving people of the nations who live for this world only and according to its course and system. He wants us to aim higher and look further ahead at the eternal and to live for Him.

Paul adds in verse 17, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, IN THE VANITY OF THEIR MIND.”

Unbelievers walk according to “the vanity of their mind.” Paul says, to begin with, the reason we should not walk as other Gentiles is because we and they think differently,

“Vanity” does not mean pride, but rather futility and emptiness. It is futility in the sense that the efforts that come from their futile thinking do not materialize into something worthwhile, it fails to produce the desired result. And it is emptiness in the sense that their thinking is filled with things that ultimately lead to nothing and only disappointment.

Their minds have false delusions about what is true and meaningful. Their reasoning leads them to live lives without substance, having no eternal purpose.

Their thinking is like a floating soap bubble; when you catch one, it bursts in your hands, and you’re left with nothing.

Because futility is characteristic of their minds, the prevalent way of living for the unbeliever is futile. They think and believe the satanic lie and empty illusion that there is satisfaction in sin and in a life lived apart from God.

“And in the vanity of their mind,” the unbeliever seeks the exact same goals in the same ways as people from time past, seeking happiness and satisfaction in temporary things.

In Ecclesiastes, we have the record of one who had every earthly advantage and pleasure. He had power, wisdom, fame and wealth, everything this world craves, and King Solomon concluded the worldly life is nothing but “vanity” and like trying to grasp the wind.

In the final analysis, unsaved man’s thinking is futile and fruitless because it is totally self-centered and totally focused on this present world which is passing away, without regard for God.

This and the verses that follow give reason to the believer why we should not walk as other Gentiles walk, because we’ll end up on a dead-end street with them that leads nowhere, and we’ll end up wasting time and our lives.

And thus, it is incumbent on the believer to instead walk worthy of our calling for God’s glory, and to live for the Lord, by His Word, and for what matters and has true purpose.

Ephesians 4:18-19: “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.

“Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”

One pastor and author put it well: “The human spirit is blank, darkened and obscured in our natural state apart from God…The spirit of humanity lost in sin is dead. As a result, all human knowledge is broken, unrelated, and incomplete.

“We tend to take pride in our great civilization, with its accomplishments, knowledge, and technological wonders. But we have to ask ourselves, what has this vaunted civilization really done for us? Do we feel safe on our streets at night?

“Have we solved the problems of crime? Political corruption? Racism? Immorality? Are we any happier as a society than the ancient Egyptians or Greeks?

“If so, why are so many of us…taking drugs, getting drunk, battering spouses and children, and committing suicide? Why are all these problems rising instead of declining?”

Paul continues painting a picture of the vanity of the minds of unbelieving Gentiles, which in turn causes their godless walk. The description of verse 18 all deals with the mind and confirms and explains why their minds are futile.

“Having the understanding darkened” is a mind that exists apart from the light and knowledge of God. Apart from God, mankind doesn’t have a proper orientation or understanding of himself or the world.

It’s dangerous enough to walk in the physical darkness, unable to understand where you are or where you are going. It is even more dangerous to walk in spiritual darkness. That is what unbelievers are doing at all times.

Romans 1:21,22 says,“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was DARKENED. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”

God’s Word says apart from Christ and the light of His Word, mankind is in darkness. The unbeliever does not grasp or understand God; his spiritual understanding is darkened and blinded and he is unable to see God.

For the believer, however, who have been delivered from the power of darkness by the Light of the gospel of Christ, we can see and understand God more by His Word.

And thus, we should not walk as other Gentiles walk who are in spiritual and moral darkness, but rather we should walk and follow the Light, the Lord Jesus Christ, and allow the wisdom of the Word to be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

Mensa is an organization whose members have an IQ of 140 or higher. A few years ago, there was a Mensa convention in San Francisco, and several members had lunch together at a local café.

While dining, they discovered that their saltshaker contained pepper and their peppershaker was full of salt. How could they swap the contents of the bottles without spilling, and using only the implements at hand?

Clearly this was a job for Mensa! The group debated and presented ideas, and finally came up with a brilliant solution involving a napkin, a straw, and an empty saucer. They called the waitress over to dazzle her with their solution.

“Ma’am,” they said, “we couldn’t help but notice that the pepper shaker contains salt and the saltshaker…” And the waitress interrupted, “Oh, sorry about that.” She unscrewed the caps of both bottles and switched them.

There is often a lack of common sense in this world. As believers, we can sometimes get frustrated and begin wondering aloud why people think and act the way they do.

The upside-down thinking and the absolute nonsense that many believe is a reminder that in their unbelief and lost condition, mankind’s understanding is truly darkened.

Isaiah 5:20 is what we see in this world: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness…”

Rejecting God and rejecting His Word, however, the unbeliever and their thinking become their own ultimate authority. So they believe that they have the authority to choose what is right and what is wrong, and what is good and evil.

Having a darkened understanding, the world cannot and does not think straight as far as spiritual and moral issues are concerned.

Then, like those mentioned in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, who “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (11:3), we too can feel out of place and like we don’t belong here because our lives and thoughts are so foreign to those around us.

The unbeliever has “the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them.”

This believer is filled with God’s light and with God’s life. However, the unbeliever is “alienated from the life of God” and thus is spiritually dead.

The wages of sin is death, so it is sin that alienates and separates us from the life of God. The unbeliever is dead in trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2:1 says. And Isaiah 59:2 tells us that “your iniquities have separated between you and your God…”

The unbeliever’s walk is what it is because of their condition of moral and spiritual darkness and because of their separation from God and His life, in which they continue by ignorance and unbelief.

The phrase, “through the ignorance that is in them,” explains why unbelievers are “alienated from the life of God.” They do not know God or His Son personally. They have never received God’s free gift of salvation.

Job 8:13 refers to “all that forget God.” And this is the kind of willing ignorance of God that Paul is writing about here.

Being confronted on a daily basis with God’s existence, power, and divine nature through His Creation, all are without excuse for their ignorance. People can and should seek God, and they are responsible for not doing so (Rom. 3:11).

And the Church also has a responsibility to confront and dispel that ignorance by sharing the gospel of grace with the lost and unbelieving far and wide.

Lastly, the unbeliever has “the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.”

The unbeliever is in a state of spiritual darkness, deadness, and also blindness. Mankind remains in their spiritual ignorance, separated from the life of God, “because of the blindness of their heart.”

The blindness of man’s heart is the result of Satan blinding “the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor. 4:4).

But they also remain ignorant and separated from the life of God due to the hardness of their own heart. The Greek word translated as “blindness” here means hardness, stubbornness, and is translated in Mark 3:5 as “hardness.”

When Christ was about to heal the man with a withered hand, that verse says, “And when He had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the HARDNESS of their hearts…”

It’s said that the word translated as hardness “was used by physicians to describe the calcification that forms around broken bones and becomes harder than the bone itself.”

Hardness of heart keeps one from seeing things as they really are. This was true of Pharaoh, who could not see the “finger of God” in the plagues of the Exodus, even when his own servants pointed it out to him (Exodus 8:19).

“Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh’s heart was HARDENED, and he hearkened not unto them…” (Ex. 8:19).

This reminds us that a person can remain stubborn in their unbelief, be willfully ignorant of God, become hard and insensitive to the things of God, and not see things as they really are in life when it comes to spiritual and moral issues.

Paul again lays this out to challenge the Ephesians to “walk not as other Gentiles walk,” to not walk in step with one who is ignorant of God and hardens their heart against Him.

In this hardened state of unbelief and a darkened understanding, unbelievers who feel no accountability to God, become “past feeling” toward sin. “Past feeling” means to cease to feel pain or grief, to become callous.

Those who are spiritually hardened become morally calloused. Unbelievers become insensitive and calloused toward sin and its reality and consequences. They feel no shame or guilt for sin and they sin without thought or feeling.

They lose sensitivity to what is right or wrong. And they abandon themselves to the pursuit and practice of fleshly desires.

They completely give themselves over to “lasciviousness” which is the absence of all moral restraint, sexual immorality, and unbridled lust.

They work “all uncleanness” which refers to moral uncleanness in the widest sense, every form of impurity and shameless deeds.

“With greediness” speaks of an insatiable, constant desire for more of all of this. Paul saw the unsaved at the reckless mercy of their own selfish and shameful desires, with no moral standards or decency.

This passage is an honest and true picture of the world around us and of people who don’t know Christ and who need Him!

We have the one thing that will save them from eternal death in the lake of fire: the gospel of the grace of God. Just trusting that Christ died for our sins and rose again, by faith alone we are saved and on our way to heaven.

Ephesians 4:20-21: “But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus.”

After speaking of unsaved Gentiles, Paul returns to speak to “ye,” or you saved Gentiles.

When Paul wrote, “But ye have not so learned Christ,” he refers to a past act at a specific time. To learn Christ is simply another way of describing when they were saved.

It is at a person’s conversion that a person comes to “learn” and know Christ personally, entering a personal relationship with Him. Learning that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again, and trusting this good news we are saved eternally.

As Paul wrote earlier in this letter in chapter 1: “In Whom [Christ] ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” (1:13).

Conversion is the beginning point of learning Christ. From that point, believers continually “learn” about Christ, getting to know the One Who is risen, exalted, and seated at the right hand of God in heaven, and is the Church’s living Head.

In contrast to the description of the unsaved in verses 17-19, Paul wrote in verse 20 that this is not the way of your Savior, this is not what you find in Him. In Him, we find what is true, meaningful, righteous, pure, and good.

The new walk in Christ is the complete opposite of the walk as other unbelieving Gentiles. The old walk is based on thinking which is futile and self-centered. The new walk is purposeful and centered on Christ, which is the most meaningful life conceivable.

The old walk was based on darkened understanding, ignorance of God, and separation from His life. The new walk is full of light and the knowledge of God and is carried out in His life and power.

The old walk is hardened, depraved, shameless, and calloused toward sin. The new walk is sensitive to God’s will and carried out in “righteousness and true holiness” (v. 24).

And having learned Christ, Paul’s appeal is that we shouldn’t turn away from Him and go back to walk according to the low, base, empty ways and standards of the world.

Instead, we should walk with the Lord, with our merciful, kind, loving, and risen Savior, living on a higher plane from this world, walking worthy of our calling in Him.

A walk worthy of our calling is utterly different from the world’s, because it is based on totally different standards: the true wisdom and righteousness of God’s Word.

Instead of being ignorant of God and His truth, verses 20 and 21 say that the believer has learned, heard, and been taught by Christ.

“If so be that ye have heard Him,” means literally, “Since you did hear,” or “Seeing that you heard Him.” In other words, what follows is not in any doubt but is taken for granted that it did happen.

But how had the Ephesians heard and been taught by Christ when He was at the right hand of the Father in heaven?

The answer is that they had heard and been taught by Christ, through His heavenly ministry, by the revelation Christ revealed to the Apostle Paul.

Then through Paul’s systematic instruction of that revelation of the mystery, which is the body of grace truth for the Church today, they had heard Christ and been taught by Him.

God’s truth for the Church today is centered in and revolves around Christ. And they had heard and been taught what Christ is doing today under grace by Paul, and they had been given Christ’s direct will and truth for the Church and learned about all that Christ accomplished for us at the Cross.

We, too, hear Christ and are taught by Him when we open the pages of His Word and read and study it ourselves, or are taught it by others.

And Christ teaches us about our walk in His Word, and His will is clear that we “walk not as other Gentiles walk.”