Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Being past feeling means becoming numb, insensitive and insensible to what is right, to conscience, to spiritual things and to moral sense. Having given themselves over means surrendering and abandoning oneself to sensual indulgence and shameless lust, to pursue and practice every kind of impurity with greedy eagerness and excess. It describes those who walk as other Gentiles walk in vanity of mind, with darkened understanding and blindness of heart, alienated from the life of God and enslaved by deceitful lusts, which stands opposite to learning Christ and putting on the new man created in righteousness and true holiness. People become callous and past feeling by a continuing inward process through repeated and cherished sin, until conscience is seared and the mind hardened so they no longer recognize or feel the wrong in their conduct, and without feeling the wrong they cannot correct it and have no hope of reform. The verse therefore stands as a warning for every soul amid moral darkness, calling for great reformation in words, works and spiritual understanding, and for God's people to maintain a clear distinction from the world instead of imitating the immodest fashions that are the fruit of this condition.
Meaning and Setting
Being past feeling is to become numb, insensitive and insensible to what is right, to conscience, to spiritual things and to moral sense. That numbness is loss of feeling and conviction from the Spirit of God, becoming strangers to the working of the Holy Spirit and becoming hard-spirited. Having given themselves over is surrendering and abandoning oneself to lasciviousness, sensuality, lust and shameless indulgence. It is to work and pursue every kind of uncleanness and impurity with greediness and eager excess, with eagerness for more.
The verse describes those who walk as other Gentiles walk in vanity of mind, with darkened understanding, alienated from the life of God through ignorance and blindness of heart. It is a life separate from God, degraded, corrupt and enslaved by deceitful lusts and lustful passions. That former corrupt condition is what believers must no longer walk in. It stands opposite to learning Christ, hearing Him and being taught as the truth is in Jesus. It stands opposite to putting off the former conversation of the old man corrupt according to deceitful lusts, being renewed in the spirit of the mind, and putting on the new man created after God in righteousness and true holiness. The same contrast extends to putting away lying to speak truth with neighbors as members one of another, and to being angry without sin without letting the sun go down on wrath.
Corruption through lust is contrasted with a Christian life shaped by obedience to God's commandments and escape from the corruption of the world. Those who have learned the truth in Jesus must show genuine conversion through a changed life and character and must no longer live as before.
Hardening Process and Outcome
In the church this condition lets the adversary work by and through its own members so that God cannot work there, breeding distrust of fellow workers rooted in distrust of self and a refusal to yield to the spirit of repentance until feeling is gone. Becoming callous and past feeling happens through a continuing inward process in the mind, fed by repeated involvement with sin, by cherished sin, and by glaring inconsistency that stains and spots the heart.
The conscience becomes so seared and the mind so hardened that wrong in conduct is no longer recognized or felt, glaring inconsistencies are made light of, and habit binds the person to the evil allowed even while its danger goes unrecognized. Without seeing and feeling the wrong there is no correcting it, and refusal to acknowledge it leaves no hope of reform.
Such hardening makes men like whited sepulchers, appearing honest and true and fair without while corrupt to the core, with sin staining the heart and its record standing against them in the heavenly courts. They cannot grasp the calamity of being weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and pronounced wanting in the great day of God. Escape comes only as precious untarnished truth becomes part of the character.
Warning and Holy Living
Ephesians 4 is a Bible lesson to be lived out in daily practice, and Ephesians 4:19 belongs to instruction to be read most solemnly and impressed upon minds because it means much. It stands as a warning for every soul to heed amid moral darkness and the increase of seducing power to deceive even the elect. It calls for a great reformation in the lives of believers in words and works and spiritual understanding, catching the inspiration of the heavenly courts and daily breathing the atmosphere of heaven. It calls for the churches to be set in order, for the door of unbelief to be closed, and for straight paths to be made for the feet so the weak are not turned out of the way.
Immodest and shameful fashions are the fruit of this past-feeling condition, in which spiritual feeling and conviction from the Spirit of God are lost and self is given over to lust, sensuality, and every kind of impurity and uncleanness with greed. They are introduced by people under Satan's control who have given themselves over to lasciviousness and uncleanness. They are presented as a prophetic sign of the last days. God's people should not imitate those fashions but maintain a clear distinction from the world.
Being past feeling means becoming numb, insensitive and insensible to what is right, to conscience, to spiritual things and to moral sense. Having given themselves over means surrendering and abandoning oneself to sensual indulgence and shameless lust, to pursue and practice every kind of impurity with greedy eagerness and excess. It describes those who walk as other Gentiles walk in vanity of mind, with darkened understanding and blindness of heart, alienated from the life of God and enslaved by deceitful lusts, which stands opposite to learning Christ and putting on the new man created in righteousness and true holiness. People become callous and past feeling by a continuing inward process through repeated and cherished sin, until conscience is seared and the mind hardened so they no longer recognize or feel the wrong in their conduct, and without feeling the wrong they cannot correct it and have no hope of reform. The verse therefore stands as a warning for every soul amid moral darkness, calling for great reformation in words, works and spiritual understanding, and for God's people to maintain a clear distinction from the world instead of imitating the immodest fashions that are the fruit of this condition.
Meaning and Setting
Being past feeling is to become numb, insensitive and insensible to what is right, to conscience, to spiritual things and to moral sense. That numbness is loss of feeling and conviction from the Spirit of God, becoming strangers to the working of the Holy Spirit and becoming hard-spirited. Having given themselves over is surrendering and abandoning oneself to lasciviousness, sensuality, lust and shameless indulgence. It is to work and pursue every kind of uncleanness and impurity with greediness and eager excess, with eagerness for more.
The verse describes those who walk as other Gentiles walk in vanity of mind, with darkened understanding, alienated from the life of God through ignorance and blindness of heart. It is a life separate from God, degraded, corrupt and enslaved by deceitful lusts and lustful passions. That former corrupt condition is what believers must no longer walk in. It stands opposite to learning Christ, hearing Him and being taught as the truth is in Jesus. It stands opposite to putting off the former conversation of the old man corrupt according to deceitful lusts, being renewed in the spirit of the mind, and putting on the new man created after God in righteousness and true holiness. The same contrast extends to putting away lying to speak truth with neighbors as members one of another, and to being angry without sin without letting the sun go down on wrath.
Corruption through lust is contrasted with a Christian life shaped by obedience to God's commandments and escape from the corruption of the world. Those who have learned the truth in Jesus must show genuine conversion through a changed life and character and must no longer live as before.
Hardening Process and Outcome
In the church this condition lets the adversary work by and through its own members so that God cannot work there, breeding distrust of fellow workers rooted in distrust of self and a refusal to yield to the spirit of repentance until feeling is gone. Becoming callous and past feeling happens through a continuing inward process in the mind, fed by repeated involvement with sin, by cherished sin, and by glaring inconsistency that stains and spots the heart.
The conscience becomes so seared and the mind so hardened that wrong in conduct is no longer recognized or felt, glaring inconsistencies are made light of, and habit binds the person to the evil allowed even while its danger goes unrecognized. Without seeing and feeling the wrong there is no correcting it, and refusal to acknowledge it leaves no hope of reform.
Such hardening makes men like whited sepulchers, appearing honest and true and fair without while corrupt to the core, with sin staining the heart and its record standing against them in the heavenly courts. They cannot grasp the calamity of being weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and pronounced wanting in the great day of God. Escape comes only as precious untarnished truth becomes part of the character.
Warning and Holy Living
Ephesians 4 is a Bible lesson to be lived out in daily practice, and Ephesians 4:19 belongs to instruction to be read most solemnly and impressed upon minds because it means much. It stands as a warning for every soul to heed amid moral darkness and the increase of seducing power to deceive even the elect. It calls for a great reformation in the lives of believers in words and works and spiritual understanding, catching the inspiration of the heavenly courts and daily breathing the atmosphere of heaven. It calls for the churches to be set in order, for the door of unbelief to be closed, and for straight paths to be made for the feet so the weak are not turned out of the way.
Immodest and shameful fashions are the fruit of this past-feeling condition, in which spiritual feeling and conviction from the Spirit of God are lost and self is given over to lust, sensuality, and every kind of impurity and uncleanness with greed. They are introduced by people under Satan's control who have given themselves over to lasciviousness and uncleanness. They are presented as a prophetic sign of the last days. God's people should not imitate those fashions but maintain a clear distinction from the world.