Charles Ellicott Commentary Ephesians 4:17

"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the vanity of their mind," — Ephesians 4:17 (ASV)

This I say therefore.—The phrase “This I say” seems to be used by St. Paul in returning (so to speak) from some lofty aspiration or profound reasoning, in which some might not be able to follow him, to a solid, practical ground, which all may tread. (See, for example, 1 Corinthians 15:50.) Here he is not content to use this phrase simply, but he enforces it by the solemnity of the adjuration “I testify” (Galatians 5:3), which properly means, “I call God to witness the truth of what I say”—a phrase found in express terms in Romans 1:9; 2 Corinthians 1:23; Philippians 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 2:5. Nor was even this enough, for he adds “in the Lord”—that is, in the name, authority, and spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The whole form is therefore one of peculiar force and solemnity.

The vanity of their mind.—In these words St. Paul describes the fundamental condition of heathenism. The “mind,” that is (Romans 7:25), the “inner man”—the spiritual intuition of invisible principles of truth and right, which is the true humanity—has become subject to vanity (Romans 8:20),—the vanity of which the Book of Ecclesiastes so often speaks.

In losing the living conception of a living God, it has lost also the conception of the true object and perfection of human life; and so wanders on aimless, hopeless, reckless, as in a dream. With what absolute fidelity St. Paul describes the heathen world of his day, its history and its literature alike testify. Compare with the whole passage the picture drawn in Romans 1:21-32, They became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened, etc. The difference is that in the latter passage the prominent idea is mainly of “judicial blindness,” sent by God as a penalty on willful apostasy from Him, while here St. Paul rather dwells on self-chosen blindness and hardness of heart.

On verses 17-24

Practical Exhortation (Ephesians 4:17–21).

1. The new life; first, taught in Christ and learning Christ; and secondly, regenerate in Him to the image of God (Ephesians 4:17–24).
2. Hence the power of conquest of sin generally—
   • Falsehood (Ephesians 4:25);
   • Passionate anger (Ephesians 4:26–27);
   • Dishonesty (Ephesians 4:28);
   • Foulness of word (Ephesians 4:29–30);
3. Hence its power against the special besetting sins of—
   • Bitterness and malice, unworthy of the love of Christ (Ephesians 4:31–32 and Ephesians 5:1-2);
   • Fornication and lust, unworthy of the light of Christ (Ephesians 5:3–14);
   • Recklessness and drunken excitement (Ephesians 5:15–21).

In Ephesians 4:17-24 we enter on the practical section of the Epistle, which, indeed, appears to begin in Ephesians 4:1, but is broken in upon by the magnificent digression of the doctrinal summary of Ephesians 4:4-16. It opens with a striking contrast of the past and the present—the life of the heathen in its “vanity,” with the twofold result of blindness and callousness of soul; and the Christian life, which has in learning Christ found the secret of regeneration.