John Calvin Commentary Ephesians 4:18

"being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;" — Ephesians 4:18 (ASV)

Being alienated from the life of God. The life of God may either mean what is considered life in the sight of God, as in that passage, “they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God,” (John 12:43), or that life which God bestows on His elect by the Spirit of regeneration. In both cases, the meaning is the same.

Our ordinary life as human beings is nothing more than an empty image of life, not only because it quickly passes, but also because while we live, our souls, not keeping close to God, are dead. There are three kinds of life in this world. The first is animal life, which consists only of motion and the bodily senses, and which we have in common with animals. The second is human life, which we have as the children of Adam. The third is that supernatural life, which believers alone obtain.

All of these are from God, so that each of them may be called the life of God. Regarding the first, Paul, in his sermon at Athens, says, “In him we live, and move, and have our being;” (Acts 17:28); and the Psalmist says, “Send forth thy Spirit, and they shall be created; and thou wilt renew the face of the earth.” (Psalms 104:30). Of the second, Job says, “Thou hast granted me life, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.” (Job 10:12).

But the regeneration of believers is here called, preeminently, the life of God, because then God truly lives in us, and we enjoy His life, when He governs us by His Spirit. Paul declares all people who are not new creatures in Christ to be destitute of this life. Therefore, as long as we remain in the flesh—that is, in ourselves—how wretched must our condition be!

We may now form a judgment of all the moral virtues, as they are called. For what sort of actions will that life produce which Paul affirms is not the life of God? Before anything good can begin to proceed from us, we must first be renewed by the grace of Christ. This will be the commencement of a true and, as the phrase is, a vital life.

On account of the ignorance that is in them. We ought to pay attention to the reason assigned here; for, as the knowledge of God is the true life of the soul, so, on the contrary, ignorance is its death.

And so that we do not adopt the opinion of philosophers that ignorance, which leads us into mistakes, is only an incidental evil, Paul shows that it has its root in the blindness of their heart, by which he implies that it dwells in their very nature. The primary blindness, therefore, which covers the minds of people, is the punishment of original sin. This is because Adam, after his rebellion, was deprived of the true light of God, in the absence of which there is nothing but fearful darkness.