Ephesians 4:17

Ephesians 4:17. This therefore I say. ‘This' points to what follows; ‘therefore' may refer to what immediately precedes; it is better, however, to find here a resumption of the exhortations begun in Ephesians 4:1-3, but with the force added by the intervening discussion.

Testify in the Lord. He bears witness, not in his own, but in the cause of the Lord in whom he lives, and in whom his

readers live; hence the appeal should have weight with them.

That ye no longer walk. This is what he says, and it amounts to a precept; comp. Ephesians 4:1. It forbids doing any more what they once did.

As the Gentiles also walk. The fuller reading of the Received text, which would properly be rendered: ‘as the rest of the Gentiles also walk,' is not sufficiently supported. It was probably inserted to indicate that the readers were Gentiles. But the briefer form suggests this in ‘also,'

In the vanity of their mind. ‘Vanity' betokens ‘a waste of the whole rational powers on worthless objects' (Alford). This is the characteristic of heathenism, even in its most refined forms. ‘Mind' here is the same term used in Romans 7:23-25, and is applied to the spirit of man, mainly in its moral and intellectual aspects,' the practical reason,' the controlling will. It is evident that the ‘mind' is here regarded as depraved; that part of man's nature, which in its original constitution was noblest, has become the stronghold of his depravity.