For Paul, the chief task of the Christian life, which constitutes the meaning of Christianity, is the transformation of the human person, a qualitative change in human nature. Above all, the apostle reminds us that such a change, even while it is still only in progress, permits no deliberate...
For Paul, the chief task of the Christian life, which constitutes the meaning of Christianity, is the transformation of the human person, a qualitative change in human nature. Above all, the apostle reminds us that such a change, even while it is still only in progress, permits no deliberate sin. At first, of course, no one can control their emotions; that comes with experience. But once control becomes possible, a person must separate from himself whatever does not conform to the inner Torah, which now becomes the principal instrument for changing his nature. At first, for example, it is difficult not to fall into anger, which may overwhelm the soul before the neophyte can respond. But if that same neophyte continues to nurture the anger that has flared up even when he could already free himself from it, that is now his choice, for which he will answer before God. Most importantly, such a deliberate, voluntary maintenance of a state that does not foster a normal relationship with God destroys a person's spiritual life and hinders him on the path of Christian life that he has begun.
At the beginning of the journey, everyone may for a moment lose awareness, overwhelmed by an emotional or intellectual wave. But one cannot live in such a state of oblivion, plunging into the abyss of sinful psychic and psychophysical states and giving oneself over, in the apostle's words, to “debauchery to the point of insensibility.” Human renewal consists precisely in such uncontrolled states becoming fewer and fewer over time. Indeed, such states that lead to sin are only a particular case and concrete manifestation of the lack of awareness generally characteristic of fallen human life, of that unreflecting automatism which in itself excludes every deep relationship, whether with God, with Christ, or with any other person. One can be freed from all these things only by being “renewed by the breath of the mind,” as the apostle describes this process.
By “mind” Paul here means what biblical books usually call the “heart”—the spiritual “I” of the person that conceals God's “breath of life.” In the depths of the Christian's spiritual “I,” the breath of the Kingdom is also revealed, which he experiences as he enters into the relationship between the Father and the Son. Unlike the Jews, the Greeks traditionally called this depth by a word usually translated into English as “mind,” and Paul, who wrote his epistles in Greek, also uses it, wishing to make his language understandable to people for whom the Greek tradition was closer than the Jewish one.
It is from this spiritual depth of the human “I,” behind which stands God's real presence, that the breath of the Kingdom acts to renew the person. Not immediately, of course: this process needs time to reach completion, more time than the span of a person's earthly life. But the essential thing is that it has begun; it is entirely possible to be ready by the day of the Kingdom's complete triumph and the Savior's return—provided, of course, that one neither stops nor turns aside from the path.
4
4:17 This therefore I say - He returns thither where he begun, Eph 4:1.And testify in the Lord - In the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus. In the vanity of their mind - Having lost the knowledge of the true God, Rom 1:21. This is the root of all evil walking.
4:18 Having their understanding darkened, through the ignorance that is in them - So that they are totally void of the light of God, neither have they any knowledge of his will.Being alienated from the life of God - Utter strangers to the divine, the spiritual life. Through the hardness of their hearts - Callous and senseless. And where there is no sense, there can be no life.
4:19 Who being past feeling - The original word is peculiarly significant. It properly means, past feeling pain. Pain urges the sick to seek a remedy, which, where there is no pain, is little thought of. Have given themselves up - Freely, of their own accord. Lasciviousness is but one branch of uncleanness, which implies impurity of every kind.
4:20 But ye have not so learned Christ - That is, ye cannot act thus, now ye know him, since you know the Christian dispensation allows of no sin.
4:21 Seeing ye have heard him - Teaching you inwardly by his Spirit.As the truth is in Jesus - According to his own gospel.
4:22 The old man - That is, the whole body of sin. All sinful desires are deceitful; promising the happiness which they cannot give.
4:23 The spirit of your mind - The very ground of your heart.
4:24 The new man - Universal holiness. After - In the very image of God.
4:25 Wherefore - Seeing ye are thus created anew, walk accordingly, in every particular. For we are members one of another - To which intimate union all deceit is quite repugnant.