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Eph_4:18 exhibits the ground of the fact, that the Gentiles walk ἐν ματαιότητι τοῦ νοὸς αὐτῶν , which ground is twofold according to the twofold power belonging to the νοῦς , the intelligent and the practical. To the former ἐσκοτωμένοι relates (see the critical remarks), to the latter ἀπηλλ . τ . ζωῆς τ . Θεοῦ : since they are darkened (comp. Joseph. Antt. ix. 4. 3; the opposite: φωτίζειν τὴν διάνοιαν , viii. 5. 3) in respect of their exercise of thinking and willing ( διανοίᾳ , comp. Luk_1:51; Col_1:21; 1Pe_1:13; 1Jn_5:20); estranged from the life of God.
ἐσκοτ .… ὄντες is to be taken together (Clem. Al. Protrep. ix. p. 69, Potter; Theodoret, Bengel, Knapp, Lachmann, Harless, de Wette), since, if ὄντες ἀπηλλοτρ . are joined (Beza and many, including Rückert, Meier, Matthies, Scholz), the logical and formal parallelism is disturbed, inasmuch as then ἔσκοτ . τῇ διανοίᾳ would be merely predicate and ὄντες ἀπηλλοτρ . specifying the reason (subordinate to the former), and the emphatic prefixing of the two perfect participles, as brought into prominence by our punctuation, would go for nothing. And that the second clause does not specify the reason, why the darkening has come over the minds of the Gentiles (in opposition to Rückert), is clear from the following διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν κ . τ . λ ., wherein, conversely, the ignorance is indicated as the cause of the estrangement from God. Rückert, moreover, thinks that, according to our punctuation, ὄντες would stand before τῇ διανοίᾳ ; but this is groundless, since ἐσκοτ . τῇ διανοίᾳ is conceived of together. Comp. Herod. i. 35: οὐ καθαρὸς χεῖρας ἐών , Xen. Ages. xi. 10: πραότατος φίλοις ὤν .
ἀπηλλοτρ .] See on Eph_2:12, and, concerning the constructio κατὰ σύνεσιν , Buttmann, neut. Gram. pp. 114, 242 [E. T. 281].
τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ] from the life of God, does not admit of any explanation, according to which ζωή would be life-walk, which it never means in the N.T., not even in 2Pe_1:3.[232] Hence not: the life pleasing to God (Michaelis, Zachariae, Koppe, Morus, and others; comp. Theodore, Theophylact, Grotius, and Flatt), but, as Luther aptly renders: “the life, which is from God.” The genitive is genitive originis (comp. δικαιοσύνη Θεοῦ , Rom_1:17, and see Winer, p. 167 f. [E. T. 233]), and ζωή is the counterpart of θάνατος , so that it is to be understood as: “tota vita spiritualis, quae in hoc seculo per fidem et justitiam inchoatur et in futura beatitudine perficitur, quae tota peculiariter vita Dei est, quatenus a Deo per gratiam datur,” Estius. Comp. Calvin and Cajetanus. It is at all events the life of Christian regeneration, which is wrought by God in believers through the Spirit (Rom_8:2);[233] while the Gentiles are by their heathen nature alien to this divine life. This in opposition to Harless, who understands it as the estrangement from the life and light of the λόγος in the world (Joh_1:3). Paul in fact is speaking of the Gentiles of that time (not of those who have lived in the time before Christ), in their contrast to the Christians (Eph_4:17) as persons who were partakers of divine life through the παλιγγενεσία (comp. Eph_2:5; Rom_6:4). Various elements are mixed up by Beza: “vitam illam, qua Deus vivit in suis quamque praecipit et approbat;” and Olshausen: “the life, which God Himself is and has, and which pertains to the creature so long as it remains in fellowship with God.”
διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν … ΚΑΡΔΊΑς ΑὐΤῶΝ ] on account of, etc.; the cause of this estrangement of the Gentiles from the divine life is the ignorance which is in them through hardening of heart, consequently due to their own fault. διὰ τ . πώρ . τ . κ . attaches itself to ΤῊΝ ΟὖΣΑΝ ἘΝ ΑὐΤΟῖς , and is consequently subordinated to the preceding ΔΙᾺ Τ . ἌΓΝΟΙΑΝ Τ . ΟὖΣ . ἘΝ ΑὐΤ . Usually διὰ … διά are regarded as co-ordinate elements; and indeed, according to Harless and Olshausen, who are followed by de Wette, this twofold specification of reason has reference not merely to ἀπηλλοτρ . τ . ζ . τ . Θ ., but also to ἘΣΚΟΤ . Τῇ ΔΙΑΝΟΊᾼ ὌΝΤΕς , in which case Olshausen, Baumgarten-Crusius, de Wette, Schenkel (comp. Grotius and Bengel) assume that ΔΙᾺ ΤῊΝ ἌΓΝΟΙΑΝ Κ . Τ . Λ . corresponds to ἘΣΚΟΤ . Κ . Τ . Λ ., and then ΔΙᾺ ΤῊΝ ΠΏΡΩΣΙΝ Κ . Τ . Λ . to ἈΠΗΛΛΟΤΡ . Τ . Ζ . Τ . Θ . The ἌΓΝΟΙΑ , however, cannot be the cause, but only the consequence of ἐσκοτ . τῇ διανοίᾳ , since ἌΓΝΟΙΑ (used by Paul only here, but ἈΓΝΟΕῖΝ occurs frequently) is not dulness of the higher faculty of cognition (Rückert), but nothing else than ignorance (Act_3:17; Act_17:30; 1Pe_1:14). The Gentiles were not darkened on account of their ignorance, seeing that in fact ignorance is not inaccessible to the light, as the example of all converted Gentiles shows; but their being estranged from the life of God was occasioned by their ignorance, and, indeed, by their ignorance for which they were to blame on account of hardening of heart. Accordingly, the commas after Θεοῦ and ΑὐΤΟῖς are to be deleted. Meier is quite wrong in holding that the ignorant are the Gentiles, and the hardened the Jews. Paul speaks only of the Gentiles.
τὴν οὖσαν ἐν αὐτοῖς ] not: quae iis innata est, nor yet said in contrast to external occasions (Harless), which is not at all implied in the context, but: because Paul wished to annex the cause of the ἄγνοια , he has not put ΔΙᾺ ΤῊΝ ἌΓΝΟΙΑΝ ΑὐΤῶΝ , but, in order to procure the means of annexation, has employed the participial expression paraphrasing the ΑὐΤῶΝ : ΤῊΝ ΟὖΣΑΝ ἘΝ ΑὐΤΟῖς . This expression confirms the view that the second ΔΙΆ is subordinate to the first.
[232] Especially instructive for the distinction of the notion ζωή from that of life-walk, is Gal_5:25.
[233] This divine making alive does not coincide with justification, but the latter is the actus judicialis of God that precedes the former. Comp. especially Rom_8:10 : ζωὴ διὰ δικαιοσύνην .