CHAPTER 4
LECTURE 6
17 τοῦτο οὖν λέγω καὶ μαρτύρομαι ἐν κυρίῳ, μηκέτι ὑμᾶς περιπατεῖν καθὼς καὶ τὰ ἔθνη περιπατεῖ ἐν ματαιότητι τοῦ νοὸς αὐτῶν, 18 ἐσκοτωμένοι τῇ διανοίᾳ ὄντες, ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ θεοῦ, διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τὴν οὖσαν ἐν αὐτοῖς, διὰ τὴν πώρωσιν τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν, 19 οἵτινες ἀπηλγηκότες ἑαυτοὺς παρέδωκαν τῇ ἀσελγείᾳ εἰς ἐργασίαν ἀκαθαρσίας πάσης ἐν πλεονεξίᾳ.
17 This then I say and testify in the Lord: that henceforward you walk not as also the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts, 19 Who, despairing, have given themselves up to lasciviousness unto the working of all uncleanness, unto covetousness.
Supra monuit apostolus Ephesios ut manerent in ecclesiastica unitate, describendo modum eius et formam, in hac parte docet eos viam per quam possint manere in ecclesiastica unitate. Et circa hoc duo facit. The Apostle previously admonished the Ephesians to persevere in ecclesial unity by describing to them its quality and pattern (4: 1). In the part that follows he teaches them the way to remain within the Church’s unity. Regarding this he does two things:
Primo proponit praecepta, per quae possunt manere in ecclesiastica unitate;
secundo ostendit potestatem hanc ad implenda praecepta in fine epistolae, ibi de caetero, fratres, confortamini , et cetera.
First, he gives them precepts by which they can remain in ecclesial unity.
Prima in duas. The first section has two parts:
Primo proponit praecepta ad omnes;
secundo pertinentia ad singulos gradus Ecclesiae, ibi mulieres viris suis subditae sint , et cetera.
First, he sets down precepts for everyone.
Secondly, he adds certain ones pertaining to particular classes within the Church (5:22).
Prima in duas. The first contains two divisions:
Primo ponit quaedam praecepta generalia ad quae reducuntur omnia alia;
secundo ponit specialia, ibi propter quod deponentes mendacium , et cetera.
First, he expresses certain general precepts to which all the others can be reduced.
Secondly, he treats of particular ones (4:25).
Prima iterum in duas, quia cum intentio apostoli sit eos revocare a vetere consuetudine ad novam Christi doctrinam, Again, the first section has two parts. Since the Apostles’ intention is to draw them away from their old customs to embrace Christ’s new teaching:
primo ostendit doctrinam Christi esse contrariam antiquae perversitati gentilitatis;
secundo inducit eos, ut eam deponant et eam, quae Christi est assumant, ibi deponite vos secundum pristinam , et cetera.
First, he demonstrates how the doctrine of Christ is just the opposite of the old pagan perversity.
Secondly, he offers them incentives to leave it behind and adopt the way of Christ (4:22).
Prima in duas, The first of these has two sections:
quia primo describit conversationem gentilium;
secundo ostendit, quod ei contrariatur doctrina Christi, ibi vos autem non ita , et cetera.
First, he describes the pagans’way of life.
Secondly, he shows that Christ’s teaching is contrary to it (4:20).
Prima in tres. The first part has three divisions:
Primo hortatur eos, ut declinent conversationem gentilium;
secundo describit eam quantum ad interiorem animum, ibi tenebris obscuratum , etc.;
tertio quantum ad exteriorem modum, ibi qui desperantes , et cetera.
First, he exhorts them to reject the pagan way of life.
Secondly, he describes it in reference to the pagan’s inner mind (4:18),.
Thirdly, he does so in reference to his external way of acting (4:19).
Dicit ergo: ad hoc quod possitis implere ea, quae dicta sunt, dico , id est non obsecro, ut prius, sed dico, et testificor , hoc quod dixi. Gal. V, 3: testificor autem omni homini rursum circumcidenti se, quoniam debitor est universae legis faciendae . II Tim. IV, 1: testificor coram Deo et Christo Iesu , et cetera. Et quid? Ut iam , scilicet tempore fidei et conversionis ad Christum, quia iam vos mundi estis , Io. XIII, 10, non ambuletis , id est vivatis. Gal. V, 25: si spiritu vivimus, spiritu et ambulemus , et cetera. Et hoc sicut et gentes ambulant . I Cor. XII, 2: scitis, quoniam cum gentes essetis, ad simulacra muta prout ducebamini euntes , et cetera. Non sic igitur ambuletis. Prov. I, 15: fili mi, ne ambules cum eis, prohibe pedem tuum a semitis eorum , et cetera. That you will be able to carry out, he says, what I have spoken of above, I say, not beseeching you as previously, rather I say and testify to what I have asserted. I testify again to every man circumcising himself that he is a debtor to the whole law” (Gal. 5:3). “1 charge thee, before God and Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead...” (2 Tim. 4:1). And what [does he bear witness to here]? That henceforward , from the moment you believed and were converted to Christ, since you “are [now] clean” (Jn. 13:10), you walk not as also the Gentiles walk. To walk here means to live: “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). This should not be as the Gentiles walk: “You know that, when you were heathens, you went to dumb idols according as you were led” (1 Cor. 12:2). You must not walk in such a manner: “My son, walk not with them: restrain thy foot from their paths” (Prov.1:15).
Consequenter cum dicit in vanitate sensus sui , reddit causam huius prohibitionis. Ubi notandum est, quod cum ambulare spiritualiter sit proficere, secundum illud Is. c. XXVI, 7: rectus callis iusti ad ambulandum , et cetera. Gen. XVII, 1: ambula coram me, et esto perfectus , dicitur Abrahae, ad hoc ergo ut homo iuste ambulet, id est spiritualiter proficiat, oportet tria, quae in ipso sunt, regulari et ordinari. In homine enim est ratio iudicans de particularibus agendis; item, intellectus universalium principiorum, qui est synderesis;
tertio, lex divina seu Deus. Quandocumque ergo aliquis secundum ista tria sibi invicem ordinata dirigitur, ita quod actio ordinetur secundum iudicium rationis, et haec, scilicet ratio, iudicet secundum intellectum rectum, vel synderesim, et haec, scilicet synderesis, ordinetur secundum legem divinam, tunc actio est bona et meritoria. Then, in saying in the vanity of their mind, he gives the reason for his prohibition. Note that to walk spiritually is to make progress. “The path of the just is right to walk in” (Is. 26:27), and to Abraham it was said: “Walk before me, and be perfect” (Gen. 17:1). There are three norms immanent in man by which he must be guided and regulated if he is to walk justly and make spiritual progress. In man, one of these is the reason which judges about what is to be done in concrete circumstances.
Sed vita gentilium non est talis, imo deficit in praedictis tribus; quia, primo, deficit a ratione iudicante, quia ambulant in vanitate sensus sui. Sensus autem est vis apprehensiva, per quam iudicamus singularia. Unde aliquis homo rectus dicitur quando bene iudicat de agendis. Sed sensus iste quandoque est rectus, quandoque est vanus. Rectus dicitur, quando debita regula regitur, qua venit ad debitum finem; vanus autem quando, indebita regula ductus, non venit ad debitum finem. Sap. c. XIII, 1: vani sunt omnes homines in quibus non subest scientia Dei , et cetera. Rom. I, 21: evanuerunt in cogitationibus suis , et cetera. Ier. II, v. 5: ambulaverunt post vanitates suas, et vani facti sunt . The life of the Gentiles did not resemble this, it was lacking these three. First of all, rational judgment was missing since they walked in the vanity of their mind. Mind here is the power to apprehend [ vis apprehensiva ] through which we judge about individual objects. Hence, a man is called upright when he judges correctly about what should be done. But this mind is sometimes upright, and at other times vain. It is termed upright when, guided by appropriate norms, it attains to the proper end; it is vain when, led by the wrong norms, it does not achieve the proper end. “All men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God” (Wis. 13:1), “because they became vain in their thoughts” (Rom. 1:21) “and walked after vanity and are become vain” (Jer. 2:5).
Quare? Quia certe ratio istorum in agendis non dirigebatur ab intellectu illuminato, sed erroneo. Et hoc est quod ait tenebris obscuratum habentes intellectum . Rom. I, 21: obscuratum est insipiens cor eorum . Ps. LXXXI, 5: nescierunt, neque intellexerunt, in tenebris ambulant . Et ratio est, quia tales non sunt participes divini luminis, seu legis divinae illuminantis et regulantis; propter quod subdit alienati a vita Dei , id est a Deo, qui est vita animae. Io. XIV, 6: ego sum via, veritas, et vita . Why? Obviously because in performing such acts their reason is not guided by an enlightened understanding, but an erroneous one. This is what he says about them having their understanding darkened. “Their foolish heart was darkened” (Rom. 1:21), and “they have not known nor understood: they walk on in darkness” (Ps. 81:5). This is traceable to their not sharing in the divine light, or not being enlightened and directed by the divine law. Thus he adds alienated from the life of God, from God who is the life of the soul. I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6).
Vel, a vita Dei , id est a charitate et gratia spirituali, qua anima vivit formaliter. Rom. VI, 23: gratia autem Dei vita aeterna . Isti autem erant sine spe vitae aeternae, quia ponebant mortalitatem animae contra fidem et spem. Sap. II, 22: nescierunt sacramenta Dei, neque speraverunt mercedem iustitiae, neque iudicaverunt honorem animarum sanctarum , et cetera. Vel a vita Dei , id est a vita sancte vivendi, quae est per fidem. Gal. II, 20: vivo ego, iam non ego , et cetera. Iustus autem ex fide vivit , ut dicitur Rom. I, 17. Vel quae est per charitatem. I Io. III, 14: nos scimus, quia translati sumus de morte ad vitam, quoniam diligimus fratres , et cetera. Non sic autem isti, sed magis alienati. Or, from the life of God may mean from charity and spiritual grace by which the soul lives formally [a supernatural life]. “The grace of God is life everlasting” (Rom. 6:23). Existing without an expectation of eternal life, they held for a mortality of the soul contrary to faith and hope. “And they knew not the secrets of God, nor hoped for the wages of justice, nor esteemed the honour of holy souls” (Wis. 2:22). Or again, from the life of God might indicate an existence estranged from that holy living which comes through faith: I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). “The just man liveth by faith” (Rom. 1: 17). Or, the life which comes through charity: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren” (1 Jn. 3:14). [The pagans] were not likethis; instead, they were alienated.
Modum autem huius alienationis tangit, scilicet per ignorantiam non stellarum vel cursus siderum, sed naturae divinae, I Cor. c. XV, 33: ignorantiam quidem Dei quidam habent , quia certe tunc solum in Iudaea notus erat Deus, sed modo, ut dicitur Act. XVII, v. 30: tempora huius ignorantiae despiciens Deus, nunc annuntiat hominibus, ut omnes ubique poenitentiam agant , et cetera. Huius autem ignorantiae Deus non erat causa quantum de se erat, ut dicitur Rom. I, v. 19: Deus enim illis revelavit , sed certe causa erat illis propter caecitatem cordis ipsorum . Et vere dicit caecitatem eo quod ex creaturis non poterant venire in notitiam creatoris, quia, ut dicitur Sap. II, 21, excaecavit eos malitia eorum ; et sequitur: et nescierunt sacramenta Dei, neque mercedem speraverunt iustitiae . He briefly discusses the quality of this alienation, it is through the ignorance that is in them, not of stars or the movement of the constellations, but of the Divine Nature. “Some have not the knowledge of God” (1 Cor. 15:34), since in former times God was known only among the Jews. But “God, indeed having winked at the times of this ignorance, now declareth unto men that all should everywhere do penance” (Ac. 17:30). God, insofar as he himself was concerned, was not the cause of this ignorance since “That which is known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it unto them” (Rom. 1: 19). Certainly the cause was themselves due to the blindness of their hearts. He describes it well as blindness since from created reality they could not attain to a knowledge of the Creator. “For their own malice blinded them. And they knew not the secrets of God, nor hoped for the wages of justice” (Wis. 2:21-22).
Et hoc est quod sequitur qui desperantes , etc., ubi ostendit apostolus quales erant in exteriori conversatione, quoniam sine spe, et hoc quia alienati a vita. Iob VII, v. 16: desperavi, nequaquam ultra iam vivam , et cetera. Ier. XVIII, 12: desperavimus, post cogitationes enim nostras ibimus, et unusquisque post pravitatem cordis sui malefaciemus . Et hoc est quod sequitur tradiderunt semetipsos impudicitiae , et cetera. Et hoc legi potest dupliciter, vel separatim, ut dicatur in avaritia , quia avari erant. Rom. I, 29: repletos omni iniquitate et malitia, fornicatione, avaritia . Hebr. XIII, 5: sint mores sine avaritia , etc., quia, ut dicitur Eccli. X, 9: avaro nihil est scelestius . Propter quod Hab. c. II, 9: vae qui congregat avaritiam malam domui suae , et cetera. Then the Apostle goes on (v. 19) to portray how their exterior manner of life was once they lost hope, a loss due to their alientation from life. “I have done with hope. I shall now live no longer” (Job 7:16). “And they said: We have no hopes; for we will go after our own thoughts and we will do everyone according to the perverseness of his evil heart” (Jer. 18:12). This is what follows in that they have given themselves up to lasciviousness unto the working of all uncleanness, unto covetousness . The text can be read in two ways. Unto covetousness may be taken as a separate vice meaning they were avaricious: “Being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice...” (Rom. 1:29). “Let your manners be without covetousness, contented with such things as you have” (Heb. 13:5). For “nothing is more wicked than the covetous man” (Ecclus. 10:9). Thus Habacuc 2 (9): “Woe to him that gathereth together an evil covetousness to his house that his nest may be on high, and thinketh he may be delivered out of the hand of evil.”
Potest etiam legi coniunctim cum praecedentibus, ut dicatur in avaritia , id est avare, ita ut sit modificans praecedentia. Et secundum hoc aggravat eorum vitam tripliciter; quia, primo, peccaverunt non ex passione, sed potius ex electione, unde dicit tradiderunt semetipsos impudicitiae ; quasi dicat: non passionibus, vel infirmitate peccaverunt, sed semetipsos tradiderunt, et cetera. Iudith VII, 15: sponte tradamus nos omnes populo Holofernis , et cetera. II Cor. XII, 21: non egerunt poenitentiam super immunditia quam gesserunt , et cetera. Unto covetousness might also be joined with what goes before, meaning “covetously” and modify the preceding. In that case their life was weighted down with a triple burden. First, they did not sin from passion but by choice, thus he says they have given themselves up to lasciviousness. As though he had said: Instead of sinning through passion or weakness they just sold themselves over to it: “Assemble ye all that are in the city, that we may of our own accord yield ourselves all up to the people of Holofernes” (Jdt. 7:15). “They have not done penance for the uncleanness, and fornication, and lasciviousness, that they have committed” (2 Cor. 12:21).
Secundo, ex actuali effrenatione. II Petr. II, v. 10: post carnem in concupiscentiam immunditiae ambulant , et cetera. Et ideo dicit in operationem omnis immunditiae . Ez. XIV, 3: isti posuerunt immunditias suas in cordibus suis , et cetera.
tertio, aggravatur eorum peccatum ex continuatione, quia incessanter peccabant. Os. IV, v. 10: fornicati sunt, et non cessaverunt, quoniam dominum reliquerunt . Unde dicit in avaritiam , id est ardenter, et appetitu continuo, et insatiabili. II Petr. II, 14: oculos habentes plenos adulterii et incessabilis delicti, pellicientes animas instabiles, cor exercitatum in avaritia habentes, maledictionis filii , et cetera. Secondly, [their sins were aggravated] from the complete lack of restraint; they “walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government” (2 Pet. 2:10). Therefore, he adds unto the working of all uncleaness; “these men have placed their uncleannesses in their hearts, and have set up before their face the stumbling-block of their iniquity” (Ez. 14:3). Thirdly, their sin was greater from its continuance, for they sinned incessantly. “They have committed fornication and have not ceased: because they have forsaken the Lord in not observing his law” (Os. 4:10). Whence he states unto covetousness, that is, [they sinned] ardently, with a constant and insatiable appetite for more. “Having eyes full of adultery and of sin that ceaseth not; alluring unstable souls; having their heart exercised with covetousness; children of malediction. Leaving the right way they have gone astray” (2 Pet. 2:14-15).
* One is the infinitive, to put off ; then it would be construed with what preceded to read: The truth about which you were instructed in Jesus was to put off the old man. The more common reading has an imperative, put ye off ; in this case the signification is: Since the life and teachings of the Gentiles are contrary to those of Jesus, in which you have been taught, the only alternative is that you discard the old man. * Therefore he adds of error because the mind and affections of those who maliciously err become corrupted. Possibly the desire of error refers to whatever makes men err, according to Wisdom 2 (21): “These things they thought, and were deceived: for their own malice blinded them,” and in Proverbs 14 (8): “The imprudence of fools erreth.” *