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Bible Study
The Gift of Eternal Life Berean Bible Study Course
Part IV--The Family Of God / The Body Of Christ
A. Lesson 19--The Nature Of Christ's Body
13. READ: EPHESIANS 4:17-25
a. Why are most people separated from the life of God?
Answer: Most people are separated from the life of God
because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of
their hearts, (verse 18).
MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
The word
"ignorance" comes from the Greek word agnoia,
which is from the Greek word agnoeo (a combination of two
Greek words), meaning, "not to know" (through lack of
information or intelligence); by implication to
"ignore" (through disinclination); "be ignorant,
act ignorantly, not know, not understand, unknown, want of
knowledge." It has also been called "a willful
blindness," an attitude of heart and mind that, after
receiving the knowledge of God and His requirements for
reconciliation, demonstrates a willful blindness, rebelling against
the Truth that was taught. This
ignorance that is in a person separated from the life of God is due
to the hardening of their heart. The word
"hardening" is from the Greek word porosis,
meaning, "a covering with a callus, hardening."
Another interpretation of this word is "hardening, dulling,
dullness, insensibility, obstinacy." Those who live in
this ignorance have a hardened heart that can include one or all of
the following descriptions: stubborn, obstinate, intractable,
unyielding, inflexible, adamant, immovable, willful, headstrong,
pigheaded, mulish, bullheaded, unmanageable, uncontrollable,
ungovernable, unmoved, uncaring, unfeeling, harsh, merciless,
unmerciful, unpitying, pitiless, unsympathetic, uncompassionate,
unsparing, untouched, hardened, calloused, cruel, cold-blooded,
hardhearted. These
people, who live in ignorance and separated from God, truly have no
moral (or spiritual) responsiveness, and they have "lost all
sensitivity" and "have given themselves over to
sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a
continual lust for more" (verse 19). Jesus,
quoting from Isaiah the prophet, spoke of people such as
these:
Matthew 13:15 (also Acts
28:27): "For this people's heart has become
calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed
their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear
with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would
heal them." How must
we change from living in ignorance? The following are but a
few of God's guidelines:
1 Corinthians 15:33-34: "Do not be
misled: 'Bad company corrupts good character.' Come
back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are
some who are ignorant of God--I say this to your
shame."
1 Peter 1:13-15: "Therefore,
prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope
fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is
revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil
desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He
Who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is
written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'"
1 Peter 2:11-12: "Dear friends, I
urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from
sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good
lives among the pagans [unbelievers] that, though they accuse you
of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the
day He visits us."
1 Peter 3:14-18: "So then, dear
friends, since you are looking forward to this [the home of the
righteous], make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and
at peace with Him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience
means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with
the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all
his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain
some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and
unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their
own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you already
know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by
the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen."
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