Ephesians 4:18
New International Version
They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

New Living Translation
Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.

English Standard Version
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

Berean Standard Bible
They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

Berean Literal Bible
being darkened in the understanding, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance being in them on account of the hardness of their heart,

King James Bible
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

New King James Version
having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;

New American Standard Bible
being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

NASB 1995
being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

NASB 1977
being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

Legacy Standard Bible
being darkened in their mind, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.

Amplified Bible
for their [moral] understanding is darkened and their reasoning is clouded; [they are] alienated and self-banished from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the [willful] ignorance and spiritual blindness that is [deep-seated] within them, because of the hardness and insensitivity of their heart.

Christian Standard Bible
They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts.

American Standard Version
being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And they are dark in their intellects and are aliens to the Life of God, because there is no knowledge in them and because of the blindness of their heart,

Contemporary English Version
Their minds are in the dark, and they are stubborn and ignorant and have missed out on the life that comes from God. They no longer have any feelings about what is right,

Douay-Rheims Bible
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.

English Revised Version
being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They can't understand because they are in the dark. They are excluded from the life that God approves of because of their ignorance and stubbornness.

Good News Translation
and whose minds are in the dark. They have no part in the life that God gives, for they are completely ignorant and stubborn.

International Standard Version
They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart.

Literal Standard Version
being darkened in the understanding, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart,

Majority Standard Bible
They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

New American Bible
darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart,

NET Bible
They are darkened in their understanding, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

New Revised Standard Version
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart.

New Heart English Bible
being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts;

Webster's Bible Translation
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Weymouth New Testament
with darkened understandings, having by reason of the ignorance which is deep-seated in them and the insensibility of their moral nature, no share in the Life which God gives.

World English Bible
being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts.

Young's Literal Translation
being darkened in the understanding, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
New Life in Christ
17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. 19Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more.…

Cross References
Isaiah 25:7
On this mountain He will swallow up the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;

Mark 3:5
Jesus looked around at them with anger and sorrow at their hardness of heart. Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out, and it was restored.

Acts 3:17
And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.

Acts 17:30
Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.

Romans 1:21
For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.

Romans 11:7
What then? What Israel was seeking, it failed to obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,

Romans 11:25
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.


Treasury of Scripture

Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

the understanding.

Psalm 74:20
Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.

Psalm 115:4-8
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands…

Isaiah 44:18-20
They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand…

alienated.

Ephesians 2:12
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

Romans 8:7,8
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be…

Galatians 4:8
Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

because.

Romans 1:21
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Romans 2:19
And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,

1 John 2:11
But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

blindness.

Daniel 5:20
But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:

Matthew 13:15
For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

John 12:40
He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

Jump to Previous
Alienated Blindness Dark Darkened Deep-Seated Due Estranged Excluded Gives Hard Hardening Hardness Heart Hearts Ignorance Life Moral Nature Reason Separated Share Strange Thoughts Understanding Understandings
Jump to Next
Alienated Blindness Dark Darkened Deep-Seated Due Estranged Excluded Gives Hard Hardening Hardness Heart Hearts Ignorance Life Moral Nature Reason Separated Share Strange Thoughts Understanding Understandings
Ephesians 4
1. He exhorts to unity;
7. and declares that God therefore gives various gifts unto men;
11. that his church might be edified,
16. and grow up in Christ.
18. He calls them from the impurity of the Gentiles;
24. to put on the new man;
25. to cast off lying;
29. and corrupt communication.














(18) Having the understanding darkened.--Of this vanity the first result noted is the intellectual. They are "darkened in the understanding," and so, "by the ignorance in them alienated from the life of God." The phrase "the life of God" is unique. It may, however, be interpreted by a similar phrase, the "righteousness of God" (Romans 1:7), i.e., the righteousness given by God. What the life given by God is, we know by our Lord's own words (John 17:3), "This is the life eternal, to know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent." So far as the understanding is concerned, this alienation signifies the loss of the central light of Truth in God, and with it the loss, partial or complete, of the vision of other truths in their right proportion and harmony.

But the second result is moral. St. Paul attributes the alienation from God, or (possibly, though less probably) "the ignorance which is in them," to the hardness of their heart--for the marginal reading is correct; the word used signifies, almost technically, "callousness" and insensibility. To make his meaning clearer still he adds, "who (or, inasmuch as they) being past feeling, have given themselves over to lasciviousness." There is precisely a similar current of thought (noting, however, the characteristic difference referred to above) in Romans 1:24-32, where St. Paul draws out, as consequences of the same vanity, first lusts of uncleanness, next unnatural sin, and at last breaks out into a fearful enumeration of the signs of the reprobate mind. On this side, therefore, "the alienation from the life of God" is the loss of the grace by which He dwells in the soul, and by indwelling gives it the moral and spiritual life.

Verse 18. - Being darkened in their understanding (second point of difference), and thus blind to all that is most vital - ignorant of God, of the way of salvation, of the love of Christ. Even at best the natural understanding cannot discover these things, and when it is not only imperfect but darkened - made more obscure than ever by sin (see after) - its guidance is altogether defective. It has been said truly that the youngest scholar in a Sunday school that has been taught the elements of the gospel has more light than the wisest of the heathen. Alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart (third point of difference). Two causes are given for their alienation, viz. ignorance, and hardness of heart, this last being the ultimate cause. Through worldly living, their hearts have become hard, callous, insensible to spiritual influences, perceiving no beauty in Divine things, no preciousness in Divine promises, no excellence in the Divine image; this makes them ignorant, careless, foolish; and such being their state of heart, they are alienated from the life of God, can't bear vital religion, hate the very idea of spiritual and holy service.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
They are darkened
ἐσκοτωμένοι (eskotōmenoi)
Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 4656: (lit. or met.) I darken. From skotos; to obscure or blind.

in [their]
τῇ (tē)
Article - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

understanding
διανοίᾳ (dianoia)
Noun - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1271: From dia and nous; deep thought, properly, the faculty, by implication, its exercise.

[and]
ὄντες (ontes)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

alienated from
ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι (apēllotriōmenoi)
Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 526: From apo and a derivative of allotrios; to estrange away, i.e. to be non-participant.

the
τῆς (tēs)
Article - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

life
ζωῆς (zōēs)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 2222: Life, both of physical (present) and of spiritual (particularly future) existence. From zao; life.

of God
Θεοῦ (Theou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.

because of
διὰ (dia)
Preposition
Strong's 1223: A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through.

the
τὴν (tēn)
Article - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

ignorance
ἄγνοιαν (agnoian)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 52: Ignorance, inadvertence, sometimes with the idea of willful blindness. From agnoeo; ignorance.

that is
οὖσαν (ousan)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

in
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

them
αὐτοῖς (autois)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Neuter 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

due to
διὰ (dia)
Preposition
Strong's 1223: A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through.

the
τὴν (tēn)
Article - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

hardness
πώρωσιν (pōrōsin)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 4457: Hardness of heart, obtuseness. From poroo; stupidity or callousness.

of
τῆς (tēs)
Article - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

their
αὐτῶν (autōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Neuter 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

hearts.
καρδίας (kardias)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 2588: Prolonged from a primary kar; the heart, i.e. the thoughts or feelings; also the middle.


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NT Letters: Ephesians 4:18 Being darkened in their understanding alienated (Ephes. Eph. Ep)
Ephesians 4:17
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