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;
Truth to Learn
The unsaved are the way they are because of unbelief.
Behind the Words
“Understanding” is translated from the Greek word dianoia, which is derived from dia, meaning “through and a form of noeō, meaning “to exercise the mind,” that is, “to think, to consider, or to understand.” Dianoia refers to a person’s intellect or understanding.
The word “darkened” is from the verb skotidzō, meaning “to deprive of light,” that is, “to darken.” In today’s verse it is used figuratively to mean “deprived of the light of understanding.” It is expressed here in the perfect tense indicating past completed action with an ongoing effect, the emphasis being on the effect. In other words, Paul is saying that at some time in the past they were deprived of the light of understanding and as a result they are now in a condition of not understanding.
“Alienated” is from the verb apallotrioō, which is made up of apo, meaning “from or away from” and allotrioō, meaning “to make a stranger,” “to separate from,” or “to make a non-participant.” This word is also expressed in the perfect tense.
The word “ignorance” is translated from agnoeō, which literally means “lacking knowledge.”
The word “blindness” is from pōrōsis, a form of pōroō, meaning “to harden, to petrify, or to make insensitive.”
Meaning Explained
In the previous verse Paul instructed us not to live our lives like unbelievers do. He said that they live their lives intellectually instead of spiritually. He also said that their intellect is worthless. Now he explains why their thinking is so bad. He tells us that the intellectual understanding of the unsaved has been darkened, deprived of the light of understanding. As we discussed in Behind the Words, the tense of this verb indicates that the darkening occurred at some point in time in the past. That point in time referred to is when Adam and Eve sinned by eating the forbidden fruit. From that time onward mankind has been alienated from God with a mind that is deprived of the light of knowledge, the knowledge of God.
That enlightenment can be regained, however. It is given by God through His Holy Spirit. It can be gained by learning the teaching of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, as Paul will tell us later. Here we are told that one of the results of the intellectual darkening is separation from the life (spiritual life) that is in God. We are also told here that one of the reasons that the unsaved don’t have spiritual life is because they lack knowledge (the knowledge of what Christ did for them on the cross). And finally, Paul tells us that they lack knowledge of the work of salvation because of the hardness of their hearts.
So, we can summarize this by saying that sin leads to a hardening of the heart, which prevents the acknowledgement of God’s gift of salvation, which produces alienation from the spiritual life that God offers us all.
Application
If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to save you from your sins, your heart is not hardened, you are not ignorant of God’s truth, and you have eternal life. Hallelujah!
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2011 Will Krause. All rights reserved.