How Do You Live Like a New Man?

Remember that Ephesians is written to a largely Gentile congregation. The whole point of chapters 1-3 is that Gentiles and Jews have been united
in one new man in Christ Jesus.

There is a new humanity in Christ. And this new humanity has a different way of life – or to use the path language so common to scripture, a different walk.

What is the problem of the Gentile walk? Paul describes this in terms of knowledge:
“the futility of their minds”
“darknened in their understanding”
“alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.”

The Gentiles have a knowledge problem. They do not know God! They are alienated from the life of God because of ignorance.

But notice that their knowledge problem is rooted in a heart problem. Their ignorance is due to their hardness of heart.

Let's think about what this means: the problem with the nations is an intellectual problem – it is an epistemological problem. Epistemology is the study of how we know. The Gentiles are darkened in their understanding. Their minds are characterized by futility. At first this may seem like a strange thing to say. Unbelievers are often far smarter than believers.

This is why Paul locates humanity's problem in the heart. Our fundamental problem is hardness of heart. Our intellectual problem, at its root, is because we do not love God – we do not worship him as God.