Bible Truth #238 - Ephesians 4:17-18

Ephesians 4:17-18
17  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other 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 heart:

Because of the blindness of their heart...

Paul is writing to Gentile believers, telling them not to live as unbelieving Gentiles, in the vanity, or futility, of their thinking. The futility still exists today. People all over the world believe that there is something they must do, or accomplish, to get to Heaven.

Paul continues and writes that their [the unbelievers] understanding is darkened and they are separated from God because of their ignorance, and blindness of their heart. How did their heart get blind? Answer - Like ALL mankind and because of Adam, we are born with a blind heart, or a heart of stone. There is nothing we can do to change the condition of our heart. As long as a man is lost, his heart is blind, he is ignorant, his understanding is darkened, and he is separated from God. People all over the world believe that there is something they must do, or accomplish, to get to Heaven. They don’t know they’re lost and as long as they’re lost, they will never understand (1 Corinthians 2:14).

So how does one cure the blindness of their heart? How does one banish ignorance? How does one acquire understanding? How does one get enlightened? How does one get saved? Answer - with man it is impossible (Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27). It is impossible for a lost man to believe, to repent, to confess Christ as his Savior, it is impossible for a lost man to please God (Romans 8:8). So how does one get saved?

God must act. God must open a lost man’s eyes (Deuteronomy 29:4). God works in a man and makes him a believer (John 6:29). God takes out the heart of stone in a lost man and puts in a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), God accomplishes this, not man. And it is done without any prerequisite of man. Until God works, man is lost and will never believe, because he is unable. God must enable him (John 6:65).

Bottom Line: we become children of God not by human decision (John 1:13).