Bible Blueprint： Block Diagram of Ephesians 4_17-24
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Summary
In Ephesians 4:17-24, we take a closer look at the grammar and prepositions of the text. We identify the main clauses, the antecedents, and how they are used to make sense of what the text is saying.
Transcript
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Welcome to this edition of the Bible Blueprint. My name is Dale Partridge. We're going to be doing a block diagram of Ephesians 4, 17 through 24.
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A block diagram is a method of scriptural observation, to look at the grammar, to understand and extract the meaning of the text
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by looking at clauses and prepositional phrases and looking at different words and pronouns
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and identifying the antecedents and just really having a closer look at what the text is doing
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so that we don't project our own interpretation or desired interpretation upon the text,
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but we extract really what the writer was saying.
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we keep main clauses on the left and then we put the prepositional phrases beneath the word that
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they modify prepositions are of in through to above below a lot of directional phrases you're
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going to see this here in a second but let's go ahead and start and the way that i always start
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is by just putting spaces where there is punctuation.
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We always want to keep our verse numbers on the left-hand side as well.
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But let's just take these commas and semicolons and periods
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And that really helps just get a head start to what we're going to be doing here.
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and this is kind of a bigger chunk than what's typical and that's okay usually we would do a
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shorter section but you guys will get a chance we'll try to knock this out pretty quick maybe in
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20 25 minutes or so and let's get here we almost have a couple more here I think that's it so we
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want to identify our main clauses, and every sentence in English has a main clause. It's the
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subject, a verb, and the object. And so, John hit the ball, right? So, John is the subject, hit is
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the verb, and the ball is the object. And so, we need to figure out where that is in this situation.
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Now, it doesn't always start the sentence off with a main clause, and that's what's going on here.
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It says, now this I say, it sounds like a main clause.
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You almost want to put this I say as the main clause, but it's not.
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He does it in the Lord, which has some interpretive background there that you could really break down.
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But this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk.
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So that becomes, this is a demonstrative pronoun.
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So this looks like it's going to be our main clause.
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And I'm going to push this in just a smidge, just so we can kind of get out of the way.
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But we can realize right here that you must no longer walk.
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And so I'm going to take my highlighter here and just, you must no longer walk.
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you must no longer walk is it in the futility of their minds no because we have the pronoun
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their minds which implies that this is talking about the antecedent of their which is gentiles
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so we must no longer walk as the gentiles do and how do they walk in the futility of what
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And of is always a preposition in the futility of their minds.
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So we have another opportunity here for a main clause.
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I believe this is, so we have they, which is our subject, are darkened.
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we have our verb there, but it says in their understanding. So I want to put in their
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understanding below it because it's showing how they're darkened, where they darkened in their
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understanding. So I'm going to put this as our main clause here. They are darkened. So again,
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We have two main clauses that have been identified so far.
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It doesn't make sense to go, they are darkened, alienated.
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So they're darkened in their understanding, alienated from, okay, so they're alienated
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from something, alienated from the life of God.
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and so from is a preposition so from the life of god so we can determine is life of god one thing
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like a noun i don't think it is i think that it's operating in this context is from the life
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of god because of the ignorance that is in them so they are darkened
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And why are they darkened? Because of the ignorance that is in them. And so because
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of the ignorance that is, again, you want to, you could put in them here.
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So you have this interesting thing here, right? I testify in the Lord,
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the ignorance that is in them. So it's showing this kind of union element here that we start
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to notice here. Uh, so, and because of the ignorance that is in them, because the ignorance
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that is, that is in them due to their hardness of heart. And so we have this going on here,
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right? So we have the hardness of heart. Um, and I just want to read this over one more time.
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Now this I say and testify. So you can almost do now this I say and testify. So you can kind of
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break this up. And I know that just messed up our, we can just grab my eraser and go boop.
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So this I say and testify. And I think it's better to do that because what we get here is
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that we realize there's two things and this is a coordinating conjunction and right it's
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representing two equal parts of a sentence um our coordinating conjunctions are and or but nor
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and so we know that this and right here is and testify so he says and testifies in the lord that
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you must no longer walk we'll get back into those main clauses in a little bit you must no longer
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walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened. How are they darkened
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in their understanding? Alienated. They are alienated from the life of God. Well, I think
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that actually they are darkened in their understanding, which is the cause, which I think
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alienation is the cause of their darkening. And so I believe these two are connected, alienated
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from the life of god they're alienated because of the darkness of their understanding um and so
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they're alienated from the life of god they are darkened because of the ignorance that is in them
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due to um their hardness of heart they are darkened you know i'm gonna go this way check
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this out, guys. And again, this is just, it's not a complete science. It's an art. And my
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keyboard wants to take forever. There we go. So they are darkened due to their hardness of heart
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or are they darkened because of the ignorance that is in them?
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That's an interpretive question. Are they darkened in their understanding,
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alienated from the life of God? Are they darkened because of their ignorance?
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now i think that this is actually this way okay so they are darkened
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in their understanding alienated from the life of god
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and why are they alienated alienated because of the ignorance that is in them
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and they're alienated because the ignorance that is in them because the ignorance due to their hardness
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due to the hardness of heart, is that modifying ignorance? That's the question we have to ask is
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due to their hardness of heart, is that why they're ignorant? Are they ignorant because
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of their hardness of heart? I think so. So we're going to place due to their hardness of heart
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under ignorance. I think that's right. Next, we have a new sentence here, verse 19.
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They have become callous. So we have, have become, is our verb callous is operating as a
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adjective slash could be yeah because it's not saying that they have well it could be saying
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that they have become callous like a noun but they have become callous
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they have become callous and we have a coordinating conjunction here and have
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given themselves up so given themselves up to what to sensuality that's what they've given
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themselves up to. And we know that this is, again, our main clause here, callous. So that's a good
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mark to remember. They have given themselves up to sensuality. They have become, oops,
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they have become callous, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
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We've got a new main clause here, but that is not the way you learned Christ.
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Okay, this is an odd sentence to come up with a main clause.
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I'm going to say, that is not the way you learned is the, you learned what?
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And so I think this is operating as our main clause.
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So I'm going to just, I'm just going to highlight.
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I think that's going on because you're going, well, where's your subject?
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well it's this you've become callous and given yourselves up
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all the stuff that's above here right it's they're darkened they walk in the
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futility of their minds they're alienated from god
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that is so basically it's a it's basically a it's a pronoun
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representing the antecedent which is all the stuff above so
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you learned Christ. So let's go back to diagramming here. Assuming
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that is not the way you learned Christ. Oh, I guess this is kind of almost operating as a
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new main clause here. Assuming that you have heard, you have heard. That's going to be our
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next main clause right there. So I'll just mark that real quick. You have heard. Oh, we don't
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want that. We want you have heard. That's our main clause, right? You have heard. Have is a state of
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being verb. You have heard about him. Okay, so let's get back to our, you have heard what? About
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him and coordinating conjunction and we're taught. What were you taught? In him.
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um assuming that or as the truth as is in jesus assuming that you have heard
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is it saying assuming you have heard as the truth is in jesus or is it saying assuming
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about him and we're taught in him as the truth is in jesus i think that
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we're talking about truth and we're talking about teaching taught.
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I think that's probably what's going on to put off your old self.
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It's not saying you have heard to put off your old self.
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Assuming you have heard about him because this is a parenthetical phrase here.
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Um, I think actually what we're going to say is that you have heard about him. I'm going to say
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that it's likely that we're dealing with, uh, another main clause here. So to, I'm going to,
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I'm going to do this and kind of just insert a U because it's an implied subject. You put off your
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old self. And so I'm going to just, again, you can make this, and you could do, you put off
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your, yeah, no, I think this is right. You put off your old self. I think that's what's going on
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there. Which belongs, the old self, right? Which belongs to your former manner of what?
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of life. And coordinating conjunction is corrupt through, so through is a preposition,
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and a lot of people often miss that, but it is a preposition. Through
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deceitful desires. And to be renewed, let's go, I think this goes right here. So which belongs to
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your former manner of life and to be renewed. Yeah. Renewed how? In the spirit. In the spirit
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of what? In the spirit of your minds. So we're going to get that over there too. Okay. In the
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spirit of your minds and to put on the new self. And so this is a hard one because you want to
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make it a main clause and you put on the new self. But I still believe that this whole thing
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is kind of modifying, put off your old self and then put on your new self. So I think it's actually
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part of this. And we know that there's no sense, there's no period in the Greek there.
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And so we're going to just operate this as a coordinating conjunction. So in the spirit and
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to put off or to put on the new self on the new self and hopefully we don't run out of room here
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and how is the new self being modified well the new self is created
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after that's a preposition created after the likeness let's get it over here come on space
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bar you got this created after the likeness of god we're getting really close guys
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hang with my space bar here the likeness of god
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in true right so we have in true righteousness and holiness so the after the likeness of god
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in true okay i'm gonna just put it here entry righteousness and then we'll do
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um really that's as far as you get me i don't know why it won't let me tab over more
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i wish it would john piper does those great videos but he actually created a custom app
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for him to do those um look at the book videos i would love to have a custom app but it'd probably
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take five grand to develop it or something so all right in true righteousness and holiness okay so
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we got a good diagram here, guys. Now let's start breaking it down a bit and see how that is
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progressing. Sorry, I had to look at the time here. So now I say this, let's start, let's pull
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down our, whoops, let's not do that. Why is it doing that? How about I use my finger instead?
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They have become callous is probably what you should do,
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but I'm not going to disrupt this whole thing right here.
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So I'm going to say they have become, no, I don't know.
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Okay, you guys can deal with it however you want to see it.
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But they have become callous and given themselves up.
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So callous is also kind of the object of the sentence.
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So you get to kind of make your own interpretation there.
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They have become callous and given themselves up.
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So we have this really unique trend here, right?
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Okay, so you got a little bit of a grammatical theme that's revealed here.
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And so you have some structure that we can start extracting what Paul is trying to say.
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And so now I want to go through and I want to get my clauses and I'm going to do that in green.
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So now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds.
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They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God.
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I mean, this is actually like a directional clause, like it's something's happening from going from one place to another.
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that's something that you might want to mark life of God because okay this is a causal clause
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and you want to make sure it's because why are they alienated because of the ignorance
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that is in them due to so due to is the hardness of heart that's a result clause
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there as a result of their hardness of heart so you can remember that so they have become callous
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and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
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And so I don't think I see anything there, but we have one right here.
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So you have all of these, the stuff up here, you know, that let's just say we take this section here.
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and this is really clearly you know what i'm gonna do i'm gonna make that not blue i'm gonna
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make it red because i usually do it in red so this is one section for sure right this is
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now this i say to you right you must no longer walk they are darkened
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they become callous but contrast clause that is not the way you learned christ assuming
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that you have this is again a parenthetical statement assuming that you have heard about
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him and were taught in him as the truth is in jesus to put off your old self which belongs
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to your former manner of life uh and is corrupt through deceitful desires and this word to be
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renewed most translations will translate it just be renewed and so this is the nasb and they're
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often a little wooden when they translate greek to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to
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put on the new self created after the likeness of god in true righteousness and holiness so this and
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be, uh, like if this was here, if I'm and be and to be, I'm going to say that is a contrast clause
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also, you know, um, and be renewed. Um, actually, no, that's not a contrast clause. Um, it says,
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which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and be renewed.
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I guess it's showing, it's demonstrating this way and then that way.
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And then we can see a couple things that I want to mark.
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So now I'm going to just start observing the text.
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I'm going to do one more thing here before I start marking the text.
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now this, okay, I want to know all of the antecedents. Now this, what's the this? Now this
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I say, okay, what's he saying? That you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do. I want to know
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who the Gentiles are in the futility of their minds, right? Whose minds, right? So we know that
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these are connected to each other. They are, so we have they, right, are darkened in their
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understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to
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their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality,
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greedy to practice every kind of impurity, but that is not the way you, so who's the you,
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learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth
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is in Jesus. So we know who the him is. To put off your old self, I guess you can even kind of
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say old self. What's the old self? What's that? Which belongs to your former manner of life
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and again you can almost say that this is a pronoun former manner of life and is corrupt
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through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit who's the spirit of your minds and to
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be put on the new self created after the likeness of god and true righteousness and holiness okay
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so we got our, our pronouns are marked now, and now I want to start just doing a little bit of
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interpretation. Sorry, not interpretation, some more observation. Now, this I say and testify
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in the Lord. Okay, I want to know, is he saying an oath before the Lord? What's happening there?
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Is that like a, is that an oath? That you must no longer walk. Lots of discussion about walking
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here. I want to know that. I think it's peripatomai or something like that in Greek.
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So I want to know what he means by walk. As the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds.
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So futility is a big word, you know, means useless,
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meaningless, right? They are darkened in their understanding. I think about first Corinthians,
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not able to understand i think it's first corinthians i'm gonna say 214 i think
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so let's fix that there alienated um that seems like stranger
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or separated uh when i think about separated right when we think about death as separation
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so they're they're separated from the life of god we talked about that in the podcast a couple
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episodes back spiritual life spiritual death death is separation in the bible and so understanding
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alienated from the life. What do they mean by from the life
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problem, right? Hardness of heart. I think what's going on here is that we have a couple things.
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I'm going to say that we have the Gentiles are, you know, futility of their minds, I'm going to
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say is number one. Their darkened understanding, I'm going to say is number two. Alienated from
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the life of God is number three because of the ignorance that is in them before and due to their
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hardest of heart is number five and so man my writing is bad but I think about this and you go
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well okay um so because of their hardest of heart they're ignorant and they're alienated from the
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life of God which means their understanding is darkened which means that their thoughts
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are futile. And so I see the connection there, kind of a cascading connection. They have become
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callous. So callous is another strong word. I want to know what callous means. I think of
00:29:42.080
right not able to feel something that should probably be felt because they can't feel they've
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given themselves up to what to sensuality and then greedy to practice so not just greedy and
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they're not just practicing they're greedy to practice every kind superlative every kind of
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impurity, but that is not the way you learn. So these are Christians, right? These are Christians
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because we know the audience learned Christ, assuming that you have. So I want to just kind
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of look at this and just go, okay, that's a kind of a parenthetical here. Like, all right,
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just making sure that just because you profess Christ doesn't mean you possess Christ.
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um we're taught in him as the truth is in jesus i think about i am the way the truth in the life
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um to put off your old self right so this is a this is a maybe i have to look in the greek and
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see if this is an imperative um get back to my blue here your old self which belongs belongs
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That's an interesting way to say that to your former manner of life.
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And so we know that our former manner of life is that.
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That's our former manner of life and is corrupt means it's getting worse.
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It's corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed.
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and so we were created after the likeness of god okay so we have lots of and then we can take our
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red and realize that well we have you know two parts here right so this is this is definitely
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our other section here and so what what's the meaning here it's i think about it as going well
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there is a way that you used to walk. Don't walk the way that you used to walk.
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Walk the way that you are now. So like, don't walk, don't walk in how you were.
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Walk in how you are. So I think, I think about identity, identity,
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Well, actually, I'm going to say identity equals activity
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or who you are, should determine how you are. Don't walk in your old self, walk in Christ,
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your new self, and your actions down here should represent what you learned over here. You learned
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Christ. So, I think that's a good start on breaking down the text here, and I think I will have a good
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time turning this into a great message on Ephesians 4, 17 through 24. So, if you want to hear the
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teaching on this passage of Scripture, you can do that by just listening to the Real Christianity
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Podcast. This will be the Ephesians Bible Study, episode number six, and I'll break down this text
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there for you. Hopefully that was helpful for you guys that are learning how to block diagram.
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Thanks for joining me here on the Bible Blueprint. My name is Dale Partridge,