Ephesians 4:17

τοῦτο οὖν λέγω καὶ μαρτύρομαι ἐν Κυρίῳ : this I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord. The οὖν has here its simple, resumptive force (cf. Donald., Greek Gram., § 548, 31; Win.-Moult., p. 555). It takes up the train of thought which had been broken off at Ephesians 4:4. The τοῦτο refers to the exhortation that follows. μαρτύρομαι is used of a solemn declaration, protest, or injunction of the nature of an appeal to God (cf. Acts 20:26; Acts 26:22; Galatians 5:3, etc.). ἐν Κυρίῳ, not = by the Lord, nor on the Lord's authority, but in the Lord, the writer identifying himself with Christ and giving the exhortation as one made by Christ Himself (cf. Romans 9:1; 2Co 2:17; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; also the classical εἶναι ἔν τινι, as in Soph., Oed. Tyr., 314; Oed. Col., 247, etc., and Abb., in loc.). μηκέτι ὑμᾶς περιπατεῖν : that ye no longer walk. The exhortation began (Ephesians 4:1) as a positive injunction to a worthy walk. It is now resumed in the negative form of an injunction against an unworthy Pagan walk. The περιπατεῖν, the ordinary objective inf., expresses the object of the ruling verb. After verbs like μαρτύρομαι such inf. conveys the idea of what ought to be and has something of the force of an imper. (cf. Acts 21:4; Acts 21:21; Titus 2:2, etc.). It requires no δεῖν to be supplied (see Jelf, Greek Gram., p. 884, 4; Buttm., Gram. of N. T. Greek, p. 273; Win.-Moult., pp. 403, 405). καθὼς καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἔθνη περιπατεῖ : as the [rest of the] Gentiles also walk. λοιπὰ is inserted by the TR before ἔθνη, and is supported by [425] 4 [426] 2, 3 [427] [428], Syr., Goth., Chrys., etc. It is omitted, however, by [429] [430] [431] [432] [433] * [434], Boh., Eth., Vulg., etc., and must be deleted here (with LTTrWHRV). The καί associates the walk which they are charged to continue no longer with that of the Gentiles generally, and with their own former walk in their non-Christian days. ἐν ματαιότητι τοῦ νοὸς αὐτῶν : in the vanity of their mind. νοῦς is not merely the intellectual faculty or understanding, but also the faculty for recognising moral good and spiritual truth (Romans 1:28; Romans 7:23; 1 Timothy 6:5, etc.). ματαιότης, a peculiarly biblical and ecclesiastical term, occurring in NT only here and in Romans 8:20; 2 Peter 2:18, and corresponding to the Heb. הֶבֶל, שָׁוְא, means vanity in the sense of purposelessness, uselessness. There is nothing in the clause to restrict it to the case of idol-worshippers or to that of the heathen philosophers (Grot.). It is a description of the walk of the heathen world generally a walk moving within the limits of intellectual and moral resultlessness, given over to things devoid of worth or reality (cf. Romans 1:21, ἐματαιώθησαν ἐν τοῖς σιαλογισμοῖς αὐτῶν).

[425] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[426] Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[427] Codex Mosquensis (sæc. ix.), edited by Matthæi in 1782.

[428] Codex Angelicus (sæc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.

[429] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[430] Autograph of the original scribe of א.

[431] Autograph of the original scribe of א.

[432] Codex Alexandrinus (sæc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[433] Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[434] Codex Boernerianus (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Dresden, edited by Matthæi in 1791. Written by an Irish scribe, it once formed part of the same volume as Codex Sangallensis (δ) of the Gospels. The Latin text, g, is based on the O.L. translation.