Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Ephesians 4:19

Ephesians 4:19. Who, men of the kind that.

Being past feeling. One word in Greek, meaning to be unsusceptible of pain, and in this connection, referring to moral pain, not feeling the punishment of conscience

Gave themselves up. The same verb is used in Romans 1:24 of the other side of the matter: ‘God gave them up,' etc. Here, where ‘themselves' is the emphatic word, the freedom and guilt of men is described. The two are not antagonistic ‘Self-abandonment to deeper sin is the Divine judicial penalty of sin' (Eadie).

To wantonness. The term, derived from the verb meaning to overeat, refers to an unbridled course of conduct, defying public decency, not to any special sin of sensuality. As however sensuality is always implied, ‘wantonness ‘fairly expresses the sense. Comp. Trench, New Testament Synonyms; and Galatians 5:19.

Unto the working; as at a trade; this is the conscious design of giving themselves up, to make it a business to indulge in all uncleanness. Every kind of uncleanness is referred to, chiefly libidinous forms.

In greediness, or, ‘covetousness;' but here the wider sense is preferable, insatiable greed, the selfish desire for more, whether in the form of avarice or lust. ‘In ‘is not = with, as if another special vice were added; the business of committing uncleanness moves on in this atmosphere of unsatisfied greed; the two constantly interact. The intimate connection of avarice and lust is suggested, and the history of those times furnished many fearful illustrations.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Ephesians 4:19

Old Testament

New Testament