Message from Scripture: 10/21/2021

 

Our message from Scripture today comes from Eph. 4:18; “They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts.”

 

When Paul speaks of these individuals who lack understanding and are excluded from the life of God, he is speaking of a willful choice they have made. They are excluded from life in Christ because of two factors: their willful ignorance, which then brings about their hardness of heart. The Greek word Paul uses for ignorance is ἄγνοια (agnoia), from which we get our word agnostic. In the ancient word, it could refer to a person who lives without knowledge either because he hasn’t heard the truth, or because he has refused the truth. In this instance, Paul is speaking of those who have rejected the truth.

 

The agnostic says he doesn’t believe we can know if there is a God, but he says this only because he does not want to know God. Paul reminded the Christians in Rome, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20). One person commented on this verse that this person is “stupid on purpose.” It is a choice to reject the truth and live as one pleases, which hardens the heart and can make it impossible for such a person to even see the truth to understand it. It is from this motive that atheism, secular philosophy, and even some types of religion, have come.

 

Let’s give thanks to God we are open to the truth, realizing the evidence God has given us of Himself so we can know it, obey it, live it, and have life in Him. As the saying goes, “There are none so blind as those who will not see.” May we let the light of the truth shine in us as we live for Christ today. God bless.

 

Robert