Thick-skinned

and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.  Ephesians 4:19 NASB

Callous – What is the result of the darkening of moral conscience and disobedience?  What happens to people who experience skotóō, agnóēma, and pṓrōsis?  They stop caring.  That’s the meaning behind the Greek term, apalgĕō, translated here as “callous.”  The word is made up of two components: apŏ (literally—away but in context “to be past feeling”) and  algĕō  (to smart as in pain).  In other words, to become apathetic– unfeeling – away from feeling.  The lexicons define the term as: “to lose the capacity to feel shame or embarrassment”^[1] or “dead to feeling, without a sense of right and wrong.”^[2]  In modern parlance, we might call these people sociopaths.

Notice that Paul treats this condition as a progression.  They have become callous.  That is, at one point they were able to empathize, to feel a sense of shame, to know what was right and what was wrong, but they lost this essential human connection.  They trained themselves to live on the dark side.  How did that happen?  Habit.  A small choice at first, then another and another, each one justifying the prior choice until, perhaps even unconsciously, the entire worldview shifted and they could only see the world through the now-darkened lens.  Others might recognize what has happened by their current behavior.  Common sense disappears.  Rhetoric changes to justify antisocial actions.  Anger replaces arguments.  Other people are treated as irrelevant, ignorant, or useless.  The world becomes a place for my desires, my fulfillment, and my power, and those who question any of these progressions are dismissed as unenlightened.  It doesn’t take much observational skill to see examples all around us.

According to Paul, apalgĕō leads to another set of distinguishable behaviors.  Paul calls these “indecent behavior.”  The term is asélgeia.  Bauernfeind offers a short but precise definition:

“License,” mostly physical, figuratively spiritual. “Debauchery” or “licentiousness” is the sense in 2 Pet. 2:7 (Sodom and Gomorrah) and Eph. 4:19 (the pagan world). Sexual excess is probably meant in Gal. 5:19 and certainly so in Rom. 13:13; 2 Cor. 12:21; 2 Pet. 2:2, 18.^[3]

Given Paul’s historical setting, we can understand why he chooses this term.  Ephesus in the first century was filled with various cults and gods.  The cult of Artemis, the worship of Greek and Egyptian gods, and various magical cults were present and active.  In fact, the Temple of Artemis was considered one of the wonders of the ancient world.  As a port city, Ephesus was filled with those elements of Roman culture accommodating trade and recreation from across the Empire.  Certainly licentiousness was part of that environment, and since Paul is addressing the citizens of Ephesus, we would expect his vocabulary to reflect concerns for that population.  However, it doesn’t take much to apply the same vocabulary today.

Paul finishes the thought with “every kind of impurity with greediness.”  The two critical words are akatharsía and pleonexía.  The NASB translation needs some amplification.  akatharsía is the Greek negative particle plus the word for ritual cleanness.  In other words, this behavior is exactly the opposite of what the Torah teaches about cleanliness.

akáthartos, akatharsía. These two terms are used for physical, cultic, and moral impurity, which are closely intertwined. The use in the LXX is mostly cultic. Uncleanness clings like an infection and renders cultically unserviceable. Objects, animals, places, vessels, and people may be unclean, e.g., by contact, through sexual processes, or through idolatry.^[4]

The second word, pleonexía, is really the word for covetousness.  While it can mean “wanting more” with reference to power and property, here it should probably be understood as desiring what belongs to another, in Jewish thinking “unlawful gain.”  Paul’s description of this antisocial license includes moral impurity and practiced envy.  Once more, easily discernable in any society.  In fact, one must wonder if the modern first-world is simply an extension of Ephesian culture.

As we shall soon see, the consequences are disastrous.

Topical Index: asélgeia, akatharsía, pleonexía, skotóō, agnóēma, pṓrōsis, callous, apalgĕō, indecent, impure, greed, envy, Ephesians 4:19

^[1] Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 309). United Bible Societies.

^[2] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). In A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 96). University of Chicago Press.

^[3] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). In Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 83). W.B. Eerdmans.

^[4] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). In Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (pp. 383–384). W.B. Eerdmans.