A Brighter Day Begins with His Word.

Hodge, Charles, 1797–1878 • SECTION 232

264 EPHESIANS,

← Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians

spirit, mind, heart, soul, are used in Scripture both for the whole immaterial and immortal element of our nature, that in which our personality resides ; and also for that element under'some one of its modes of mani- festation, sometimes for one mode and sometimes for another ; as νοῦς sometimes designates the soul as in- telligent and sometimes the soul as feeling. 3. Though this is true, yet predominantly one of these terms designates one, and another a different mode of mani festation ; as νοῦς the understanding, καρδία the feel- ings, ψυχή the seat of sensation. 4. Of these terms πνεῦμα is the highest. It means breath, wind, invisible power, life. The idea of power cannot be separated from the term; τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστι τὸ Cworroody. John 6, 63. It is, therefore, applied to God, to the Holy Ghost, to angels, to Satan, to demons, to the soul of man. The “ spirit of the world,” 1 Cor. 2, 12, is the control- ling, animating principle of the world, that which makes it what it is. The spirit of the mind therefore is its interior life; that of which the νοῦς, καρδία, ψυχή are the modes of manifestation. That, therefore, which needs to be renewed, is not merely outward habits or modes of life; not merely transient tempers or dispo- sitions, but the interior principle of life which lies back of all that is outward, phenomenal, or transient.

V. 24. Kai ἐνδύσασθαι τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον, and that ye put on the new man. As we are called to put off our corrupt nature as a ragged and filthy garment, so we are required to put on our new nature as a gar- ment of light. And as the former was personified as

Public-domain historical edition (1856). Text from OCR of an original Internet Archive scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.

Project Gutenberg source record →