DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS

Ephesians 4:17-25       (10/2)        Epistle for Friday of the Seventeenth Week after Pentecost

 

The Church and Salvation V ~ Interior Work: Ephesians 4:17-25, especially vs. 23: “...be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”  In the present passage, Saint Paul calls the Ephesians to stand apart from their fellow-Gentiles who have “...given themselves over...” (vs. 19) to a manner of life wholly repugnant to the truth that the converts in Ephesus have “...learned [in] Christ (vss. 20, 21).  Essentially he calls every Christian into the deep work of the life in Christ: the struggle to embrace the Lord's will in the deepest place in the heart - the “nous” - the word “mind” used in verses 17 and 23.  It is a call to interior change and renewal “...created according to God...” (vs. 24).

Notice how Saint Paul speaks of the “mind”, the “nous” in the original, in Ephesians 4:17,23.  In verse seventeen, the Apostle says that the peoples of this world “...walk in the futility of their mind [nous].”  Then, as he continues, he urges taking up the inner work, and so he speaks of being “...renewed in the spirit of your mind [nous]” (vs. 23).  The point is that, for the Apostle and the Holy Fathers, this deep center of the inner life, the nous, is the primary site of the fall.  But more significantly, by God’s grace and our labors, the “nous” also may be the “high mountain” where Christ’s everlasting light can dawn upon us.  For within the “nous,” the Lord becomes transfigured in the eyes of the heart, in “...as far as [we can] bear it.”

Indeed, the interior work of Salvation necessarily centers upon the healing of the “nous” - on its restoration - so that we “...no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles (the peoples of earth) walk, in the futility of their [nous]” (vs. 17).  Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos draws attention to the teaching of Saint Maximos concerning the “...great battle which is waged by the demons to capture the nous and to attract it to impassioned thoughts.”  By defeating the “nous,” as Saint Maximos says, the demons “...lead it to sin in the mind [dianoia, the rational faculties] and, when this has been done, they induce it, captive as it is, to commit the sin in action.”

The great Confessor echoes the Apostle’s description of the men of this age: “...having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God...being past feeling, [they] have given themselves over...to work all uncleanness with greediness” (Eph. 4:18,19) - first the capture of the “nous,” then interior corruption, and finally the behavioral acting out of the sin.

But let us say, “...thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57), for as members of His Body, the Church, we receive the place, the setting of Salvation, the true way to “...be renewed in the spirit of [our nous]” (Eph 4:23).  Notice what the Apostle says: “...you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and been taught by Him...” (vss. 20,21).  “Hearing and learning” from the Lord Himself initiates the first, obvious work of putting off the “former conduct,” that which can only lead to corruption and greater indulgence of “...the deceitful lusts” (vs. 22).  Saint John of the Ladder, who knew well that actions follow the darkening of the “nous” and all of the interior life, says: “Control your impetuous nous in your distracted body...hold back your nous, so busy with its own concerns.”

Holding back the “nous” requires a variety of efforts related to hearing and learning from Jesus our Lord.  Principal among these are: ascetic self-control (which is the point of fasting and the other bodily disciplines), stilling the heart through watchfulness, prayer - especially the Jesus Prayer - love of God, which grows in us through worshiping and remembering the Lord, His Kingdom, the zeal of the martyrs, our departure from this life, and the judgment to come.  First always, as the Apostle notes, the renewal begins within one’s spirit, being brought about by the Holy Spirit when we unite our efforts with His actions for the renewing of our “nous.”

O Christ our God, our most gentle Love, enter Thou into us and receive us to Thyself.

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