It's been a little while since we have 'done' a little Greek'. This is because we have been busy with our other Postmodern Church type entries.
For some background to this entry, please open your Bible and read Ephesians chapter 4.
Let's look at Ephesians 4:18. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. We are going to focus on just one word here: 'hardening', or in some translations, 'hardness'. This word is translated from the Greek root 'porosis'.
For the use of this term in the ancient world, outside of the New Testament, we can look to both Hippocrates 5th/4th century BC physician, and Galen the 2nd/3rd century AD physician and surgeon (Greek English Lexicon BDAG). In a literal sense it means 'the covering with a callus' & 'the formation of a callus in repair of a fractured bone'. However it is used here in Ephesians (and other parts of the Bible) in a figurative sense to mean; dullness, obstinacy, having a blunted mind, or simply hardened.
So what can we take from this? Let us not allow our hearts to become so calloused that we become like the World around us, thereby being at risk of succumbing to evil passions and greediness. And how do we stop our hearts becoming hardened? Go back and read Ephesians verses 4:1-3 & 14-16, and keep your thoughts on Jesus (Hebrews 3:1).
Like some further reading on this topic? See Hebrews chapter 3 & Psalm 95, (where the term concerning hardened hearts is from a different Greek word. You can look it up in Strongs concordance number: 4645).
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