Lexical Summary apalgeó: To become callous, to cease to feel pain, to be past feeling Original Word: ἀπαλγέω Strong's Exhaustive Concordance to become callous, apatheticFrom apo and algeo (to smart); to grieve out, i.e. Become apathetic -- be past feeling. see GREEK apo NAS Exhaustive Concordance Word Originfrom apo and algeó (to feel pain, suffer) Definition to cease to feel pain for NASB Translation become callous (1). Thayer's Greek Lexicon STRONGS NT 524: ἀπαλγέωἀπαλγέω, ἀπάλγω: (perfect participle ἀπηλγηκως); to cease to feel pain or grief; a. to bear troubles, with greater equanimity, cease to feel pain at: Thucydides 2, 61 etc. b. to become callous, insensible to pain, apathetic: so those who have become insensible to truth and honor and shame are called ἀπηλγηκότες (A. V. past feeling) in Ephesians 4:19. (Polybius 1, 35, 5 ἀπηλγηκυιας ψυχάς dispirited and useless for war (cf. Polybius 16, 12, 7).) Strong’s Greek 524 (ἀπαλγέω / apalgeō) pictures a moral and spiritual callousness—literally the deadening of all sensitivity so that pain is no longer felt. In its lone New Testament appearance (Ephesians 4:19) the participle ἀπηλγηκότες (“having become callous”) describes Gentiles who, through persistent unbelief, have dulled their consciences and surrendered to unchecked impurity. Biblical Occurrence Ephesians 4:19: “Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with a craving for more.” Paul sets ἀπηλγηκότες between two key ideas: 1. A prior “hardness of heart” (Ephesians 4:18), indicating a progressive erosion that begins with willful ignorance of God. Greco-Roman Background Classical writers used apalgeō for people who no longer felt physical pain or emotional grief. Paul borrows the term to frame sin as a pathology: the conscience, designed to warn against evil, can be cauterized by repeated disobedience until it no longer registers guilt. Relation to Kindred Biblical Concepts • Hardening of heart (Greek πώρωσις) – Mark 3:5; Romans 11:7 Together these texts trace an identical trajectory: refusal to heed divine truth results in progressive insensitivity, culminating in brazen sin. Theological Significance in Ephesians Paul’s larger argument (Ephesians 4:17-24) contrasts two humanities: • The old self: darkened understanding → hardened heart → callousness (apalgeō) → abandonment to impurity. Thus ἀπαλγέω serves as a watershed term: it marks the point where inner resistance to God crystallizes into utter moral indifference, demanding radical regeneration rather than mere reformation. Pastoral and Discipleship Implications 1. Diagnostic Tool When a believer no longer “feels” conviction over sin, ἀπαλγέω warns that a serious spiritual pathology may be at work requiring confession, accountability, and fresh submission to the Word. 2. Call to Watchfulness Hebrews 3:13 urges mutual exhortation “so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Regular fellowship, Scripture intake, and Spirit-led self-examination keep the conscience tender. 3. Evangelistic Insight The gospel confronts societies that, like first-century Ephesus, celebrate sensuality. Understanding apalgeō equips the church to address both the emptiness and the escalating addiction that accompany moral numbness. Historical Ministry Reflections Early Christian preachers—John Chrysostom among them—highlighted Ephesians 4:19 when exhorting congregations to resist cultural pressures toward immorality. Reformation commentators likewise treated ἀπηλγηκότες as evidence that total depravity includes not merely wrongful acts but a cauterized conscience requiring Spirit-wrought renewal. Homiletical Suggestions • Illustrate apalgeō with the medical image of scar tissue: nerves deaden after repeated injury, paralleling how repeated sin deadens moral sensitivity. Summary Strong’s 524 portrays the perilous endpoint of habitual sin: a conscience so desensitized that shame disappears and self-abandonment to impurity feels normal. Scripture’s remedy is not psychological adjustment but the regenerating “truth that is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:21), creating hearts that once again feel, repent, and delight in holiness. |
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