Futility (3153) (mataiotes from mataios = vain, empty <> derived from maten = to no purpose or in vain) means emptiness, vanity, nonsense, nothingness! Thayer says mataiotes is a "purely Biblical and ecclesiastical word" which describes "what is devoid of truth and appropriateness". It defines the inability to reach a goal or achieve a purpose. Mataiotes describes the state of being without use or value, emptiness, futility, purposelessness, transitoriness. It has the quality of being empty, fruitless, nonproductive, useless. Mataiotes speaks of want of attainment with the idea of aimlessness or of leading to no object or end. It is interesting to note that "vain things" was a Jewish name for the Gentile idols, which represented ideas and conceptions of a god that had no intrinsic value or correspondence to the real truth about the Living God. The heathen are concerned with empty things which do not matter in the eternal scheme of things. Their mind was void of useful aims or goals (eternally speaking). In Romans 1 we see how this futility of their mind was a consequence of their rejection of the truth about God... For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile (passive voice) in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (See note Romans 1:21) (Comment: Unbelieving Gentiles rejected the truth about God and thus failed to attain the true purpose of the mind which is to receive God’s revelation which would have led them to see there is a Creator). McGee comments that the futility of their mind... means the empty illusion of the life that thinks there is satisfaction in sin. Oh, how many people walk that way! I feel so sorry for these young people who have been taken in by the promoters of immorality as a life style. (McGee, J V: Thru the Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson) MacDonald puts it this way... Their life was empty, purposeless, and fruitless. There was great activity but no progress. They chased bubbles and shadows, and neglected the great realities of life. (MacDonald, W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson) Matthew Poole in a commentary published in the 1680's writes that Their minds themselves, and understandings, the highest and noblest faculties in them being conversant about things empty, transient, and unprofitable, and which deceive their expectations (are) therefore are vain, viz. their idols, their worldly enjoyment, etc.” Vincent has an interesting note on mataiotes in (Romans 8:20) writing that... Kenos (2756) signifies empty; mataios idle, resultless. Kenos, used of persons, implies not merely the absence of good, but the presence of evil. (See Ja 2:20). The Greek proverb runs: “The empty think empty things.” Mataios expresses aimlessness. All which has not God for the true end of its being is mataios . Pindar describes the vain man as one who hunts bootless things with fruitless hopes. Plato (“Laws,” 735) of labor to no purpose. Ezek. 13:6, “prophesying vain things (mataia),” things which God will not bring to pass. Compare note Titus 3:9. In Romans 8:20 the reference is to a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends. There are three uses of mataiotes in the NT (see the other 2 verses below) but some 46 verses (most in Ecclesiastes) in the Septuagint (LXX) (Ps 4:2; 26.4" class="scriptRef">26:4; 31:6; 14" class="scriptRef">144.8" class="scriptRef">8.12" class="scriptRef">38:12; 9" class="scriptRef">9.5" class="scriptRef">39:5; 40:4; 52:7; 62:9; 78:33; 11" class="scriptRef">119.37" class="scriptRef">119:37; 139:20; 144:4, 8, 11; Pr. 22:8; Eccl. 1:2, 14; 2:1, 11, 15" class="scriptRef">15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26; 3:19; 4:4, 7-8, 16; 5:7, 10" class="scriptRef">10; 6:2, 4, 9, 11-12; 7:6, 15; 8:10, 14; 9:2, 9; 11:8, 10; 12:8). For example... Ps 144:4 Man is like a mere breath (Lxx = mataiotes = nothingness, emptiness); His days are like a passing shadow. The other 2 NT uses of mataiotes are... Romans 8:20 (see note) For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 2 Peter 2:18 (see note) For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, Mind (3563) (nous) refers to the organ of mental perception and apprehension, of conscious life, of the consciousness preceding actions or recognizing and judging them. Nous represents the seat of understanding and intellect, the reasoning capacity or the thinking faculty. Believers have a new mind "the mind (nous) of Christ" (1 Cor 2:16) which can be renewed as they chose not to be conformed to this world's way of thinking but to be radically transformed (see expository note on Romans 12:2). The mind (nous) Paul is describing in this verse is what he refers to elsewhere as the "fleshly mind" or Marvin Vincent calls nous... "the intellectual faculty in its moral aspects as determined by the fleshly, sinful nature" (see note Colossians 2:18) Nous is the God given faculty of perceiving and understanding and is the channel through which truth reaches the heart. Paul says that believers "have the mind of Christ." (1Cor 2:16) Although present-day believers are typically not concerned with Jewish ritual observances, the principle is still applicable. We should be more concerned about renewing our mind and focusing it on Jesus than observing a list of rules that have no biblical support. Paul's point is that when they were unregenerate Gentiles, they could understand spiritual truth. The way the pagan world thinks is totally foreign to they way God thinks. In fact, every person still spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins does not even have the capability to comprehend God. As Paul explained to the church at Corinth... "a natural (unsaved, still "in Adam", not "in Christ") man does not accept (dechomai = deliberately and readily, receive kindly, they do not "put out a welcome mat"! = present tense) the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness (moria = that which is considered intellectually weak, irrational) to him, and he cannot (dunamai = present tense = have intrinsic power - natural men lack the inner, inherent ability and resources on their own to) understand (verb ginosko = know by experience) them, because they are spiritually appraised (anakrino = sift up and down and so to scrutinize, to examine accurately and carefully with exact research like in legal processes)." (1Cor 2:14) In the next verse Paul explains why the unsaved man cannot comprehend the things of God. Expositor's Greek Testament writes that... It is a description of the walk of the heathen world generally—a walk moving within the limits of intellectual and moral resultlessness, given over to things devoid of worth or reality. (Nicoll, W Robertson, Editor: Expositors Greek Testament: 5 Volumes. Out of print. Search Google) Ephesians 4:18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; (NASB: Lockman) Greek: eskotomenoi (RPPMPN) te dianoia ontes, (PAPMPN) apellotriomenoi (RPPMPN) tes zoes tou theou dia ten agnoian ten ousan (PAPFSA) en autois, dia ten porosin tes kardias auton, Amplified: Their moral understanding is darkened and their reasoning is beclouded. [They are] alienated (estranged, self-banished) from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the ignorance (the want of knowledge and perception, the willful blindness) that is deep-seated in them, due to their hardness of heart [to the insensitiveness of their moral nature]. (Amplified Bible - Lockman) NKJV: having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; NLT: Their closed minds are full of darkness; they are far away from the life of God because they have shut their minds and hardened their hearts against him. (NLT - Tyndale House) Phillips: For they live blindfold in a world of illusion, and cut off from the life of God through ignorance and insensitiveness. (Phillips: Touchstone) Wuest: being those who have their understanding darkened, who have been alienated from the life of God through the ignorance which is in them, through the hardening of their hearts, (Eerdmans) Young's Literal: with darkened understandings, having by reason of the ignorance which is deep-seated in them and the insensibility of their moral nature, no share in the Life which God gives. BEING DARKENED IN THEIR UNDERSTANDING: eskotomenoi (RPPMPN) te dianoia ontes: (Psalms 74:20; 115:4, 6, 7, 8; Isaiah 44:18, 19, 20; 46:5, 6, 7, 8; Acts 17:30; 26:17,18; Romans 1:21, 22, 23,28; 1Corinthians 1:21; 2Corinthians 4:4; Galatians 4:8; 1Thessalonians 4:5)