Without Christ there is no life. There is only futility (ματαιότης, “vanity, emptiness”). In contrast to the life they now live in Christ, Paul reminds these Christians of the emptiness they used to call “life,” the kind of futility in which their unbelieving neighbors were still living. The unbeliever’s goal is “happiness.” His mind is filled with countless thoughts of how to obtain his goal, but because Christ is not in his thoughts they will never lead to happiness. vv. 18, 19—They