30th) Ephesians 5:3-14
But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”We should note in 8 how Paul defines and describes our new status: 'children of light'. We are born of the Spirit into the family of God, and we are to show forth the 'family likeness'. God is love, and therefore we must walk in love; but God is also light, and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5), and therefore we are to walk in the light. James Denney, in a striking sermon on 'walking in the light' says,
"To walk in the light means to live a life in which there is nothing hidden, nothing in which we are insincere with ourselves, nothing in which we seek to impose upon others. We may have, and no doubt we will have, both sin and the sense of sin upon us 'if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us' - but we may walk in the light nevertheless, if we deal truly with our sin, and it is only as we do so that we enjoy Christian fellowship and are cleansed by the blood of Jesus."
That is challenging enough in all conscience, is it not? There is a burning fire in these words, and we do well to pay heed to it.
It will be noted also that Paul deals with both negatives and positives in these verses (as he did in 4:17 ff). In 3-7 he speaks very bluntly of the works of darkness that characterise the old life while in 8-14 he turns to the positive aspects of being in the light. We shall look at both these sections in turn in the Notes that follow.
31st) Ephesians 5:3-14
But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”Paul could hardly be more forceful and direct in what he says in 3. Not only are such things not to be practised, they are not even to be named among believers. This is a very penetrating and perceptive word, for to speak of such things, to want to speak of them betrays a secret preoccupation with them, and this is something that needs to be dealt with. One can usually tell what sort of person is speaking to us at any particular time - the man whose 'stock-in-trade' is the off-colour remark, the 'double entendre', the man whose conversation is just on this side of smut, when what is left unsaid is conveyed by the tone of voice or the kind of look just as unmistakably as if it had been spoken plainly. To be a person like that - and sadly one has sometimes heard professing Christians speak like this at wedding receptions is to earn the Apostle's negative estimate in these verses. And one has only to think of the world of modern literature and entertainment to realise how needful such a warning is today, when impurity is exploited and commercialised, and traded upon, until people's minds are almost sodden with it. Paul says in 6, 'Don't let anyone deceive you on this point”, make no mistake about it - as if to warn against Mr Worldly Wise who laughingly and condescendingly tells us we are old-fashioned and Victorian, and to move with the times. Well, there are worse things than being Victorian! Let us not forget that a day is coming when the times will stop moving, a day when time will be no more, but God will still be Light, and His criterion of judgment will still be 'walk in the light'. J.B. Phillips, translates 4 as follows, "The keynote of our conversation should be a sense of what we owe to God". This does not mean to be always spouting religious talk; but it does mean that in all our talk, of whatever kind, there will be an integrity about us that will be unmistakable.
1st) Ephesians 5:8-14
... for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”Paul next turns in these verses to the positive aspect of being in the light. He begins once more by stating the great change that has taken place in the believer. Once we were in darkness, but now we are light in the Lord, and we must therefore walk in character with our new state, and walk as children of light. And he adds, in 9, 'The fruit of the light (not 'the Spirit', here) is in all goodness and righteousness and truth". J.B. Phillips renders this as "The light produces everything that is wholesome and good and true". And this is a readily comprehensible summary of Paul's meaning. It speaks of integrity of character, moral rectitude. Sometimes we may say of someone, "He's not a right man", by which we mean that there is a lack of integrity about him. We need to remember that God's holiness, when incarnate in Christ, expressed itself in a life that 'went about doing good'. So also, that same manifestation is expected in His children!
But now, there is a significant development at 11. Walking as children of light does not only mean to live holy lives, and shun all that is evil in thought, word and deed. There is another aspect, and these next verses indicate what it is. The children of light are to shine forth for Christ and for God. And the alternative to having no fellowship with the fruitful works of darkness is not so much 'withdrawal' from them, as reproving them. But we need to be careful here. Paul may not mean that we should reprove these unfruitful works of darkness, as shown in the lives of unbelievers by word. Indeed, such a picture might well conjure up the notion of a disapproving frown, or even a self-righteous denunciation, from a strait-laced Mrs Grundy with a vinegary face. What may rather be in Paul's mind is the kind of unmistakable reproof that a life of integrity administers without even a word being spoken. One thinks of the story of D.L. Moody, whose presence in a barber's shop stopped the swearing and bawdiness of language in the shop by simply being there, without saying a single word. Ah, there is something in a godly man or woman's bearing that raises the tone of a place whenever he enters it. He does not say anything; he does not need to say anything. His life speaks for God and for light.
2nd) Ephesians 5:8-14
... for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”The AV rendering of 13 is somewhat difficult to understand, but the meaning is something like this: "Let your lives show, by contrast, how dreary and futile these things are. For light is capable of showing up everything for what it really is. It is even possible for light to turn the thing it shines upon into light also". Handley Moule paraphrases it as follows:
"You are light in the Lord: use this character upon the surrounding moral darkness, in order to the rescue of its victims, that they also may become light. Nothing but light will do this work: no conquest over darkness, literal or spiritual, is possible except to light. And one evidence of this is that every such real conquest results in the subjects of darkness becoming now subjects of light, becoming light."
'You are light', Paul is saying, 'keep your light, then, but shine far into the dark. And then other men, as already you, shall become light in the Lord.” It is important to see the implications of this, in terms of the evangelistic power of a holy life. What is meant by saying this can be explained by reminding ourselves that there are two ways of looking at holiness. One is to think of it in terms of the devastating challenge and summons it presents to us to be holy as God is holy - a frightening and off-putting challenge indeed , as we may see from the way in which the first disciples reacted to the call to take up the Cross and follow Jesus.
But it is very impressive to see how, after Pentecost, their attitude was very different: then, they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the Lord Jesus. That was the difference, and in that difference their lives were indeed transformed, and they were immensely attractive people who drew others to Christ by the very quality of their lives.
3rd) Ephesians 5:8-14
... for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”What was said in the previous note tells us something important about the sheer attractiveness of holiness, in the biblical sense and meaning of the word. We have before pointed out that the biblical word has a twofold etymology - on the one hand, it contains the idea of separation; on the other hand it contains the idea of brightness. And it is this latter idea that is so often forgotten and at a discount. But it certainly was not so in the New Testament Church. Here is another quote from James Denney, who says in one of his sermons:
"Before the gospel came, despair had fallen on the ancient world; society had abandoned the very idea and hope of goodness; 'deep weariness and sated lust made human life a hell'. But suddenly a change came. Men appeared in that lost world with an infinite hope in their hearts - an assured and triumphant hope, to be holy as God is holy; and it spread from heart to heart till in the Christian Church a new people of God became visible upon earth, a society which with all its imperfections was a communion of saints. What was it that made the change? It was the sense of a divine call that had come to men. And how had it come? It came through the revelation of the love of God."
It was this irresistible attractiveness of the Church of Christ that was one of the great evangelistic impulses in the early days of the Christian Faith. Holiness - yes; blazing purity was their only standard, as witness the condign punishment that fell on Ananias and Sapphira for their sullying of that standard; but it was a fire that warmed as well as a fire that burned, and proved immensely attractive to countless people in the ancient world. They had never encountered anything like it.
4th) Ephesians 5:8-14
... for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”We get some indications and hints about this attractiveness in such phrases as Peter's, in his first epistle, where he speaks of being “brought out of darkness into His marvellous light'. What does Peter mean to convey by these words if not that something unspeakably wonderful had happened to him in the grace of the gospel? Indeed, all the imagery that the New Testament uses about salvation conveys the same unmistakable message, whether it be that of the setting free of the prisoner, or the coming home to the Father's house from the desolation of the far country, or whatever - all alike tell of the same wonderful experience. Why then, should we as Christians be always so much on the defensive, and even apologetic, about what our faith, and our Saviour, mean to us? If the greatest thing in the world has happened to us, we surely need not be afraid to tell it forth, and to commend the Saviour Who has wrought such a transformation in our lives, so that others might also share in what we have found!
The section ends with what purports to be a quotation from Scripture, in the words 'Wherefore he saith' or 'it saith'. The commentators point out that although the substance of this verse is scriptural, its precise words do not correspond precisely to the Old Testament (but see Isa 9:2, 26:19, 52:1, 60:1). It is thought likely that we have here another fragment of an early Christian hymn - we often quote lines of hymns in just this way to illustrate and reinforce the points we make in sermons - probably used at Christian baptism. This much is clear: in it three metaphors for turning to God are linked - awaking from sleep, being raised from the dead, and going out of darkness into light - and these are familiar enough figures in the Pauline writings. Hendriksen maintains that Paul's aim here, and in the passage as a whole, is to show that he who has renounced the wicked ways of the world should live a life consistent with his new standing. Therefore, instead of any longer taking part in the unfruitful works of darkness, he should emerge completely from his sleep and arise and withdraw in every respect from the wicked ways of the company of the spiritually dead. The blessed result will be that Christ will shine upon him. That would seem to be the meaning of the passage.
5th) Ephesians 5:15-21
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
We come in these verses to the third of Paul's injunctions about the Christian walk, to walk circumspectly. The modern versions render the verse "Be careful how you live, not as unwise, but wise" (NIV and RSV). Whatever the rendering, the thrust is much the same, and in Colossians, the parallel epistle to Ephesians, Paul says, "Walk in wisdom toward them that are without". This third exhortation requires to be 'read back', as it were, into the other two, 'walking in love', and 'walking in the light' - just as both require to be 'read into' the third exhortation. When we say, however, that we need to read wisdom and circumspection into our loving, this does not, of course, mean that love has to be limited in any calculating way, for it is in the nature of real love to be wholehearted and even 'prodigal' in its expression. God's love went 'all the way to Calvary for us. All the same, there is a strength in true love that makes it a very awesome thing, on occasion, and there is nothing of the merely sentimental about it. One does not easily forget what the great Scottish theologian, P.T.Forsyth, once said about the Divine love, that "God is strong enough to resist pity until grief has done its gracious work even in His Son". That surely puts a certain construction on Divine love: it is something that is strong, fierce, inexorable on occasion, and never to be trifled with. C.S. Lewis captures this very trenchantly in what he says in The Problem of Pain about the difference between a Father in Heaven and a grandfather in heaven - a senile benevolence who, as they say, 'liked to see young people enjoying themselves' and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might truly be said at the end of each day, 'A good time was had by all'.... And he adds, "It is for people whom we care nothing about that we demand happiness on any terms: with our friends, our lovers, our children, we are exacting and would rather see them suffer much than be happy in contemptible and estranging modes.... God has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us, in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense".
