Ephesians 5

These first two verses go with ch. 4:17-32.

1 “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.” These words are

closely connected with the preceding. In ch. 4:32 Paul had urged the example of God

in one very momentous matter (forgiveness); he now urges it in a more general sense

and on another ground. We ought to forgive men because God has forgiven us —

all admit that; but moreover, we ought to imitate our Father in His forgiveness and

in His loving spirit, because beloved children should always imitate, and will always

strive to imitate, what is good in a beloved father. Forgiving love is one of the

great glories of our Father; it has been made peculiarly attractive in our eyes,

because it has been exercised by Him towards us; every consideration, therefore,

ought to induce us to show the same spirit. This is the only place in which we

are distinctly called to imitate God. But the same truth is given expression to by

Christ when He says, That ye may be the sons of your Father which is in

heaven, for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth

rain on the just and the unjust.......Be ye therefore perfect, even as your

Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:45,48) Forgiveness

belongs to the dignity of our nature (our being partakers of the Divine nature –

II Peter 1:4) that there can be proposed to us as our end likeness to God.

It is designed that there should be a perpetual unfolding and enlarging of our

spiritual powers and excellences. All our desires, hopes, efforts, are to be

toward this. We are to be:

· filled with the Divine thoughts,

· replenished with the Divine energy, and

· warmed with Divine love.

As a child catches the tone of his father, so are we to catch the tone of our heavenly

Father. WHAT A CONTRADICTION, TO BE CHILDREN PECULIARLY

LOVED AND NOT TO SEEK LIKENESS TO GOD?

Followers of God (v. 1)

This is the high destiny of God’s children.

· THE DUTY HERE COMMANDED. “Be ye imitators of me.” It is to do:

ü what God does;

ü because He does it;

ü as He does it.

The special point of imitation here is the duty of showing a forgiving spirit

to one another.

· WHY WE SHOULD IMITATE GOD.

ü Because we are His “dear children.” Whom should children imitate but

their father? Believers have had experience of their Father’s wisdom,

love, and power, and it is only an instinct of filial love to imitate such

a Father.

ü Because we were originally made in His image (Genesis 1:26), and

though that image has been marred by sin, it is to be renewed in the

process of a Christian experience (ch. 4:23).

ü Holiness consists in the imitation of God. “Because it is written, Be ye

holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44; I Peter 1:16).

ü The prospect of perfect likeness to God in the day of our Lord’s

appearing. (I John 3:2.)

· MEANS TOWARDS THE FULFILMENT OF THIS DUTY.

ü Pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17), especially:

Ø for fuller measures of His grace,

Ø for larger disclosures of His love, and

Ø for a deeper insight into His truth.

ü Live continually as being under His eye. (Psalm 139:6-7.)

Consider how others have followed Him. (I Corinthians 11:1.)

Imitators of God (v. 1)

· HOW IT IS POSSIBLE FOR US TO BE IMITATORS OF GOD. It is

vain to try to imitate God if all resemblance to God is beyond our reach.

But this is not the case. While speculative theology is fatally successful in

magnifying the distance between man and God, practical revelation is ever

bringing us nearer to God.

ü We are like God by nature. God is spirit, and we are spiritual beings.

All spirits are of one family. God made us in His own image. It is our work

to revive that image where it has been obscured and to carry it up to higher

resemblances.

ü We can imitate God in very small ways. Because He is infinite and we

are finite we are not to infer that all common likeness is impossible. The

smallest pool may bear a perfect image of the sun.

ü We are susceptible of indefinite growth and improvement. Because we

are sadly unlike God now it does not follow that we may never resemble

Him. “It is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he

shall be manifested, we shall be like him” (I John 3:2). God has

revealed Himself to us. We cannot imitate what we do not know. Mysteries

of the Divine nature must ever lie beyond our sight. Nevertheless,

something real about God we do know. For we have seen Christ, and he

who sees Christ sees God (John 14:9).

· IN WHAT RESPECTS WE ARE TO BECOME IMITATORS OF

GOD. We cannot attain to His almighty energy nor to His unfathomable

wisdom. Yet we may imitate the method of these Divine attributes in the

exercise of corresponding human qualities. But the resemblance to God

that is both most important and most attainable is moral and spiritual

likeness in character and conduct. Consider especially in what points we

most need to be like God.

ü Purity.

ü Truth.

ü Generous giving. There are men who are always grasping for

themselves, and others who distribute abroad. The latter are like

God, who is ever raying out blessings.

ü Forbearance. In nothing do we more need to imitate God than in:

Ø His gentleness with sinners,

Ø His long-suffering patience, and

Ø His forgiving mercy.

ü Love. This is nearest to the heart and very being of God, for God is love.

(I John 4:8) He who loves his kind most widely and warmly is likest

God (see v. 2).

· WHY WE SHOULD BE IMITATORS OF GOD.

Ø It is our natural duty. Nothing short of this will satisfy the claims of

right. It is not enough that we follow the best men and conform with the

utmost propriety to the pious fashions of the times, nor even that we obey

our own consciences. We have to make our conduct agree with God’s

conscience. Duty is infinite — a ceaseless climbing to higher and yet

higher regions of holiness. We cannot reach the pinnacle of perfection

at once, and we are not guilty for not doing what lies beyond our present

powers. But we are blameworthy if we aim at less than perfection and

if we ever rest contented with any lower stage of progress. “Ye therefore

shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

Ø We are under obligations of gratitude to become imitators of God.

The word “therefore” calls our attention to these obligations. It points

back to the previous words, wherein we are exhorted to forgive one

another, even as God also in Christ forgave us. (ch. 4:32)

Ø Our highest blessedness will be found in our resemblance to God.

He is ever blessed. Everything ungodlike must be ultimately a source

of pain and death. Though the imitation of God begins in toil and

sacrifice, it grows into the deepest peace and the richest gladness.

· BY WHAT MEANS WE MAY BECOME IMITATORS OF GOD.

Ø Worship. Heathen gods are objective representations, and even

monstrous exaggerations, of the natures of their devotees. Such gods can

have no good moral influence. But God, as He is revealed in Christ, is

infinitely above us, and full of wonderful beauty and attraction. As

we gaze upon His glory in rapt devotion we are changed into His likeness.

We all imitate, consciously or unconsciously, what we admire. When we

see a great picture we wish to paint; when we enjoy good music we desire

to produce it; when we see noble deeds we are fired to emulate them.

Ø Meditation. As St. Francis is said to have received the wounds of Christ

on his own person by intense meditation on them, we may receive the

spiritual likeness of our Lord — a more profitable resemblance — by

contemplating and dwelling in the spirit of His life. Then also we shall

have the likeness of God. He who is nearest to God in prayer and

communion grows likest God.

Ø Obedient action. We must do Divine deeds of holiness and charity if we

would have the character that a habit of such deeds begets. All this God

will supplement and vivify by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit breathing

His own life and likeness into us.

· IN WHAT SPIRIT WE ARE TO BECOME IMITATORS OF GOD.

“As beloved children.” Thus loved children venerate and imitate their

parents. Here is no room for spiritual pride. For when we lose the childlike

spirit we fall away from the imitation of God. They who imitate God most

truly are most simple and childlike, and that spirit of trust in a loving parent

which is the highest educational influence in the child, must be in us if we

would be good imitators of God.

2 “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for

us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor.”

Now, if God regarded with infinite delight the self-sacrifice of the only begotten

Son for the sake of His brethren, there is no way in which we can delight our Father

so much as by following in the Elder Brother’s footsteps and being ready to sacrifice

ourselves out of love to the brethren. And walk in love. Taking up anew the

exhortation of ch. 4:1. Let your ordinary life be spent in an atmosphere of love.

Love supplies the motive power to all the right relations with our fellow man. Drink

it in from heaven, as plants drink in the sunshine; radiate it forth from eyes and face;

let hands and feet be active in the service; let looks, words, and acts all be steeped in it.

Even as Christ also hath loved us. The passing from the Father to the Son as

our Example is not a new departure; for the Son reveals the Father, the Son’s love

is the counterpart of the Father’s, made visible to us in the way most fitted to

impress us. Though Christ’s love, like His Father’s, is eternal, the aorist is used,

to denote that specific act of love which is immediately in view – Jesus was an

example of love in His life, for He went about every day doing good. (Acts 10:38).

And hath given Himself for us. The Pauline phrase (Galatians 1:4; 2:20; Titus

2:14; I Timothy 2:6), simple, but very comprehensive: “Himself” — all that He was

as God, all that He became as Man, a complete self-surrender, a whole burnt

offering. “For us,” not merely on our behalf, but in our room (after verbs

of giving, dying, etc.); this, indeed, being implied in the idea immediately

following of a sacrifice, which, alike to the Jewish and pagan mind,

conveyed the idea of a life given in room of another. An offering and a

sacrifice to God. Offering and sacrifice are nearly synonymous, but the

first probably includes the whole earthly career of Christ incarnate:

· His holy life,

· blessed example,

· gracious teaching,

· loving companionship, as well as

· His atoning death,

which last is more precisely the θυσία - thoo-see’-ah - sacrifice. The offering

and sacrifice were presented to God:

· to satisfy His justice,

· fulfill the demands of His law, and

· glorify His holy and righteous government.

For a sweet-smelling savor. Allusion to Noah’s sacrifice of every clean beast

and of every fowl — “ the Lord smelled a sweet savor;” (Genesis 8:21) - that is,

the whole transaction, not the offering merely, but the spirit in which it was

offered likewise, was grateful to God. The whole work of Christ, and the

beautiful spirit in which He offered Himself, were grateful to the Father, and

procure saving blessings for ALL who by faith make the offering their own.

He is “Just and the Justifier of him who believeth in Jesus” – (Romans 3:26)

The Walk of Love (v. 2)

We are bound to love one another.

· THIS WAS THE GREAT DUTY OF THE LAW. “All the Law is

fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”

(Galatians 5:14). “The end of the commandment is love” (I Timothy 1:5).

All our duty to our neighbor is summed up in love. Love supplies the

motive-power to all right relations with our fellow-men.

· THIS WAS THE NEW COMMANDMENT OF CHRIST, “A new

commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another” (John 13:34).

The love thus newly enjoined has certain important characteristics.

ü It must be the love of deeds, not words. “Let us not love in word,

neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (I John 3:18).

ü It must be ardent. “Above all things have fervent charity among

yourselves” (I Peter 4:8).

ü It must be self-sacrificing. “We ought also to lay down our lives

for the brethren” (I John 3:16).

ü It ought to be a love well guided and controlled. “This I pray, that

your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all

judgment” (Philippians 1:9).

ü It ought to be a constant love like that of Christ. “Having loved His

own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end” (John 13:1).

ü It ought to be a decisive test as to our condition in God’s sight.

“He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none

occasion of stumbling in him” (I John 2:10). “We know that we

have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren”

(ibid. ch. 3:14).

ü It must be a love recommended by the highest examples. “God is

love.” (ibid. ch. 4:8) “If God so loved us, we ought also to love one

another.” (ibid. v. 11) We are to “walk in love, as Christ also loved us.”

(v. 2) “Let the same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”

(Philippians 2:5).

The Pattern of Christian Love (v. 2)

“As Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and

a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.” Jesus was an example of

love in His life, for He went about every day doing good (Acts 10:38).

But it is to His suffering of death that the apostle points us for the most

sublime and impressive illustration of His love. The words suggest many

pregnant thoughts.

· WHO OFFERED HIMSELF? It was Christ, the only begotten Son of

God. It was His own voluntary act. “Greater love hath no man than this,

that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). “Who loved

me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). It was love that

prompted the gift of Himself:

ü eternal,

ü infinite,

ü free.

· WHAT DID HE OFFER? Himself. Not the blood of others, much less

the blood of bulls and goats. It was the offering of the body of Christ

(Hebrews 10:10).

· FOR WHOM? For us, while we were yet enemies (Romans 5:10).

Whether He died in our stead or merely for our benefit is determined by the

context, which represents Him as giving Himself “an offering and a sacrifice.”

(v. 2) This language marks the distinctly substitutionary character of

Christ’s death, just as He is Himself described elsewhere as “a ransom for

many.” (Mark 10:45)

· TO WHOM DID HE OFFER HIMSELF? To God. That is, with the

design that God might accept the sacrifice. God had pleasure in the death

and atonement of His Son. (Isaiah 53:11)

· IN WHAT MANNER? “As an offering and a sacrifice.” The term

“offering” applies to propitiatory sacrifices, as well as to free-will offerings

(Hebrews 10:18, 14). The additional word, “sacrifice,” marks the

clearly propitiatory character of His offering (ibid. ch. 7:27).

· WITH WHAT RESULT? “For a sweet-smelling savor.” This phrase is

applied to propitiatory as well as to free-will offerings, as, for example, to

the burnt offerings of Noah (Genesis 8:21). The sacrifice of Christ was

well-pleasing to God, who could henceforth manifest His character “as just,

and the Justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26) The whole

passage teaches us:

ü The unsoundness of that theology which sees in the sufferings of Christ,

not a propitiatory sacrifice, but the love, faith, and submission of God’s

Son, as an example to man. This view is altogether one-sided.

ü The unsoundness of that theology which sees in His sufferings a mere

exhibition of love, without that element of righteousness which made

these sufferings necessary. If love alone could save, why should He

have suffered or died at all? It is the atoning love that is the element

of consolation to man.

ü The unsoundness of that theology which sees the redeeming power of

Christ in His birth rather than in His death, as if the event of Bethlehem

were transcendently more important than the event of Golgotha.

ü That there is in Christ’s love, not merely a force of argument or motive,

but a very rule or measure, of the love which we ought to exercise

toward each other in the bonds of the gospel.

The Sacrifice of Christ (v. 2)

· THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST WAS VOLUNTARY. He gave Himself.

He said He had power — right as well as ability — to lay down His life

(John 10:18). Had the sacrifice of Christ not been the free giving of

Himself, it would have been like the human sacrifices of the heathen — a

fearful deed in those who slew him and of no import to any one else. The

essence of the sacrifice, all that gave to it propitiatory efficacy, was the

willingness of the Sufferer who offered Himself. God is not pleased with

pain and death. What He is pleased with is the devotion, fidelity, and love

that endure pain and death in the fulfillment of an unselfish and noble

mission.

· THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST WAS OFFERED TO GOD. Christ

was not simply a Martyr to truth, nor only a Sufferer in the cause of

humanity. The cup that He drank was given to Him by His Father. His

persistence through mortal agony was in submission to the will of God.

Gethsemane interprets Calvary. It reveals an essential element of the

sacrifice of Christ that has been too much neglected in our theologies —

the obedience of Christ. Paul saw tints when he said that Christ became

“obedient unto death.” (Philippians 2:8) Thus the cross was an altar

and the crucifixion an offering to God.

· THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST WAS WELL-PLEASING TO GOD.

In primite language it is said that when the smoke of Noah’s sacrifice went

up to heaven “God smelled a sweet savor” (Genesis 8:21) — literally, “a savor

of satisfaction,” i.e. it was acceptable to God. So Christ’s sacrifice is

described as “an odor of a sweet smell.” (v. 2) Such an act of fidelity to God

and love to man could not but be pleasing to God. Thus the sacrifice becomes a

propitiation; it becomes the means through which God looks favorably on

those for whom it is offered.

· THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST WAS MADE ON OUR BEHALF.

“For us.” Men had often offered sacrifices for themselves — to express

their own devotion and to expiate their own sins. It is customary now for

people to talk of making a present sacrifice in order to secure a future

advantage. But Christ’s sacrifice was not for His own interests. It was the

Shepherd giving His life for the sheep, the Friend laying down his life for

his friends. His was the pain, ours is the gain; His the cross of death, ours the

crown of life.

· THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST WAS OCCASIONED BY HIS LOVE

TO US. “Christ also loved you.” There was no necessity that Christ should

die. Ordinary duty would not have required the sacrifice, for, though

fidelity and obedience entered into it, these elements were consequent on

the free undertaking of a work of love by Christ. Christ as a man was

possessed of a great love of His kind that constrained Him to die for the

world; Christ as the Son of God and “the very image of His substance”

(Hebrews 1:3) died because He was full of the love of the Father for His

lost children.

· THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST SHOULD LEAD US TO WALK IN

LOVE.

ü In return for His love. Love should inspire love. If it does we shall show

our love to Christ by loving our brethren.

ü In breathing His Spirit. Christianity is not merely appropriating the fruits

of the work of Christ. It is following in His footsteps. Christians are called

to be imitators of God, especially as He is manifested in Christ. An imitation

of God must therefore consist chiefly in an exercise of love like that of

Christ. His love to us led Him to submit to crucifixion. He asks us simply

to walk in love.

The Walk Suitable to the Children of the Light (vs. 3-21)

The fearful prevalence of sensual vice at Ephesus naturally led the apostle

to dwell on it emphatically as one of the worst rags of the old man, a rag to

be wholly and forever cast away. But, indeed, there are few heathen

communities where sensual vice does not flourish when men have it in their

power to indulge in it. (Does this mean, with our obsession with sexuality,

both natural and perverted, that the United States of America is heathen??? –

CY -2010) It is singular how universal sin is in connection with the irregular

and disorderly indulgence of the bodily appetites. It would seem as if God

made this a special matter of probation, for when these appetites get the upper

hand, they lead into terrible excesses, and, by bringing disease on both mind

and body, avenge the sin to which they have impelled. First, they tempt men

to sin, and then, as if in heartless mockery, they scourge them for having sinned.

Compare Romans 1:19-32.

3 “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named

among you, as becometh saints;” But. Another of the remarkable contrasts of this

Epistle; the fumes of lust are doubly odious in contact with the sweet savor of

Christ’s offering. Fornication and all uncleanliness (impurity), or covetousness.

The combination of covetousness with sins of the flesh, occurring several times in

the apostle’s writings (I Corinthians 5:11; Colossians 3:5; and here), is rather

unexpected. Πλεονεξία - pleh-on-ex-ee’-ah - covetousness, covetous practices,

greediness - means the desire of having more, which is peculiarly true of sensual

sins; but it is not coupled with them by a καὶ - kai - and but disjoined by an ἢ -

ay – or indicating something of another class. In the mind of the apostle, sensuality

was inseparable from greed, unnatural craving for more, dissatisfaction with

what was enough; hence the neighborhood of the two vices. Let it not be once

named among you, as becometh saints. The practice of such sins was out of the

question; but even speaking of them, as matters of ordinary conversation, was

unsuitable for saints; the very conversation of Christians must be pure. The

exhortation bears on Christians in their social relations; had the apostle been

treating of the duty of the individual, he would have urged that such sins should

never be admitted even to the thoughts or the imagination.

4 “Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient:

but rather giving of thanks.” Neither filthiness.- αἰσχρότης - ahee-skhrot’-ace –

filthiness from (αἰσχρός – ahee-skhrosn - shamefulness, i.e. obscenity) implying

that such things are disgraceful, ugly, revolting, the opposite of καλός - kal-os - fair,

comely, attractive. Nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient

(becoming):” It is proof of a corrupt heart, for “out of the abundance of the heart the

mouth speaketh.” (Matthew 12:34) [consider the degradation in American Society

exhibited in modern sit-coms on TV – compare them with Amos and Andy, The

Honeymooners, Red Skeleton, Mayberry, The Life of Riley, etc. – CY – 2010]

This would be well understood in sensual, frivolous Ephesus; (but apparently not

in the Good Ole USA – CY – 2010) a light, bantering, jesting kind of talk,

seasoned with double entendres and obscene allusions or inuendos, VERY

PERNICIOUS IN ITS MORAL EFFECT. There is no reason to suppose that

the apostle meant to condemn all play of humor, which is a Divine gift, and which

in moderation has its own useful place as a means of refreshing and invigorating

the spirit; it was the jesting associated with ribaldry (amusingly coarse or irreverent

talk or behavior) that drew his reproof. But rather giving of thanks. Eὐχαριστία –

yoo-khar-is-tee’-ah – thankfullness - is somewhat similar in sound to εὐτραπελία

-yoo-trap-el-ee’-ah; - jesting: the reason for putting the one in opposition to the

other is not very apparent; the meaning seems to be that, in place of giving vent

to lively feelings in frivolous talk and jesting, it is better for Christians to do so

by pouring out their hearts in thanksgivings to God for all His goodness.

(Psalm 62:8)

Warning against Unbecoming Speech (v. 4)

“Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but

rather giving of thanks.”

· THERE ARE THREE VARIETIES OF UNEDIFYING SPEECH.

ü “Filthiness.” This term, though referring to acts as much as words,

points especially to that obscenity of speech which is so disgusting to the

moral sense of man. It is proof of a corrupt heart — for “out of the

abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” — and, more than anything

else, makes the tongue “a fire, a world of iniquity,” even “set on fire of

hell.” (James 3:6)

ü “Foolish talking.” This is the talking that will have many idle words to

answer for at the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36). It is more than

mere random gossip; it is the talk of fools which is folly and sin; it includes

“corrupt speech” (ch. 4:29). It is aimless, senseless, frivolous talk. Our talk

ü ought to be full of reason and purpose, and bright with happy suggestion.

ü “Jesting.” The apostle does not condemn the pleasantry which lends

such a grace and joy to conversation, but the wit that is allied to lewdness,

brimming over in double entendres, and tending to demoralization.

· THE APOSTLE’S JUDGMENT UPON THESE KINDS OF

SPEECH. “Which are not convenient.”

ü They are not so in themselves, for the character of impropriety

essentially attaches to each of them.

ü They are not so in the speakers, who incur a still deeper reproach and

prepare for themselves a graver judgment.

ü They are not so for the hearers, who, though they may be amused for

the moment, are not profited, but rather debased by such conversation.

· THE RIGHT USE OF THE TONGUE. “Giving of thanks.” Christian

cheerfulness ought to express itself, not in buffoonery or levity, but in

thanksgiving and praise. We have much to be thankful for in our daily lot,

and the thought of the indulgent kindness which supplies all our need ought

to repress anything like foolish or scurrilous discourse. The language of

thankfulness will minister grace to the hearers.

5 “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous

man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of

God.” For this ye know. This is an appeal to their own consciences, made

confidently, as beyond all doubt. That no whoremonger (fornicator), nor unclean

person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom.

No such person (unrepentant) has an inheritance in the Kingdom of God.

Covetousness, the twin-brother sin of uncleanness, is denounced as idolatry.

It is worshipping the creature more than the Creator, depending on vast

stores of earthly substance in place of the favor and blessing of God.

It must receive the doom of the idolater; instead of inheriting the

kingdom, he must die the death. The doom in this verse is not

future, but present — not shall have, but hath, inheritance, etc. (compare

ch. 1:11, 18). The lust of greed overreaches itself; it LOSES ALL that is truly

WORTH HAVING, it may have this and that — lands, houses, and

goods — BUT it has not one scrap in the kingdom. Of Christ and God.

The two are united in the closest way, as equals, implying the divinity of

Christ and his oneness with the Father in the administration of the kingdom.

Warnings against Covetousness (vs. 3-5)

It is odd to find covetousness, which is often a sin of respectability, linked

with sins of gross immorality but it too, springs from selfishness, like the

other sins mentioned. It has its origin in the same unholy root.

· CONSIDER THE NATURE OF COVETOUSNESS. Covetousness is the

inordinate love of riches and manifests itself in several ways.

ü In the eager anxiety to attain wealth, without respect either to

God’s glory or our own spiritual good.

ü In a sinful acquisition of wealth by extortion or fraud. (I Kings

21:2, 13; Proverbs 10:2; 28:8.)

ü In a reluctance to use our wealth for good ends. (I Timothy 6:17-18.)

· HOW IS COVETOUSNESS TO BE REGARDED AS IDOLATRY?

Covetousness makes a god of our possessions and to give them the homage of

our hearts. All the essential elements of idolatry are included in this worldly

disposition. The covetous man transfers to riches the love, desire, joy, trust,

and labor which God demands for Himself. His sin is all the greater because he

knows that his god is no god. Jesus said, “Take heed and beware of

covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of

the things which he possesseth.” (Luke 12:15) It is a solemn thought

that one of the most common sins is associated with idolatry and is very

serious in God’s sight! The warning of the text is applicable:

ü to all whose thoughts run more upon earth than upon heaven (Luke

12:22, 25, 29-31);

ü to all whose comfort depends upon worldly successes (ibid. v. 19);

ü to all who grudge the time that is spent in religious duties (Amos 8:5).

The sin of covetousness is, therefore, to be jealously avoided:

ü because it is odious to God “The covetous whom the Lord abhorreth”

(Psalm 10:3);

ü because it is destructive to ourselves:

Ø in turning our hearts from God (I John 2:15),

Ø in filling our hearts with trouble and care (>I Timothy 6:9-10), and

Ø in keeping us out of the kingdom of God (v. 5, here).

ü Let us, therefore:

Ø estimate the world at its true value,

Ø meditate much on the fatherly care of our God (Luke 12:31-32;

Matthew 6:25-26),

Ø act in faith upon the promises (Hebrews 13:5), and

Ø remember the terrible brand of idolatry which rests upon

covetousness.

It is a solemn thought that the most common of all sins is the most

serious in God’s sight. Yet there is nothing in the condemnation

of this sin that justifies the theory of other-worldliness, or the

neglect of the duties of common life.

Warnings against Impurity of All Kinds (vs. 3-5)

The sins here described in vs. 3-5 were common among the heathen, and

received no adequate check from their moral guides. Indeed, the old pagan world

regarded them as things indifferent. They are, for the most part, sins

against ourselves, as the sins condemned in ch.4:25-31 are sins

against our neighbors. They are to be condemned on many grounds:

• THEY ARE EXPRESS VIOLATIONS OF THE DIVINE LAW.

(Exodus 20:14.)

• THEY ARE DISHONORING TO GOD AND HIS HOLINESS. The

corruption that is in the world through lust is inconsistent with the Divine

nature (II Peter 1:4).

• THEY THWART THE DESIGN OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST,

which is “to purify a people to Himself” (Titus 2:14); “to cleanse us

from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit” (II Corinthians 7:1). Jesus

suffered in the flesh that we should die to the flesh (I Peter 4:1).

• THEY GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT, whose office is to sanctify us

(4:29-30). That pure and holy dove will not dwell in a cage

of unclean and filthy birds.

• THEY DISHONOUR THE BODY, which is the temple of the Holy

Ghost (I Corinthians 6:18). They waste it as well as dishonor it

“And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are

consumed” - (Proverbs 5:11); “receiving in themselves that

recompense of their error which was meet” - (Romans 1:27).

• THEY WAR AGAINST THE SOUL in every sense of the term —

against its life, its aspirations, its happiness (I Peter 2:11). They even

darken the judgment and the understanding (Hosea 4:11). No sort of

sin so hardens the heart.

• THEY PROVOKE GOD’S ANGER. (Colossians 3:5-6; Jeremiah 5:7;

v.6.) “For the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience.”

They subject transgressors to God’s judgment, for “whoremongers and

adulterers God will judge” - (Hebrews 13:4). And they keep them out

of heaven (I Corinthians 6:9; ver. 5). These sins of impurity are not even

to be named among saints, who are to be pure in thought, pure in heart,

pure in speech, pure in life. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal

body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Romans 6:12). To this

end we must:

ü Avoid all the occasions that prompt to impurity:

Ø idleness (Ezekiel 16:49);

Ø evil company (Proverbs 7:7-27); and

Ø all other sins (Proverbs 1:25).

ü Make a covenant with our eyes (Job 31:1).

ü Watch over our thoughts (Malachi 2:16).

ü Delight in God’s Word (Proverbs 2:10, 16).

ü Continue in prayer (Psalm 119:37).

6 “Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh

the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.” Let no man deceive you

with vain words:” - No man, whether pagan or nominal Christian: the pagan

defending a life of pleasure as the only thing to be had with even a smack of good

in it; the Christian mitigating pleasant sins, saying that the young must have an

outlet for their warm feelings, that men in business must put all their soul into it,

and that life must be brightened by a little mirth and jollity. As opposed to what

the apostle has laid down (v. 5), such words are empty, destitute of all

solidity or truth. For because of these things cometh the wrath of God

upon the children of disobedience. The sophistry is swept away by

an awful fact — the wrath cometh, is coming, and will come too in the

future life. It comes in the form of natural punishment, Nature avenging her

broken laws by deadly diseases; in the form, too, of disappointment,

remorse, desolation of soul; and in the form of judgments, like that which

befell the Canaanites and Sodom and Gomorrah, (Genesis 19 – I highly

recommend the Sodom and Gomorrah section at arkdiscovery.com –

CY – 2010) or the sword which never departed from David’s house.

(II Samuel 121:10) The Scripture is very plain that “the abominable, and

murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars,

shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone”

(Revelation 21:8).

But they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh, with the affections and

lusts. (Galatians 5:24)

Divine Wrath upon Disobedience (v. 6)

It was necessary for the apostle to mark the true nature and real end of impurity in

all its manifestations. “Let no man deceive you with vain words.”

· IT IS NO UNUSUAL EXPERIENCE FOR WICKED MEN NOT TO

SEE THE WICKEDNESS OF THEIR ACTS. The heathen regarded moral

purity as a thing indifferent, and many of their moral guides palliated some

of the worst features of pagan sensuality. They argued, as some have

argued in modern times with a wicked levity of purpose, that sins of

impurity have their origin and their justification in the very constitution of

our nature, that they are not inconsistent with many social virtues, and that

they are not injurious to others. It is one of the blinding effects of sin that

men do not see their sin “through the ignorance that is in them, because of

the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:18).

· IT IS A MISTAKE TO SUPPOSE THAT THE WRATH OF GOD IS

LIMITED TO THE PRESENT LIFE, and is merely entailed through the

connection established by the Divine government between sin and

suffering. There is such a connection written in the physical constitution of

man. Sinners often in this life receive in themselves “that recompense of

their error which is meet” (Romans 1:27 – This is said of homosexual

sins! CY - 2019). The drunkard is punished here in broken health, in loss

of substance, reputation, and happiness. But we are not to suppose that the

laws of Providence which ensure these results exhaust the fullness of Divine

wrath against sin. Scripture tells us plainly that sins of impurity entail

exclusion “from the kingdom of Christ and of God” (v. 5); that He will

judge whoremongers and adulterers (Hebrews 13:5), and that “the abominable,

and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars,

shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone”

(Revelation 21:8).

7 “Be not ye therefore partakers with them.” If you are partakers

of their sins, you must be of their punishments too. Refuse all partnership,

therefore. Your natural instincts recoil from partnership in punishment; let

your spiritual instincts recoil from partnership in sin.

Christ was “separate from sinners” but was in society that He might win

sinners to God. So should we be a witness to sinners and point them

to Christ. Jesus prayed for us! (John 17:11-15, 20-21)

Psalm 7:11 says “God is angry with the wicked every day” - Righteous

indignation against certain forms of evil is an experience of a most imperative

and holy character. We should lose our reverence for a God who did not become

angry with sinners. It was the more needful to affirm this truth at Ephesus, since

the deities of heathenism (Greek mythology) were supposed to be addicted to such

crimes as uncleanness and covetousness. Olympus was filled, by the impure

imaginations of men, with a set of men and women who were for the most part fit for

penitentiaries and state prisons. Morality received no backing from the

mythology. But the thought that a God so loving as our heavenly Father is

wrathful with the covetous and the unclean, and allows His wrath to burn

against them, is surely calculated to wean men from such sins. There seems

to have been insinuations in Paul’s time that the Divine wrath against

impurity and covetousness was mythical, just as such insinuation prevails at

present. But surely the frightful punishment which these sins entail in the

order of nature speak to the spirit of man about the reality of the Divine

wrath. Not all the ameliorations of science (or philosophy – CY – 2010) –

can bring it about that men can so sin with impunity; the unclean are cursed in

the very nature of things with a grievous curse, and the covetous suffer of necessity

in their pinched and miserly souls. God is an angry God against those who love sin,

and our only course is to forsake it. Hapless and Olshausen believe the word here

rendered “covetousness” to mean in this connection “intemperance,” the

desire, not for gold, but for fleshly gratification — the making a god of the

belly, and so an idolatry. Of course, if this sense be taken of pleonexi>a, it

agrees better with the context and makes more emphatic Paul’s appeal for

purity. Do we make as much in these days of the Divine wrath as we

should? As the love-pain of God, as one writer has called it, it is surely well

fitted to enforce morality.

Covetousness Among the Worst of Human Crimes (vs. 3-7)

“But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once

named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish

talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.

For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous

man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and

of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these

things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not

ye therefore partakers with them.” The subject which we gather from these

words is that covetousness is amongst the worst of human crimes.

· IT IS HERE CLASSED WITH CRIMES OF THE WORST

CHARACTER, There are three sins among which covetousness is placed

in the text: unbridled licentiousness, “fornication,” and “whoremongery” —

revolting indecency; “filthiness,” that which is so unchaste and impure as to

awaken universal disgust; and immoral speech — speech that is frivolous,

untruthful, obscene, profane. These are sins confessedly of enormous

magnitude. All true souls recoil from them, all pure minds renounce them

as a degradation of the race and an offence to Almighty God. But mark,

amongst these covetousness is placed. It is ranked with them as related to

them in moral vileness. More than this, it is singled out as worse than these

— “a covetous man, who is an idolater.” What is idolatry? Holding

anything nearer to the heart than God. The “covetous man” loves money

more than anything else, and money is his god. We here in England are

very zealous for the conversion of heathen idolaters. We create and sustain

costly organizations, but there is no idolatry more real, more powerful,

more damning, than the idolatry that prevails throughout England. What

god in heathendom is more earnestly and constantly served than Mammon

is served in this island? Before the introduction of Christianity into this

country there were many idols here. “In Scotland stood the temple of

Mars; in Cornwall, the temple of Mercury; in Bangor, the temple of

Minerva; at Malden, the temple of Victoria; in Bath, the temple of Apollo;

at Leicester, the temple of Janus; at York, where St. Peter’s now stands,

the temple of Bellona; in London, on the site of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the

temple of Diana; and at Westminster, where the Abbey rears its venerable

pile, a temple of Apollo.” But MAMMON now has a temple everywhere, a

temple on every hill and in every valley, in every church and house.

Mammon has said to England, “Thou shalt have none other gods beside

me,” and England heartily responds, “Amen.”

· IT IS HERE CLASSED WITH THE WORST OF CRIMES, AS

EXCLUDING FROM THE KINGDOM OF GOD. “For this ye know, that

no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an

idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” From

this passage may be inferred:

ü That heaven is a kingdom. There is rule and order there.

ü That heaven is a Divine kingdom. “Kingdom of Christ and of God.”

Christ reigns there. He is in the midst of the throne; His Spirit animates all;

His Spirit fills all with adoring wonder and worship. Christ reigns as God

there. βασιλείᾳ τοῦ χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ - basileia tou Christou kai Theou –

Kingdom of the Christ and of God. The heavens are a kingdom managed,

not by Divine partnership, — it is governed by God in Christ.

ü That heaven excludes evil characters of all descriptions. How clearly and

forcibly this is declared in Scripture! — “The works of the flesh are

manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,

lasciviousness ... of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in

time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of

God” (Galatians 5:19-21). “Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and

whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and

maketh a lie.” (Revelation 22:15) With the excluded will be the covetous

man. Yes, though he has been a member of a Christian Church, though

cultured in intellect, chaste in feeling, and refined in manners, though an

eloquent preacher of the gospel of benevolence, he will find no admission

into that world. He will be “without.” With whom? Will he have a place

set apart for himself? No, with the common damned.

· IT IS HERE CLASSED WITH THE WORST OF CRIMES

REPUGNANT TO THE DIVINE NATURE. “For because of these things

cometh the wrath of God.” Paul says, in his letter to the Romans, that “the

wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and

unrighteousness of men.” (Romans 1:18) His deep, settled, immutable

antagonism to wrong of all kinds is clearly revealed in the gospel of

Jesus Christ. But is there any sin more repugnant to the Divine nature than

covetousness, which is idolatry? What sin has the Almighty denounced

with greater frequency and force than that of idolatry? But why should

covetousness be so abhorrent to the Almighty?

ü Because it involves a real-appropriation of the blessings of Providence.

God’s will is that whatever a man, either by good fortune or by industry,

obtains of this world’s goods, should be expended for the advancement of

truth and the general promotion of human happiness. But the covetous man

appropriates all:

Ø to pamper his own appetites,

Ø gratify his own vanity, and

Ø promote his own selfish and ambitious ends.

ü Because it involves an utter perversion of his own spiritual nature. The

powers of the soul are not given to amass material wealth, nor the

affections to love it. On the contrary, they were given to gather elements of

the highest knowledge, and to love and serve the Infinite supremely in all.

The soul was made to have God, not money, as the dominant subject of

thought and the dominant object of love.

ü Because it involves the promotion of misery in the universe. Nothing is

more repugnant to the heart of the loving God than misery. The cause of

universal happiness is His, but the covetous man is necessarily a promoter

of misery in his own soul, misery in his circle, misery through the creation.

God’s order is that no man should live unto himself, that all should labor

for the common weal; in this way only:

Ø the good of the universe can be served,

Ø its blessedness advanced, and

Ø its order maintained.

ü Every man who sets himself up as his own end in labor and life opposes

all the arrangements of God. He does what he can to create discords in its

harmonies, miasma (a highly unpleasant or unhealthy smell or vapor)

in its’ atmosphere, poison in its streams. No wonder, then, that the

“wrath of God” is against “the covetous man.”

Separation from Evil (v. 7)

The apostle counsels believers not to be partakers with sinners. That is, in

their sins, not their punishment. We are here taught:

· THAT IT IS POSSIBLE FOR BELIEVERS TO PARTAKE OF THE

SINS OF OTHERS. They may do so by conniving at them, by not

checking or punishing them, by not mourning over them, as well as by

actually committing them. It is a dishonor to God, a lure to others, a

mischief to ourselves, to stand in the way of transgressors. (Psalm 1)

· THAT BELIEVERS OUGHT TO MAINTAIN A VERY SEPARATE

WALK IN THE WORLD. They who have named the name of Christ ought

to depart from iniquity (II Timothy 2:19). The cry to them ever is,

“Come out from among them, and be ye separate” (II Corinthians 6:17).

There is no common standing-room for Christ and Belial in the Church.

This does not countenance our separation from society; for Jesus, who

was “separate from sinners,” was always in society that He might win

others to God. Our walk is yet to be as separate as it is to be circumspect,

that we may stand apart from the plagues that will descend upon a

DOOMED WORLD!

8 “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk

as children of light:” For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in

the Lord:” Another expressive “but.” To make the contrast more emphatic, it is

not said, “ye were in darkness, but are now in light;” but, “ye were darkness

itself, and are now light itself,” and this last is explained by the usual

formula, “in the Lord.” There was a celebrated Ephesian philosopher,

Alexander, who was called “The Light;” but not from that source had the

light come. The idea of light-giving is also involved in their being light.

“Arise, shine, for thy light is come.” (Isaiah 60:1) - The phrase “ye were

sometimes darkness” is very impressive, for it indicates a moral as well as

an intellectual darkness. A hard heart is always linked with a blinded

understanding. The two act and react upon each other, becoming

alternately cause and effect. Men do not care to retain the knowledge of

God in their thoughts, and God, in judgment, gives them over to a

reprobate mind. (Romans 1:24,26,28) – “but now are ye light in the Lord:”

Conversion has wrought a radical change in the understanding as well as

the heart. Walk as children of light. Another expressive image, denoting close

connection with light, as if they were actually born of it; hence THEIR LIVES

SHOULD BE FULL OF IT! The figure connecting darkness with sin and light

with purity, common to all languages, underlies the exhortation.

The Darkness Turned into Light (v. 8)

As a reason for their not lapsing into vices from which they had escaped,

the apostle reminds them of the darkness of their pagan condition.

· THEY WERE ONCE DARKNESS ITSELF. “Ye were sometimes

darkness.” The phrase is very impressive, for it indicates a moral as well as

an intellectual darkness. A hard heart is always linked with a blinded

understanding. The two act and react upon each other, becoming

alternately cause and effect. Men do not care to retain the knowledge of

God in their thoughts, and God, in judgment, gives them over to a

reprobate mind. (Romans 1:28) The most enlightened natures of the ancient

world were thus “darkness” itself. Athens, the eye of Greece, inscribed upon

an altar the confession of its ignorance. (Acts 17:23) The phrase, “darkness,”

suggests three thoughts.

ü There is fear in darkness — the fear of enemies, the fear of death, the

fear of undefined agencies. Heathenism was full of fears. Death was a

dark and terrible specter.

ü There is discomfort in darkness. Light, its opposite, is the symbol of joy.

ü There is danger in darkness. Enemies use the nights for their deeds of

violence. We stumble on a dark night; we fall down precipices; we take a

wrong road. How expressive is the term as applied to the heathen!

· THEY ARE NOW “LIGHT IN THE LORD.” Conversion has wrought

a radical change in the understanding as well as the heart. Believers are

now light “in fellowship with the Lord” (I John 1:3). There is more

implied than the flashing into a human mind the knowledge of the truth;

there is the renewing of that mind into the love of the truth which it knows.

Otherwise the light would torment and not comfort. But believers, thus

doubly furnished may well be called “light in the Lord.” The light of the

sun does not stream down directly upon the world; at least, it comes to the

service of men reflected from a thousand objects which receive it upon

their surfaces; similarly the world sees the glory of the Sun of

righteousness (Malachi 4:2) reflected in the millions of saints who are

“lights in the Lord.” (Philippians 2:15)

· THE DUTY OF BELIEVERS IN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES —

“WALK AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT.” That is, as those in nearest

connection with it.

ü As light signifies joy, believers walk in the joy of an assured hope and a

perpetual cleansing. “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, ... the

blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (I John 1:7).

ü We walk in the day and therefore should not stumble. “The darkness is

past, and the true light now shineth” (ibid. ch. 2:8). We ought to keep

an eye fixed on the straight path of duty, and avoid the by-paths that

lead to darkness and ruin.

ü If we walk in the light, we ought clearly to recognize the fellowship of

all travelers to Zion. “If we walk in the light ... we have fellowship one

with another.” We are going the same way, inspired by the same hopes,

meeting the same difficulties, arriving at last at the same home.

9 (“For the fruit of the Spirit – (φωτὸς–- fo-tos – light) is [shown] in all

goodness and righteousness and truth.”) The exhortation is confirmed by this

statement of what is the natural result of light — goodness, the disposition that

leads to good works; righteousness, rectitude, or integrity, which is most careful

against all disorder and injustice, and renders to all their due, and especially

to God the things that are God’s; and truth, meaning a regard for truth in

every form and way — believing it, reverencing it, speaking it, acting

according to it, hoping and rejoicing in it, being sincere and honest, not

false or treacherous.

The Fruit of the Light (v. 9)

It is shown or seen in all the forms of “goodness and righteousness and

truth.” The good, the right, the true, are only to be realized through the

light that streams from the Sun of righteousness — “the true light” that

“now shineth.” The apostle says the fruit, not the fruits, of the light — as if

to show that it takes all the three colors to make this light. Christianity

would be a very imperfect; manifestation of God if a single one of these

elements were missing from the true light.

· GOODNESS. It is spoken of elsewhere as a fruit of the Spirit

(Galatians 5:22), and therefore is not mere beneficence, for it has its

source in religious principle. This excellence, in its various aspects of

kindness and generosity, is kindled by the light that illuminates the

understanding.

· RIGHTEOUSNESS. The light which communicates a knowledge of

righteousness to the mind also infuses a love of righteousness into the

affections. This principle has a due sense of Divine obligation, and subjects

the believer in every relation of life to the guidance of Divine Law.

· TRUTH. This is a direct emanation of the light. It is religious truth,

working ultimately to truth of character in all the genuine forms of

Christian life.

10 “Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.” A general rule

applicable to the whole walk. To prove is to ascertain by test and

experiment. (I used to see things my father-in-law, Paul Cathcart, had

written with the letters TTP beside them, meaning TESTED, TRIED, and

PROVED – CY - 2010) Our whole walk should be directed to finding out

what things are pleasing to Christ, rejecting at once everything that is not so,

and clinging to all that is. We are not to follow the tradition of our people, and

not to take a vague view of duty; we are to prove the matter, to put it to the test.

For the supreme practical rule of the Christian’s life must be to

please Christ.

Christian Life (vs. 8-10)

“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk

as children of light: (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and

righteousness and truth;) proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.” These

verses present to us the Christian life in its transformation, obligation, and

demonstration.

· TRANSFORMATION. A true Christian is one who has been changed

from darkness into light. The figurative language implies:

ü A change from immorality to holiness. “Darkness” is the emblem of

depravity. “They that be drunken are drunken in the night.”

(I Thessalonians 5:7) The ghastly legions of hell win their most terrible

victories in the gloom and silence of night. The “light” is a symbol of purity.

ü A change from ignorance to knowledge. Darkness clouds our vision, and

hides from us the world in which we live. Man in an unregenerated state

is in the moral world as a man in midnight. “Light” is a symbol of

intelligence.

ü A change from sadness to joy. Darkness is depressing. Even the

irrational creatures feel its dejecting power. Sin is sadness;

true religion is joy. We are told that there is “no night in heaven.”

(Revelation 22:5) It means that there is no immorality, no ignorance,

no sorrow there. How great the change that has taken place in a true

Christian man!

· OBLIGATION. Two duties are here indicated.

ü Walking in light. “Walk as children of light.” Don’t go back into

darkness. Nay, don’t remain in the twilight of Christian experience, but

step farther and farther into the day. Leave the valleys, scale the hills, and

come more directly under the broad beams of day. To walk in the light is

to walk intelligently, safely, and joyously.

ü Pleasing God. The ninth verse being parenthetical, the last clause of the

eighth verse should be read with the tenth, “Walk as children of light,

proving what is acceptable — well-pleasing — unto the Lord.” “Be not

conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your

mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect

will of God” (Romans 12:2). The expression “well-pleasing” to God throws

a light upwards on God and downwards on man.

Ø It reveals God. It indicates:

o His moral susceptibility. He is not indifferent to the moral

conduct of His creatures. It indicates:

o His forgiving mercy. Man, though a sinner, can, through

His infinite mercy, render himself acceptable to Him.

Ø It reveals man.

o It indicates the highest end of his being. What higher object

can a creature have than to please THE CREATOR?

o It indicates the highest blessedness of his being. The

smile of the Creator is the heaven of the creature.

· DEMONSTRATION. The Christian man develops in his life certain

glorious things. “The fruit of the Spirit [‘light’] is in all goodness and

righteousness and truth.” He demonstrates in his life:

ü Divine beneficence. “In all goodness.” He is full of social love, tender,

compassionate, self-sacrificing.

ü Divine righteousness. He is a man of inflexible honesty, unswerving

rectitude. In him the “righteousness of the Law is fulfilled.” (Romans 8:4)

ü Divine reality. His thoughts, sympathies, actions, are in harmony with

the eternal realities of being. He is neither a visionary nor a hypocrite. His

thoughts are true, his life is sincere.

· CONCLUSION. What an infinite boon is the gospel to mankind! How

glorious the transformation it effects! how righteous the obligation it

imposes! how great the power it confers! — a power to demonstrate in our

life the good, the right, and the true.

The Experimental Test of the Lord’s Will (v. 10)

As the ninth verse is a parenthesis, the apostle states that it is by walking as

children of light we are in a position to prove “what is well-pleasing unto

the Lord.”

· CONSIDER THE TRUE STANDARD OF JUDGMENT AS TO

RIGHT AND WRONG. The believer is not to discover it in whatever may

be well-pleasing to himself, but in what is well-pleasing to the Lord. It is

the Lord Jesus Christ who is Lord of the conscience to regulate all our

thoughts and all our actions. He has a supreme lordship over our life as

well as over our death: “For whether we live we live unto the Lord.”

(Romans 14:8) He is thus not merely Savior and Example, but Director

of His people in all the concerns of religious life. In difficult situations,

therefore, the true casuistry (clever but unsound reasoning) of life is to ask —

Will this action be well-pleasing to Christ?

· CONSIDER THE SUBJECTIVE TEST OF THIS DIVINE WILL.

Believers are enabled, in the clear light in which they walk, to discover the

right path. It is through their being transformed by the renewing of their

mind that they “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will

of God”(Romans 12:2). Similarly we learn that “if any man will do His

will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God” (John 7:17).

Light admitted into the understanding contributes to win the affections,

and, the affections won, open wide the doors for the admission of

MORE LIGHT! To know the law you love and to love the law you know

is the best condition in which human beings can be. It is the union of

clear light in the understanding with perfect purity of heart which

distinguishes the kingdom of redemption in its final practical triumph.

11 “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather

reprove them.” And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.

The point of this exhortation is in the adjective “unfruitful.” The works of darkness

are unfruitful; they produce no goodness, give rise to no satisfaction, to no moral

results that are “a joy forever;” or, if fruit they have, it is shame, remorse, and

despair. Contrast this with the renovating, satisfying, joy-producing, fruits of

righteousness – Christians are to stand apart from every evil work. There must be

no fellowship with darkness. The friendship of the world can only be purchased

at the cost of the Father’s friendship (James 4:4). But rather reprove them.

The Christian attitude must be aggressive toward all the forms of sin. Do not

be content with a passive attitude towards them, but take the aggressive and

expose their wickedness, whether in public or in the domestic circle. A testimony

has to be lifted up against ways that are so shameful and that bring down

THE WRATH OF GOD!

12 “For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them

in secret.” The groves of Ephesus were notorious for the shamefulness of lust. To

speak of such deeds was not only wrong, but shameful; so extreme is the delicacy

which Christianity fosters. Too much pains cannot be taken, by parents, masters

of schools, and others, to foster this delicacy among the young — to exclude from

conversation the faintest touch of what is unbecoming. (Nowadays, it is just

the opposite, freedom of expression includes taking the name of God in vain, foul

language in schools, pornographic dress, etc – compare what was done in secret

in Ezekiel’s day – Ezekiel 8:9-18 – like the song “No One Knows What Goes on

Behind Closed Doors – notice how God dealt with it [v. 18] – CY – 2010)

(The Following in this color is taken from the web site lesson dealing with

Ezekiel 8:9-18 and is included here for emphasis and convenience: CY – 2010)

Goings on at the God forsaken shrine.

vs. 7-10 - clandestine behavior - in secrecy

v. 11 - Seventy men/ancients of Israel who ought to

know better - formal representatives

Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan - who was prominent

in Josiah's reform movement - meaning of his name -

"The Lord is listening" - v. 12

"every man his censer" - each acting as priests,

offering to the pictured idols, which none but the sons

of Aaron had a right to use and which was offered to

Jehovah only!

v. 12 - boasting that God did not see them, He had

forsaken His temple and gone elsewhere - they

were free to do as they liked without fear.

United States Senate - cloture vote – Wednesday of this week –

stances they took toward judges. (This being the week of June 5-12,

2005)

Old men - secret practices - private chambers.

Behind closed doors they reveled in the orgies of

a degraded society, then appeared in the streets as

sedate citizens.

On what images are they gazing? Wickedness planned

and gloated over of a deep sin of the soul. Ultimately, it

will come out for the imagination of the heart colors

the external conduct. Mark 7:15,18-23

Think of the import if this was taught in school. It used

to be and thanks to God, it still is in private and Christian

schools.

Nothing short of the new birth which only Christ can give

can save our souls. David said in his penitence in Ps. 51:10 -

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right

spirit within me"

A man's sin is not one bit the less because his brother's sin

is greater - Sin hardens.

(v. 16b) - five & twenty men....BACKS TOWARD

THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD -facing east -

eastern religions today is preferred to Christianity.

(Think of the secular media's intrigue with Islam)

II Chron. 29:6

Worship of God involves purity of heart and life;

idolatry means a lower moral life!

"worshipped the sun" - one of the best gifts in the

solar system - we know philosophy gets us in hot water

and is nothing and to put science on a pedestal as all

there is in life is idolatry because it places knowledge

above obedience.

Rev. 21:22-23

v. 14 - notice the general prominence of women in the

later idolatry of Judah

v. 17 - Making light of sin - Gethsemane and Calvary

were necessary because God could not make

light of sin. The only way to deal with sin is to

confess it and with God's help, shun it!

v. 18 - The unpitying aspect of the Divine judgments

is again prominent. SUCH SINS DESERVED,

AND COULD ONLY BY EXPIATED BY, THE

JUDGMENTS TO WHICH WE NOW PASS.

GOD DEALING IN FURY! OUR GOD IS

A CONSUMING FIRE! (Hebrews 12;29)

Yet, even these sins are not beyond cure. The light of Divine truth must be let

fall upon them, that they may be corrected. “All things that are reproved are

made manifest by the light.” There is a necessary connection in Scripture

between truth and holiness, and the truth must first be applied to the

ignorant and the wicked, that it may make way for the sanctifying agency

of the Spirit. The sun-glass (magnifying glass) of truth held in the hand of the

rebuker will concentrate the light from heaven upon the conscience of the

sinner so that he will see it full of all nameless lusts, and that very light will

kindle a fire to consume them, unless the sinner, loving darkness, should turn

away from the unwelcome light. Therefore let Christians remember the duty of

pious and prudent reproof, which may not only put sin to shame, if not to

silence, but lead the sinner from darkness to light, from the kingdom of

Satan to the kingdom of God’s dear SON.

, but, to denote this transformation. The rendering of A.V., giving to

13 “But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for

whatsoever doth make manifest is light. But all things t hat are reproved

are made manifest by the light. As, for instance, when our Lord reproved the

hypocrisy of the Pharisees — their practices had not seemed to the disciples

very evil before, but when Christ threw on them the pure light of truth, they

were made manifest in their true character — they appeared and they still appear,

odious. A just reproof places evil in a light that shows its true character. For

whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Literally, this is a truism; anything

shone on is no longer dark, but light. The nearest approach to this, morally, is

that light has a transforming power; when the light of the gospel shines on

anything dark or evil, it transforms it into what is light or good. This is not

uniformly true; all the light of heaven turned on hell would not make it morally

light; but it is the general property and tendency of moral light to transform.

The exhortation would thus mean — Use your light to reprove what is evil or dark,

for not only will the true character of the evil thereby be made apparent, but your

light will have a transforming power. But if this were the meaning, we should

expect in the end of the verse, not φῶς ἐστι - foce es-teen’ - is light, but

φῶς γινεταί - foce ghin’-etai; - to denote this transformation. The rendering

of the Authorized Version, giving to φανερούμενον - fan-er-o’-omenon; -

making manifest - an active meaning (“whatsoever doth make manifest is light”),

is rejected by most grammarians, as not being consistent with the usage of the word.

The meaning which that rendering gives is this: “Light is the element which makes

all clear.” We should thus have in the latter clause a proposition, affirming as

universal what in the former clause is affirmed of one particular case; “things

reproved are made manifest by the light, for it is only light that makes things clear.”

The exhortation to reprove would thus be confirmed by the consideration that the

only way of making immoral things appear in their proper character is to let in

on them the light of the gospel. The great practical point is that Christians

ought to let in and diffuse the light.

Separation and Rebuke the True Attitude toward Works of Darkness

(vs. 11-13)

The apostle thus describes the duty of Christians in reference to evil works.

· THE CHARACTER OF THESE WORKS. “Unfruitful works of

darkness.” They spring out of darkness, they delight in darkness, THEY

LEAD TO DARKNESS ETERNAL. They are not naturally unfruitful,

for they are fearfully prolific of result, but, IN THE LIGHT of God they are

fruitless, because most unlike to the fruits of light, which are goodness,

righteousness, and truth. They have “no fruit unto holiness,” with an end

of eternal life (Romans 6:22).

· THE DUTY OF SEPARATION FROM THEM. This is a negative

security. Christians are to stand apart from every evil work. There must be

no fellowship with darkness. The friendship of the world can only be

purchased at the cost of the Father’s friendship (James 4:4).

· THE DUTY OF REBUKING WORKS OF DARKNESS. This is to

be done with the view of producing a consciousness of guilt and evil. The

Christian attitude must be aggressive toward all the forms of sin. The

rebuke is to be administered:

ü with the lips, using all plainness, yet with prudence and meekness, so as

to win Gentiles to the truth; (“speaking the truth in love.” ch. 4:15)

ü with our lives, which, by their holy separateness, ought to demonstrate

the folly and sin of the world. A holy man is a visible reproof of sin.

· THE REASON FOR THIS ATTITUDE OF SEPARATION AND

REBUKE. The heinousness of the sins and the necessity of making them

manifest to the sinner’s conscience.

ü The sins are:

Ø done in secret, and

Ø they are too shameful for mention.

Such sins would naturally shun the light of day, for “every one that doeth

evil hateth the light” (John 3:20), and could not be committed to

language without risk of defilement to others.

ü Yet they are not beyond cure. The light of Divine truth must be let to fall

upon them, that they may be corrected. “All things that are reproved are

made manifest by the light.” (v. 13) There is a necessary connection in

Scripture between truth and holiness, and the truth must first be applied

to the ignorant and the wicked, that it may make way for the sanctifying

agency of the Spirit. The sun-glass of truth held in the hand of the rebuker will

concentrate the light from heaven upon the conscience of the sinner so that

he will see it full of all nameless lusts, and that very light will kindle a fire

to consume them, unless the sinner, loving darkness, should turn away

from the unwelcome light. Therefore let Christians remember the duty of

pious and prudent reproof, which may not only put sin to shame, if not to

silence, but lead the sinner from DARKNESS to LIGHT, from the kingdom

of Satan to the kingdom of GOD’S DEAR SON!

14 “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,

and Christ shall give thee light.” Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest.

The person addressed is “Thou that sleepest.” Sleep is an apt figure to describe the

sinner. He lives in an unreal world, full of dreams and fancies, quite unconscious of

the real world around him. The sinner dreams of safety and peace. He is carnally

secure (Romans 13:11; I Thessalonians 5:6). He may even walk in his sleep.

He is wholly unprotected against danger. If he knew of his danger, he

would not be asleep. He needs, therefore, to be roused. And arise

from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. The promise to the

sleeper - “And Christ shall give thee light.” The light that comes from

Christ can reach even the dead: “The hour is coming, and now is, when

the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall

live” (John 5:25) This is evidently intended to give an additional impulse to

the Ephesians to walk as children of the light; but a difficulty arises as to the

source of the quotation. There is no difficulty with the formula, “He saith,”

which, like the same expression in ch. 4:8, is clearly to be referred to God.

But no such words occur in the Old Testament. The passage that comes

nearest to them is Isaiah 60:1, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and

the glory of the Lord hath risen upon thee.” The simplest and best explanation

is, not that the apostle quoted from any lost book, but that he did not mean to give

the words, but only the spirit of the passage. This is evident from his introducing the

word “Christ.” It must be owned that the apostle makes a very free use of the

prophet’s words. But the fundamental idea in the prophecy is, that when the Church

gets the light of heaven, she is not to lie still, as it’ she were asleep or dead, but is to

be active, is to make use of the light, is to use it for illuminating the world.

The apostle maintains that the Ephesian Church had got the light of heaven; she,

therefore, was not to sleep or loiter, but spring forth as if from the grave, and

pour light on the world. The changes which the apostle makes on the form of

the prophecy are remarkable, and show that it was to its spirit and substance rather

than to its precise form and letter that he attached the authority of inspiration.

“Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the

armor of light.” (Romans 13:12)

What to Imitate and to Avoid (vs. 1-14)

· THE IMITATION OF GOD AND CHRIST.

ü The imitation of God. “Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved

children.” The force of example is abundantly acknowledged. How much

do most of us suffer from the low standard of opinion and practice with

which we are surrounded? On the other hand, we have all felt what it is to

come into contact with one who is raised above the common standard. By

his strength of principle and generous sentiments and noble endeavors he

kindles our aspiration. We should like to be what he is. The wonderful

thing here is that God places us (which is of far greater consequence)

under the influence of His own example. This is the only place in which we

are distinctly called to imitate God. But the same truth is given expression

to by Christ when He says, “That ye may be the sons of your Father which

is in heaven, for He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and

sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. Ye therefore shall be perfect, as

your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:46,48) Paul has just exhorted

us to imitate God in His forgivingness. This imitation of God proceeds on

what was referred to before — our being made after the Divine image. It

proceeds on what is referred to here — God being our Father, and as such

communicating a kindred nature to us. But for this kindred nature with God

we should have no more conception of Him than the brutes have. “The idea

of God, sublime and awful as it is, is the idea of our own spiritual nature

purified and enlarged to infinity. The infinite Light would be forever

hidden from us, did not kindred rays dawn and brighten within us.” It

belongs to the dignity of our nature (our being partakers of the Divine

nature) that there can be proposed to us as our end likeness to God. It is

designed that there should be a perpetual unfolding and enlarging of our

spiritual powers and excellences. All our desires, hopes, efforts, are to be

toward this. We are to be:

Ø filled with the Divine thoughts,

Ø replenished with the Divine energy,

Ø warmed with the Divine love.

As a child catches the very tone of his father, so are we to catch the tone

of our heavenly Father. There is a reason given for our being eager to

imitate God. We are His beloved children. Oh, the love bestowed on us!

Sonship forfeited and then restored. What a contradiction, to be children

peculiarly loved and not to seek likeness to God! But this leads on to the

other thought.

ü The imitation of God is also the imitation of Christ. “And walk in love,

even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a

sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.” Christ is presented for

imitation in His love. We are not to understand that love was an attribute

more distinctive of Christ than of God. For love is the greatest attribute of

God. But we are to understand that Christ was especially the manifestation

of the love of God. In Christ’s love we see what God’s love is. And to

imitate Christ in his love is the best way to imitate God. And how does

love manifest itself? Selfishness manifests itself in isolation. Love, on the

other hand, manifests itself in approachableness. And this was the form

which Christ’s love took. He loved us so much as to come within human

conditions — to become one of ourselves. And that (wonderful as it is)

was not the extent of His approach to us. For, coming into our nature, He

next threw Himself into our position, He became our Representative. And

He presented before God for us the offering of a perfect life. He especially,

in His death, presented the sacrifice which had full atoning virtue for our

sin. And this presentation of Himself as an offering and a sacrifice to God

(with the love that prompted it) was for an odor of a sweet smell. More

grateful than to the sense of smell was the incense that the High Priest took

with him into the holy of holies was to the heart of God the incense from

His life and sacrifice which Christ took with Him into heaven. It is an

incense which continually rises before God with acceptance. The love

which prompted to this and carried it out to completion is here proposed

for our imitation. But how need we think of copying such a pattern? As

well set down a child to copy a masterpiece of a Raphael or an Angelo?

But let us take these things into consideration.

Ø He has made provision for our imitating Him. We are to be thankful to

God, that, amid many bad examples and imperfect examples of good men,

He has given us one perfectly good example. He has shown us that a life of

the highest unselfishness is not impracticable in our humanity. If that had

been all, the effect would only have been to fill us with despair. But the

apostle does not encourage us to imitate Christ without pointing to His

sacrifice of atonement. His atonement having been accepted for us, His

perfect life has been accepted too, as that which with assisting grace we

may now hopefully strive after.

Ø Compared with the example of God, the example of Christ is more

circumstantial. We know that God is love, but in Christ we see, under

many conditions, how love operates. There is much detail upon which we

can dwell and from which we can obtain help as to the details of our life.

Ø It is an example easily followed from its familiarity. It was a perfect

example; but not in the way of being apart from us, but rather in the way

of being so close to us as to be easily understood. It was the time:

“When truth, embodied in a tale,

Did enter in at lowly doors.”

Ø It was an example accompanied with the strongest incentive to

imitation. It was not merely that He taught us the reasonableness of a good

life, and exemplified it; but He placed us under infinite obligation in dying

for us, and then, having obtained this immense advantage, He comes

forward and asks us to imitate Him.

Ø We are to imitate Him in His love by walking in love as He did. This

does not imply any unnatural straining; but, in the ordinary walks of life,

we may find sufficient sphere for the exercise and growth of love. We are

specially to imitate Christ in the missionary character of His love. We are to

feel for sinners as in need of salvation. And we are to sacrifice much in

order that those ends for which He died, and on which His heart is set, may

be furthered. Let us, then, choose Christ as our Pattern with the whole

energy of our wills. And let us follow Him, not as perhaps we may have

done, with a faint and yielding purpose, but in the full conviction that in

following Him we shall best imitate God.

· THINGS TO BE CONDEMNED.

ü The things that are not to be named. “But fornication, and all

uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as

becometh saints.” The apostle points here to a fact which is sometimes

forgotten, that there is a sphere of that which is not to be named. There

are, for instance, books written, in which blasphemous things are said

against the Savior. There is this reason for not reading these books or not

repeating blasphemous expressions contained in them, that they stick to

and pollute the imagination. So the apostle teaches that saints are to be so

cultivated in their sensibilities, to have such a delicacy of feeling, that they

will not talk about or hint at things connected with fornication and

uncleanness. To take to them in conversation indicates a coarseness of

mind, a polluted state of the imagination. That is the proper circle, whether

family, or Church, or neighborhood, from which the very name of such

things is banished. We are surprised that covetousness is classed as it is

here among the things which are not to be named. It is a sin about which

strange things are said in the New Testament. It is said that the love of

money is a root of all kinds of evil. The apostle teaches here that saints are

to have such sensitiveness as to be repelled from the very mention of

covetousness, as that which would pollute their lips. Think of a community

educated up to that state of refinement.

ü The things which are not befitting. “Nor filthiness nor foolish talking, or

jesting, which are not befitting: but rather giving of thanks.” There are

things, the apostle teaches, which are to be condemned on the lower

ground of their being improper, or conducing to no good end. By the first

mentioned we are to understand, especially, that which is foul in speech. If

we distinguish foolish talking from other faults of speech which are

mentioned in this Epistle, we must limit it to what is senseless in speech.

Fools have a way of talking in wanton disregard of what is rational, as

though their rational powers were given them to be played with. The word

translated “jesting” is sometimes used in a good sense. And Barrow has

shown that there is a wit which is not to be condemned, but which is fitted

to minister harmless delight to conversation, to expose things base and vile

to due contempt, to reprove some vices and reclaim some persons, to

confute errors that do not deserve solid confutation, to repel unjust

reproach and obloquy, and to counterbalance the improper use of it. “It is

bad objects or bad adjuncts, which do spoil its indifference and innocence:

it is the abuse thereof to which (as all pleasant things are dangerous, and

apt to degenerate into baits of intemperance and excess) it is very liable,

that corrupteth it, and seemeth to be the ground why in so general terms it

is prohibited by the apostle.” “All profane jesting, all speaking loosely and

wantonly about holy things, making such things the matter of sport and

mockery, playing and trifling with them, is certainly prohibited as an

intolerably vain and wicked practice.” “All injurious, abusive, scurrilous

jesting, which causeth or needlessly tendeth to the disgrace, damage,

vexation, or prejudice in any kind of our neighbor, is also prohibited.”

“There are some times and circumstances of things wherein it concerneth

and becometh men to:

Ø be serious in mind,

Ø grave in demeanor, and

Ø plain in discourse.”

To what the apostle condemns as not befitting he opposes giving of thanks.

There is a fitness in thanksgiving at all times (“giving thanks always,”

as it is said in the twentieth verse); but we are to understand that there is

a singular fitness in the present connection. Thanksgiving is speech put

to the best use (implying both seriousness and joyfulness). Let there be that,

the apostle would say, and it will rectify and hallow all speech.

ü The things which are not safe. “For this ye know of a surety, that no

fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, which is an idolater,

hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” The apostle is

confident, as declaring what was attested by their own consciousness or

practical acquaintance with the kingdom. It is the kingdom, not only of

God, but of Christ and God, that is to say, a kingdom peculiarly associated

with the cross of Christ, in which God shows his deep detestation of sin by

punishing it in his Son. A kingdom that is ruled over by One who shed His

blood that sin might be done away, cannot receive into it those who sin

and do not mean to give up their sins. By their very antagonism to the

whole spirit, law, ends, of the kingdom, they shut the door against

themselves. We are surprised again that the covetous man appears in such

company, and further here that he is singled out for special remark.

“Nor covetous man, which is an idolater.” There is idolatry in the other sins,

that is, sensual pleasure is put in the place of God. And that may be the light

in which the apostle views the devotees of pleasure as shut out from

inheritance in the kingdom. But the covetous man is put forward as being

an idolater by pre-eminence. Christ had already said, “Ye cannot serve

God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24) The covetous man is not he who values

money and seeks to serve God therewith. But, according to the thought here,

he is one who idolizes money, values it in itself and not for God’s ends, sets

his affections on it, trusts in it; and, such being his relation to it, then it is

easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for him to enter

into the kingdom of God. (Mark 10:25) It is true of the covetous man, as it

is not true of the others, that he can go on in his sin without incurring the

opprobrium (harsh criticism or censure) of men, and (partly from the

difficulty of drawing the exact line between the right and the wrong

love of gain) without suspecting himself that it is getting a hold upon him,

and thus (without such checks as the others have) getting hardened in his sin,

we can understand how he should be called by pre-eminence the idolater.

Warning. “Let no man deceive you with empty words: for because of

these things cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience.

Be not ye therefore partakers with them.” (v. 6) It would seem

that there were apologists for vice, who, by their representations, tried to

entice the Ephesian Christians back to Gentile ways. One of their

representations was that, besides being pleasant, it was safe to do these

things. So apologists for vice are ready to say this and many other things

still. But “let no man deceive you with empty words.” Such words have not

as their contents eternal truth. “For because of these things cometh the

wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience.” (ibid.) The sons of

disobedience are those who (in their love for sin) disobey the gospel of

Christ, by which alone there is deliverance from wrath. Refusing God’s

mercy, how can they escape God’s wrath? They are not only lying under

ordinary judgments or condemnation now, but they have yet to be dealt

with for these very sins. “After their hardness and impenitent hearts

they are treasuring up for themselves wrath in the day of wrath and

revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” (Romans 2:5) It is for

those, then, who regard their safety (to bring in no higher consideration),

whatever apologists may say, to refuse to be partakers with the disobedient.

ü The things that are dark.

Ø They are in their walk to be separate from their former state. “Ye were

once darkness, but are now light in the Lord: walk as children of light.”

(v. 8) They had been brought up in heathen darkness. It was that in which

they lived and moved and had their being. And so, by appropriation, it was

more or less embedded in their nature. But now, living and moving and

having their being in the Lord, that is, in light (as contrasted with heathen

darkness), and being enlightened by Him through His gospel and Spirit,

they were light. And such being their state, there was a call to walk as

children of light. We are to walk under the incitement of the glorious fruit

of Christian illumination. “For the fruit of the light is in all goodness and

righteousness and truth.” (V. 9) The philosophic triad is the true, the

good, and the beautiful. The Christian triad as given here, and with which

we ought to be familiar, is the good, the right, and the true. The good,

or excellence of the heart, comes first; for that is first in God. Then follows

the right, or regard to conscience, to eternal principle. And, lastly, there

is the true, or regard to reality, not only in fact, but in thought (including

the perfect in form). We are good in cherishing a spirit of love; we are

righteous in doing our duty; we are true in conforming to Divine forms

of thought, Having these three in us, then it may be said that the beauty

of the Lord our God is upon us. (Psalm 90:17) We are to walk in the

way of proving what is well-pleasing to Christ. “Proving what is

well-pleasing unto the Lord.” (v. 10) It is not what the apologists for

vice say; IT IS WHAT CHRIST SAYS! It is that which is to be

tested. (Remember the TTP, Tried, Tested and Proven in v. 10 above

in the exposition. CY – 2019) It is implied that we have the means of

testing all things in this light. There are many things which, put to the

test by us, we must reject! They are revealed in our Christian

consciousness as wrong. There are other things which we see to be good,

not merely in the convincing light of truth, but in our own blessed

experience in the doing of them we feel that we have the approval of

the Master, we can even now hear His words, “Well done, good and

faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:23) Our position, then, must be separation

from darkness. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of

darkness.” (v. 11) The fruit of light is one, A GLORIOUS INDIVISIBLE

CLUSTER! The works of darkness are many. The fruit of light is fitted

to incite us. The works of darkness should deter us. They are unfruitful.

They yield nothing that is worthy of the name of fruit, but only SHAME

and DEATH!

Ø They are to take an aggressive position toward DARKNESS! “But

rather even reprove them.” (ibid.) They were not to pass them over in

silence or find excuses for them, but to hold them up to reprobation to

the doers of them. As darkness was aggressive toward them, so were

they as light (even for their own safety) to be aggressive toward the

darkness. They were to lift up the Gentiles to their own position. It is

added, as showing the clamant (forcing itself urgently on the attention)

need for reproof, “For the things which are done by them in secret it is a

shame even to speak of.” (v. 12) It is added further, as showing the use or

end of reproof, “But all things when they are reproved are made manifest

by the light.” (v. 13) “All those secret sins are laid bare in their real moral

character, unveiled and brought into distinctness before the moral

consciousness, by the light of Christian truth, which is at work in your

reproof; by the light, I say, it is made manifest — for, it is added,

‘everything that is made manifest is light’ (ibid.) has ceased thereby to

have the nature of darkness, and is now of the essence of light.” And thus,

whether there was amendment or not, they would be making an inroad on

the territory of darkness, making dark deeds stand out in the light. (See

John 3:19-21)

Ø They are to take this aggressive position in consistency with the

awakening call of God. “Wherefore he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest,

and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.” (v. 14)

The words are from Isaiah 60:1-2, and receive from the apostle a Christian

adaptation.

o It is a call to the child of darkness. He is described as sleeping and

dead, that is, in sin. He is insensible to the infinite importance of

spiritual and eternal things.

o It is a call to awake and arise. “Awake, thou that sleepest, and

arise from the dead.” (v. 14) He does not let the child of the

night alone. He comes to the sleeper and bids him AWAKE, to

the DEAD and bids him ARISE! And in His very summons

there is an AWAKENING, QUICKENING POWER!

o It is a call to which a promise is attached. “And Christ shall

shine upon thee.” (ibid.) As if it were said, “The sun is already up,

and will pour his enlightening rays upon thee.” So while we are

sleeping and dead in our sin, it is true that the Sun of righteousness

(Malachi 4:2) is up shining upon this world of ours, and we must up

and catch His rays. Other men are up and doing their work under

the light of this Sun; why should we be asleep and dead in sin?

The Walk Suitable to the Children of Light:

No Fellowship with Sins of the Flesh (vs. 1-14)

· SINS OF THE FLESH DENOUNCED, with a corresponding sin of the

spirit — covetousness (vs. 3-4).

· REASONS WHY SUCH SINS SHOULD BE RENOUNCED BY

CHRISTIANS.

ü No such person has any inheritance in the kingdom of God (v. 5).

ü The wrath of God cometh — is present and visible — for such things on

very evil men (Sodom and Gomorrah, Canaanites, etc.) (v. 6).

ü They belong to the world of darkness, and Christians are children of

light (v. 8).

ü Christians, as living in the Spirit, should bring forth the fruit of the Spirit

(v. 9).

ü They should ascertain and follow only what is pleasing to Christ (v. 10).

· REASONS WHY SUCH SINS SHOULD BE REPROVED BY

CHRISTIANS.

ü They are so evil that it is a sin even to speak of them (v. 12).

ü The true character of such sins is seen by light let in on them (v. 13).

ü The light has a tendency to transform (v. 13), and by letting in the light

that shows the odiousness of the sin you may be the means of changing

the sinner; while you reprove you may also improve him.

ü It is for this purpose the Church has got the light — when the light is

brought to her, her Lord calls on her to awake and shine (v. 15). Such

precepts and considerations have a wider bearing than Ephesus and its

groves. Sins of the flesh flourish even in Christian lands. Young men!

Lay these things to heart; fear God and keep His commandments, and

be not misled by any of the sophistry to which you listen; for they

that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts.

(Galatians 5:24)

Two Worlds of One Race (vs. 11-14)

“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather

reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are

done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest

by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he

saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall

give thee light.” The text may be regarded as a portraiture of two distinct

worlds of men on this earth:

(1) the world of the wicked and

(2) the world of the Christly.

Here we have:

· THE WORLD OF WICKED MEN. The characteristics of these men are

here indicated.

ü They are worthless. Their works are “the unfruitful works of darkness.”

Ungodly men live in moral darkness. The sun, which alone reveals things as

they are in the spiritual world, shines not in their heavens. All the light they

have are the electric flashes of an impure atmosphere. They work in the

dark, and their works are “unfruitful.” That is “unfruitful “‘ of good. The

soil that is sterile as regards its capability of producing fruit is often fertile

in its capacity to produce noxious weeds and poisonous herbs; so the

ungodly soul — it is unfruitful in goodness, but prolific in crime.

ü They are clandestine. “Which are done of them in secret.” Though there

may be an allusion here to the abominable mysteries which were celebrated

in Greece under the screen of night and secrecy, it describes the general

character of a sinful life. All is secret. Sin is necessarily hypocritical; it

speaks in a false voice; it works under masks. The more corrupt the human

soul the more sneakish and clandestine. The good alone can afford to be

bland and open.

ü They are shameful. “For it is a shame even to speak of those things.”

Heathenism has ever abounded and still abounds with nameless iniquities

(Romans 1:24-32). But sin in all its forms is a shameful thing. It is

essentially disgraceful, disreputable, and ignominious. A man has only to

think calmly of it in the light of conscience and God, in order to bring

burning blushes to his cheek. Sin is a shame. (Beware of what is spoken

in Jeremiah 8:12 – “Were they ashamed when they had committed

abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they

blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of

their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.”

ü They are sleepy. “Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest.” A

sinful soul is sleepy in a moral sense. It is unconscious of its moral

surroundings — it is filled with illusory dreams; it must one day be aroused

to a sense of reality. Unlike natural sleep, moral sleep does not refresh and

invigorate, but enervates (weakens) and destroys.

ü They are mortal. “Arise from the dead.” Everywhere the Bible

represents sin as a state of death. The sinful soul is like a corpse. It is

odious and the victim of external forces. Such is the world of wicked

men around us. It is worthless, clandestine, shameful, sleepy, mortal.

· THE WORLD OF CHRISTLY MEN. These are represented by the

Christians at Ephesus, the men to whom the apostle is writing. This world

has a work to do with the other — the dark world of wickedness around

them. And it is here indicated. What is it?

ü Separation. “Have no fellowship.” It does not mean, of course, that

Christians are to have no relations or dealings with the ungodly. This

could not be, and ought not to be if it could. It means that they are to have

no spiritual identification with them — no thoughts, purposes, or feelings

alike. That, like Christ, they are to be “separate from sinners.” (Hebrews

7:26) Morally detached as the lamp from the darkness. “I have written

unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be

a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard,

or an extortioner: with such a one no not to eat” (I Corinthians 5:11).

“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate saith

the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will be with your.”

(II Corinthians 6:17).

ü Reprehension. “But rather reprove them.”

Ø Reprove them by lip. In the name of purity and truth expose

and denounce their wickedness.

Ø Reprove them by life. Let the life stand in such a grand

contrast to all that is sinful that it may be a standing rebuke.

ü Illumination. “All things that are reproved are made manifest by the

light.” Hold forth the light of the gospel in the midst of a “crooked and

perverse generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”

(2:15)

ü Resuscitation. “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead.”

Thunder in the ear of the sleeper; speak life into the heart of the dead.

There is LIVING LIGHT FOR ALL IN CHRIST! “Christ shall

give thee light.” “He is the Light of the world.” The idea of this verse

seems to be that, if Christians will use all their efforts to convert men,

they may expect Christ to shine upon them and bless them. The “light”

that comes from Him is a soul-quickening light. “The hour is coming,

and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God:

and they that hear shall live” (John 5:25). Elijah raised the dead; so

did the apostles. We, also, in God’s great Name, can raise the dead —

dead souls. The resurrection of a soul is a far grander work than the

resurrection of a body. Let us sound the blast of the gospel trumpet

over moral cemeteries, and the graves will open and dead souls come

forth to life.

The Trumpet-Call of the Gospel (v. 14)

Since it is light that manifests, there must be a rousing voice to awake the

sleeper, that the light of life may be poured fully upon him.

· THE PERSON ADDRESSED. “Thou that sleepest.” Sleep is an apt

figure to describe the sinner.

ü He lives in an unreal world, full of dreams and fancies, quite

unconscious of the real world around him. The sinner dreams

of safety and peace. He is carnally secure (Romans 13:10;

I Thessalonians 5:6). He may even walk in his sleep.

ü He is wholly unprotected against danger. If he knew of his danger, he

would not be asleep. He needs, therefore, to be roused.

ü His work is wholly suspended. So long as the sinner sleeps in spiritual

death he does no good, he gets no good, he cares for nothing. The figure

of the text is, therefore, very expressive.

· THE COMMAND ADDRESSED TO THE SLEEPER. “Awake ... and

arise from the dead.” The first thing is to open the eyes; but we are not to

suppose that the sinner has any power of himself to open them, any more

than the man with the withered hand had power to stretch it forth before

Christ said, “Stretch forth thine hand.” (Mark 3:5) It is the light which

Christ is to shed upon the sleeper that will awake him. Just as the sun in

the natural heavens, shining upon the eye of a sleeper, awakes him, so the

beams of the Sun of righteousness end THE SLEEP OF DEATH!

ü The cry, “Awake!” is the voice of love. A mother’s love will lull her

child to sleep, but if the house is on fire, it will take another turn, and

startle the child from its slumbers.

ü The cry, “Awake!” is the voice of wisdom. The sinner loses much by

sleeping. The thief pilfers by night. The tare-sower goes forth in darkness

to sow his seed. If you sleep on till death, you lose everything.

ü The cry is a voice of command. Who commands? It is He who redeemed

you with His precious blood.

ü It is a voice you have often heard:

Ø in sermons,

Ø in sickness,

Ø in sorrows,

Ø in calamities.

· THE PROMISE TO THE SLEEPER. “And Christ shall give thee

light.” The light that comes from Christ can reach even the dead:

“The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice

of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live” (John 5:25). The dead

are not quickened before they hear His voice, but His voice causes them

to HEAR and LIVE! Christ will give you light to carry you out of the

society of the dead into the companionship of the children of light,

because it has already introduced you into the fellowship of the

Father and the Son. “Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness,

and put on the armor of light.”

Awake! (v. 14)

· A DESCRIPTION. A particular kind of man is here addressed — “thou

that sleepest;” “the dead.”

ü The man is asleep. His sleep is spiritual indifference. Whether or no he

has an abstract belief in religion is not of the slightest moment. He may be

an atheist or he may be orthodox of the orthodox. So long as he is sleeping

it matters little what he might have been doing had he been awake. The

sleeper may have his eyes open to secular interests; he may have a quick

intellect in speculation or a vigorous energy in business. Yet angels who

see that he is unconscious of the greatest realities must regard him as a

dreamer or at best as a restless sleep-walker.

ü This sleep is a sign of death. It is more than sleep. It is unnatural and

impossible to a soul in full energy. Spiritual perceptions must have been

dulled and spiritual powers paralyzed to admit of this blindness and stupor

in regard to Divine things.

· A CALL. Awake! Up! Arise! A loud voice disturbs the sleeper.

ü God calls:

Ø in providence, rousing the careless soul by the shock of some sudden

change; and often

Ø in the gospel, for it is the duty of the preacher to speak in trumpet-

notes, not merely to teach the attentive but also to rouse the listless.

ü It is important to respond to this call; for sleep is

Ø a sinful neglect of duty;

Ø a foolish loss of blessings — he who sleeps till the full day never

sees the glory of the sunrise; and

Ø a dangerous condition — the longer a man sleeps the more difficult

will it be to awake, and meanwhile death and judgment may be

upon him.

ü It is possible to awake. The spiritual sleep is partly voluntary and semi-

conscious. As a man sometimes knows that he is dreaming so he may be

made aware that he is spiritually asleep and may rouse himself if he will.

There is rousing power, too, in the Divine voice. It vexes a man to have his

rest disturbed, but as one who wakes the sleeper when his house is on fire

it comes for his deliverance and he will do well to bestir himself.

· A PROMISE. “Christ shall shine upon thee.” There is something to

wake up for. Christ is THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD! His people are

now “light in the Lord.” (v. 8) He brings to the waking soul truth, purity,

and joy. When the storm rages and the dark night lingers, and to wake is

only to take up again the burden of sorrow and grope in the hopeless gloom,

a man has some excuse for sleeping. Despair may sleep. But the Christian

finds a bright morning responding to his opening eyes. We are not to wake

only to kindle a poor light for ourselves. We are rewarded for waking by

THE CHEERING BRIGHTNESS OF CHRIST! We must rouse ourselves,

however, to enjoy it. The people that sit in darkness see the great light only

when they awake and arise from the dead.

15 “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,”

See then that ye walk circumspectly. The construction is

somewhat peculiar, combining two ideas — see that you walk strictly, but

consider well the kind of strictness. Do not walk loosely, without fixed

principles of action; but make sure that your rules are of the true kind.

Many are strict who are not wisely strict; they have rules, but not good

rules. Not as fools (unwise), but as wise. This rendering brings out the force

of ἄσοφοι -– asophoi – unwise - and σοφοὶ <- sophoi – wise - “fools” (Authorized

Version) is rather strong, for it is not utter folly that is reproved, but easy-mindedness,

want of earnest consideration in a matter so infinitely vital, so as to know what is

truly best.

16 “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” or, buying

up for yourselves the opportunity, the idea being that of a merchant who,

knowing the value of an article and the good use to which he can put it,

buys it up. (Think of the attention one gives to a bargain or good deal

that you would not want to let get away! CY – 2019) The opportunity is the

opportunity of spreading the light and acting according to it; and the reason

assigned, “because the days are evil,” indicates that, owing to the prevalence

of evil, there is much need for the light over which the Christian has control. It

may be hinted likewise that the prevalence of evil is apt to cool the love

and diminish the zeal of the Christian; hence the need for special eagerness of

spirit in the matter — he must greedily watch for his opportunity.

Paul is consequently anxious that in evil days, such as those upon which the

Ephesians have fallen, they should be watchful and wise enough to “buy up

eagerly their opportunity,” and do the best they can for their age. This is by

holy living. There is no other way of understanding the times and fulfilling

our course in them. (Like David who “served his own generation” [Acts 13:36 ] -

CY – 2010) It will thus be seen that Paul appeals to the Ephesians,

by both the love and wrath of God, by the expediency and power of a pure

life, to walk worthy of their high calling. In this way he expects to enlist

them in the great army of united and brotherly souls who are gathering

round Jesus our King and Head. May we all respond to his appeal!

The Love and the Wrath of God Enforcing Morality (1-16)

Paul is still working for the unity of the Church and calling for that watchful and pure

walk on the part of the Ephesians which can alone promote it. He consequently brings

to bear upon them the allied motives of the love and the wrath of God. And here we

may remark, in passing, that the moralities which have tried to work themselves

without the aid of Divine sanctions have proved practically powerless. No

“independent morality” has as yet rendered any appreciable service to the

world. We still need to be OVERSHADOWED BY THE DIVIINE! Paul,

moreover, begins with love, and then passes on to the fact of the Divine wrath.

· THE LOVE OF GOD PATERNAL AND FRATERNAL SHOULD

MOVE US TO MUTUAL LOVE. (Vs. 1-2) The Ephesians are exhorted

to follow their Divine Father as dear children. The constant love of the

heavenly Father lights all the children on their way and rebukes their want

of love. The first motive in this section is, therefore, paternal love, a call to

children of God to be loving like their Father in heaven. But the second

motive is from the fraternal love of Christ, which led Him out of

consideration for us to “give Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice

to God for an odor of a sweet smell” (Revised Version). The self-sacrifice

of Christ, we are here taught, was a very precious offering in the

Father’s sight. In the cross the Father for the first time saw perfect

obedience carried up to the point and in the article of death. While in one

aspect Jesus realized the Father’s wrath on the cross, because the Substitute

for sinners, in another aspect He was contemplated by the Father with the

utmost complacency. Self-sacrifice is fully appreciated by our Father in heaven.

Now, if God regarded with infinite delight the self-sacrifice of the only begotten

Son for the sake of His brethren, there is no way in which we can delight our

Father so much as by following in the Elder Brother’s footsteps and being

ready to sacrifice ourselves out of love to the brethren. What a spirit this

would infuse into our Church life! In this passage Christ is really

represented as both Priest and Victim. In the same way we may delight the

mind of God in being victims and priests in our loving relations to the

brethren.

· THE WRATH OF GOD IS A REALITY TOWARDS THE COVETOUS

AND UNCLEAN. (vs. 3-7.) The idea that God will not be angry with wicked

men must be dismissed from all minds, Righteous indignation against certain

forms of evil is an experience of a most imperative and holy character. We

should lose our reverence for a God who did not become angry with sinners.

It was the more needful to affirm this truth at Ephesus, since the deities of

heathenism were supposed to be addicted to such crimes as uncleanness

and covetousness. Olympus was filled, by the impure imaginations of men,

with a set of men and women who were for the most part fit for

penitentiaries and state prisons. Morality received no backing from the

mythology. But the thought that a God so loving as our heavenly Father is

wrathful with the covetous and the unclean, and allows His wrath to burn

against them, is surely calculated to wean men from such sins. There seems

to have been insinuations in Paul’s time that the Divine wrath against

impurity and covetousness was mythical, just as such insinuation prevails at

present. But surely the frightful punishment which these sins entail in the

order of nature speak to the spirit of man about the reality of the Divine

wrath. Not all the ameliorations of science can bring it about that men can

so sin with impunity; the unclean are cursed in the very nature of things

with a grievous curse (see Romans 1:27), and the covetous suffer of necessity

in their pinched and miserly souls. God is an angry God against those who

love sin, (“God is angry with the wicked every day.” Psalm 7:11) and our

only course is to forsake it. Harless and Olshausen believe the word here

rendered “covetousness” to mean in this connection “intemperance,” the

desire, not for gold, but for fleshly gratification — the making a god of the

belly, and so an idolatry. Of course, if this sense be taken of πλεονεξία –

pleh-on-ex-ee’-ah - covetousness - it agrees better with the context and

makes more emphatic Paul’s appeal for purity. Do we make as much in

these days of the Divine wrath as we should? (Fleshly gratification is

definitely associated with “abortion on demand.” Contemporary man

has no concept of how great a sin in God’s eyes that abortion is!

CY – 2019) As the love-pain of God, as one writer has called it, it is

surely well fitted to enforce morality.

· PAUL FURTHER SHOWS THAT THE DEEDS OF DARKNESS

ARE UNFRUITFUL. (vs. 8-11.) He tells the Ephesians they were once

in darkness, and did these deeds of darkness. But they have come into the

light which is shed upon our path by our radiant Lord. They must walk,

consequently as children of the light, remembering that the fruit of the light

(so Revised Version) is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Thus

they would prove what is well-pleasing unto the Lord. In so doing they

would have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but would

rather reprove them. Now, in arguing that the works of darkness are

“unfruitful,” (compare “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof

ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.” Romans 6:21 –

CY – 2019) Paul is advocating morality on the ground of expediency. He

has already applied the Divine sanctions, but he does not hesitate to back

these up by showing that what God wills is good. Natural law endorses the

Divine precepts. But this is quite distinct from the position that the natural

law can secure obedience when it stands alone. All experience disproves

this. Utilitarianism (the doctrine that actions are right if they are useful or

for the benefit of a majority – a concept apparently employed by

Progressives in contemporary culture. As below – THEY TOO WILL

DISCOVER THAT THEY HAVE MADE A GREAT MISTAKE!

CY – 2019). is not a sufficiently broad basis for a sound morality.

But the expediency of moral rectitude is an important argument in its favor.

Sooner or later a man who commits deeds of darkness finds he has made a

mistake.

· BUT IT IS A PURE LIFE WHICH WILL REALLY REPROVE THEM.

(vs. 12-14.) It is thought sometimes by superficial people that accurate

descriptions of the deeds of darkness will do something to disgust people

with them. But this is Satan advising man again to become wiser by eating

forbidden fruit. Paul’s opinion is that it is a shame to speak and therefore to

think of what is done by the sinful in secret. All the prurient (having or

encouraging an excessive interest in sexual matters) curiosity which

feasts itself like flies on foul corruption is of the devil The true plan,

therefore, is not to mention such matters. Let them be buried in oblivion,

but let Christians awake from all lethargic slumber, and arise from the

corruption of spiritual death, and in the light of Christ live purely. Thus

shall the deeds of darkness be reproved. All that we have to do then is to

carry in the light, and the darkness and its deeds will stand convicted

before us. The Ephesians are to indulge in no scandalous conversation

under the pretence of defeating the doers of the dark deeds; but they are to

walk in the light of Christ and be pure, and lo! the sinners shall hide

themselves before them.

· TIME MAY BE REDEEMED BY HOLY LIVING.

(vs. 15-16.) There has been some discussion as to the exact meaning of

“time” in this passage. Harless is clearly of opinion — in which, as in most

matters, he is followed by his French disciple, M. Monod — that

“opportunity” (der rechte Zeitpunkt) best expresses τὸν καιρόν – to kairon –

the season. Paul is consequently anxious that in evil days, such as those upon

which the Ephesians have fallen, they should be watchful and wise enough

to “buy up eagerly their opportunity,” and do the best they can for their age.

This is by holy living. There is no other way of understanding the times and

fulfilling our course in them. It will thus be seen that Paul appeals to the

Ephesians, by both the love and wrath of God, by the expediency and power

of a pure life, to walk worthy of their high calling. In this way he expects to

enlist them in the great army of united and brotherly souls who are gathering

round Jesus our King and Head. May we all respond to His appeal!

Jonathan Edwards, the famed Puritan minister preached a sermon on

The Preciousness of Time and the Importance of Redeeming It dated

December, 1734 and can be found at www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/works2.vi.xiv.html

(also see The Preciousness of Time by Jonathan Edwards, December, 1734,

this web site – CY - 2010)

The Circumspect Walk (vs. 15-16)

· ITS NECESSITY. The duty of reproof involved the necessity of

circumspection in those who were bound to administer it. It may be a small

thing to Christians “to be judged of man’s judgment” (I Corinthians 4:3),

yet they cannot afford to disregard the force of public opinion. They

ought to “have a good report of them which are without” (I Timothy 3:7).

It is evidently with reference to onlookers that the counsel of the

apostle is given. “Walk m wisdom toward them that are without,

redeeming the time” (Colossians 4:5). When we consider the number of

our enemies, the inconstancy of our minds, the strictness of the Divine

requirements, and the jealousy our Divine Master cherishes over His

people, it is impossible to walk acceptably unless we walk circumspectly.

· THE NATURE OF THIS WALK. We are to “walk circumspectly, not

as fools, but as wise.”

ü We are to have knowledge of the true way (Jeremiah 6:16,

Matthew 7:14), not as the fool, who misses the path.

ü We are to follow the light that falls upon our path, not like the fool,

who turns aside to darkness, only to stumble in it (Proverbs 4:27).

ü We are to foresee the dangers of the way and provide against them,

not like “the simple, who pass on and are punished” (Proverbs 22:3).

ü We are to have the Lord for our Companion by the way, like “Enoch,

who walked with God” (Genesis 5:22-24). The fool seeks the company

of the foolish.

ü We are to keep in view the end of our walk. “Receiving the end of your

faith, even the salvation of your souls” (I Peter 1:9).

· THE APPLICATION OF THIS PRINCIPLE TO THE PROFITABLE

USE OF OPPORTUNITY. “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

There can be no wise or careful walking without a due consideration both of

the value of time and of the importance of using our opportunities for doing

good.

ü The nature of this redemption of time. It is not the mere effort to rescue

the fleeting hours of our life from idleness, vanity, distraction, or excessive

devotion to business, but an effort to lay hold of opportunities for doing

good, to make the most of them, to allow no distractions of pleasure or life

to stand in the way of their right employment. Jesus, in His extreme youth,

was eager to be “about his Father’s business” (Luke 2:49). We are to

do good unto all men “as we have opportunity” (Galatians 6:10). We

are to do good to our very enemies, after the example of that Father who

“maketh His sun to rise upon the evil and the good” (Matthew 5:45).

We are to use our opportunities also for receiving good, giving all

diligence to make our calling and our election sure (II Peter 1:10).

ü Reasons for redeeming the time. “Because the days are evil.” It is not

because our days are few, though that is also a very good reason.

Ø We have lost much time already (I Peter 4:3);

Ø we do not know how much time yet remains to us (James

4:14);

Ø we have to give an account of all our time and opportunities.

The reason assigned by the apostle is the evil of the days. Time must not be

lost if the evil is to be quickly and effectively counteracted. The apostle

does not hint the nature of the evil. Yet it is allowable to suppose that the

days were evil, not in themselves, but by reason of man’s wickedness and

folly.

Ø It is the evil of sin, rather than the evil of punishment, that is

meant.

Ø It is part of the evil that MEN DO NOT SEE IT AT ALL!

Ø It is part of the evil that they do not mourn over it.

Ø It is part of the evil that they will do nothing to remove it.

Ø There is, therefore, all the more reason for Christians bestirring

themselves in all seasons and spheres of action to counteract the

evil of the days.

The Value of Time (v. 16)

· ALL TIME IS OF HIGH VALUE. They who kill time destroy one of

the best talents God has given them and rob Him of a sacred trust He has

lent to them.

ü Time is not our own property. We are servants and have to account to

our Master for our use of His hours.

ü Great concerns have to be attended to. Not only is art long while life is

short, but duty is great, the claims of service are many, and the wants of

our fellow-men are numerous. In this world of toil and strife and sorrow

every moment is of value for some good deed of mercy or some solid

work of truth.

ü Lost time is irrecoverable. We cannot redeem the time that has been

wasted. A repentant diligence may bring back the inheritance that was

squandered away in extravagant folly; careful attention may bring back

the wasted health; but time once gone is gone forever.

ü Time may be made of increasing value. An hour is worth more in the

use of one man than a day with another man.

· SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES ARE OF SPECIAL VALUE. Paul

urges us to buy up “the seasons.” All time is not of equal value. There are

moments of peculiar preciousness. Woe to him who, through heedlessness

or willful negligence, lets them slip! The moment when the rope floats by

the drowning man it must be seized or he dies. Strike the iron while it is

hot. Sow the seed in the spring if you would reap the harvest in the autumn.

ü Youth has its golden opportunities that belong go no other age. Young

men especially should make the most of their own season. (“Remember

now thy Creator in the days of thy youth...” (Ecclesiastes 12:1)

ü Manhood has its time of vigor for work that will be beyond the strength

of old age. The wise man will watch for occasions of usefulness that his

word may be “in season.”

· THE TRUE VALUE OF TIME CAN ONLY BE OBTAINED AT A

COST. We have to buy it up before we can make use of it.

ü We must spend thought in considering how we can best use our time

and in watching for right opportunities. For want of due consideration

there is a frightful lack of economy of energy and time.

ü We must sacrifice our own pleasure in giving up time that we are

tempted to expend on ourselves, our amusement or our rest, to the service

of God. He who only gives to God his leisure moments, when he is worn

and jaded with his own selfish work, makes but a poor offering.

ü We must put out greater energy in order to make our time of more value.

Few of us work on the highest subjects at full pressure. The busiest

might do more good if, when they cannot as yet find time for serving

Christ, they would make time.

17 “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”

The “wherefore” bears on all the preceding argument: because ye are children of

light; because LIGHT is so valuable and so indispensable; because

your whole circumstances demand so much care and earnestness.

“Unwise” is equivalent to senseless; “understanding,” to both knowing and

laying to heart, as in parable of sower: “When any one heareth the word of

the kingdom, and understandeth it not,” (Matthew 13:19) i.e. does not

consider or ponder it, “then cometh the wicked one,” etc. The will of the

Lord is the great rule of the Christian life; to know and in the deeper sense

understand this, is to walk wisely and to walk surely. It is a sin against our

rational nature, against our high calling, and against the Lord, not to use

our intellectual faculties with supreme relation to the Lord’s will.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not to thine own

understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct

thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

The Christian Walk (15-17)

The apostle urges a circumspect, wise, and earnest life, closely conformed in

all things to the will of God, fashioned according to that idea of wisdom which

is set forth in the proverb, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

(Proverbs 9:10) Nothing is of more value than fixed principles for guiding our life.

One settled conviction may be of inestimable value; e.g. the conviction that

nothing can come to any good in the end which is against the will of God.

Whenever greatness is achieved in any sphere of life it is through the force

of well-kept rules. Every great author, artist, statesman, has owed his success

to certain principles of action to which he has rigidly adhered. It has been

remarked that the Puritan Age was an age of convictions; ours is an

age of opinions (worst still, an age of polls - CY – 2010). But what we need is

convictions, and pre-eminently the conviction that the only true, safe, and

blessed rule of life is to follow implicitly the will of God. We find here rules

for a careful Christian life

(1) apart,

(2) in Christian society.

• APART.

ü Walk circumspectly, or strictly, not carelessly.

ü Walk wisely, taking pains to ascertain that you so walk as to gain

the great end.

ü Redeem the time, or buy back the opportunity (see Exposition).

ü Understand; i.e. lay to heart and follow the will of Christ.

ü Avoid intoxication and all wild excitement and unhallowed

pleasure.

ü Be filled with the Spirit, and the holy, blessed emotions which He

genders.

• IN CHRISTIAN SOCIETY.

ü Cultivate Christian song, and make melody in your heart to the

Lord.

ü Let thanksgiving have a special place in your exercises.

ü Submit yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord.

As Christians have not only duties, but also joys, belonging to their individual

life, so they have both duties and joys belonging to their social life. What is

most characteristic of the social duties of Christians is mutual submission;

consideration of one another — of what is due by one to another, and still

more of the loving service which one may be able to render to the other.

What is most characteristic of their social joys is the element of thankfulness

in which they flourish; they should ever live as those, who in Christ have

received mercies beyond all calculation; and they should make abundant

use of song to give expression to such feelings and to deepen them in so doing.

This joyous element goes a long way to give brightness to the social life of

Christians; they will not miss the more carnal delights on which worldly men

set so much store, but will feel that God puts joy in their hearts, more than

in the time that their corn and wine increased. (Psalm 4:7)

The Right Understanding of Duty (v. 17)

This is necessary to its efficient performance.

· UNWISDOM. (folly, lack of wisdom) The thought of the apostle turns upon

the misapplication or misdirection of our powers. “Be ye not unthinking

and senseless.” It is a sin against our:

ü rational nature,

ü our high calling, and

ü against the Lord,

not to use our intellectual faculties with supreme relation to the Lord’s

will.

· THE IMPORTANCE OF A TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD’S

WILL. Religion is a question of knowledge as well as feeling. Knowledge

supplies the basis of feeling. Though Scripture tells us not to lean to our

own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6), it tells us to love with knowledge and

all judgment. The knowledge is needed both to stimulate and to regulate the

love. We must know our duties, dangers, temptations, in respect to every

condition of life in which we are placed by Divine providence. It is the

will of the Lord Jesus Christ which supplies the true standard of action

TO EVERY CHRISTIAN! The direction of our life is to be determined

BY HIS PRECEPTS!

18 “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;”

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess;” Drunkenness is suggested

because it is a work of darkness; it is the foe to vigilance and earnestness, and it

leads all who yield to it to act unwisely. It is the social aspect of drunkenness the

apostle has in view — the exhilarating influence of wine in company, giving a rush

of high spirits. Ασωτία - as-o-tee’-ah – excess, riot; from α and σωζω,- asode’-zo;

the opposite of savingness, wastefulness, dissoluteness, or the process of being

dissolved, involving perdition. Spoken of the prodigal son, “riotous living;” the

habit which sends everything to wreck and ruin. (Luke 15:13)

Warning against Drunkenness (v. 18)

The tremendous sin of intemperance must have had a great hold upon a

commercial city like Ephesus. It was necessary that Christians should

beware of such an insidious vice.

• IT DISHONOURS THE LAW OF GOD. (Romans 13:13.)
• IT DISTURBS THE REASON OF MAN.
• IT ENDANGERS THE HEALTH OF THE BODY.
• IT INJURES THE SOUL. (Hosea 4:11.)
• IT WASTES THE SUBSTANCE AND TENDS TO BEGGARY.

(Proverbs 23:21.)

• IT CONSUMES PRECIOUS TIME AND DETERIORATES THE
• CHARACTER OF WORK.
• IT IS THE CAUSE OF OTHER SINS. Such as swearing, strife,

licentiousness (Ibid. v. 20).

• IT UNFITS FOR RELIGIOUS DUTIES.
• IT KEEPS SOULS OUT OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

(I Corinthians 6:10.)

Therefore Christians ought to avoid it, abstaining altogether from intoxicating

drinks on the grounds of Christian expediency, and using their influence to

rescue others from its ruinous fascination. But be filled with the Spirit.

Instead of resorting to wine to cheer and animate you, throw your hearts

open the Holy Spirit, so that He may come and fill them; seek the joy that

the Spirit inspires when He makes you to sit with Christ in heavenly places,

so that, instead of pouring out your joyous feelings in bacchanalian songs,

you may do so in Christian hymns.

Drunkenness and Its Antidote (v. 18)

· THE SIN. It was the mistake of some of the earlier advocates of

temperance to dwell too much on the economic arguments against

drunkenness, to the neglect of those which are supplied by religion. That

dissipation wrecks a man’s position in the world is plain and sad enough.

But it is not worldly self-interest that is chiefly outraged thereby. The sin of

drunkenness is its great condemnation. It is a sin against God and man.

ü It desecrates the temple of the Holy Ghost.

ü It unfits a man for his mission in the world.

ü It occasions brutal unkindness to others:

Ø robbing the family of daily bread for the sake of gross self-indulgence,

Ø bringing poverty and gloom, wretchedness and terror on the home, and

Ø giving to children a hideous inheritance of disease and constitutional

tendencies to the same vice.

ü It opens the door for other vices. Instead of pleading intoxication as an

excuse for a crime committed in the madness of drink, a man should be

made to feel that the wickedness of putting himself into such a condition

was aggravated by the terrible results.

· THE TEMPTATION. In order to remedy the fearful evil we must

consider how it arises.

ü From customs of sociability. Drinking has been regarded as an almost

necessary accompaniment of friendly society.

ü From lack of mental occupation. Men spending hours together of a

winter’s night without any education to supply food for the mind resort to

the glass as the one available relief from the tedium of doing nothing.

ü The craving or nervous stimulation. This is the real thirst of the

excessive drinker. What is called “low spirits,” resulting from general ill

health, or nervous debility, or trouble, or as the natural consequence of

previous indulgence, creates the craving for stimulants. Early in the present

century, Lord Jeffrey quoted a statement of a physician of Liverpool,

respecting some of the most prosperous merchants of that town. “He

informs me,” said the lord advocate, “that few of the richer sort live to be

fifty, but die of a sort of atrophy. They eat too much, take little exercise,

and, above all, have no nervous excitement.” This condition tempts to

indulgence in nerve-stimulants.

· THE ANTIDOTE. We must have an antidote if we would remedy the

evil. Mere negative abstinence without anything to support and encourage

it is impossible on a large scale and in the worst cases. Paul, by a flash

of inspiration reveals the cure. “Be filled with the Spirit.” These are old

words. Yet they read strangely in the present connection — so little have

they been heeded by zealous but unimaginative and unspiritual social

reformers. We are to pray for the Spirit of God which Christ assures us will

be given to all who ask for it (Luke 11:13). How is this to counteract

drunkenness?

ü It counteracts the craving for nervous stimulation. It is itself a pure and

vitalizing spiritual stimulus, infusing at once restfulness and energy.

ü It supplies interest and occupation. For the Spirit of God is the

inspiration of thought and power.

ü It purifies and elevates social relations. They who are filled with the

Spirit will find that “singing and making melody in their hearts” is a more

congenial accompaniment of social intercourse than drinking strong drinks.

19 “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and

making melody in your heart to the Lord;” Speaking to yourselves. Literally, this

would denote antiphonal singing, but this is rather an artificial idea for so simple times.

It seems here to denote one person singing one hymn, then another another, and so on;

and the meetings would seem to have been for social Christian enjoyment rather than

for the public worship of God. In the Epistle to the Colossians it is, “Teaching and

admonishing one another with psalms,” (Colossians 3:16) and this has more of the

idea of public worship; and if it be proper to express joyful feelings in the comparatively

private social gatherings of Christians, it is proper to do the same in united public

worship. In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. The precise meaning of these

terms is not easily seen; “psalms” we should naturally apply to the Old Testament

psalms, but the want of the article makes the meaning more general, equivalent to

“songs with the character of the psalms;” hymns, songs celebrating the praises of

the Divine Being, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; “spiritual songs” or odes

of a more general cast, meditative, historical, hortatory, or didactic. But

these must be “spiritual,” such as the Holy Spirit would lead us to use and

would use with us for our good. The two clauses correspond: “be filled

with the Spirit;” “speaking in spiritual songs.” Receive the Spirit — pour

out the Spirit; let your songs be effusions sent forth from your hearts with

the aroma of the Holy Spirit! Singing and making melody in your heart

to the Lord; i.e. to the Lord Jesus. Some have argued that while ἄδοντες -–

adontes - denotes singing and praising God, ψάλλοντες – psallontes – melody –

means striking the musical instrument. But ψάλλω – psallo - primarily to twitch,

twang, then to play a stringed instrument with the fingers, and hence, to sing a hymn,

sing praise; - is so frequently used in a more general sense, that it can hardly be

restricted to this meaning here. The great thought is that this musical service must

not be musical only, but a service of the heart, in rendering which the heart

must be in a state of worship.

Christian Worship (v. 19)

We have here, not only an interesting picture of worship as it was conducted in the

early Church, but also apostolic directions for Christian worship that may be applied

to all times. Consider some of the chief features of this worship.

· IT IS PURE. The context shows that this point was of especial interest

under the circumstances that obtained when the Epistle was written. The

pure and simple observances of the Christian assembly at Ephesus must

have stood in striking contrast to the riotous orgies that characterized the

heathen festivities. In those pagan ceremonies intoxication and

licentiousness were recognized accompaniments. Instead of indulging in

drunkenness, the Christians seek to be filled with the Spirit; abandoning

immoral practices, they occupy themselves in social worship by singing and

making melody in their hearts. Pagans separated morality from religion. To

Christians neither is possible without the other. Christian worship must be

offered up in THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS! Christian conduct is purified

and elevated by the inspiration of worship.

· IT IS SPIRITUAL. We are to make melody with our “heart.” The

heart stands, not for the feelings only nor chiefly, but generally for the inner

life. Worship must begin here, or the richest music and the sweetest song

will be an empty mockery. Whatever be our forms of worship, we have

constantly to remember that the spiritual God can only be really

worshipped in spirit (John 44), in inward thoughts and feelings of devotion.

· IT IS EMOTIONAL. Religion is not all feeling. It is based on

convictions, and it develops into actions. But religion does not dispense

with emotions. It touches our whole nature — the emotional part with the

rest. It makes great use of feelings as springs of active and sympathetic

influences. We ought to cherish feelings of love and adoration. In worship

this element of religion finds its natural scope and exercise.

· IT IS JOYOUS. Instead of gloomy rites and bloody sacrifices

Christians have music and song in their worship. They are living under a

gospel and should echo back the glad tidings of God’s love. They are

coming to a Father and should approach Him with happy home-confidence.

They are following Christ, who gives His joy to His people (John 15:11).

· IT IS VOCAL. It begins in the heart, but it does not remain hidden

there. Deep feeling naturally wells out in strong utterance. Religious

emotion is encouraged and assisted by adequate expression. Of all

parts of religion thanksgiving should be least reserved.

· IT IS MUSICAL. “Making melody.” We cannot make the service of

praise too beautiful, because we should offer to God what is best in form

as well as in substance, and because the music of song assists the feeling

that it expresses. Slovenly singing is a mark of indifference and irreverence.

· IT IS CONGREGATIONAL. “Speaking one to another.” This is

probably an allusion to antiphonal congregational singing. But whatever be

the method adopted, and though a choir may take its part in the service, it

is plainly the intention of Paul that all the people should sing, and that

thus one should exhort and encourage another. We cannot praise God by

proxy.

· IT IS ADDRESSED TO GOD IN CHRIST. “To the Lord.” Pliny

writes how the Christians in his time met in the early morning to sing

hymns to one Christ. We are not to sing simply for our own delectation or

spiritual culture, or merely to attract and interest others, but mainly as

addressing GOD and CHRIST in praise and communion.

20 “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of

our Lord Jesus Christ;” Giving thanks always for all things” - this being not only

a most Christian duty, but an excellent way to keep the heart in good tone,

to keep up happy feelings — the duty not being occasional, but “always,”

and not for things prima facto agreeable only, but “for all things” (see

Job 2:10; Romans 8:28) Unto God and the Father in the Name of our

Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father is the proper Object of thanksgiving,

as of prayer generally; but the thanks are to be given in the Name of Christ.

That is, through Him who has brought in the economy of grace, whereby for

wrath we get blessing, for suffering we get reward, for misery glory; whereby,

in short, the whole aspect of life is brightened, and even the greatest trials

and sorrows turned into real blessings.

Thanksgiving (v. 20)

There are three points in this exhortation to thanksgiving that arrest our

attention, viz. the time, the objects, and the method.

· THE TIME FOR THANKSGIVING. There is a time for everything.

When, therefore, is thanksgiving seasonable? Always. As we should pray

without ceasing by living in constant communication with God, so a spirit

of gratitude should pervade our whole life and express itself by the

brightness and color that it gives to every action (Psalm 34:1 – “I will

bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”).

If the context limits the application of Paul’s words to public worship,

the breadth of their incidence is still very significant. Every Christian

assembly should be joyous with praise, in every prayer supplication should

be mingled with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6). There are times when

this is difficult, e.g. in trouble and in moods of spiritual depression. But the

difficulty would be diminished if we thought less of our own feelings and

more of the gifts and deeds of God’s goodness. Modern religion is too

subjective, and therefore it fluctuates with our varying phases of

experience. Thanksgiving should call us out of ourselves to contemplate

and praise God. Under the darkest cloud a thankful heart will see

innumerable causes of gratitude. But let our thanksgiving be honest. If we

do not feel grateful, do not let us try to force the expression of gratitude.

· THE OBJECTS OF THANKSGIVING. “All things.”

ü Personal blessings. While we thank God for common gifts to all

mankind, our gratitude would be warmer and more genuine if we reflected

on the special proofs of His goodness in our own lives.

ü Fresh blessings. If thanksgiving is to be perpetual it must constantly find

new food for gratitude. This, of all parts of worship, should not be a mere

repetition of old, worn thoughts. Our ideas on this point are too narrowed

by conventionality. If we are careful to say grace before meat, why should

we not be equally ready to thank God for a good book, a cheerful visit, or

a refreshing walk?

ü Things that we cannot see to be blessings. Gratitude for troubles is

difficult to realize. It is only possible through faith. But if we believe that

God is blessing us in them we should thank Him as one would thank a

surgeon for even amputating a limb to save his patient’s life.

· THE METHOD OF THANKSGIVING,

ü It should be offered to God our Father. It is a direct speaking to God.

As He is the Father of mercies, His fatherhood should be the attribute that is

most in our thoughts when we praise Him. We are not rendering adulation

to a distant monarch who claims it as the condition of sparing our lives; we

are expressing our love and genuine devotion to our Father. There should,

therefore, be no cringing abjectness in our worship. It should be cheerful

and confident.

ü The thanksgiving is to be given in the Name of Christ; i.e.

Ø in recognition that God’s blessings come to us through Christ; and,

Ø as receiving and appreciating them in the spirit of Christ.

21 “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” (ἐν φόβῳ χριστοῦ –

en phobo Christou - in the fear of Christ. The last of the participial exhortations

depending on the general exhortation of v. 15 to walk strictly, Most commentators

connect it with the three immediately preceding participles (speaking, singing,

giving thanks), but are unable to find a link of connection. Better connect with

v. 15. Mutual subjection is part of a wise, circumspect walk, i.e. mutual

recognition of each other’s rights and of our obligations to serve them. In

some sense we are all servants, i.e. we are bound to serve others; the very

father is, in this sense, servant of his child. So in the Christian Church we

are all in a sense SERVANTS! (“By love serve one another,” Galatians 5:13;

compare Matthew 20:26-28; John 13:15-16). This view is in harmony

with the humble spirit of the gospel. Pride leads us to demand rigorously

from others what we fancy they owe to us; humility, to give to others what

Christ teaches that we owe to them. The one feeling is to be discouraged,

the other exercised and strengthened. In the verses following we have this

precept split up into its constituent filaments. The reading of Revised Version,

“in the fear of Christ,” has more authority than Authorized Version, “in the

fear of God.” It brings to our mind the wonderful example of Christ in this

element of character (compare Luke 2:51; Hebrews 5:8). Reverential regard for

Him should inspire us with the same spirit (Philippians 2:5-8).

Exhortation to Exercise Wisdom in Regard to our Manner of Walk

(vs. 15-21)

“Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise.” The object to

which we are to look is this — how we walk; in other words, the conduct of our life.

In regard to this we are to be careful. At cross-roads there are sometimes finger-posts

put up to indicate where the different roads lead to, that travelers may be at no loss.

By looking carefully at these, they may save themselves much trouble and delay. So it

becomes every traveler to eternity to know the road that he is taking, whether it is

the narrow or the broad. (Matthew 7:13-14) There are finger-posts put up by God

(in the Word) by which we may ascertain this and put ourselves right if we have to

our grief taken the wrong road. But, seeing many do not make use of these

finger-posts (do not look at them at all, or only carelessly, and thus exhibit

great folly), the exhortation takes the negative as well as the positive form.

“Not as unwise, but as wise.” The word ἀκριβῶς – akribos – circumspectly;

accurately; exactly; translated “carefully” may also be translated “precisely,”

and suggests this, that we are not only to look to the general correctness of our

conduct, but to look to it down to the smallest details. It is only by thus going

carefully over it in detail, with no foregone conclusion in our mind, but earnestly

seeking God to search us and to discover to us what can be altered for the better,

that we may be able to bring it out into some beauty of conception as a whole.

There are two things in regard to which we are to exercise wisdom.

· TIME. “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The right

management of our time is what we are particularly to look to. The

exhortation is to redeem the time, that is, the time meted out to us on

earth, in which to fulfill the Divine purposes. Literally, as given in the

margin, we are to buy up the opportunity. The idea is that every moment

has its own duty assigned to it. By doing the duty in the moment, we make

a purchase of the opportunity, we turn it into a gain. We keep abreast of

time; we avoid subsequent collision of duties. Whereas by not doing the

duty in the moment, we contract debt, we fall behind. Instead of being the

free owners of our time, we become slavish debtors to it. We are to be like

merchants that seize every vantage that is going. Merchants, that travel

about from place to place, do not get a vantage at every turn. They must

lay their account by an amount of fruitless toil. But as heavenly merchants,

we are in this enviable position, that every moment comes laden with

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY! And we are to make our moments as they

pass rich in all the gains of a good life.

ü Good planning. If we would redeem the time in its days, then we must

anticipate them by wise economical arrangements. We must see them

coming, and know how (God willing) we are to fill them up. The light that

we have got from past days we are to put into some workable scheme for

the days to come. To the excellence of a day-plan it is essential that we

rightly proportion between the various duties of life (so that none are left

out or do not get their proper place). We are to keep up the right

proportion between our severer and our lighter engagements. It behooves

every one to have a task, a definite task, a task that taxes his energies. And

if he does not have it by necessity of procuring his daily bread, yet should

he have it by necessity of steadying himself. But it is not good for the bow

to be always bent, and, if we manage well, we shall find time (and find it

good for the doing of our task too) to relax ourselves in social enjoyment.

We are also to keep up the right proportion between our religious and our

secular duties. (With this last statement in mind, the best I have ever heard

of partitioning the day is:

Ø 8 hours work

Ø 8 hours play

Ø 8 hours rest.

Our spiritual exercises would be included in the playful hours. CY – 2019)

The latter, as a general arrangement, must take up a large

proportion of our time. Six to one is the proportion indicated in the

command. But in every well-planned life there will be found ample time

for religious duties. Every day is to begin with an acknowledgment of God.

It may seem utopian to expect morning devotions of one who has to be at his

work at six o’clock. And yet it only requires a little taken off sleep or off

the previous evening to secure the necessary time for God. And surely that

is not too much to expect of any Christian in the interest of a well-ordered

life. Morning devotions alone will not make the day good. Only when these

have been conscientiously engaged in there will be felt to be an obligation

to make the day’s work harmonize with them. The evening may be utilized

for self-improvement and ministries to others. And the day is to end, as it

began, with God. It is only by such planning (in the name of Him who is not

the author of confusion – I Corinthiains 14:33), that we can expect to be like

merchants accumulating a large fortune.

ü Good planning followed up by decisiveness in execution. There is a

reason given for redeeming the time: “Because the days are evil.” The very