Ephesians 5:1-14
17–5:14. THE GREAT CONTRAST Ephesians 4:25 to Ephesians 5:14. THE CONTRAST IN DETAIL... [ Continue Reading ]
17–5:14. THE GREAT CONTRAST Ephesians 4:25 to Ephesians 5:14. THE CONTRAST IN DETAIL... [ Continue Reading ]
ΓΊΝΕΣΘΕ ΟΥ̓͂Ν ΜΙΜΗΤΑῚ ΤΟΥ͂ ΘΕΟΥ͂, ὩΣ ΤΈΚΝΑ�. The thought of the Divine Example is repeated and enforced by reference to the thought of the Fatherhood of God (bringing the passage into yet closer relation with Matthew 5:48), and to the love which on His side expresses the heart of the relationship, c... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΘῺΣ ΚΑῚ Ὁ ΧΡΙΣΤῸΣ ἨΓΆΠΗΣΕΝ ὙΜΑ͂Σ ΚΑῚ ΠΑΡΈΔΩΚΕΝ ἙΑΥΤῸΝ ὙΠῈΡ ὙΜΩ͂Ν. Familiarity ought not to dull our sense of wonder at this instinctive re-enforcement of the appeal to the example of God by an appeal to the example of Christ. It has its ground in the Gospels. Because He could say ‘He that hath see... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΟΡΝΕΊΑ ΔῈ Κ.Τ.Λ. After the height to which we have been raised in Ephesians 5:2 this comes as a rude shock. But St Paul is always in close touch with the facts of the situation. His clear vision of the glory of the true Christian life did not blind him to the dangers to which it was exposed by the... [ Continue Reading ]
4. St Paul is still thinking of topics of conversation. ΑἸΣΧΡΌΤΗΣ is any discreditable action belonging to either of the excluded classes. Notice e.g. αἰοχροῦ κέρδους χάριν Titus 1:11. ΜΩΡΟΛΟΓΊΑ Ἢ ΕΥ̓ΤΡΑΠΕΛΊΑ. This pair of words describes contrasted forms of wrong conversation, that which is coarse... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΟΥ͂ΤΟ ΓᾺΡ ἼΣΤΕ ΓΙΝΏΣΚΟΝΤΕΣ. ‘Ye know by your own observation’ or ‘Observe and know.’ It is interesting to notice with Robinson that this combination is found once or perhaps twice in LXX. as the rendering of a familiar Hebrew idiom. It is even probable that the idiom may have suggested the combinat... [ Continue Reading ]
6. In these matters the Christian standard involved a complete reversal of the popular standard. ‘Covetousness’ in the shape of a desire for large possessions was nowhere regarded as in itself a religious failing, while ‘prostitution’ (as distinct from ‘adultery’) was regarded as at worst a venial o... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜῊ ΓΊΝΕΣΘΕ, ‘do not develope into,’ ‘prove in the end,’ implying danger, but not actual failure, cf. Ephesians 5:17. ΣΥΝΜΈΤΟΧΟΙ, ct. Ephesians 3:6. There is solidarity in evil as well as in good. The tares are bound into bundles (Matthew 13:30) for burning.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἮΤΕ ΓΆΡ ΠΟΤΕ ΣΚΌΤΟΣ. St Paul has come back now to the broad contrast between the New and the Old with which he started in Ephesians 4:17. Just as he contrasted their present with their former position in point of spiritual privilege (Ephesians 2:12), so here he points the contrast from the side of m... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ ΓᾺΡ ΚΑΡΠῸΣ ΤΟΥ͂ ΦΩΤῸΣ. See Ephesians 5:1. This clause defines both the character of the children of light and the blessings inherent in the light which they are called to radiate. ἈΓΑΘΩΣΎΝΗΙ. Kindness in action, active benevolence, the opposite of κακία Ephesians 4:31; part of the fruit of the Spi... [ Continue Reading ]
10. These elements in character are to be guided in action by reference to the will of the Lord; cf. 1 John 5:2. This constant surrender of the will completes the thought of the offering of the whole life as a sacrifice implied in Ephesians 5:2. Cf. Romans 12:2. ΕΥ̓ΆΡΕΣΤΟΝ. Cf. John 8:29; 1 John 3:2... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ΜῊ ΣΥΝΚΟΙΝΩΝΕΙ͂ΤΕ Κ.Τ.Λ. Cf. Ephesians 5:7; Revelation 18:4; 1 Timothy 5:22; 2 John 1:11; Psalms 50:18. ‘Have a share with them in—become jointly responsible for’ by approving (Romans 1:32) or acquiescing in without protest. ἜΡΓΟΙΣ, as in Galatians 5:19; Romans 13:12. The word is [ Continue Reading ]
ΤᾺ ΓᾺΡ ΚΡΥΦΗ͂Ι ΓΙΝΌΜΕΝΑ ὙΠʼ ΑΥ̓ΤΩ͂Ν. The two clauses τὰ κρυφῇ γινόμενα … τὰ δὲ πάντα should be taken closely together. ‘For though the things that are done in secret … yet everything when convicted by the light.…’ The γὰρ really connects the second clause with the preceding imperatives. For the omis... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤᾺ ΠΆΝΤΑ here must be taken quite generally. It is in strong contrast to τὰ κρυφῇ γινόμενα. St Paul does not mean that Gentile abominations become edifying by being dragged into the light. They are sheer darkness and vanish before the light. But everything that can stand the light is manifested in i... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙῸ ΛΈΓΕΙ. ‘Wherefore one saith.’ The quotation is not taken from the O.T. though Isaiah 60:1 f. has some points of contact with the thought of it. Nor is it apparently taken from any Apocryphal source. In all probability it is part of an early (most probably baptismal) hymn like the Odes of Solomon... [ Continue Reading ]
15. For a life according to this ideal St Paul feels that two qualities are pre-eminently necessary, ‘moral thoughtfulness’ and spiritual enthusiasm overflowing at once in thankfulness to God and in disciplined subordination. He contrasts it with the recklessness and drunken dissipation of the socie... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΞΑΓΟΡΑΖΌΜΕΝΟΙ ΤῸΝ ΚΑΙΡῸΝ. ‘Buying up the opportunity,’ cf. Lightfoot on Colossians 4:5. The reference in Col. and, in view of the preceding paragraph, here also, is to the opportunity of influencing ‘those without,’ which is given us now. The ‘day of salvation’ which St Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:2 fo... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙᾺ ΤΟΥ͂ΤΟ, Ephesians 6:13. Such being the need for watchfulness. ΜῊ ΓΊΝΕΣΘΕ ἌΦΡΟΝΕΣ. Cf. Ephesians 5:7. ἌΦΡΩΝ is constant in the Wisdom literature for various Hebrew equivalents. It suggests the thought of moral recklessness. It is a characteristic of heathen society in 1 Peter 2:15. For the disti... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ΜῊ ΜΕΘΎΣΚΕΣΘΕ ΟἼΝΩΙ. From LXX. of Proverbs 23:31. Drunkenness was one of the chief dangers threatening Christian life in heathen surroundings. Warnings against it are not prominent in the Gospels (Luke 21:34; of. Matthew 24:49 only, _not_ in Mark 7:21 f. _nor_ in Revelation 21:8). In St Paul ref... [ Continue Reading ]
ΛΑΛΟΥ͂ΝΤΕΣ ἘΑΥΤΟΙ͂Σ. Cf. Ephesians 4:32. In the parallel Colossians 3:16 we find διδάσκοντες καὶ νουθετοῦντες ἐαυτοὺς ψαλμοῖς κ.τ.λ. It seems natural therefore to take λαλοῦντες (as e.g. in 1 Peter 4:11) of speaking in the Christian assembly. The thought of the social gatherings of the heathen sugge... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕΥ̓ΧΑΡΙΣΤΟΥ͂ΝΤΕΣ ΠΆΝΤΟΤΕ ὙΠῈΡ ΠΆΝΤΩΝ. Cf. Ephesians 5:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16 ff.; Colossians 3:17. The tone of spiritual exhilaration that St Paul requires is strange in this context, where no effort is made to keep out of sight the discouraging character of the surroundings. It can only be maintai... [ Continue Reading ]
ὙΠΟΤΑΣΣΌΜΕΝΟΙ�. An unexpected conclusion to the devotional outburst keeping it in strict relation to the commonplace duties of everyday life. This law of mutual subjection is paradoxical not in form only but in substance, for it covers all cases including those in authority as well as those under au... [ Continue Reading ]
ΑἹ ΓΥΝΑΙ͂ΚΕΣ ΤΟΙ͂Σ ἸΔΊΟΙΣ�. Cf. 1 Corinthians 11:3. Wifely subjection is commended in Colossians 3:18 as ‘seemly.’ In. 1 Peter 3:1 it is part of the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, commended for its winning power as a revelation (ἐποπτεύσαντες) of the Divine, and by the example of the holy wome... [ Continue Reading ]
Ephesians 5:22 to Ephesians 6:9. HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS IN CHRISTIAN LIGHT Cf. Colossians 3:18 to Colossians 4:1; 1 Peter 2:18 to 1 Peter 3:7... [ Continue Reading ]
ὍΤΙ�. On the figure of ‘the Head,’ cf. on Ephesians 1:22. It is applied as here to the relation of husband to wife in 1 Corinthians 11:3. Only there Christ is spoken of as Head of every man individually and not as here as Head of the Church. The position in regard to the race is a development of the... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΛΛᾺ ὩΣ Ἡ ἘΚΚΛΗΣΊΑ ὙΠΟΤΆΣΣΕΤΑΙ ΤΩ͂Ι ΧΡΙΣΤΩ͂Ι. On the description of the Church as the Bride of the Christ, see Hort _Christian Ecclesia_, pp. 150 f. It is based on the O.T. Primarily on Hosea 2 (cf. Rob. Smith, _Prophets of Israel_, 170 ff.). Cf. Jeremiah 2:2; Ezekiel 16.; and Isaiah 54. The compari... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DUTY OF THE HUSBAND... [ Continue Reading ]
25. The primary duty on the husband’s side is self-sacrificing affection. The pattern of Christ in this respect is concrete enough. It has already been dwelt upon in Ephesians 5:2. It is worth noting how constantly (here and Ephesians 5:2, and in Galatians 2:20, and in Revelation 1:5) the love and t... [ Continue Reading ]
ἽΝΑ ΑΥ̓ΤῊΝ ἉΓΙΆΣΗΙ ΚΑΘΑΡΊΣΑΣ ΤΩ͂Ι ΛΟΥΤΡΩ͂Ι ΤΟΥ͂ ὝΔΑΤΟΣ. “That he might expressly claim her for Himself after cleansing her by the bathing with the water.” Cleansing and sanctifying are two results of the one act of baptism, but St Paul (1 Corinthians 6:11) regards them separately, the removal of def... [ Continue Reading ]
ἽΝΑ ΠΑΡΑΣΤΉΣΗΙ ΑΥ̓ΤῸΣ ἙΑΥΤΩ͂Ι. Cf. 2 Corinthians 11:2. Christ takes the part both of the Bridegroom and of the Bridegroom’s Friend. Cf. Ezekiel 16:10, of Jehovah and Israel. This clause carries on the thought both of ἁγ. and καθ. but with growing emphasis on the object and results of the cleansing.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟὝΤΩΣ. ‘Following this example.’ The sentence reads awkwardly because ὡς τὰ ἑαυτῶν σώματα introduces what seems to us an alien illustration of the claims of the wife on the husband, based on the unity involved in the marriage bond when seen in the light of its original institution in Genesis 2 (cf.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῊΝ ἙΑΥΤΟΥ͂ ΣΆΡΚΑ. The change from σῶμα marks the transition to the new aspect of the thought. Husband and wife, though not ‘one body’ as Christ and the Church, are as Genesis 2 witnesses ‘one flesh.’ ἈΛΛᾺ ἘΚΤΡΈΦΕΙ ΚΑῚ ΘΆΛΠΕΙ ΑΥ̓ΤΉΝ. Both words are used in O.T. esp. of a mother’s care of her childre... [ Continue Reading ]
ὍΤΙ ΜΈΛΗ ἘΣΜῈΝ ΤΟΥ͂ ΣΏΜΑΤΟΣ ΑΥ̓ΤΟΥ͂. Cf. Ephesians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 6:15; 1 Corinthians 12:27. In Romans 12:5 we are ‘members one of another.’... [ Continue Reading ]
31.ἈΝΤῚ ΤΟΎΤΟΥ Κ.Τ.Λ. Genesis 2:24 = LXX. with ἀντὶ for ἕνεκεν and πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα for τῇ γυναικὶ, and om. of αὐτοῦ after πατέρα and μητέρα. For this use of ἀντὶ cf. ἀνθʼ ὦν, 2 Thessalonians 2:10; Lk. (3); Acts (1).... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸ ΜΥΟΤΉΡΙΟΝ ΤΟΥ͂ΤΟ ΜΈΓΑ ἘΣΤΊΝ. Cf. Hort _Chr. Eccl._ p. 151. ‘If we are to interpret ‘mystery’ in the difficult 32nd verse, as apparently we ought to do, by St Paul’s usage, i.e. take it as a Divine age-long secret only now at last disclosed, he wished to say that the meaning of that primary instit... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΛῊΝ. Cf. ἈΛΛᾺ, Ephesians 5:24 resumptive. ‘However that may be.’ ἽΝΑ ΦΟΒΗ͂ΤΑΙ = imperative. Cf. Moulton, _Proleg_. p. 179; Mark 5:23; Revelation 14:13. ΦΟΒΗ͂ΤΑΙ ‘reverence,’ cf. ἐν φόβῳ Χριστοῦ (Ephesians 5:21), and cf. Romans 13:7; 1 Peter 2:18; 1 Peter 3:16.... [ Continue Reading ]