Ephesians 5:9

for The suppressed link of thought is, "Walk in a path wholly unlikethat of the disobedient; forthe path of the light must be such."

the fruit of the Spirit Cp. Galatians 5:22. But the literary evidence here supports the reading the fruit of the light. The metaphor "fruit" (found here only in the Epistle) gives the idea not only of result but of natural and congenial result; growth rather than elaboration. Christian virtue is, in its true essence, grace having its way.

is in Consists in, comes out in.

all Observe here, as continually, the absoluteness in idea of the Christian character. It is an unsinning character. "Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin" (1 John 3:9). The Christian, as a Christian, sins not: a truth at once humiliating and stimulating.

goodness The Gr. word occurs besides, Romans 15:14; Gal 5:22; 2 Thessalonians 1:11. The Gr. word like the English, while properly meaning the whole quality opposite to evil, tends to mean specially the goodness of beneficence, or at least benevolence. Such, on the whole, is the evidence of the LXX. usage. But the context here favours the wider and more original reference; all that is anti-vicious.

St Chrysostom sees in it here a special antithesis to anger;but this is surely too narrow a reference. See further on the word, Trench, N.T. Synonyms, § 1.

righteousness See above on Ephesians 4:24. And cp. Titus 2:12. The special reference here doubtless is to the observance of God's Law in regard of the rights of others, in things of honesty and purity.

truth The deep, entire reality which is the opposite to the state of "the simular of virtue that is incestuous" (King Lear, iii. 3).