Ephesians Series
by Athol Walter
Part 39 - Ephesians 5:1-20Walking Worthy
We now start to consider chapter 5 of Ephesians, and from here to the end of the epistle we find some very challenging instructions about living a life that is worthy of our Lord and Head and the high calling to which we have been elected.
It is a foundation plank in the platform of our faith that we could not, cannot and never will be able to do anything to gain our salvation. That is the free gift of our gracious God, based on the sinless life and offering of His only begotten Son. As 2 Tim. 2:11-13 assures us, once we have been brought to life through and in Him, even if we fall and say that we no longer believe, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. The other side to this, however, is that out of that free gift, or perhaps I should say, out of that new life that is based on His faithfulness and His righteousness, there should issue the good works that God has pre-ordained we should walk in. (Eph. 2:10).
Let me remind you of something that has been said many times before. Do not let the chapter break break Paul's line of thought. He said back in 4:1, as he commenced what we call the practical half of the epistle, that we should walk worthily of our calling, and that is still his overall theme as we move into ch. 5. Notice the "therefore" in the first verse. It connects what he says now to what was said before, which, as we saw in the previous studies, was quite a lot. But it is summed up for our purposes now in the last verse (4:32) which is worth quoting: "And be ye kind one to another, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Then comes 5:1: "Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children ..."
The Threefold Walk 5:1 - 6:9
Before we go any further, I want to remind you of the themes of this section, taken from the outline of the epistle I gave when we started these studies. The section as indicated above, goes through to 6:9, once again overriding the chapter break. In the structure of the epistle as a whole, this section balances that of 2:8-10, where we have three works. Now we have a threefold walk, which we can summarize as (a) walk in love, (b) walk as light, (c) walk circumspectly. This is the longest practical section in the epistle, applying the doctrine taught in the first 3 chapters to every department of our lives.
It seems to me that we should take note of a number of statements that Paul makes throughout these verses. They set the tone for what follows. There are the three statements about our walk that we have already noted, but there are a couple of others that are worthy of attention.
Firstly, we have in v. 1 "Be ye therefore followers of God AS DEAR CHILDREN, AND WALK IN LOVE." It certainly is true that we have been freed from slavery to sin, which once was our condition. We should never forget that we now have been freed to be the slave of Christ. Our service as His bondslaves, however, is not odious or onerous, but a joyous thing, and indeed, our relationship to God as that of child to its father is a far cry from that of a slave to his master. Certainly, the child must obey and respect, but the desire to please and serve comes from the heart-felt love for the Father. The Lord Jesus Himself is our example here. He loved us and gave Himself for us, a giving that involved complete and dreadful obedience to His Father's will. While God's will for us does not call for such sacrifices as only the Son could make, nevertheless our service and obedience should be as willingly and happily rendered.
The other statement which I want you to notice is in v. 21. "Submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of God." Before Paul says one word about the role of husband, wife, child, parent, master or worker, he instructs us to submit to one another. That, I think, is the environment in which we should read and apply the instructions about family and work relationships. But more on that when we get to it.
In v. 1, the word translated "followers" also gives us "mimic" in English. The word mimic can have some negative overtones, but if we put those aside, we are not far from the mark if we understand Paul to be telling us to "mimic" Christ. How do we do that? By walking in love, in the same way that Christ has loved us. How did He love us? He laid aside many of His attributes as God, and gave Himself for us, clothing Himself in the likeness of sinful flesh that one day, we, with all those who are the children of God, may be clothed in His righteousness. And Paul is on the same theme in Phil. 2, where he says, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."
The reference in v. 2 to Christ's sacrifice being a sweet-smelling savour to God sends us back to the Old Testament, of course. Not all the sacrifices and offerings outlined by Moses to the People of Israel were blood offerings. There were offerings that accompanied some of the others, and some of them, at least, were voluntary.
In Phil. 2:17 Paul uses a similar analogy which the AV obscures a little. It reads, "Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all." The Greek reads, "But if indeed I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith ..." It is a reference to an offering in the Old Testament that was something extra added on top of a mandatory offering. This, it seems to me, should be the spirit of our obedience and service. Yes, we MUST serve our Lord and Head, but how pleasing it must be to the One who gave Himself for us, when we serve Him with joy and gladness.
VV. 3-7 list many things that, while prevalent enough in our society, should not figure at all in the lives of the Lord's people. May we each heed the warning in v. 6. If we allow any of these things in our lives, there will be a reckoning. We cannot presume on the love and kindness of God. He is also the God of holiness and righteousness. Paul's unambiguous word on the matter is simple. "Don't be partakers with those who do such things." These are the practical results of putting off the old man, putting on the new and not giving place to the Devil in any way whatsoever.
V. 8 brings in the contrast between darkness and light. We are light in the Lord, therefore walk as children of the light. The Scriptures often use the analogy of darkness and light for sin and death on the one hand, and salvation and life on the other. We have it presented to us in the first three verses of the Bible. Darkness covered the world which had become ruined and desolate. And as God moves to prepare the world for Adam, the first thing He does is to say, "Let there be light, and there was light".
We also have it again in John 1:4. "... and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not (or the darkness did not overcome it)".
This theme of light versus darkness is continued in the next couple of verses, until in v. 14, Paul says, "Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." While this is not an exact quote from Isa. 60:1,2, Paul is nevertheless paraphrasing those two verses and applying them to his argument. It is just as applicable to our walk for our Master today. We are children of light. We have been brought out of the darkness into the light of life in Christ, what place is there in our lives for any of the unfruitful works of darkness?
V. 15 gives us the next step. "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise." Is there any of us that can say we have never walked foolishly in the shadows? The answer is painfully obvious. It is no use blaming God, or even Satan, for the responsibility to walk worthily is squarely placed on our shoulders. God has broken the power of sin in our lives, and we no longer have to serve sin. If we do, it is a matter of choice, not necessity. So let us each one decide to have done with the works of darkness, and walk as children of light, and also circumspectly.
The word "circumspectly" carries the thoughts of be wary and taking everything into account, and while that is certainly part of what Paul was saying, there is more to it than that. The Amplified Version has it like this: "Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, but as wise - sensible, intelligent people:" (and we should continue on) "making the most of the time - buying up each opportunity - because the days are evil. Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is."
The word "akribos" - translated circumspectly, carries a strong sense or accurately, straitly, exactly, which thoughts we do not get from our understanding of circumspectly. We must ever remember that the grace shown to us by God does not allow for laxity or carelessness in our service. The pathway of our walk for God sometimes leads through dark and slippery places. Defilement and uncleanness surrounds us in society, and this calls for a careful and exact walk to avoid the contamination of sin. "Don't be fools", says Paul, "Walk wisely and accurately."
The word "walk" occurs seven times in Ephesians. The first in the practical section (4:1) says "walk worthy". The last (5:15) says "walk accurately". The first says "with all lowliness"; the last says "with wisdom".
A few comments on vv. 18-20 will conclude our study for this issue. Paul makes a contrast between being drunk or filled with wine and being filled with the Spirit. Many of the evils mentioned earlier in the chapter were probably associated with heavy drinking although it is not specified, but be that as it may, Paul warns against drunkenness. It is the Spirit we are to be filled with.
But what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? The meaning is a little unclear, although only in the English translation. Greek is more specific than English in these instances. By way of illustration, I could say, "The bucket was filled with the pump." I could also say, "The bucket was filled with water." There is no English speaker who would expect to see the bucket with the pump standing in it.
Without going into the grammar, the meaning of the sentence is that the Holy Spirit will fill us. That is, He is the One who does the filling. But what are we to be filled with? Colossians 3:16 supplies the answer. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom' teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."
Wait a moment, you might be thinking. Is this in the same context as the Ephesians 5:18. Good question. Let's make sure. In the Ephesians passage we have psalms, hymns and spiritual songs; melody in your hearts; giving thanks always. In the Colossians passage we have psalms, hymns and spiritual songs; grace in your hearts; giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Then both passages move on to "Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands."
Charles Welch has a very well-expressed paragraph which provides a fitting conclusion to this study. I quote: "The parallel is so complete that we cannot avoid the inference that "to be filled with the Spirit" will be to be filled BY the Spirit WITH the Word of Christ. The Spirit everywhere takes of the things of Christ and applies them to the heart of the believer. That constitutes the inspiration of his renewed conversation, "speaking to yourselves", and will prevent any corrupt communication from proceeding out of his mouth, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, and a heart filled by the Spirit with the word of Christ will speak accordingly. I pray it shall be so with each of us.
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