Ephesianschapter 5
33 verses · Paul, by tradition · AD 60 to 62 · Paul's letters
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her
Introduction
Paul, by tradition, Paul's letters, Ephesians Overview.
Paul wrote this chapter to believers whose cities ran on festivals, guild banquets and household customs shaped by old religion. It continues the commands of the chapter before and carries them into the home. The chapter moves from the believer's walk to the gathered church and then to husband and wife. Listen for the pictures of light and darkness in the first half and for the moment when Paul says his words about marriage reach further than marriage. Read it as the letter's teaching on how a changed life looks at the table and in the house.
Context
- Who
- Believers in cities whose social calendar ran on festivals, banquets, and cult processions.
- What
- Commands to walk in love, as children of light and with wisdom, followed by the first part of a household code on wives and husbands.
- Where
- Written from Paul's custody, traditionally at Rome, to the churches of Asia.
- When
- About AD 60 to 62 on the traditional dating, during Paul's first Roman imprisonment.
- Why
- To show how a life filled with the Spirit replaces the old ways, and how marriage shows the love of Christ for the church.
Historical context
The contrast between being drunk with wine and being filled with the Spirit had a sharp local reference. The rites of Dionysus involved wine and ecstatic behaviour as a religious act, and drunkenness at guild dinners and festivals was ordinary social practice. Paul is not comparing a vice to a virtue so much as one kind of religious ecstasy to another.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The singing that follows, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, describes what filled the gathering instead. Communal singing was a feature of banquets too; the content is what changed.
The household code in the second half follows a form Greek and Roman moralists used, addressing the male head of the house about his wife, children, and slaves. Aristotle and others wrote versions of it, and its purpose was to show that a philosophy produced orderly households, which mattered to suspicious neighbours and magistrates.
What is unusual here is who gets addressed. The code opens with mutual submission, speaks to wives directly as moral agents rather than as property, and gives the husband by far the longer instruction, to love as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Under Roman law a husband held authority over his household; being told to spend himself for it was not the expected use of that authority.
Significance
For the first hearers, the standard was set impossibly high on purpose: walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
And the marriage passage was never presented as merely domestic advice. Paul says he is speaking about Christ and the church, and the household became the place where that relationship was made visible to the neighbours.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Imitate God: Love, Not Filthiness
Ephesians 5:1-2
imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children: The Greek word is mimetai, imitators, and the call is to be imitators of God, the way beloved children copy a father. That likeness takes one shape at once: walk in love, just as Christ loved us.
Ephesians 5:1
“WE shall read the text as it should more properly be translated—"Be you therefore imitators of God, as beloved children." Upon the word, "imitate," our discourse will hinge. The division into chapters is often most unfortunate and, in this case, it causes a break in a passage which, in its sense, is one and indivisible. The Apostle had said, "Be you kind, one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Be you therefore imitators of God, as dear children." He has forgiven you, therefore imitate Him.”
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Ephesians 5:1
When he wrote to the Corinthians, indeed, he said "be imitators" of me … for though they could not instantaneously become imitators of Christ, it was still a great thing for them if they could be imitators of the imitator. But to the Ephesians, since they are those to whom he has revealed such great mysteries, he neither says "be imitators of me" nor "be imitators of Christ" but "be imitators of God."
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ephesians 5:1patristic
Ephesians 5:1
“Be ye therefore followers of God - Greek, “Be imitators - μιμηταὶ mimētai - of God.” The idea is not that they were to be the friends of God, or numbered among his followers, but that they were to imitate him in the particular thing under consideration.”
just as Christ loved us: Calvin notes the turn from imitating God in 5:1 to imitating Christ, the model set before believers. Chrysostom observes that people spare their friends while Christ loved His enemies, so the likeness is kept by doing good to enemies. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown see the law's offerings fulfilled.
Ephesians 5:2
“And walk in love - Let every act of life be dictated by love to God and man. As Christ - hath loved us - Laying down your lives for your brethren if necessary; counting nothing too difficult to be done in order to promote their eternal salvation. Hath given himself for us - Christ hath died in our stead, and become thereby a sacrifice for our sins.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ephesians 5:2
“Who is it that truly walks in love? The one who, for the salvation of others, contends against sin to the point of shedding blood, so as even to give up his soul for them. That is the one who walks in love, imitating Christ.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ephesians 5:2patristic
Ephesians 5:3-4
not be even a hint of sexual immorality: Obscenity, foolish talk, and eutrapelia, crude joking, all give way to one fitting use of the tongue, thanksgiving. The saint's mouth is regulated as strictly as the saint's body.
Ephesians 5:3
Fornication in the strict sense is consorting with prostitutes. Impurity is the generic name, in the maelstrom of our bodily existence, not only for adultery and pederasty but also all the other inventions of sexual licentiousness in all their many and diverse practices. Greed can be taken either straight-forwardly or, as I have established [with regard to 1 Thess 4:4-6], in the sense of "adultery."
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Epistle to the Ephesianspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Ephesians 5:3
“But fornication - A “common” vice among the pagan then as it is now, and one into which they were in special danger of falling; see Rom 1:29 note; 1Co 6:18 note. And all uncleanness - Impurity of life; see the notes on Rom 1:24; compare Rom 6:19; Gal 5:19; Eph 4:19; Col 3:5. Or covetousness - The “connection” in which this word is found is remarkable. It is associated with the lowest and most debasing vices, and this, as well as those vices, was not once to be “named” among them. What was Paul’s estimate then of covetousness?”
foolish talk, or crude joking: Crude joking renders eutrapelia, which Clarke derives from words meaning easily turned, speech bent into double meanings. Wesley notes that the heathen counted such wit a half virtue. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown add that Ephesus prized this polished banter as an accomplishment.
Ephesians 5:4
“Neither filthiness - Αισχροτης· Any thing base or vile in words or acts. Foolish talking - Μωρολογια· Scurrility, buffoonery, ridicule, or what tends to expose another to contempt. Nor jesting - Ευτραπελια· Artfully turned discourses or words, from ευ, well or easily, and τρεπω, I turn; words that can be easily turned to other meanings; double entendres; chaste words which, from their connection, and the manner in which they are used, convey an obscene or offensive meaning. It also means jests, puns, witty sayings, and mountebank repartees of all kinds.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:4
“Or jesting - The word properly means, wittiness, facetiousness, esteemed by the heathens an half- virtue. But how frequently even this quenches the Spirit, those who are tender of conscience know. Which are not convenient - For a Christian; as neither increasing his faith nor holiness.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Ephesians 5:4
“Not scurrile buffoonery, but refined "persiflage" and "badinage," for which Ephesus was famed [PLAUTUS, A Boastful Soldier, 3.1,42-52], and which, so far from being censured, was and is thought by the world a pleasant accomplishment.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God: The phrase the kingdom of Christ and of God places both names under one reign without a second governing article in the Greek. Several commentators read this small grammatical hinge as evidence that the Son's kingdom and the Father's kingdom are one kingdom.
Ephesians 5:5
“He serves mammon instead of God. Of these persons it is said that they have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God; that is, the kingdom of Christ, who is God, or the kingdom which is God's by nature, and Christ's as he is Mediator, the kingdom which Christ has purchased and which God bestows.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Ephesians 5:5
“Are those merely guilty of silliness and inordinate levity to be kept out of the kingdom of God? Are they excluded on the same basis as those sins that he has marked off specifically? It would seem a cruel sentence not to pardon the weakness of human frailty, so that our words condemned us even when said in jest.… Yet in making this distinction [between lesser and more serious sins] we are not making excuses for silliness and levity. They do not exclude from the kingdom.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ephesians 5:5patristic
Ephesians 5:6-7
empty words: are arguments built to excuse the very sins just named. Paul answers them with a plain fact: because of such things the wrath of God is coming.
Ephesians 5:6
“Disobedience is the very malignity of sin. And it is by a usual Hebraism that such sinners are called children of disobedience; and such indeed they are from their childhood, going astray as soon as they are born. The wrath of God comes upon such because of their sins; sometimes in this world, but more especially in the next.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Ephesians 5:6
And just as then, those who led vicious lives, and put other people astray, were condemned and cast out, so also even now the offending eye is plucked out, and the foot and the hand, lest the rest of the body perish in like manner. And we have the precept: "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 an one no not to eat."
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book IVpatristic
do not be partakers with them: Gill lists four ways to share in another's sin. They are needless company, encouragement, passing it over without reproof, and doing the same things. Clarke applies the warning to the empty philosophy of Ephesus, whose vain words verse 6 names.
Ephesians 5:7
“Be not ye therefore partakers with them - Do not act as your fellow citizens do; nor suffer their philosophy, to it in vain words, κενοις λογοις, with empty and illusive doctrines, to lead you astray from the path of truth. That there was much need for such directions and cautions to the people of Ephesus has been often remarked.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Awake, Sleeper: Walk as Children of Light
Ephesians 5:8-10
you were once darkness: Paul names what the Ephesians were and are: you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. In both cases the words name an identity.
Ephesians 5:8
“For ye were sometimes (ποτε, formerly) darkness - While ye lived in darkness, ye lived in these crimes. But now are ye light in the Lord - When ye were in heathenish darkness ye served divers lusts and pleasures, but now ye have the light - the wisdom and teaching which come from God; therefore walk as children of the light - let the world see that ye are not slaves to the flesh, but free, willing, rational servants of the Most High; not brutish followers of devil gods.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:8
“The darkness is being turned into light. There is not, as some heretics argue, a nature so alienated that it cannot receive salvation.… Those who receive salvation—the righteous—are "the light of the world." Those who refuse, the unrighteous, are in consequence called darkness.… The difference and distance between one and the other is clearly seen by their own fruits.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ephesians 5:8patristic
Ephesians 5:8
“Stronger than "in darkness" (Ro 2:19). light--not merely "enlightened"; but light enlightening others (Eph 5:13). in--in union with the Lord, who is THE LIGHT. children of light--not merely "of the light"; just as "children of disobedience" is used on the opposite side; those whose distinguishing characteristic is light.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the fruit of the light consists: Older English versions read fruit of the Spirit here, and Clarke lists early manuscripts and versions reading light, which fits verse 8. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown pair each quality with a sin. Goodness answers the malice of 4:31, righteousness the greed of 5:3, and truth the falsehood of 4:25.
Ephesians 5:9
This verse is parenthetic. Walk as children of light, that is, in all good works and words, "FOR the fruit of the light is [borne] in [ALFORD; but BENGEL, 'consists in'] all goodness [opposed to 'malice,' Eph 4:31], righteousness [opposed to 'covetousness,' Eph 5:3] and truth [opposed to 'lying,' Eph 4:25]."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:9
“Christ himself is rightly called goodness, righteousness and truth. He is goodness in that he gives grace to those who believe in him, not according to their works but according to his mercy. He is himself righteousness in that he gives to each what he deserves. He is himself truth in that he is the one who knows the causes of all creatures and all things.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ephesians 5:9patristic
Ephesians 5:9
“For the fruit of the Spirit - That is, since the Holy Spirit through the gospel produces goodness, righteousness, and truth, see that you exhibit these in your lives, and thus show that you are the children of light. On the fruits of the Spirit, see the notes on Gal 5:22-23. Is in all goodness - Is seen in producing all kinds of goodness. He who is not good is not a Christian.”
Test and prove what pleases: Test and prove renders a participle that Jamieson, Fausset and Brown join to the command to walk in verse 8. They compare the testing of a coin by sight, by sound and by use. Study and practice together show the Lord's will.
Ephesians 5:10
“Proving what is acceptable - By walking in the light - under the influence of the Divine Spirit, according to the dictates of the Gospel, ye shall be able to try, and bring to full proof, that by which God is best pleased. Ye shall be able to please him well in all things.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ephesians 5:11-13
the fruitless deeds of darkness: Expose translates elencho, to expose and convict. So the command goes beyond having no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness to bringing them into the light.
Ephesians 5:11
“And have no fellowship - See the sentiment here expressed fully explained in the notes on 2Co 6:14-18. The unfruitful works - The deeds of darkness that produce no “benefit” to the body or the soul. The word “unfruitful” is used here in contrast with the “fruit of the Spirit,” Eph 5:9. But rather reprove them - By your life, your conversation, and all your influence. This is the business of Christians. Their lives should be a standing rebuke of a sinful world, and they should be ever ready to express their disapprobation of its wickedness in every form.”
3 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:11
“No one is prepared to admonish sinners except one who does not deserve to be called a hypocrite [as with the account in Lk 6:42].… Only those prophets who were themselves unpolluted by any stain of sin were in a position to upbraid others for their wrongdoing. From this we learn that the one who is in the best position to reprimand is the one who cannot himself rightly be reprimanded in turn.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ephesians 5:11patristic
Ephesians 5:11
“Sin is "darkness," and its parent is the prince of darkness (Eph 6:12). Graces, on the other hand, as flourishing in "the light," are reproductive, and abound in fruits; which, as harmoniously combining in one whole, are termed (in the singular) "the FRUIT of the Spirit" (Eph 5:9). rather, &c.--Translate as Greek, "rather even reprove them" (compare Mt 5:14-16).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ephesians 5:11
SINS, especially the grosser vices, are "works of darkness." They delight in concealment. They are not fit to be seen. They flourish in the darkness of the unrenewed heart. They are most fully maintained in the ignorance of a soul that is without the knowledge of the ever-blessed God. They are also works of darkness because those who follow them have a sad life of it, after all—they are not only dark as to knowledge, but they are dark as to comfort as well! There is no true light, no real joy in sin. "The wages of sin is death."
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2401: “The Child of Light and the Works of Darkness” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
what the disobedient do in secret: Clarke connects the secret deeds with the night rites of the Eleusinian and Bacchanalian mysteries, which the Roman senate banished from Italy. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note the contrast of method. Paul describes the fruit of the light in detail and leaves the works of darkness undescribed.
Ephesians 5:12
“The Greek order is, "For the things done in secret by them, it is a shame even to speak of." The "for" gives his reason for "not naming" (compare Eph 5:3) in detail the works of darkness, whereas he describes definitely (Eph 5:9) "the fruit of the light" [BENGEL].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Ephesians 5:12
“For it is a shame even to speak - This no doubt refers to the Eleusinian and Bacchanalian mysteries, which were performed in the night and darkness, and were known to be so impure and abominable, especially the latter, that the Roman senate banished them both from Rome and Italy.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
everything exposed by the light becomes visible: Exposed renders the same verb as the command of verse 11, and Barnes takes it as disclosed. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown draw the implication for believers. Those who are light by 5:8 bring others into the light through consistent lives and faithful reproof, their armor of light in Romans 13:12.
Ephesians 5:13
“But all things that are reproved - Margin, discovered. The word used here properly means proved, demonstrated, reproved, or convicted (see the notes on Joh 16:8); but it seems here to be used in the sense of disclosed, or discovered. The sense is, that “its true nature is demonstrated;” that is, it is made known. Are made manifest by the light - The sense is, “light is the means of seeing what things are. We discern their form, nature, appearance, by it. So it is with the gospel - the light of the world.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ephesians 5:13
“But, says the apostle, you being now light yourselves (Eph 5:8), by bringing to light through reproof those who are in darkness, will convert them to light. Your consistent lives and faithful reproofs will be your "armor of light" (Ro 13:12) in making an inroad on the kingdom of darkness.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
So it is said introduces the saying without naming its source. Some read Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead as Paul's paraphrase of Isaiah 60:1. Others hold it a fragment of an early baptismal hymn or confession already known to the church at Ephesus.
Ephesians 5:14
“Wherefore he saith - It is a matter of doubt and controversy whence this saying is derived. Some think it taken from Isa 26:19: Thy dead men shall live; with my dead body shall they arise; Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust, etc. Others think that it is taken from Isa 60:1-3: Arise, shine; for thy light is come, etc. But these passages neither give the words nor the meaning of the apostle.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:14
“The one who is content with a simple answer will say indeed that Paul must have read this phrase in some arcane prophet or in the writings called apocryphal. He then brought the text into the open, as he manifestly does in other places—not to substantiate the apocryphal texts but in the same way that he makes use of verses elsewhere from Aratus, Epimenides and Menander to substantiate what he says on other occasions.… Someone less content with this simple answer might argue that the apostle said this as an exhortation to penitence.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ephesians 5:14patristic
Ephesians 5:14
“The word "Christ," shows that in quoting the prophecy, he views it in the light thrown on it by its Gospel fulfilment. As Israel is called on to "awake" from its previous state of "darkness" and "death" (Isa 59:10; 60:2), for that her Light is come; so the Church, and each individual is similarly called to awake.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ephesians 5:14
“WE have not time this evening to enter into the question as to where this quotation came from. There does not appear to be one exactly like it in the compass of the Old Testament—but we must remember that the Apostle very frequently quotes the spirit of texts rather than the words of them.”
Redeem the Time; Be Filled With the Spirit
Ephesians 5:15-17
Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk: Redeeming the time uses a market term, buying up the opportunity. The days are evil, and the opportunity will not return unbought.
Ephesians 5:15
“See then that ye walk circumspectly - carefully, anxiously, solicitous lest you fall into sin. The word rendered “circumspectly” - ἀκριβῶς akribōs - means “diligently,” and the idea here is, that they were to take special pains to guard against the temptations around them, and to live as they ought to. Not as fools, but as wise - Not as the people of this world live, indulging in foolish pleasures and desires, but as those who have been taught to understand heavenly wisdom, and who have been made truly wise.”
redeeming the time: Time here is kairos, which Jamieson, Fausset and Brown render the seasonable time, each opportunity for good as it comes. Colossians 4:5 applies the same charge to outsiders. Tertullian reads the verse in a time of persecution as a call to gain time by wisdom, set against flight.
Ephesians 5:16
“With all possible care redeeming the time - Saving all you can for the best purposes; buying every possible moment out of the hands of sin and Satan; out of the hands of sloth, ease, pleasure, worldly business; the more diligently, because the present are evil days, days of the grossest ignorance, immorality, and profaneness.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:16
“Redeeming the time - Εξαγοραζομενοι τον καιρον· Buying up those moments which others seem to throw away; steadily improving every present moment, that ye may, in some measure, regain the time ye have lost. Let time be your chief commodity; deal in that alone; buy it all up, and use every portion of it yourselves. Time is that on which eternity depends; in time ye are to get a preparation for the kingdom of God; if you get not this in time, your ruin is inevitable; therefore, buy up the time.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ephesians 5:16
“Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, has risen. Rise up from the sleep of the age. Walk cautiously and prudently. Cast off folly. Take hold of wisdom. In this way you will be able to avoid changing yourself constantly as you walk through the vicissitudes of the times. Rather you will find a unity within yourself even amid the diversity of the times.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ephesians 5:16patristic
Ephesians 5:16
“Redeeming the time-- (Col 4:5). Greek, "Buying up for yourselves the seasonable time" (whenever it occurs) of good to yourselves and to others. Buying off from the vanities of "them that are without" (Col 4:5), and of the "unwise" (here in Ephesians), the opportune time afforded to you for the work of God.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
understand what the Lord’s will is: Foolish renders aphrones, and Clarke hears an allusion to the frenzied rites of Bacchus, which leads into the warning about wine in verse 18. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown set understanding above bare knowledge. The Lord's will, they add, is sanctification, as 1 Thessalonians 4:3 states.
Ephesians 5:17
“Translate, "foolish," or "senseless." understanding--not merely knowing as a matter of fact (Lu 12:47), but knowing with understanding. the will of the Lord--as to how each opportunity is to be used. The Lord's will, ultimately, is our "sanctification" (1Th 4:3); and that "in every thing," meantime, we should "give thanks" (1Th 5:18; compare above, Eph 5:10).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Ephesians 5:17
“Since, he says, in the present days wicked people prevail, you, as wise ones, should take care not to give them any occasion against yourselves: for in this consists the will of God, to keep yourselves pure, with the preservation of faith as well.”
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Commentary on Ephesianspatristic
Ephesians 5:18-20
be filled with the Spirit: is a present passive imperative, keep on being filled, naming a continuing filling. Always giving thanks closes the string of participles that flow from the one filling.
Ephesians 5:18
“Hence the Apostle says: Do not get drunk with wine... but be filled with the Holy Spirit; for those who are drunk with wine stagger and stumble, but those who are intoxicated in the Spirit are rooted in Christ. And therefore, the excellent drunkenness, which operates the sobriety of the mind.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Sacraments 5.3.17patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:18
“Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess - This is a farther allusion to the Bacchanalian mysteries; in them his votaries got drunk, and ran into all manner of excesses. Plato, though he forbade drunkenness in general, yet allowed that the people should get drunk in the solemnities of that god who invented wine. And indeed this was their common custom; when they had offered their sacrifices they indulged themselves in drunkenness, and ran into all kinds of extravagance.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ephesians 5:18
“So also in ordinary Christians the Spirit dwells not in the mind that seeks the disturbing influences of excitement, but in the well-balanced prayerful mind. Such a one expresses his joy, not in drunken or worldly songs, but in Christian hymns of thankfulness.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ephesians 5:18
“WHILE I was reading to you just now, in the fourth and fifth chapters of Paul's letter to the Ephesian Believers, I could not help feeling that you could little understand the elevation and the purity of the precepts of the Apostle, as they must have appeared to the inhabitants of such a wicked city as Ephesus. When first read, these precepts must have seemed like an unearthly light. We have now a public sentiment which condemns drunkenness, lying, and many other vices which were scarcely considered worthy of censure by that degraded people.”
psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs: Clarke finds the three kinds hard to tell apart. He takes psalms as David's, hymns as praise uttered freely under the Spirit, and songs as composed odes. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explain make music as playing an instrument, and Chrysostom takes singing in the heart as singing with close attention.
Ephesians 5:19
“Spiritual songs may contain a greater variety of matter, doctrinal, prophetical, historical, &c. Observe here, (1.) The singing of psalms and hymns is a gospel ordinance: it is an ordinance of God, and appointed for his glory. (2.) Though Christianity is an enemy to profane mirth, yet it encourages joy and gladness, and the proper expressions of these in the professors of it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:19
“Our hymns declare the strength and majesty of God. They express gratitude for his benefits and his deeds. Our psalms convey this gratitude also, since the word Alleluia is either prefaced or appended to them. Our psalms properly belong to the domain of ethics, teaching us what is to be done and avoided. The domain of the psalms is the body as an instrument of grace. But the domain of the spiritual canticles is the mind.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ephesians 5:19patristic
Ephesians 5:19
“And spiritual songs - On any divine subject. By there being no inspired songs, peculiarly adapted to the Christian dispensation, as there were to the Jewish, it is evident that the promise of the Holy Ghost to believers, in the last days, was by his larger effusion to supply the lack of it. Singing with your hearts - As well as your voice.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
giving thanks to God the Father: For everything, in Wesley's reading, covers adversity as well as prosperity, since all things work together for good. Chrysostom includes disease and poverty. Barnes notes that the Greek can also mean for all people, a reading that calls for thanks for God's mercy to the whole human race.
Ephesians 5:20
“Giving thanks always - God is continually loading you with his benefits; you deserve nothing of his kindness; therefore give him thanks for his unmerited bounties. God and the Father - That is: God, who is your Father, and the Father of mercies. See the observations on the Greek article at the end of this epistle. In the name of our Lord Jesus - He is the only mediator; and through him alone can ye approach to God; and it is for his sake only that God will hear your prayers or receive your praises.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ephesians 5:20
“THE position of our text in the Epistle is worthy of observation. It follows the precept with regard to sacred song in which Believers are bid to speak to themselves and one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in their hearts to the Lord. If they cannot be always singing they are always to maintain the spirit of song. If they must, of necessity, desist at intervals from outward expressions of praise, they ought never to refrain from inwardly giving thanks.”
Submit to one another: continues the participle chain of the filling in verse 18. So this mutual submission is itself a fruit of the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:21
“Submitting yourselves one to another - Maintaining due subordination in the various relations of life. This general principle of religion, the apostle proceeds now to illustrate in reference to wives Eph 5:22-24; to children Eph 6:1-3; and to servants, Eph 6:5-8. At the same time that he enforces this duty of submission, however, he enjoins on others to use their authority in a proper manner, and gives solemn injunctions that there should be no abuse of power.”
2 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:21
“There is a mutual submission that Christians owe one to another, condescending to bear one another's burdens: not advancing themselves above others, nor domineering over one another and giving laws to one another. Paul was an example of this truly Christian temper, for he became all things to all men.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ephesians 5:21
“Let bishops hear this, let priests hear, let every rank of learning get this clear: In the church, leaders are servants. Let them imitate the apostle.… The difference between secular rulers and Christian leaders is that the former love to boss their subordinates whereas the latter serve them. We are that much greater if we are considered least of all.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ephesians 5:21patristic
Husbands, Wives, and the Great Mystery
Ephesians 5:22-24
submit to your husbands as to the Lord: Interpreters divide over how the command to submit to your husbands as to the Lord fits verse 21. Some read a distinct headship, others the same mutual submission applied to the wife.
Ephesians 5:22
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands - As the Lord, viz. Christ, is the head or governor of the Church, and the head of the man, so is the man the head or governor of the woman. This is God’s ordinance, and should not be transgressed. The husband should not be a tyrant, and the wife should not be the governor.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:22
“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands - Unless where God forbids. Otherwise, in all indifferent things, the will of the husband is a law to the wife. As unto the Lord - The obedience a wife pays to her husband is at the same time paid to Christ himself; he being head of the wife, as Christ is head of the church.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Ephesians 5:22
“Those subject ought to submit themselves, of whatever kind their superiors are. "Submit" is the term used of wives: "obey," of children (Eph 6:1), as there is a greater equality between wives and husbands, than between children and parents. as unto the Lord--Submissiveness is rendered by the wife to the husband under the eye of Christ, and so is rendered to Christ Himself.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
of which He is the Savior: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown mark where the comparison stops. Savior belongs to Christ alone here, so verse 24 opens with a word of contrast. Chrysostom explains the title by the way a head keeps its body in health, and Clarke applies the pattern to a husband's protection and provision.
Ephesians 5:23
“The husband is not saviour of the wife, in which particular Christ excels; hence, "But" (Eph 5:24) follows [BENGEL].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Ephesians 5:23
“Whatever there is of uneasiness in this, it is an effect of sin coming into the world. Generally, too, the man has (what he ought to have) a superiority in wisdom and knowledge. He is therefore the head, even as Christ is the head of the church.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
submit to their husbands in everything: Clarke, Barnes and Henry all limit in everything to what is lawful and consistent with duty to God. Clarke names the cases. A husband who is profligate, or who uses his authority to keep his wife from the means of grace, is refused obedience in those things.
Ephesians 5:24
“In every thing - That is, every lawful thing; for it is not intimated that they should obey their husbands in any thing criminal, or in any thing detrimental to the interests of their souls. The husband may be profligate, and may wish his wife to become such also; he may be an enemy to true religion, and use his authority to prevent his wife from those means of grace which she finds salutary to her soul; in none of these things should she obey him.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ephesians 5:25-27
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ: The standard for husbands is a person: Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. So headship is proved by self sacrifice.
Ephesians 5:25
“Husbands, love your wives - The duty of the wife is to obey; the right of the husband is to command. But the apostle would guard against the abuse of that right by enjoining the manifestation of such a spirit on the husband as would secure obedience on the part of the wife.”
2 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:25
“The love of Christ to the church is proposed as an example of this, which love of his is a sincere, a pure, an ardent, and constant affection, and that notwithstanding the imperfections and failures that she is guilty of.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ephesians 5:25
“But that the Church is one, the Holy Spirit declares in the Song of Songs, saying, in the person of Christ, "My dove, my undefiled, is one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her." Concerning which also He says again, "A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring sealed up, a well of living water." But if the spouse of Christ, which is the Church, is a garden enclosed; a thing that is closed up cannot lie open to strangers and profane persons.”
Cyprian · written before 258 · Epistle LXXVpatristic
cleansing her by the washing with water: Clarke and Barnes hear an allusion to the purifying of brides chosen for kings, which Clarke sets at twelve months of oil and spices. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown render the washing as the laver. Chrysostom takes the word as the naming of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in baptism.
Ephesians 5:26
That he might sanctify it through the word - The ordinary channel of all blessings. Having cleansed it - From the guilt and power of sin. By the washing of water - In baptism; if, with "the outward and visible sign," we receive the "inward and spiritual grace."
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:26
“Compare Joh 17:19, meaning, "I devote Myself as a holy sacrifice, that My disciples also may be devoted or consecrated as holy in (through) the truth" [NEANDER] (Heb 2:11; 13:12 see on Heb 10:10). and cleanse--rather, as Greek, "cleansing," without the "and." with the washing of water--rather as Greek, "with," or "by the laver of the water," namely, the baptismal water.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ephesians 5:26
“That he might sanctify and cleanse it - The Church is represented as the spouse of Christ, as the woman is the spouse of the man; and, to prepare this Church for himself, he washes, cleanses, and sanctifies it. There is certainly an allusion here to the ancient method of purifying women, who were appointed to be consorts to kings; twelve months, it appears, were in some instances spent in this purification: Six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors and with other things, for the purifying of women.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
without stain or wrinkle: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown join the verse's two aims. Holiness is glory within, and glory is holiness shining outward, with cleansing the first step toward both. Clarke hears Psalm 45:13 and 14, the royal bride brought to the king in embroidered robes, and places the presentation at the last day.
Ephesians 5:27
“That he may present it to himself - In the last day, when he shall receive the church as his spouse to heaven; Rev 21:9. Perhaps the word “prepare” would better express the sense here than “present” - that he may prepare it for himself as a holy church. Tyndale renders it, “to make it unto himself.” A glorious church - A church full of honor, splendor, beauty. The idea of “shining,” or of being “bright,” would convey the sense here.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ephesians 5:27
“Holiness and glory are inseparable. "Cleansing" is the necessary preliminary to both. Holiness is glory internal; glory is holiness shining forth outwardly.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ephesians 5:28-30
husbands ought to love their wives: as their own bodies, for no one ever hated his own body. The same two verbs, he nourishes and cherishes it, describe what Christ does for the church.
Ephesians 5:28
“Translate, "So ought husbands also (thus the oldest manuscripts read) to love their own (compare Note, see on Eph 5:22) wives as their own bodies." He that loveth his wife loveth himself--So there is the same love and the same union of body between Christ and the Church (Eph 5:30, 32).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
3 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:28
“The wife being made one with her husband (not in a natural, but in a civil and in a relative sense), this is an argument why he should love her with as cordial and as ardent an affection as that which he loves himself.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ephesians 5:28
“As their own bodies - For the woman is, properly speaking, a part of the man; for God made man male and female, and the woman was taken out of his side; therefore is she flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone; and therefore, he that loveth his wife loveth himself, for they two are one flesh. The apostle, in all these verses, refers to the creation and original state of the first human pair.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ephesians 5:28
“As their own bodies - That is, as themselves. He that loveth his wife loveth himself - Which is not a sin, but an indisputable duty.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
he nourishes and cherishes it: Nourishes, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note, means rearing up to maturity. Tertullian turns the verse against Marcion, who denied the flesh its resurrection. Christ's care for the church shows a love for the flesh, and a husband's care preserves and honors his wife in the same way.
Ephesians 5:29
“How much honour is given to the flesh in the name of the church! "No man," says the apostle, "ever yet hated his own flesh" (except, of course, Marcion alone), "but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord doth the Church." But you are the only man that hates his flesh, for you rob it of its resurrection.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Marcion Book Vpatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:29
“For no man ever yet hated his own flesh - This is urged as an argument why a man should love his wife and show kindness to her. As no man disregards the happiness of his own body, or himself, so he should show equal care to promote the happiness of his wife. A sentiment similar to this is found in the classic writers. Thus, Curtius (lib. vii.) says, “Corporibus nostris quoe utique non odimus” - “We do not hate those things that pertain to our own bodies.” So Seneca (Epis.”
Ephesians 5:29
“For--Supply, and we all love ourselves: "For no man," &c. his own flesh-- (Eph 5:31, end). nourisheth--Greek, "nourisheth it up," namely, to maturity.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
For we are members of His body: The Berean text ends at His body; the longer text of Chrysostom and Barnes adds Adam's words over Eve in Genesis 2:23. Irenaeus cites it to show that flesh nourished by the Lord's body and blood is a member of him. Clarke grounds membership in Christ's sharing of human nature.
Ephesians 5:30
When, therefore, the mingled cup and the manufactured bread receives the Word of God, and the Eucharist of the blood and the body of Christ is made, from which things the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they affirm that the flesh is incapable of receiving the gift of God, which is life eternal, which [flesh] is nourished from the body and blood of the Lord, and is a member of Him?-even as the blessed Paul declares in his Epistle to the Ephesians, that "we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His…
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies (Book V, Chapter 2), Section 3patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:30
“We are members of his body - He has partaken of our nature, as we have partaken of the nature of Adam. And as he is the head of the Church and the Savior of this body; so we, being members of the Church, are members of his mystical body. That is, we are united to him by one Spirit in the closest intimacy, even similar to that which the members have with the body.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ephesians 5:30
“He assigns this as a reason why Christ nourishes and cherishes his church--because all who belong to it are members of his body, that is, of his mystical body. Or, we are members out of his body: all the grace and glory which the church has are from Christ, as Eve was taken out of the man.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ephesians 5:30
For we - The reason why Christ nourishes and cherishes the church is, that close connection between them which is here expressed in the words of Moses, originally spoken concerning Eve. Are members - Are as intimately united to Christ, in a spiritual sense, as if we were literally "flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone."
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
leave his father and mother: Paul quotes Genesis 2:24 outright, the founding text of marriage. For this reason reaches back to the body language just used of Christ and the church.
Ephesians 5:31
“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother,.... These words contain the law of marriage, and are cited from Gen 2:24; and declare what ought to be, and are a prophecy of what should be; and are observed against polygamy, and to stir up mutual affection; See Gill on Mat 19:5.”
2 more voices on this verse
Ephesians 5:31
“In natural marriage, husband and wife combine the elements of one perfect human being: the one being incomplete without the other. So Christ, as God-man, is pleased to make the Church, the body, a necessary adjunct to Himself, the Head. He is the archetype of the Church, from whom and according to whom, as the pattern, she is formed.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ephesians 5:31
“The same allegorical interpretation applies both to Christ and to the church, that Adam is to prefigure Christ and Eve the church. For "the last Adam was made a lifegiving spirit." Just as the whole human race is born from Adam and his wife, so the whole multitude of believers has been born of Christ and the church.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ephesians 5:31patristic
Cross references
Ephesians 5:31
- QuotingGenesis 2:24“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”
'They two shall be one flesh' (marriage as Christ and the church)
ConnectionsGenesis 2:24
This mystery is profound: Musterion names a secret once hidden and now published, and this is its fifth appearance in the letter after 1:9, 3:3, 3:4 and 3:9. Paul now names what marriage carried from the beginning: I am speaking about Christ and the church.
Ephesians 5:32
“Rather, "This mystery is a great one." This profound truth, beyond man's power of discovering, but now revealed, namely, of the spiritual union of Christ and the Church, represented by the marriage union, is a great one, of deep import.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Ephesians 5:32
“This is a great mystery - Το μυστηριον τουτο μεγα εστιν· This mystery is great. Sacramentum hoc magnum est; this sacrament is great. - Vulgate. And on the evidence of this version the Church of Rome has made matrimony a sacrament, which, as they use it, is no meaning of the original. By mystery, here, we may understand a natural thing by which some spiritual matter is signified, which signification the Spirit of God alone can give.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
must love his wife as he loves himself: Respect translates phobetai, the root behind the reverence for Christ in verse 21. So wife and husband alike take one Spirit shaped posture.
Ephesians 5:33
“Nevertheless - The apostle here resumes the subject which he had been discussing in Eph 5:21-29, and says that it was the duty of every man to love his wife as he did himself. This was the main topic, from which he had been diverted by the discussion respecting the love which the Redeemer had shown for his church. And the wife see that she reverence her husband - The word “see” is supplied by our translators.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ephesians 5:33
“Nevertheless--not to pursue further the mystical meaning of marriage. Translate, as Greek, "Do ye also (as Christ does) severally each one so love," &c. The words, "severally each one," refer to them in their individual capacity, contrasted with the previous collective view of the members of the Church as the bride of Christ.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
How this psalm is built
The form: A call to imitate God that continues the end of chapter 4, so closely joined to it that the chapter break divides one subject, as Calvin classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Light and darkness | The words light and darkness stand seven times in the Berean text of verses 8 to 13, and the section closes in verse 14 with a call to wake and let Christ shine. Wesley sets the fruit of the light in verse 9 against the fruitless deeds of darkness in verse 11.John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on Ephesians 5:9. | Ephesians 5:8, Ephesians 5:9, Ephesians 5:11, Ephesians 5:13, Ephesians 5:14 |
| Wise and unwise | Verses 15 to 17 set the wise against the unwise and the foolish against those who understand the Lord's will, three contrasts in three verses. The section follows the walk in light and leads into the command to be filled with the Spirit.The Berean text of Ephesians 5, counted from the store, The verses table, translation id 3, Ephesians 5:15 to 17. | Ephesians 5:15, Ephesians 5:17 |
| As Christ and the church | The word church stands six times in the Berean text of verses 23 to 32, and each command to husbands and wives is set beside what Christ does for the church. Augustine reads the pattern as an example drawn for wives from the church and for husbands from Christ.Augustine of Hippo, On Continence 23, on Ephesians 5:28. | Ephesians 5:23, Ephesians 5:25, Ephesians 5:29, Ephesians 5:32 |
The structure
5 more paragraphs on the patterns
Verses 1 and 2 finish the teaching of 4:25 to 32, and Calvin holds that the chapter break divides parts of one subject (Commentaries, on Ephesians 5:1). Verses 3 to 14 set light against darkness, and verses 15 to 20 set wisdom against folly and drink against the Spirit. Verse 21 calls all to submit to one another and opens the household code, which runs from 5:22 to 6:9. Verses 22 to 33 speak to wives and husbands, and the code continues with children, fathers, slaves and masters in chapter 6.
The debate: where verse 14 comes from
Verse 14 is introduced as something said, and no Old Testament verse matches it word for word. Charles Spurgeon holds that Paul often quotes the spirit of texts rather than their words (The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 716, on Ephesians 5:14). Matthew Henry points to Isaiah 60 as the passage it expresses (Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Ephesians 5:14). Each position is stated by its holder and the page settles neither.
Where the chapter reaches
Verse 31 quotes Genesis 2:24, the first word on marriage in Scripture, and verse 32 names it a mystery about Christ and the church. The word mystery carries the reader back to 3:3 to 9 and forward to 6:19. The fragrant offering of verse 2 draws on the sacrifices of Leviticus.
Keep studying
Studies18
Words12
Subjects1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The context
Charles Hodge, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians and J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon.
The form and classifications
Augustine of Hippo, On Continence 23, on Ephesians 5:28; Jerome, Commentary on Ephesians, on Ephesians 5:31 and John Calvin, Commentaries, on Ephesians 5:1.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Irenaeus, Against Heresies (Book V, Chapter 2), Section 3; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin; John Chrysostom; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Tertullian.