Ephesians 5:16
in Ephesians 5redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
KJV
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
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This verse in Ephesians 5
Commentary
14 notes on this verseChrist, 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.
This site's exposition
walk circumspectly
on Ephesians 5:15-17
Circumspectly translates akribos, exactly, the word for a careful accountant checking every entry, and it names the fifth beat of the walk thread. Redeeming the time uses a market term, buying up the opportunity, because the days are evil and the opportunity will not return unbought. Understanding what the will of the Lord is stands opposite the fool of verse 15, who acts without asking what is wise.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
But when he urges us not to give place to evil, he does not offer the suggestion that we should take to our heels, he only teaches that passion should be kept under restraint; and if he says that the time must be redeemed, because the days are evil, he wishes us to gain a lengthening of life, not by flight, but by wisdom.
It is not from any wish that you should be artful, and versatile, that he gives this advice. But what he means is this. The time is not yours. At present ye are strangers, and sojourners, and foreigners, and aliens; seek not honors, seek not glory, seek not authority, nor revenge; bear all things, and in this way, "redeem the time"; give up many things, anything they may require. Imagine now, I say, a man had a magnificent house, and persons were to make their way in, on purpose to murder him, and he were to give a large sum, and thus to rescue himself. Then we should say, he has redeemed himself. So also hast thou a large house, and a true faith in thy keeping. They will come to take all away. Give whatever they may demand, only preserve the principal thing, I mean the faith.
What is the evil of the day? The evil of the day ought to belong to the day. What is the evil of a body? Disease. And what again the evil of the soul? Wickedness. What is the evil of water? Bitterness. And the evil of each particular thing, is with reference to that nature of it which is affected by the evil. If then there is an evil in the day, it ought to belong to the day, to the hours, to the day-light. So also Christ saith, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matt. vi. 34.) And from this expression we shall understand the other. In what sense then does he call "the days evil"? In what sense the "time" evil? It is not the essence of the thing, not the things as so created, but it is the things transacted in them. In the same way as we are in the habit of saying, "I have passed a disagreeable and wretched day." And yet how could it be disagreeable, except from the circumstances which took place in it? Now the events which take place in it are, good things from God, but evil things from bad men. So then of the evils which happen in the times, men are the creators, and hence it is that the times are said to be evil. And thus we also call the times evil.
A commentator
Desert FathersThe Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks · Written before 500.
proposed
A hermit said, 'If you lose gold or silver, you can find something as good as you lost. But the man who loses time can never make up what he has lost.'
The Medieval Church1 voice
He does not teach us craftiness, but since, he says, the time is not yours and you are sojourners, strangers, and outsiders, do not seek honor and glory, nor vengeance, but endure all things and by this redeem the time; give up everything, whatever may …
7 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
He explains the necessity of this precaution when he says redeeming the time, which can be interpreted in two ways. On certain occasions a man redeems his property by offering a gift or something else for it; for instance, someone is said to compensate for …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
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.
Redeeming the time,....
It is a great part of Christian wisdom to redeem the time. Good Christians must be good husbands of their time, and take care to improve it to the best of purposes, by watching against temptations, by doing good while it is in the power of their hands, and by filling it up with proper employment--one special preservative from sin.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
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.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Redeeming the time - The word rendered here as “redeeming,” means “to purchase; to buy up” from the possession or power of anyone; and then to redeem, to set free - as from service or bondage; notes, Gal 3:13. Here it means, to rescue or recover our time from waste; to improve it for great and important purposes. Because the days are evil - Because the times in which you live are evil. There are many allurements and temptations that would lead you away from the proper improvement of time, and that would draw you into sin. Such were those that would tempt them to go to places of sinful indulgence and revelry where their time would be wasted, and worse than wasted. As these temptations abounded, they ought therefore to be more especially on their guard against a sinful and unprofitable waste of time. This exhortation may be addressed to all, and is applicable to all periods. The sentiment is, that we ought to be solicitous to improve our time to some useful purpose, because “there are, in an evil world, so many temptations to waste it.” Time is given us for most valuable purposes. There are things enough to be done to occupy it all, and no one need have it hang heavy on his hands. He that has a soul to be saved from eternal death, need not have one idle moment. He that has a heaven to win, has enough to do to occupy all his time. Man has just enough given him to accomplish all the purposes which God designs, and God has not given him more than enough. […]
The words behind it
8 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἐξαγοραζόμενοι | exagorazomenoi | redeeming | G1805 → | |
| τὸν | ton | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| καιρόν, | kairon | time, | G2540 → | 84 times |
| ὅτι | hoti | because | G3754 → | 1292 times |
| αἱ | hai | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἡμέραι | hemerai | days | G2250 → | 389 times |
| πονηραί | ponerai | evil | G4190 → | 78 times |
| εἰσιν. | eisin | are. | G1510 → | 2333 times |
ἐξαγοραζόμενοιredeeming
exagorazomenoiG1805 →
τὸνthe
tonG3588 →19766 times
καιρόν,time,
kaironG2540 →84 times
ὅτιbecause
hotiG3754 →1292 times
αἱthe
haiG3588 →19766 times
ἡμέραιdays
hemeraiG2250 →389 times
πονηραίevil
poneraiG4190 →78 times
εἰσιν.are.
eisinG1510 →2333 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ephesians 6:13Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 10:4
The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
- Luke 21:36
So keep watch at all times, and pray that you may have the strength to escape all that is about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
- Ephesians 6:11–17
Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.
- 2 Corinthians 10:4
Through
Ecclesiastes 12:1Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come and the years approach of which you will say, “I find no pleasure in them,”
it leads to
- Lamentations 3:27
It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
- Ecclesiastes 11:8
So if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. But let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything to come is futile.
- Psalms 71:17–18
O God, You have taught me from my youth, and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds.
- Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
- Lamentations 3:27
Through
Colossians 4:5Act wisely toward outsiders, redeeming the time.
it leads to
- Ephesians 5:15–17
Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
- Ephesians 5:15–17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Ephesians
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Desert Fathers, The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ephesians 5:16; John Chrysostom, Homily on Ephesians 19; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Tertullian, On Flight in Persecution; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Ephesians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Ephesians.