Ephesians 5:10
in Ephesians 5Test and prove what pleases the Lord.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
proving what is well-pleasing unto the Lord;
KJV
Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
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This verse in Ephesians 5
Commentary
12 notes on this verseProving 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.
This site's exposition
you were once darkness
on Ephesians 5:8-10
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.
This site's exposition
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.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
From the abundance of his holiness and goodness it is possible to know what works delight God. … In his holiness we are purified. In his mercy we are brought to full and perfect righteousness.
A commentator
Theodoret of CyrusInterpretation of the Epistle to the Ephesians 5.10 · Written before 458.
proposed
You share in the Word. You have received the grace of the Holy Spirit. Now you are made able to discern what is pleasing to God.
"In all goodness," he says: this is opposed to the angry, and the bitter: "and righteousness"; this to the covetous: "and truth"; this to false pleasure: not those former things, he says, which I was mentioning, but their opposites. "In all"; that is, the fruit of the Spirit ought to be evinced in everything. "Proving what is well-pleasing unto the Lord"; so that those things are tokens of a childish and imperfect mind.
The Medieval Church2 voices
To discern is the task of the mature, who are able to judge. Therefore, it is characteristic only of an immature and ignorant understanding to choose what is not pleasing to the Lord, such as the aforementioned passions.
Then he discloses with what intention the actions should be performed. For they should not be done abruptly but with proving, that is, discerning with one's mind—"Let everyone prove his own work," as Galatians 6 (4) expresses it—what is well pleasing to God, that is, …
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), examining and searching diligently what God has revealed to be his will, and making it appear that you approve it by conforming yourselves to it." Observe, We must not only dread and avoid that which is displeasing to God, but enquire and consider what will be acceptable to him, searching the scriptures with this view, thus keeping at the greatest distance from these sins.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Proving--construed with "walk" (Eph 5:8; As we prove a coin by the eye and the ear, and by using it, so by accurate and continued study, and above all by practice and experimental trial, we may prove or test "what is acceptable unto the Lord." This is the office of "light," of which believers are "children," to manifest what each thing is, whether sightly or unsightly.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord - That is,” Walk as children of light Eph 5:8, thus showing what is acceptable to the Lord.” Rosenmuller supposes that the participle is used here instead of the imperative. The meaning is, that by so living you will make a fair trial of what is acceptable to the Lord. The result on your happiness in this life and the next, will be such as to show that such a course is pleasing in his sight. Dr. Chandler, however, renders it as meaning that by this course they would show that they discerned and approved of what was acceptable to the Lord. See the notes on Rom 12:2, where a similar form of expression occurs.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| δοκιμάζοντες | dokimazontes | discerning | G1381 → | |
| τί | ti | what | G5101 → | 563 times |
| ἐστιν | estin | is | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| εὐάρεστον | euareston | well-pleasing | G2101 → | |
| τῷ | to | to the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| κυρίῳ. | kurio | Lord. | G2962 → | 711 times |
δοκιμάζοντεςdiscerning
dokimazontesG1381 →
τίwhat
tiG5101 →563 times
ἐστινis
estinG1510 →2333 times
εὐάρεστονwell-pleasing
euarestonG2101 →
τῷto the
toG3588 →19766 times
κυρίῳ.Lord.
kurioG2962 →711 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
Psalms 19:14May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
it leads to
- Psalms 104:34
May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the LORD.
- Psalms 51:15
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.
- Psalms 119:108
Accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me Your judgments.
- 1 Peter 2:5
you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
- Psalms 66:18–20
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
- Psalms 104:34
Through
1 Peter 2:5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
it leads to
- Ephesians 2:20–22
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
- 1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- 1 Corinthians 3:9
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
- Ephesians 2:20–22
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies16
About Ephesians
This page draws on 11 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); Ambrosiaster, EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 5.10; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Ephesians 18; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theodoret of Cyrus, Interpretation of the Epistle to the Ephesians 5.10; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Ephesians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Ephesians.