Ephesians 5
v.2
and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Christ sacrificed himself by “love,” and that sacrifice was acceptable to God. So do you show love one to another. Sacrifice everything which opposes it. and it will be acceptable to God. He will approve nil which is designed to promote love, as he approved the sacrifice which was made, under the influence of love, by his Son.
v.3
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.
The covetous man, according to Paul, is to be ranked with the sensual, and with idolaters Ephesians 5:5, and with those who are entirely excluded from the kingdom of God.
Who is a covetous man? A man who, in the pursuit of gold, neglects his soul, his intellect, and his heart. A man who, in this insatiable pursuit, is regardless of justice, truth, charity, faith, prayer, peace, comfort, usefulness, conscience; and who shall say that there is any vice more debasing or degrading than this?
As Christians, we are capable of sin and failure, but we should never be passive about it. When we’re convicted of sin, as believers, we ought to confess it and seek to rid ourselves of it v 9.
The need for believers to hold each other accountable is not about being judgmental. It’s a matter of the health of the entire church. Paul calls a pure church “proper among saints.” Paul sought to avoid the kinds of problems experienced in Corinth (1 Corinthians 5). There, sexual immorality was tolerated in the church and caused problems for the entire congregation. Striking a balance between fellowship and purity can be difficult, but it is necessary.
v.4
Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.
It means that kind of talk which is insipid, senseless, stupid, foolish; which is not suited to instruct, edify, profit - the idle “chitchat” which is so common in the world. The meaning is, that Christians should aim to have their conversation sensible, serious, sincere - remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, “that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment;” v 36.
But levity and jesting, though often manifested by ministers and other Christians, are as inconsistent with true dignity as with the gospel. Where were they seen in the conversation of the Redeemer? Where in the writings of Paul?
They are redeemed - not to make sport; purchased with precious blood - for other purposes than to make people laugh. They are soon to be in heaven - and a man who has any impressive sense of that will habitually feel that he has much else to do than to make people laugh. The true course of life is midway between moroseness and levity; sourness and lightness; harshness and jesting. Be benevolent, kind, cheerful, bland, courteous, but serious. Be solemn, thoughtful, deeply impressed with the presence of God and with eternal things, but pleasant, affable, and benignant. Think not a smile sinful; but think not levity and jesting harmless.
It is much more appropriate to the character of Christians to come together to sing praises to God, than to sing songs; to pray than to jest; to converse of the things of redemption than to tell anecdotes, and to devote the time to a contemplation of the world to come, than to trifles and nonsense.
Lord, help me. I struggle so much with this. Have mercy on me, for I am a sinner. I have spoken many careless words.
v.5
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
v.6-7
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7Therefore do not be partners with them.
v.10
and find out what pleases the Lord.
But we all know, from our own happy human experience, that no motive which can be brought to bear upon men is stronger, when there are loving hearts concerned, than this simple one, ‘Do it to please me.’ And that is what Jesus Christ really says. That is no piece of mere sentiment, brethren, nor of mere pulpit rhetoric. That is the deepest thought of Christian morality, and is the distinctive peculiarity which gives the morality of the New Testament its clear supremacy over all other.
Our miseries come from our unbridled wills, far more than from our sensitive organisations. It is because we do not accept providences that providences hurt. It is because we do not accept the commandments that the commandments are burdensome. Those who have no will, except as it is vitalised by God’s will, have found the secret of blessedness, and have entered into rest. In the measure in which we approximate to that condition, our wills will be strengthened as well as our hearts set at ease.
v.11
Have nothing to do withthe fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose 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.
v.12
For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
v.15
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,
v.16
making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
v.17
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
v.18
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit.
v.19
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,
v.20
always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
v.21
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
v.22
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
v.23
For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
v.24
Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
v.25
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
v.26
to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
v.27
and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
v.28-30
In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church—30for we are members of his body.
Paul was teaching when he said, “Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies… For no man hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the Church, because we are members of His body, made from his flesh and His bones.” We all know that Eve came from the side of Adam himself. Scripture has told this plainly, that God put Adam into a deep sleep and took one of his ribs, and fashioned the woman. But how can we show that the Church also came from the side of Christ? Scripture explains this too. When Christ was lifted up on the cross, after He had been nailed to it and had died, one of the soldiers pierced His side and there came out blood and water. From that blood and water the whole Church has arisen. He Himself bears witness to this when He says, “Unless one is born again of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” We receive birth and from the water of baptism, and we are nourished by His blood. Do you see how we are made from His flesh and from His bones, as we are given birth and nourished by that blood and water? Just as the woman was fashioned while Adam slept, so also, when Christ had died, the Church was formed from His side.
v.31
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
v.32
This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.
v.33
However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.