Context No. 3129 of 4322 · Ephesians
Context · Reflection
Ephesians 5:6-14: in context
6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. 7Therefore don’t be partakers with them. 8For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, 9for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, 10proving what is well pleasing to the Lord. 11Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them. 12For it is a shame even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13But all things, when they are reproved, are revealed by the light, for everything that reveals is light. 14Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Paul warns against being deceived by empty words, and then names a change of identity: you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; so walk as children of light, whose fruit is all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness, but rather expose them, for the light makes everything visible. Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
The key is the shift in identity. Not merely that you were in darkness and are now in light, but you were darkness, and now you are light in the Lord. Our behavior is meant to flow from what we now are, so, walk as children of light. The works of darkness are to be not shared but exposed, because light, by its very nature, reveals; a light-filled life shows up the darkness around it simply by shining. And the closing call is a wake-up: rise from the sleep of the old life, and Christ himself will shine on you.
Do I live out my new identity as a child of light, letting my life shine in a way that exposes darkness rather than sharing in it?
Sources
- Ephesians 5:8: "For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light."
- Ephesians 5:14: "Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."
- 1 Thessalonians 5:5: "You are all children of light, and children of the day. We don't belong to the night."