Ephesians 5

Chap. V. Ver. 1—33. Exhortations to Christian virtues and domestic duties.—Doddridge joins to this chapter the two last verses of the preceding, and not without reason; for when the apostle exhorts the Ephesians to be followers, or imitators, of God as dear children, it hath a peculiar reference to the divine virtue of forgiveness; in which we are called upon to imitate the gratuitous mercy of God in pardoning us, by freely forgiving one another, even without those compensations which the world are in the habit of expecting and exacting. And it is remarkable, that we are to take our example, not only from the freeness of the Father’s mercy, but, also from the infinite extent of the Saviour’s love.

“Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and given himself for us.” So the Apostle John: “Hereby perceive we the love of God, [i. e. of Christ,] because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 John iii. 16.) The apostle then proceeds to warn the Ephesians against uniting with the heathen in any of the unfruitful works of darkness, among which he includes the profane mysteries, and riotous, and lascivious indulgences of idolatry. From this state of spiritual sloth and darkness, he calls upon them to awake and to arise, that they might receive the beams of light from heaven—“Christ shall give thee light.” Among the precepts here enumerated, on two only shall we offer an observation.

1. On “Redeeming the time.” An Italian philosopher chose a motto, importing that time was his estate: but alas! like other estates, time may be lost, and require redemption; but the redemption of it is precious, and it demands many sacrifices to redeem it; we must sacrifice our ease, our comfort, and our pleasure: and this, if not accomplished in the present life, is hopeless, and “ceaseth for ever!” We have to redeem the time that has been lost in the vanity of childhood, in the follies of youth, and in the sins of riper years. 2. We are to guard against a farther waste of time, by avoiding all those vain amusements and convivial indulgences which secularize and debase the mind. Instead of the song of the drunkard and the debauchee, we are to cheer and animate each other by “Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs;” either those provided for us in the sacred Scriptures, or others composed on the same principles. We do not mean to recommend the introduction of Psalmody into mixed and promiscuous meetings, either of business or friendship; yet we cannot but think, that “Hymns to Christ,” such as Pliny says the primitive Christians used to sing in their private meetings, would at any time better become Christians, than “Jolly Bacchus,” or “Glorious Apollo.” The last verses of the chapter relate to the conjugal relation, and its domestic duties; and the apostle lays it down as an incontestable duty, that every Christian husband should love his wife, “even as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it;” and wherever such a husband can be found, who loves his wife well enough to die for her, surely such a man must be reverenced, and there can be no pardoning in submitting to [her]. The relation between Christ and his church is in perfect analogy to that between Jehovah and his people Israel: “Thy Maker is thy husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” ((Isaiah 54:5).) Hence the sin of apostacy, under both dispensations, is considered and punished as adultery.

Notes on the verses

Chap. V. Ver. 1. Followers.—Gr. ‘Imitators.’ So Doddridge. Ver. 2. An offering and a sacrifice.—Bates thinks that these terms refer to the peace-offerings and sin-offerings of the Jews. Ver. 3, All uncleanness.—In the English idiom, “Every kind of uncleanness.”——Or covetousness.—Doddridge, “insatiable desire;” which may include not only the avaricious, but the lustful. Ver. 8. Sometimes darkness—i. e. very dark. Ver. 17. Unwise.—Literally, “Insane.” See Macknight. Ver. 18. Wherein is excess.—Not only of intoxication, but also riot. See 1 Peter iv. 4. Ver. 19. Psalms.—{Psalms, from psallo, to touch, or play on a musical instrument, properly denotes such sacred songs or poems, as are sung to stringed instruments, and may here refer to those of David; hymns, from do, to sing, celebrate, praise, signifies songs in honour of God; and songs, from aeido, to sing, denotes any regular poetic composition adapted to singing, and is here restricted to those which are spiritual.

—Bagster. Ver. 20, Unto God—Doddridge, “Even”—the Father Ver. 23. He is the saviour of the body.—This, we apprehend, refers to the husband as well as to Christ. He is the head of the wife, and the saviour of the body; i. e. it is the duty of the husband not only to govern, but to protect the wife, even at the risk of his own life: and if it be the duty of husbands to “lay down their lives for the brethren,” (as St. John says,) surely it is the duty of the husband to lay down his life for his wife, in a similar case.