Ephesians 5

— bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.] The care of giving instruction to children usually belongs, in a peculiar degree, to their parents; who, having been the means of bringing them into the world, are most strongly bound to endeavour that their being may prove a benefit, not a cause of lamentation to them; and having been endued by Heaven with tender affections towards them, will be doubly sinners against them, if they are guilty of that worst of cruelty, not teaching them their duty; without which also, and it deserves a very serious consideration, they can no more hope for comfort in them here, than for acceptance with God hereafter. And therefore, both the Old Testament directed the Jews to teach their children diligently the words of God, Deut. vi. 6, 7; and the New enjoins Christians to bring up theirs in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Sometimes indeed want of leisure, sometimes of knowledge and ability, oblongs parents to commit part, it may be a considerable one, of the instruction of their children to other persons. But far from being ever discharged of the whole burden, they must always remember, that unless they assist and enforce what others endeavour, it will seldom produce any valuable effect; and much less, if some of the things which their children hear them say, and see them do almost every day, are directly contrary to those, which they pretend they would have them believe and learn. Abp. Secker.

Ephesians 5:2

2. And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, &c.] Not content with the single example of the love of God the Father in forgiving us, the Apostle proposes for our pattern that also of God the Son, in offering Himself a sacrifice, thereby to purchase this forgiveness for us. Dean Stanhope.

— [for a sweetsmelling savour.] The Greek phrase in this place is very frequently used by the Seventy for the Hebrew phrase, which is often applied to the Patriarchal and Levitical sacrifices. See Gen. viii. 21; Exod. xix. 18; Lev. i. 9, 13, 17; and many other passages. Parkhurst. It was applied to the sin-offering, Lev. iv. 31, as well as to the burnt-offering, Gen. viii. 21. It denotes the acceptableness of these offerings to God. Dr. Macknight.

2. — which is the first commandment with promise:] That is, a special promise: for that, which is annexed to the second commandment, is rather a general assertion than a special promise. Dr. Whitby.

Ephesians 5:3

3. But fornication, &c.] In this and the following verses the Apostle exhorts the Ephesians to shun several sins, which were frequently practised among the unconverted Gentiles. As first “fornication,” and all sorts and degrees of “uncleanness,” which was regarded with great indifference by heathens. Next he admonishes them to beware of “covetousness,” that is, all irregular and inordinate desires and lusting after things forbidden in general, and particularly an insatiable love of riches, which in trading cities, such as Ephesus, usually much abounds. These sins he earnestly exhorts may not be “named amongst them;” not named with approbation, or without reprehension; much more not to be practised. Burkitt. “Not named” with allowance; “not named” with any extenuation; “not named,” but with some detestation. Bp. Sanderson.

St. Paul here directs, that “fornication and all uncleanness be not once named amongst Christians.” And the less they are named, even to caution against them, the better: provided it be well understood and considered, that they not only fill the lives of those who are guilty of them, and of others, with a variety of temporal sufferings, too commonly experienced; but fatally indispose them to the love of God and virtue, and disqualify them for the spiritual happiness of the world to come. Therefore, “dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims,” whose chief interest has not here, but in another state, “abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul,” 1 Pet. ii. 11. All ranks, both sexes, how strangely soever multitudes of one seem to forget it, are equally bound by this restraint; bound to avoid every thing likely to misguide their

hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

3. That it may be well with thee, &c.] St. Paul seems to have thought, that the promise of long life to obedient children, was not cancelled by the clearer promises of eternal life under the Christian revelation. He says not, “that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee;” that belonged only to the children of Israel: but he says, “that thou mayest live long on the earth;” intimating that every person who should fulfil the precept, had a title to the reward. Dr. Jortin.

Ephesians 5:4

4. — [nor foolish talking, nor jesting.] That these words are to be understood of obscene and filthy discourse, is probable, both from the vices mentioned in the preceding verse, with which they are connected, and from the reason given in the next for abandoning them. In Scripture language it is usual to express uncleanness by “folly:” and the word, rendered “jesting,” has the signification of filthy or obscene speaking. The clause following, “which are not convenient,” imports, not barely things not becoming, but things indecent, foul, highly unbecoming: a term especially appropriate to immodest behaviour. Dr. Hammond. See Rom. i. 28, and the note there.

5. — provoke not your children to wrath:] By severe

Ephesians 5:5

5. — [covetous man, who is an idolater.] Any thing that has our highest esteem and regard, and is the special object of our hope, our trust, and our care, this we make our God: thus the covetous man is an idolater. Burkitt.

6. Let no man deceive you with vain words: As if these things might be consistent with the favour of God. Such cautions were not unnecessary. Among the heathens these vices were not only held indifferent, as appears from the writings of their most grave philosophers; but in many nations the laws allowed and provided for them, and in all places they connived at them. Hence even in the church of Corinth some had taught this doctrine. See 1 Cor. vi. 13. Dr. Whitby. The Apostle is the more urgent upon this subject, because the heathens avowedly practised these things even in the temples, as acts of worship which rendered them acceptable to their gods. See the note on Rom. i. 27. How different from heathenism is the Gospel, which teaches that they, who continue in these vices, shall be for ever excluded from the presence and kingdom of God! Dr. Macknight.

7. — in singleness of your heart,] With all diligence and sincerity, “as unto Christ,” who sees the heart, and is the author of this command. Dr. Hammond.

Ephesians 5:6

6. Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers:] It is the

Ephesians 5:8

8. For ye were sometimes darkness, &c.] For consider how your circumstances are changed from a state of ignorance to one of clear knowledge in Jesus and His Gospel: and let your practice be such as becomes this knowledge. Dean Stanhope.

Ephesians 5:9

9. [For the fruit of the Spirit] By whom you are enlightened. Dr. Whitby.

Paul exhorteth to walk warily, and to be filled with the Spirit.

Ephesians 5:10

10. Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.] “Proving” it first, by means of the Gospel and other Scriptures; and then practising it. Dr. Wells.

Ephesians 5:11

11. And have no fellowship] By this is meant a great deal more than not living in the habit, or under the power, of these works; nay, or even then not complying with the temptations to them, and not committing them in our own persons. It means that we must declare our dislike and abhorrence of them, and employ all fit means of putting them to shame. Dean Stanhope.

— unfruitful works of darkness.] Not merely unprofitable, but, as the best Greek and Roman writers use similar expressions, works extremely wicked, hurtful, and pernicious. Parkhurst. See ver. 4.

— but rather reprove them.] Endeavour to expose their wickedness, and make the perpetrators ashamed of them. Pyle.

Ephesians 5:13

13. But all things that are reproved &c.] That is, which are discovered to be such as ought to be reproved, &c. Dr. Wells. The meaning is, that as light is that which renders every object clearly visible to the eye, so has the Christian religion demonstrated the vileness of these practices, and their danger to the minds of all that embrace them. Pyle.

Ephesians 5:14

14. Wherefore he saith, &c.] So that to this good effect may not unfitly be applied those passages of the Prophet Isaiah, chap. xxvi. 19; lx. 1; which describe the coming and kingdom of Christ, as means of raising men from death; rousing them from sleep, and bringing them out of a thick night of error, and ignorance, and vice, into the bright sunshine of knowledge and virtue. Dean Stanhope. These lively and animating words seem to be an evangelical paraphrase of that passage in the Prophet Isaiah, which is a spiritual application of the most beautiful and magnificent image in nature, the rising of the sun upon the earth, with its effects and consequences: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” Bp. Horne.

Ephesians 5:16

16. Redeeming the time.] Redeeming, buying, gaining the time is, 1st, endeavouring to make amends for past negligence; but this seems not the Apostle’s meaning: for he speaketh of present or imminent evil times: 2dly, using all prudent artifices and circumspection to preserve and redeem themselves from evil times; that is, either the snares and achievements of wicked company, or dangers of persecution for reproving them; so Dan. ii. 8, gaining time is saving themselves from danger: 3dly, seeking all opportunities of doing as much good as you can in this short and evil time. Bp. Full.

The wisdom or circumspection, required by St. Paul in this place, though it may very well be understood of Christian prudence in its utmost extent, is yet by very eminent interpreters presumed to bear a more especial regard to the circumstances of the converts from heathenism: and “the evil days” to intimate those dangers and temptations more particularly, to which the Ephesians were exposed by the enemies and persecutors of Christianity, who took every advantage of any imprudence in the professors of it. Dean Stanhope.

Ephesians 5:17

17. Wherefore be ye not unwise, &c.] Remember therefore, that though it be the will of God you should firmly adhere to your Christian principles, and labour to bring others over to them; yet it is not His will that you should indiscreetly lay yourselves open to their obstinate malice and rage. Pyle.

Ephesians 5:18

18. — wherein is excess;] Or dissoluteness: that is, whereby ye are laid open to other vices, especially uncleanness and riotous living; as is commonly the case with drunkenness, and was more particularly in the heathen bacchanals, to which St. Paul seems to allude. The word rendered “excess” is to the same effect as that used in Luke xv. 13. Drs. Wells and Hammond.

— but be filled with the Spirit;] Endeavour by a habit of temperance and sober conversation to be full of the gracious gifts and influences of the Holy Spirit. Pyle.

Ephesians 5:19

19. Speaking to yourselves in psalms &c.] In their bacchanalian feasts they sang drunken and impure hymns to Bacchus: in opposition to which the Apostle here exhorts the Christians to sing the Psalms of David; or the hymns composed by spiritual men, such as Zacharias and Simeon, or by the inspiration of the Spirit vouchsafed unto them, 1 Cor. xiv. 15. Dr. Whitby.

There are two ways by which a whole congregation may join together in praising God, both which are used in our Church, either first by having the psalms and hymns set to such ordinary and plain tunes, that all people may sing them together, as we do the Psalms of David in our parish churches, or else by singing or saying them alternately, as in cathedral and collegiate churches one side of the choir sings one verse, the other the next; in other places the minister repeats one verse, the people the other, and so on, all along to the end of the psalms and hymns appointed for that occasion; which is the most ancient way that we are acquainted with, used by the church of God. It was after some such manner that Moses and Miriam, and all the children of Israel, praised God for their deliverance from the Egyptians in that divine anthem that Moses com-

The duties of wives and husbands. Anno DOMINI 64.

Ephesians 5:20

20. Giving thanks—in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.] Through whom our thanksgivings are acceptable to God. As all spiritual addresses, both of prayer and thanksgiving, must be offered up to God, so their acceptance with God is to be expected only by or through our Lord Jesus Christ. Burkitt.

The benefits, of which we are or may be partakers by the Gospel, are represented by the sacred writers as the best of God’s gifts, the most inestimable blessings, and consequently as the principal objects of Christian gratitude: and therefore, as our Saviour hath taught us, when we pray to God, to pray in His name; so the Apostle informs us that, when we return praise to God, we should likewise give thanks to Him in the name of Jesus Christ. To return thanks to God in the name of Christ, is in effect to declare our faith and confidence in Christ, as in our Mediator and Redeemer, our High Priest and Intercessor; it is to express our humility, and to own that we could reasonably expect no good

but through Him; it is to acknowledge that of all the favours which God confers upon us, those which we receive as Christians are the most to be esteemed, and should ever have the uppermost place in our thoughts. Dr. Jortin.

Ephesians 5:21

21. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.] The Apostle, having exhorted the Ephesians to such general duties as belong to all Christians, proceeds now to exhort them to the practice of relative duties, as they are members of society, and particularly as husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants: much of the life and power of religion appearing in the conscientious performance of relative duties. But first he gives them a general direction to “submit themselves one to another,” or mutually to practise forbearance, condescension, and offices of love and kindness, “in the fear of God;” that is, either in obedience to the commands of God, who enjoins this subjection, or making the fear of God the rule and measure of their submission to one another. Burkitt.

The Apostle might the rather choose to insist on these duties, as some persons were ready to imagine, that Christian converts were released from any farther obligations to those, who still continued in a state of heathenism, and might consider the relation as dissolved between them. Compare 1 Cor. vii. 10—24; 1 Tim. vi. 1, 2. He therefore presses it upon them, in whatever station they were placed, to shew a due regard to relative duties, and to remember that Christian privileges did by no means excuse them from the duties resulting from natural and civil relations of life, but did rather enforce the obligation they were under to observe them. And if these duties were incumbent upon Christians towards relations of all kinds, even though they bore the character of unbelievers, much more were they engaged to practise these duties towards such as were related to them, not only by the ties of natural or of civil institution, but by the more endearing bonds of grace. Dr. Doddridge.

Ephesians 5:23

23.—as unto the Lord.] That is, in obedience to the command of the Lord, who has given the husband power over the wife, and has required and will reward her obedience to him. Burkitt. The Apostle here intimates, that the Christian law, in this as in other things, doth in no way annul, but rather confirm, God’s first institution. Dr. Hammond.

Ephesians 5:24

24.—in every thing.] Namely, in every thing that is proper and agreeable to the laws of God. Dr. Wells.

Ephesians 5:26

26. That he might sanctify and cleanse it &c.] That he might purify it from all sin: and to that end appointed baptism, therein obliging us to forsake the devil, the world, and the flesh, and covenanting to give us grace to do so; and to that adding His word, the whole doctrine, commands, and promises of the Gospel, as a powerful means to oblige and enable us to do so. Dr. Hammond.

The duties of wives and husbands; of children and parents; Anno DOMINI 64. but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Ephesians 5:30

30. For we are members of his body, &c.] Insomuch that as Adam said to Eve, “bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh,” so likewise in a mystical sense it may be said of us Christians, in respect of Christ, that we are “of His flesh, and of His bones.” Dr. Wells.

Ephesians 5:32

32. This is a great mystery: &c.] This union and conjugal conjunction is then a great mystery; not in respect of itself only, but in respect of that also which is thereby represented, even the blessed union which is betwixt the husband Christ, and the church His spouse. Bp. Hall.

Ephesians 5:33

33. Nevertheless] On the other account also, “let every one of you” &c. Dr. Whitby.

Chap. VI. The Apostle proceeds in showing the Christian obligation to the other relative duties of parents and children, masters and slaves: then encourages them to general constancy and resolution against all temptations and persecutions, for the sake of Christianity: and, by metaphors taken from the arts of Grecian and Roman soldiery, directs the Ephesians how to arm themselves against the assaults of their spiritual enemies, desires their prayers for him, as their Gentile Apostle, and concludes with his blessing. Pyle.

Ver. 1. — in the Lord:] In compliance with the commandments of the Lord; or as far as their commandments are consistent with the law of God. Dr. Whitby.