TEXT. 7 Be not ye, therefore, partakers with them. 8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light. 9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth) 10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. PARAPHRASE. (who will not come in, and submit to the law of Christ) 7 to judgment for. Be ye not, therefore, partakers with 3 them. For ye were heretofore, in your gentile state, perfectly in the dark, but now, by believing in Christ, and receiving the gospel, light and knowledge is given to you, 9 walk as those who are in a state of light (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth') 10 Practising that which, upon examination, you find ac11 ceptable to the Lord. And do not partake in the fruit less works of darkness; do not go on in the practice of those shameful actions, as if they were indifferent, but 12 rather reprove them. For the things, that the gentile idolaters do in secret, are so filthy and abominable, h NOTES. "Children of disobedience," here, and chap. ii. 2, and Col. iii. 6, are plainly the gentiles, who refused to come in, and submit themselves to the gospel, as will appear to any one, who will read these places and the context with at tention. 8 d St. Paul, to express the great darkness the gentiles were in, calls them darkness itself. Which is thus expressed, Col. i. 12, 13, "Giving thanks to the Father, "who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in "light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us "into the kingdom of his dear Son." The kingdom of Satan, over the gentile world, was a kingdom of darkness: see Eph. vi. 12. And so we see Jesus is pronounced by Simeon, "a light to lighten the gentiles," see Luke ii. 32. 9 f This parenthesis serves to give us the literal sense of all, that is here required by the apostle, in this allegorical discourse of light. 11 g These deeds of the unconverted heathen, who remained in the kingdom of darkness are thus expressed by St. Paul, Rom. vi. 21, "What fruit had you "then, in those things, whereof you are now ashamed, for the end of those things " is death ?" 12 That by " them," here, are meant the unconverted gentiles, is so TEXT. 13 But all things, that are reproved, are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest, is light. 14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 15 See, then, that ye walk circumspectly; not as fools, but as wise; 16 Redeeming the time; because the days are evil. PARAPHRASE. 13 that it is a shame so much as to name them. This you now see, which is an evidence of your being enlightened; for all things, that are discovered to be amiss, are made 14 manifest by the light'. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light; for whatsoever shows them to be 15 such, is light. Since, then, you are in the light, make use of your eyes to walk exactly in the right way, not as fools, rambling at adventures, but as wise, in a steady, 16 right-chosen course, Securing yourselves by your pru NOTES. k visible, that there needs nothing to be said to justify the interpretation of the word. 13 i See John iii. 20. The apostle's argument here, to keep the ephesian converts from being misled by those, that would persuade them, that the gentile impurities were indifferent actions, was to show them, that they were now better enlightened; to which purpose, ver. 5, he tells them that they know, that no such person hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ, or of God. This he tells them, ver. 8, &c. was light, which they had received from the gospel, which, before their conversion, they knew nothing of, but were in perfect darkness and ignorance of it, but now they were better instructed, and saw the difference, which was a sign of light; and, therefore, they should follow that light, which they had received from Christ, who had raised them from among the gentiles, (who were so far dead, as to be wholly insensible of the evil course and state they were in) and had given them light, and a prospect into a future state, and the way to attain everlasting happiness. 16k St. Paul here intimates, ver. 6, that the unconverted heathens, they lived among, would be forward to tempt them to their former, lewd, dissolute lives; but to keep them from any approaches that way, that they have light now, by the gospel, to know that such actions are provoking to God, and will find the effects of his wrath in the judgments of the world to come. All those pollutions, so familiar among the gentiles, he exhorts them carefully to avoid; but yet to take care, by their prudent carriage to the gentiles they lived amongst, to give them no offence, that so they might escape the danger and trouble, that might otherwise arise to them, from the intemperance and violence of those heathen idolaters, whose shameful lives the christian practice could not but reprove. This seems to be the meaning of "redeeming the time" here, which Col. iv. 5, the other place where it occurs, seems so manifest toyl confirm and give light to. If this be not the sense of "redeeming the time” TEXT. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 Giving thanks always for all things, unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. PARAPHRASE. dent carriage, from the inconveniencies of those difficult 17 times, which threaten them with danger. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the 18 Lord is. And be not drunken with wine, wherein there is excess1; seek not diversion in the noisy and intemperate jollity of drinking; but, when you are disposed to a chearful entertainment of one another, let it be with the 19 gifts of the Holy Spirit, that you are filled with, Singing hymns, and psalms, and spiritual songs among yourselves; this makes real and solid mirth in the heart, and 20 is melody well pleasing to God himself; Giving thanks always, for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus ! Christ, to God and the Father. NOTES. bere, I must own myself ignorant of the precise meaning of the phrase, in thiş place. 18 St. Paul dehorts them from wine, in a too free use of it, because therein is excess; the greek word is dowría, which may signify luxury or dissoluteness: i.e. that drinking is no friend to continency and chastity, but gives up the reins to lust and uncleanness, the vice he had been warning them against or dowria, may signify the intemperance and disorder, opposite to that sober and prudent demeanour, advised in redeeming the time. SECT. X. CHAP. V. 21. VI. 9. CONTENTS. IN this section he gives rules concerning the duties arising from the several relations men stand in one to another, in society; those which he particularly insists on, are these three, husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants. TEXT. 21 Submitting yourselves one to another, in the fear of God. 22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the Saviour of the body. 24 Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. PARAPHRASE. 21 Submit yourselves one to another, in the fear of God. 22 As for example, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, or, as being members of the church, you sub23 mit yourselves to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ himself is the head of the church, and it is he, the head, that preserves that his 24 body; so stands it between man and wife. Therefore, as the church is subject to Christ, so let wives be NOTES. 21 a This, though in grammatical construction it be joined to the foregoing discourse, yet I think it ought to be looked on as introductory to what follows in this section, and to be a general rule given to the ephesians, to submit to those duties, which the several relations they stood in, to one another, required of them. 23 b It is from the head that the body receives its healthy and vigorous constitution of health and life; this St. Paul pronounces here of Christ, as head of the church, that by that parallel which he makes use of, to represent the relation between husband and wife, he may both show the wife the reasonableness of her subjection to her husband, and the duty incumbent on the husband to cherish and preserve his wife, as we see he pursues it in the following verses. TEXT. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it: 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing of water, by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not hav ing spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives, as their own bodies: he that loveth his wife, loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. PARAPHRASE. 25 to their husbands, in every thing. And, you husbands, do you, on your side, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself to death for it; 26 That he might sanctify and fit it to himself, purifying it by the washing of baptism, joined with the preaching 27 and reception of the gospel"; That so he himself might present it to himself an honourable spouse, without the least spot of uncleanness, or misbecoming feature, or any thing amiss; but that it might be holy, and without 28 all manner of blemish. So ought men to love their wives, as their own bodies; he that loveth his wife, lov29 eth himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord Christ 30 doth the church: For we are members of his body, of NOTES. 26 • Er enμarı, “by the word." The purifying of men is ascribed so much, throughout the whole New Testament, to the word, i. e. the preaching of the gospel, and baptism, that there needs little to be said to prove it; see John xv. 3, and xviii. 17, 1 Pet. i. 22, Tit. iii. 5, Heb. x. 22, Col. ii. 12, 13, and as it is at large explained in the former part of the sixth chapter to the romans. 27 "He himself," so the alexandrine copy reads it avròs, and not avïèv, more suitable to the apostle's meaning here, who, to recommend to husbands love and tenderness to their wives, in imitation of Christ's affection to the church, shows, that whereas other brides take care to spruce themselves, and set off their persons, with all manner of neatness and cleanness, to recommend themselves to their bridegrooms; Christ himself, at the expence of his own pain and blood, purified and prepared himself his spouse, the church, that he might present it to himself, without spot, or wrinkle. |