Ephesians 5-21 Analysis

In Ephesians 5:5-21, Paul addresses the church of Ephesus to encourage them in righteous living and conduct. In the NIV, the subtitle is Living as Children of Light, and this subtitle conveys the thought of the entire section that will be discussed and will help the reader understand the main thesis of Ephesians 5:7-14. In verses Ephesians 5:5-6, Paul tells the Ephesians that they cannot enter the Kingdom of God if they are in immorality and that God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.
With recognition to the former verses, the primary section of scripture that this paper discusses comes to life. In chapter 5 of Ephesians, verses 7-14, Paul directs the Ephesians not to partake with those in the dark, for they were once there too, but
now they are in the light of the Lord. Paul uses the word therefore in verse seven to convey a transition from the former point, where he tells them not to let empty words deceive them because God’s wrath will transpire after the deception.
Paul exclaims to the Ephesians that they were once in darkness, meaning that the Ephesians used to participate in the Artemis cult, which subsists in spiritual darkness. In the latter part of verse 8, Paul encourages the Ephesians that they live as children of the light and exist in the Lord’s light. Children of the light subsists as a metaphor that Jesus spoke in John 12:16, where Jesus tells his disciples to walk in the light, so that the darkness does not overtake them. After Paul uses both metaphors, he then says in verse 10 to find out what pleases the Lord, which conveys a command by Paul for the recipients to learn by doing and acting out the will of God. Paul tells the Ephesians in verse 11 to have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but to expose them to the light so they may become visible. Here in verse 11 Paul gives two commands, the first is not to do fruitless deeds and the second, which begins with a conjunction, dictates a more favorable action of exposing the darkness. Verse 12 begins with the conjunction “for”,
creates a connection to the former verse, and then adds information that it creates shame to mention what the disobedient do in secret. In verses 13 and the first part of 14, Paul alludes to John 3:19-21, where John talks about those in the light of Christ exposing the darkness. In addition, Paul uses the word “but” to begin verse 13 connoting a diversion from the former verse, and then he begins verse 14 with “for” to direct the reader’s attention to the main point that light makes all things visible. In the latter section of verse 14 Paul uses a free adaptation of Isaiah 26:19 and 61:1 that says, “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” In continuance, the latter section of the passage, but not the primary verses this paper addresses, adds additional wisdom and direction from Paul. In verses 15-16 of chapter 5, Paul says to live your life in a wise manner and to make the most out of every opportunity. Verses 17-18 command the audience to not be foolish, and seek out the Lord’s will, and not to get drunk on wine, but to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Verses 19-20 tell the believer to speak to one another in a way that creates music unto the Lord and to give thanks to the Lord for everything, which alludes to verse four of the same chapter. In conclusion, Eph. 5:7-14 makes more sense when one looks at the Greek. The words light, darkness, children, and visible exist as pivotal words for the understanding of this section of Scripture. In addition, these words are repeated multiple times, Paul uses the word light four times, and darkness and visible is repeated twice. Every verse that uses the word light translates from the Greek word, phōs, which translates as light, daylight, or firelight, call number G5890. Scrutinizing the word light helps understand the implied and direct meaning of the word in the text. Each verse that uses the word darkness transliterates as, skotos, which means darkness or dark in Greek, call number G5030. The reason that darkness exists as one of the word studies is that it helps the reader understand what Paul meant when he used this word to describe the character of the Ephesians before they met Christ. In addition, each verse that uses the word children translates from the Greek word, teknon, which means child, son, daughter, offspring, or descendent using the call number G5451. The most important word to know in its transliteration is visible, the Greek word, phaneroō, call number G5746, means to reveal, to appear or displayed. The word visible is important for the reader to know because it represents the action that the children of light need to take for those in darkness to be exposed.