Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ephesians 5:11

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove [them.]

11. unfruitful ] “For the end of these things is death” (Rom 6:21). The metaphor of fruit, which we have just had (Eph 5:9), is almost always used in connexions of good. See a close parallel, Gal 5:19; Gal 5:22, “the works of the flesh”; “the fruit of the Spirit.”

darkness ] Lit., the darkness, which you have left; from whose “authority” you have been “rescued” (Col 1:13). The metaphor here (on which see on Eph 4:18) suggests rather the secrecy and shame of sin than its blindness.

rather ] Rather even, R. V., and so better; “rather, go the length of positive reproof.”

reprove ] The verb, in classical prose, has always an argumentative reference; it is, to question, confute, disprove. And though in some N. T. passages this reference is not necessary to the sense, it is always admissible, and lies, as it were, behind the meaning of mere blame or censure. So here, the Christian is not merely to denounce evil, but by holy word and life to evince its misery and fallacy, to convict it (R. V. margin) of its true nature.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And have no fellowship – See the sentiment here expressed fully explained in the notes on 2Co 6:14-18.

The unfruitful works – The deeds of darkness that produce no benefit to the body or the soul. The word unfruitful is used here in contrast with the fruit of the Spirit, Eph 5:9.

But rather reprove them – By your life, your conversation, and all your influence. This is the business of Christians. Their lives should be a standing rebuke of a sinful world, and they should be ever ready to express their disapprobation of its wickedness in every form.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Eph 5:11

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Renunciation of evil ways

1 Those in whom there is the light of grace and true knowledge must not walk in evil works, nor communicate in them.

(1). Not to have fellowship in sin is not to be an agent in sin, in whole, alone, or in part with others, neither in greater or less measure to live in it.

(2) Not to be accessory unto the sins of others; as

(a) By provoking to sin.

(b) By commanding.

(c) By counselling.

(d) By consenting.

(e) By carelessness to prevent sin.

(f) By not repressing sin when it has entered.

(g) By applauding sin.

(h) By not testifying against sin.

(3) Not to have fellowship with sin binds us to avoid the appearance of evil.

(4) It binds us to turn from it with detestation.

2. The ways of sin bring no good to those that walk in them.

3. Those who walk in light must reprove and convince those who walk in evil. (Paul Bayne.)

The duty and manner of Christian reproof

I. Gods people, His children, are a reproving light. They are called out of darkness into marvellous light, that they might reflect the, light of Him who hath called them out of darkness into His marvellous light. But, beloved, there is another quality in light, there are many others indeed, but this one especially here to be noted, which is, that there is a detective and a reproving quality in light. We know not the beauty of an object but as the light unfolds it; we know not its faultiness, we see not its defects, they are to us unknown without the light; but the light reveals them. The Lords people are especially called to stand; not merely as a reflecting light, not merely as a diffusing light, but as a reproving light, reproving the darkness around them. Whatever there is in a believer peculiar to him as a believer, is a light that reproves the world. Is it the life that he has, the life of faith? It is a reproving light to the world. If we look to the love of the believer, or what he loves; he loves Christ. In this love of Christ we shall see that he is a reproving light to the world. But especially do we see this in the quality of a believers happiness. When a child of God is enabled by the Spirit of God to realize clearly his adoption; when he can look up with humble hope and believing confidence, and say, My Father! when he knows something of the power of this truth, that communion with God, submission to God, and obedience in the ways of God is the very highest element of real enjoyment; when it speaks peace to him and quiets him in the midst of all his troubles, and dries up his tears–oh! what a reproving light is this oft to the world that lieth in darkness. He says, I see the effects; I see a real principle, I know not whence it comes, but I see a positive amount of happiness, I have never seen anything like it before. I have seen a man in wealth, but his wealth did not make him happy; I have seen a man in poverty, but his poverty did not make him miserable; I have seen him in health, he saw no brightness in health save only as he was enabled to live to God; I have seen him in sickness, and in sickness I have seen him peaceful, he knew that joy, that peace that passeth all understanding; I have seen him in death, I have seen him when called to die, ready to depart–to me to live, he said, is Christ, to die is gain; and I have seen him in the last article of death, but death had no sting, he was enabled to rise above it by faith in Christ Jesus, and say, O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?

II. But, observe now, secondly, they are placed in the midst of these unfruitful works of darkness. Ah! dear hearers, we have but poor notions of sin. Every sin is that which deserves Gods wrath; it has death for its wages, and eternal misery, if unrepented of, for its consummation. Therefore, confine not your minds to gross sins merely, since all sins are the works of darkness. Why are they called unfruitful? I have no doubt that it has especial reference to this darkness, as the very cause of barrenness. Yet, beloved, the saints of God are placed in the midst of these unfruitful works of darkness; why is it? Could not the Lord God have delivered them and translated them at once to their eternal home? Could He not in the case of Israel of old have taken them to Canaan at once without taking them through the waste howling desert? Who denies it? But should you ask wherefore He does it not, we see it typically unfolded in the eighth of Deuteronomy, at the fifteenth and sixteenth verses–Who hath led thee through a great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that He might humble thee, and that He might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end. See, then, wherefore they are placed in the midst of a dying world; see wherefore they are surrounded by these unfruitful works of darkness; see the great end and object, it is not the result of chance, it is the appointment of infinite wisdom, tenderness, goodness, and love.

III. But, beloved, observe now the exhortation that is given–have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Now, observe, it is not said, have no fellowship with the unfruitful workers of darkness, never will you meet with a precept of that kind in Gods Word, we must needs go out of the world if we try. But there is more than this in the precept–but rather reprove them. Here we come to one of the most difficult paths in the believers walk. There are many ways in which the believer is called upon from time to time to reprove the works of darkness. By diffusing the truth. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)

Avoidance of sinful works

That the children of light should live in a perfect abhorrence of, and stand at a great distance from, the unfruitful works of darkness.

I. For the object. We have a general and unlimited expression, The unfruitful works of darkness. But what they are we may collect from the context, Uncleanness, fornication, evil concupiscence, etc.; and (Rom 13:12-13) the apostle reckoneth up other things. These and such like heathen practices are such as the apostle intendeth.

1. They are called works of darkness for these reasons–

(1) Because they are done by men in their carnal estate, who are destitute of the Spirit of God, and all saving knowledge of His will.

(2) Because they are suggested by the temptations of the devil, who is the prince of darkness, and the ruler of the darkness of this world; and therefore called his lusts (Joh 8:44); his works (1Jn 3:8).

(3) Because they cannot endure the light, but seek the veil and covert of secrecy.

There is a three-fold light.

(1) Natural. They rebel against this light (Job 24:13).

(2) Light spiritual, the light of Gods Word: For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved (Joh 3:20).

(3) There is another light, and that may be called practical, or the light of a holy conversation: Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven (Mat 5:16).

(4) Because these men are condemned to everlasting darkness; for if they live and die in these sins without repentance, they are unavoidably cast into utter darkness, where is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

2. These are said to be unfruitful by a , that is, damnable; as Heb 13:17, That is unprofitable for you. The meaning is, hurtful and pernicious; however, the expression is emphatical. These works produce not only no good fruit, but certainly bring forth evil fruit, and prove bitterness in the end. Mere evil, as evil, cannot be the object of choice; there is some fruit or benefit expected in all that we do, but sin will never make good its word to us.

(1) It doth not answer expectation; the sinner looketh for more contentment and satisfaction than he doth enjoy: And what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind? (Ecc 5:16). It is a fruitless enterprise; so that very experience is enough to confute it; and that is one reason why objects of sin are loathed when we have our fill of them (2Sa 13:15).

(2) It is not valuable; the profit will not counterbalance the loss, nor the pleasure the pain (Mat 16:25).

II. The acts of our duty about it; and they are two.

1. That we must have no fellowship with them in evil. To understand that, we must consider how many ways we have fellowship with them.

(1) If we do the same things that others do.

(2) If we be accessory to the sins of others, which we may be many ways.

(a) If we counsel, persuade, allure, or entice others to sins. These are Satans decoys, who being ensnared themselves, draw others into the net.

(b) By commanding that which is evil. This is the sin of those that have power over others; as David commanded Joab to set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire from him, that he may be smitten and die (2Sa 11:15).

(c) By consenting, though we be not the principal actors; as Ahab (1Ki 21:19).

(d) By abetting, aiding, and assisting in the conveyance of the sin; as Jonadab assisted Amnon in getting an occasion to satisfy his lust on his sister Tamar (2Sa 13:5).

(e) By applauding, approving, or praising the sin, which is the guise of flatterers (Rom 1:32).

(f) By carelessness to prevent the sin: I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not (1Sa 3:13). So that a culpable omission may make us accessory to their sin.

2. The other duty is, But rather reprove them. Now reprove we may by deed or word.

(1) By deed, or the example of a holy life; as Noah condemned the world (Heb 11:7).

(2) By word, when it may be done with profit; as the apostle saith of the infidel, when he cometh into Christian assemblies, he is condemned of all, and judged of all (1Co 14:24); namely, as he heareth doctrines there contrary to his practice.

III. The reasons of the point.

1. Because there should be a broad and sensible difference between the children of light and the children of darkness.

2. This difference is discovered by those actions that are proper to either state; for actions are agreeable to their principle, and in actions must this difference be expressed, or how is it visible? Both show forth the influence of an unseen power, both the children of God and the children of the devil, the children of light and children of darkness.

3. This distinction is to be kept up on the part of the godly, and so conspicuously held forth, that they may either convince or convert the wicked.

4. The children of God are fitted and prepared for this, to abstain from sin (1Jn 3:9).

5. The inconveniencies are great that will follow if Gods children should have any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; our pretended communion with God will be interrupted (1Jn 1:6-7).

To press the two duties in the text.

1. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; that is, do not join or partake in the sins of the carnal world, though they seem to be authorized by vulgar and common practice. To this end remember–

(1) You must not do as others do, but do as God requireth.

(2) Love God, and love His law, and love His people, and the infection is prevented. Love God (Psa 97:10).

(3) We must eschew all unnecessary and voluntary friendship and familiarity with wicked men (Psa 26:4; Pro 12:11).

(4) Your happiness lieth in communion with God, and this we cannot have if we have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness (1Jn 1:6-7).

2. But rather reprove them, by deed and word.

(1) By deed, spoken of before; as David convinced Saul (1Sa 24:17).

(2) By word. It is a duty the world cannot bear, but we must perform it (Pro 15:12) (T. Manton, D. D.)

Evil company is deadly

My father once had two Irishmen digging a well, and they dug about five days and then they were paid some money and went off and drank for about a week. When they came back ready for work they uncovered the well and asked for a candle. They got the candle and tied a rope round it and let it down in the well, and when it got near the bottom it flickered and went out, and Pat said, We cant go down there, there is death down there. And they went away and got some dry brushwood and built a fire in the well, and thou let down the candle again, and it burnt all right. Before you go into some places, my dear friends, put your light, that is, your God, your preacher, and your Bible down and see how they look. (S. Jones.)

Evil is to be avoided

The pilot of a United States revenue cutter was asked if he knew all the rocks along the coast where he sailed. He replied: No; it is only necessary to know where there are no rocks. These words suggest a deep moral and spiritual truth. Sermons, lectures, and books abound on the temptations which lie along the life course of the young to eternity. Over the most dangerous ones are lifted the solemn notes of repeated warning.

Fellowship defined

What is fellowship? It is more than sympathy, although that is the core of it. It is sympathy expressed or manifested in such a way as to draw others toward you in the bonds of brotherhood. Fellowship is making men feel that they are fellows with you; that they are your brethren; that they are related to you; that they are a part of your person, as it were. (H. W. Beecher.)

No association with rebels

In the rebellion of 1798, the rebels took prisoner a little drummer of the kings troops, and they desired him to beat the drum for them. The little boy laid his drum on the ground and leaped into it, smashing the parchment into atoms. God forbid, said he, that the kings drum should ever be beat for rebels. The ruffians piked the little hero, but they could not obliterate the remembrance of a deed worthy of a place in the noblest records of courage, loyalty, and fidelity–an example which, if it were imitated in a spiritual sense by the Christian, would best illustrate the fulfilment of the apostles exhortation here. (R. J. McGhee, M. A.)

Christians must maintain their rank

Matthew Wilks once rode by coach with a young nobleman and a female passenger. The nobleman entered upon an improper conversation with the coachman and the woman. At a favourable opportunity Mr. Wilks attracted his attention, and said, My lord, maintain your rank! The reproof was felt and acted upon. Let the Christian ever maintain his rank. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Christians must be consistent

A distinguished Christian lady was recently spending a few weeks in a hotel at Long Branch, and an attempt was made to induce her to attend a dance, in order that the affair might have the prestige bestowed by her presence, as she stood high in society. She declined all the importunities of her friends, and finally an honourable senator tried to persuade her to attend, saying, Miss B., this is quite a harmless affair, and we want to have the exceptional honour of your presence. Senator, said the lady, I cannot do it, I am a Christian. I never do anything in my summer vacation, or wherever I go, that will injure the influence I have over the girls of my Sunday school class. The senator bowed, and, I honour you; if there were more Christians like you, more men like myself would become Christians.

The unfruitful works of darkness to be looked for in our own hearts

To dwell on the works of darkness which were done in ancient Greece and Rome would be very unprofitable. What pen would dare to write, what eye endure to read, the things which are done all the year round in Paris and London? No villager need wander from his own village, in order to find works which will not bear the light. Indeed we need not go any whither exploring, we need not leave our own door; we may find within our own breasts more than enough to humble us. Let each of us sit still, and keep watch for a while in the silent house of his spirit: he will find things transpiring there which will suggest self-abhorrence, and clothe him with shame before God. Not only the kingdom of heaven, but the kingdom of darkness also is very nigh unto us, and comes without observation. Let us watch and pray, that we may have grace and strength enough to disown the inward imagery, with which it seeks to fascinate and pollute the heart. Let us hold no fellowship with the thoughts which it stirs in us. Let us drag thorn before the light of God, that they may be made manifest, and reproved there. (J. Pulsford.)

The Christian as a reformer

I. Negative. Have no fellowship.

1. All and every kind of intercourse with evil-doers is not included; for we are commanded to rebuke, and this implies some intercourse. Besides, we are exhorted to do good unto all men, as we have opportunity.

2. All friendly intercourse with even gross sinners is not prohibited. Our Saviour sat at meat with publicans, and sinners, and Pharisees; and Paul instructs Christians how to conduct themselves when invited to a feast by an unbeliever.

3. All business intercourse is not interdicted. In 1Co 10:25, permission, and even advice is given.

4. The discharge of the relative duties which arise out of the family relation is not included in the prohibition.

5. Civil connection with wicked governments is not forbidden. Subjection to rulers is permitted and directed by the precept of Paul, in Rom 13:1. Joseph held office under the despot of Egypt. Daniel did likewise under the kings of Babylon and Persia, and while so doing was greeted by the angel with the title, well-beloved.

6. Not all ecclesiastical connection with wrong-doers is forbidden.

II. Having seen that there are some things which are not to be understood as the fellowship forbidden, let us inquire in what it does consist.

1. It plainly includes the direct commission of sin.

2. It occurs in the support of others in the commission of wrong, when we employ them or supply them with the means of some iniquitous purpose.

3. Iniquity is fellowshipped when wrong is justified as right; when sweet as called bitter, and bitter sweet; when darkness is called light, and light darkness.

4. The same thing takes place when men support wrong on the whole. This is done by endeavouring to produce an underestimate of the wrong itself; or by urging its necessity or expediency, as if Providence compelled us to sin.

III. Let us now consider our positive duty as enjoined in the text. A proper understanding of the word reprove will furnish us with a clue to guide us to this end. The term implies an appeal to the understanding of the evil-doer–to convince him by proving that his course is one of wickedness and folly–to arouse his sense of right, and not to irritate his sensibility to obloquy and scorn. (E. C. Pritchett.)

Influence of bad company

What you learn from bad habits and in bad society you will never forget, and it will be a lasting pang to you. I tell you in all sincerity, not as in the excitement of speech, but as I would confess and have confessed before God, I would give my right hand tonight if I could forget that which I have learned in evil society–if I could tear from my remembrance the scenes which I have witnessed, the transactions which have taken place before me. You cannot, I believe, take away the effect of a single impure thought that has lodged and harboured in the heart. You may pray against it, and by Gods grace you may conquer it, but it will, through life, cause you bitterness and anguish. (J. B. Gough.)

Power of bad company

Bad company is like a nail driven into a post, which, after the first and second blow, may be drawn out with little difficulty; but being once driven up to the head, the pincers cannot take hold to draw it out, but which can only be done by the destruction of the wood. (St. Augustine.)

Christian conduct in worldly company

A pious officer of the army, travelling through the Mahratta country, was asked by Judge D–, a religious gentleman, to accompany him to a public dinner, at which the commanding officer of the district, with all his staff, and various other public characters, were expected to meet. I expressed a wish to be excused, says the officer, as I had no relish for such entertainments, and did not think that much either of pleasure or profit was to be derived from them. His reply was: While I feel it my duty to attend on such an occasion, I certainly have as little pleasure in it as you have. But there is one way in which I find I can be present at such meetings, and yet receive no injury from them. I endeavour to conceive to myself the Lord Jesus seated on the opposite side of the table, and to think what He would wish me to do and to say, when placed in such a situation, and as long as I can keep this thought alive on my mind, I find I am free from danger.

A law against bad company

An ancient historian, mentioning the laws which Charondas gave the Thurians, says: He enacted a law with reference to an evil, on which former lawgivers had not animadverted–that of keeping bad company. As he conceived that the morals of the good were sometimes quite ruined by their dissolute acquaintance; that vice was apt, like an infectious disease, to spread itself and extend its contagion, he expressly enjoined, that none should engage in any intimacy or familiarity with immoral persons; appointed that an accusation might be exhibited for keeping bad company; and laid a heavy fine on such as were convicted of it.

The child of light and the works of darkness

I. What is forbidden. Fellowship. This may be produced in several ways.

1. By personally committing the sins described, or by joining with others in bringing them about.

2. By teaching wrong-doing, either by plain word or by just inference.

3. By constraining, commanding, or tempting; by threat, request, persuasion, inducement, compulsion, bribery, or influence.

4. By provoking, through exciting anger, emulation, or discouragement.

5. By neglecting to rebuke, especially by parents and masters misusing their office, and allowing known evils in the family.

6. By counselling, and advising, or by guiding by example.

7. By consenting, agreeing, and cooperating.

8. By conniving at sin: tolerating, concealing, and making light of it.

9. By commending, countenancing, defending, and excusing the wrong already done; and contending against those who would expose, denounce, and punish it.

II. What is commanded. Reprove.

1. Rebuke.

2. Convict.

3. Convert.

III. Why it is commanded to me? It is especially my duty to be clear of other mens sins.

1. As an imitator of God and a dear child (verse 1).

2. As one who is an inheritor of the kingdom of God (verses 5, 6).

3. As one who has come out of darkness into marvellous light in the Lord (verse 8).

4. As one who bears fruit, even the fruit of the Spirit, which is in all goodness, righteousness and truth (verse 9).

5. As one who would not be associated with that which is either shameful or foolish (verses 12, 15).

If our fellowship is with God, we must quit the ways of darkness.

IV. What may come of obedience to the command. Even if we could see no good result, yet our duty would be plain enough; but much benefit may result.

1. We shall be clear of complicity with deeds of darkness.

2. We shall be honoured in the consciences of the ungodly.

3. We may thus win them to repentance and eternal life.

4. We shall glorify God by our separated walk and by the godly perseverance with which we adhere to it.

5. We may thus establish others in holy nonconformity to the world.

Let us use the text as a warning to worldly professors. Let us take it as a directory in our conversation with the ungodly. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Evil fellowship

A member of his congregation was in the habit of going to the theatre. Mr. Hill went to him and said, This will never do–a member of my Church in the habit of attending the theatre! Mr. So-and-so replied that it surely must be a mistake, as he was not in the habit of going there, although it was true he did go now and then for a treat. Oh! said Rowland Hill, then you are a worse hypocrite than ever, sir. Suppose anyone spread the report that I ate carrion, and I answered, Well, there is no wrong in that; I dont eat carrion every day in the week, but I have a dish now and then for a treat! Why, you would say, What a nasty, foul, and filthy appetite Rowland Hill has, to have to go to carrion for a treat! Religion is the Christians truest treat, Christ is his enjoyment. (Charlesworths Life of Rowland Hill.)

Rebuking evil doers

On one occasion, travelling in the Portsmouth mail, Andrew Fuller was much annoyed by the profane conversation of two young men who sat opposite. After a time, one of them, observing his gravity, accosted him with an air of impertinence, inquiring, in rude and indelicate language, whether on his arrival at Portsmouth he should not indulge himself in a manner evidently corresponding with their own intentions. Mr. Fuller, lowering his ample brows, and looking the inquirer full in the face, replied in measured tones: Sir, I am a man that fears God. Scarcely a word was uttered during the remainder of the journey. (Memoir of Andrew Fuller.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 11. Have no fellowship] Have no religious connection whatever with heathens or their worship.

Unfruitful works of darkness] Probably alluding to the mysteries among the heathens, and the different lustrations and rites through which the initiated went in the caves and dark recesses where these mysteries were celebrated; all which he denominates works of darkness, because they were destitute of true wisdom; and unfruitful works, because they were of no use to mankind; the initiated being obliged, on pain of death, to keep secret what they had seen, heard, and done: hence they were called , unspeakable mysteries-things that were not to be divulged. That the apostle may refer to magic and incantations is also probable, for to these the Ephesians were greatly addicted. See the proofs in Clarke’s notes on “Ac 19:19“.

Rather reprove them.] Bear a testimony against them; convince them that they are wrong; confute them in their vain reasons; reprove them for their vices, which are flagrant, while pretending to superior illumination. All these meanings has the Greek word , which we generally render to convince or reprove.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Have no fellowship with; not only do not practise them yourselves, but do not join with others in them, by consent, advice, assistance, or any other way whereby ye may be defiled by them.

The unfruitful; by a meiosis, for bringing forth evil fruit, destructive, pernicious, Rom 6:21; Gal 6:8.

Works of darkness; wicked works, so called because they proceed from darkness in the mind, the ignorance of God, and men are put upon them by the devil, the prince of darkness, and because they are afraid of the light.

But rather reprove them; or convince them, viz. not only by your words, Lev 19:17; Mat 18:15, but especially by your actions, which being contrary to them, will both evidence them to be, and reprove them as being, works of darkness.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

11. unfruitful works ofdarknessSins are terminated in themselves, and therefore arecalled “works,” not “fruits” (Gal 5:19;Gal 5:22). Their only fruit isthat which is not in a true sense fruit (De32:32), namely, “death” (Rom 6:21;Gal 6:8). Plants cannot bear”fruit” in the absence of light. Sin is “darkness,”and its parent is the prince of darkness (Eph6:12). Graces, on the other hand, as flourishing in “thelight,” are reproductive, and abound in fruits; which, asharmoniously combining in one whole, are termed (in thesingular) “the FRUITof the Spirit” (Eph 5:9).

rather, c.Translate asGreek, “rather even reprove them” (compare Mt5:14-16). Not only “have no fellowship, but evenreprove them,” namely, in words, and in your deeds, which,shining with “the light,” virtually reprove all that iscontrary to light (Eph 5:13Joh 3:19-21). “Have nofellowship,” does not imply that we can avoid all intercourse(1Co 5:10), but “avoidsuch fellowship as will defile yourselves”; just as light,though it touch filth, is not soiled by it; nay, as light detectsit, so, “even reprove sin.”

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,…. It is not said with the workers of darkness, or with the men of the world, who are in darkness, and are darkness itself; to have fellowship with them in a civil way, or to dwell among them, is not prohibited; it is allowed of, and countenanced by the greatest examples; and especially it is lawful and right, when there is any prospect of doing good to the souls of men; and even when natural right, relation, and necessity require it; and indeed, the contrary is impracticable: conversation with them in things sinful and superstitious should be abstained from; and when it tends to draw off the soul from Christ and his interest, and is infectious; and when weak ones are offended, and sinners are hereby hardened and confirmed in sin; and the name of God is blasphemed, and the Gospel is evil spoken of: but fellowship is not to be maintained “with the works of darkness”; which are sins, so called, because they are opposite to light; to the light of nature, to the light of the divine word, both law and Gospel, to the light of grace, to God the fountain of light, and to Christ the light of the world; and because the source and spring of them are the original darkness of the mind, and Satan the prince of darkness; and because they are generally committed in the dark; and because the effect and consequence of them is utter darkness, and blackness of darkness: and these are “unfruitful”; they are of no profit and advantage, they bring forth no fruit, unless it be guilt, fear, shame, corruption, and death; wherefore no fellowship should be had with them, by committing the same, by assisting in them, by consenting to them, by approving of them, by receiving any worldly advantage from them, and by winking and conniving at them: it is contrary to the character of saints to have fellowship with such, as the apostle says, 2Co 6:14, where he gives the mystical explanation of the law, in De 22:10; agreeably to which, and to the passage here, is the sense of a Jewish commentators l who upon it observes, that that law

“intimates that a righteous man, , “should have no fellowship” with a wicked man;”

this is to be unequally yoked, signified by the ox and the ass ploughing together:

but rather reprove [them]; both by words and by deeds, by an agreeable life and conversation, which last seems to be the design of the apostle here; because it is not a brother, but such who are in darkness, and live in works of darkness; yea, not sinners, but sins are to be reproved, which can be done no other way; nor are all saints proper to reprove verbally, nor are they qualified for it; but all should, and may by facts; and the light discovers darkness, by its own splendour; and this appears from the apostle’s reasoning in the next words.

l Baal Hatturira in Deut. xxii. 10.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Have no fellowship with ( ). No partnership with, present imperative with . Followed by associative instrumental case (works).

Unfruitful (). Same metaphor of verse 9 applied to darkness ().

Reprove (). Convict by turning the light on the darkness.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Have – fellowship [] . See on Rev 18:4; Rev 1:9. Unfruitful works [ ] . Compare fruit, ver. 9, and Gal 5:19, 22, works of the flesh, fruit of the Spirit. Works which bring no blessing with them. Compare Rom 6:21; Rom 8:13; Gal 5:21; Gal 6:8.

Reprove [] . See on Joh 3:20.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And have no fellowship with” (kai me sughoinoneite) “And do not have or hold common communion or fellowship with,” in their works or deeds, Psa 1:1-3. To sleep with or play with dogs one gets flea, with hogs lice, and with chickens he gets mites, 2Co 6:14-17.

2) “The unfruitful works of darkness” (tois ergois tois akarpois tou skotous) he unfruitful or unproductive works of darkness:” the works of the flesh, as contrasted with the fruits of the Spirit, Gal 5:19-25.

3) “But rather reprove them” (mallon de kai elegchete) But rather even reprove them,” or speak out in disapprovement of them. It is not enough to avoid and refrain from former sins of the flesh; a Christian must also reprove them or speak out against them, by word of testimony and by a consistent moral and ethical walk.

Sins of the flesh must not be silently condoned by true believers, but openly rebuked and spoken against, that unbelievers may be convicted of their grave sins as against God, 1Co 14:24; 2Ti 4:2, Tit 1:9; Tit 1:13; Tit 2:15.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

11. And have no fellowship. As “the children of light” dwell amidst the darkness, or, in other words, in the midst of “a perverse and crooked generation,” (Deu 32:5,) — there is good reason for warning them to keep themselves apart from wicked actions. It is not enough that we do not, of our own accord, undertake anything wicked. We must beware of joining or assisting those who do wrong. In short, we must abstain from giving any consent, or advice, or approbation, or assistance; for in all these ways we have fellowship. And lest any one should imagine that he has done his duty, merely by not conniving, he adds, but rather reprove them. (158) Such a course is opposed to all dissimulation. Where a manifest offense is committed against God, every man will be eager to vindicate himself from any share in the guilt, but very few will guard against connivance; nearly all will practice some kind of dissimulation. But rather than the truth of God shall not remain unshaken, let a hundred worlds perish.

The word ἐλέγχειν, which is translated reprove, answers to the metaphor of darkness; for it literally signifies to drag forth to the light what was formerly unknown. As ungodly men flatter themselves in their vices, (Psa 36:2,) and wish their crimes to be concealed, or to be reckoned virtues, Paul enjoins that they shall be reproved. He calls them unfruitful; because they not only do no good, but are absolutely hurtful.

(158) “Most expositors supply αὐτοὺς, meaning the doers of the works; and they render ἐλέγχετε, reprove, viz., by wholesome correction. This, however, is so harsh, that it is better (with Theodoret, the Pesch. Syr., Wakefield, Schleusner, Photius, and Wahl) to supply αὐτὰ, that is, ἔργα τοῦ σκότους, and to interpret ἐλέγχετε ‘bring to the light, and evince their evil nature,’ namely, by shewing in contrast the opposite virtues. This sense is required by verse 13, with which the present closely connects; and so ἐλέγχω is used both in the Scriptural and Classical writers.” — Bloomfield.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(11) Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.To have no fellowship with such works is not to refuse to take part in them (for this surely might be taken for granted), but to keep no terms with them, to have no sympathy or indulgence or excuse for them. So the word is used, in Php. 4:14, of communicating with my affliction; and in Rev. 18:4, of being partakers with the sins of Babylon. It is through such weak or cowardly indulgence, more than the actual love of evil, that sin is suffered to prevail. Hence St. Paul adds, rather reprove them. Our Lord Himself has declared in all such cases, He that is not with Me is against Me.

The unfruitful works of darkness.St. Paul has a similar antithesis in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 6:19-22). They who are in sin yield their members servants to iniquity unto iniquity. Iniquity has no result but iniquity; and hence he goes on to ask, What fruit had ye then in those things of which ye are now ashamed? This weary fruitlessness is at once the sign and the penalty of sin, so that men have fancied it to be one chief element of the suffering of the lost. But they who are in Christ yield their members servants to righteousness unto holiness. They have, he says, their fruit unto holiness now, and in the end the everlasting life, which is everlasting holiness. Similarly, in Gal. 5:20-22, we have the works of the flesh, but the fruit of the Spirit. Rarely, indeed, does Scripture speak of evil fruit (Mat. 7:17; Mat. 12:33). Generally, to be unfruitful is an all-sufficient condemnation. Every branch that beareth not fruit he taketh away (Joh. 15:2).

Rather reprove them.In the word reprove, whether in its application to the witness of the Holy Ghost (Joh. 16:8), or to the witness of men (as in 1Co. 14:24; 1Ti. 5:20; Tit. 1:9-13, et al.), there is described a double functionto convince, if it may be, the sinner in himself; to convict him, if the other function fails, before men and angels. Both these functions St. Paul urges here. It is not enough to have no fellowship with them. To this tacit reproof open reproof in word and deed is to be added; only in such reproof it should be remembered that it would be disgraceful even to speak in detail of the actual things done in secret.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

11. Fellowship St. Paul’s ordinary word for Christian communion; as 1Co 1:9, “fellowship of his Son;” and 1Co 10:16, “communion of his blood.” It implies a collection of participants into a common element.

Hence here, enter not into associations that share in the unfruitful works. There is, as commentators well remark, no specific allusion to the heathen “mysteries,” but the words include both them and all associations and clans of revellers in dark and hidden licentiousnesses.

Unfruitful As affording, to say the least, no advantage.

Works of darkness With the double allusion above mentioned; works that are morally dark, and that court the covert of literal night.

Reprove A very significant term. First, it indicates a refutation, as in an argument; second, a detection, as of some complication or concealment; and, third, an exposure, resulting from both the refutation and the detection. Let your life, conduct, and intellectual powers be all effective in refuting the sophisms with which license justifies or ennobles itself, as well as in detecting and exposing the turpitude of the license itself.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove (convict) them, for the things which are done by them in secret it is a shame even to speak of.’

Living in the light means avoiding the darkness and its ‘unfruits’. They must not have any part with the behaviour of those who are still in darkness. But it is their behaviour they must avoid, not them (this means non-Christians, not defaulting Christians). Indeed by the purity of their lives they should act as a reproof and a way of convicting such people about their manner of life so that they may be converted. That this means primarily by life and not by word comes out in the last phrase. Christians should not even talk about, or think about, such behaviour as they witness in others. They must refute them by their lives. Thus men will see their good works and glorify their Father who is in Heaven (Mat 5:16).

‘The unfruitful works of darkness.’ In direct contrast with ‘the fruit of the light’ (Mat 5:9). That which is done in spiritual darkness can be of no lasting benefit.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Eph 5:11. With the unfruitful works of darkness, It is well known that the word in Greek, and the word inutilis in Latin, are sometimes used to express not only unprofitable, but mischievous things; and this is undoubtedly the meaning of the word here. See Rom 1:28.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Eph 5:11 . ] have not fellowship with (the disobedient) in the works of darkness (comp. Eph 5:7 ; and as regards the dative, see on Phi 4:14 ), i.e. in those works, which are wrought in consequence of spiritual darkness of the ethical frame of mind opposed to divine truth. Comp. Rom 13:12 . They are the (Col 1:21 ), the (Gal 5:21 ), the (Heb 6:1 ), the (Jud 1:15 ).

] the non-fruitful ones , inasmuch, namely, as they draw no blessing after them. The perdition which they have as result (Rom 6:21 ; Rom 8:13 ; Gal 6:8 ; Eph 4:22 , al. ) is conceived as negation of blessedness (comp. Eph 5:5 ). Comp. , Heb 6:1 ; Heb 9:14 .

] but rather even, imo adeo . See on Gal 4:9 ; Rom 8:34 . Bengel well remarks: “non satis abstinere est.”

] reprove them (these works), which is done when they are not passed over in silence and indulgently excused, but are held up with censure to the doer, and have their immorality discovered and brought home, in order to produce amendment. This chastening reproof is an oral one, since the context does not intimate anything else; not one de facto (“sancta nimirum et honesta vita,” Beza; comp. Erasmus, Cameron, Zanchius), not “dictis et factis ” (Bengel; comp. Theophylact, Photius, Calovius, Holzhausen, Olshausen, and others). Comp. on Joh 3:20 ; Joh 16:8 ; 1Co 14:24 .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them .

Ver. 11. Have no fellowship ] No needless society for fear of infection; get the wind of those stinking carcases; “hate the garment spotted by the flesh,” that is, avoid ill company (saith Perkins), as Lev 15:4 . The Lacedaemonians would not allow a stranger to be with them more than three days; and shall we associate ourselves with such as are strangers to God?

Works of darkness ] Work done in the dark must be undone again, or else we are sure to be thrust into outer darkness, where we shall never see light again till we see all the world on a light fire.

But rather reprove them ] At least by your contrary courses, as Noah condemned the old world, by being righteous in his generation.Rev 14:1-5Rev 14:1-5 , those who stood with the Lamb, had his Father’s name on their foreheads, led convincing lives: so did Luther, Bucer, Bradford, &c.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

11 .] and have no fellowship with (better than ‘ be not partakers in ,’ as De W., which would require a genitive, see Demosth. p. 1299. 20, : whereas the person with whom , is regularly put in the dative, e.g. Dio Cass. xxxvii. 41, , ib. lxxvii. 16, . . And Php 4:14 furnishes no objection to this rendering) the unfruitful works of darkness (see Gal 5:19 ; Gal 5:22 ; on which Jer., vol. vii. p. 505, says ‘vitia in semetipsa finiuntur et pereunt, virtutes frugibus pullulant et redundant.’ See also the distinction in Joh 3:20-21 ; Joh 5:29 , between and or ), but rather even reprove them (see reff., in words : not only abstain from fellowship with them, but attack them and put them to shame).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Eph 5:11 . : and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness . TWH again prefer the form . The verb has its usual force here, and takes us back to the of Eph 5:7 . The only question is whether it governs the itself, or an or understood. Looking to the above, the of Phi 4:14 , etc., some prefer the latter, = “have no fellowship with them in the works”. But the gen. probably would then be the proper case for the things in which the participation took place; cf. the use of with ( Dio Cass. , xxxvii., 41, etc.), and , etc. (Rom 11:17 ). Here, therefore, as in the case of the in Rev 18:4 and even the in Phi 4:14 , the verb is best understood as governing the directly. Elsewhere we read of (Col 1:21 ), and (Heb 6:1 ); here of , works which result in no gain, yield nothing pleasant or profitable, bring no blessing or reward with them; cf. the contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit in Gal 5:19 ; Gal 5:22 . : but rather even reprove them . This rendering of the RV is on the whole the best. AV omits the even . The other old English Versions render similarly, except Wicl., who has “but more”; Genesis , 2, which gives “but even reprove them rather”; and Bish., “but even rebuke”. The formula , combines the ideas of the corrective ( ), the adversative ( ) and the ascensive ( ), and means, therefore, “but rather even,” not merely “yea, much more”. Without the the phrase has the force of a corrective climax; cf. Mey. on Rom 8:34 , Gal 4:9 , and Fritz. on Rom 8:34 . It was not enough, therefore, for them simply to abstain from such works; they must even reprove them. The question, however, is what is the proper sense of here, and what is the force of the whole sentence? Some give the verb the sense of reproving , but understand the reproof in view to be both in word and in deed (Olsh.), or only in deed, i.e. , the reproof conveyed by the spectacle of a pure life and consistently moral walk. Others, looking to the following , etc., and thinking it incongruous to speak of an oral rebuke in connection with a statement of the shame it is even to speak of the sins in question, would give the verb the sense of exposing (Abb.). But both the context and the general idea connected with in the Pauline writings ( cf., e.g. , 1Co 14:24 ; 2Ti 4:2 ; Tit 1:9 ; Tit 1:13 ; Tit 2:15 ) point to the notion of oral reproof. The idea, therefore, is that these Christians were not at liberty to deal lightly with such sins, or connive at them, or be silent about them, but had to speak out against them and hold them up to rebuke, with the view of bringing their heathen neighbours to apprehend their turpitude and forsake them.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

EPHESIANS

UNFRUITFUL WORKS OF DARKNESS

Eph 5:11

We have seen in a former sermon that ‘the fruit,’ or outcome, ‘of the Light’ is a comprehensive perfection, consisting in all sorts and degrees of goodness and righteousness and truth. Therefore, the commandment, ‘Walk as children of the light,’ sums up all Christian morality. Is there need, then, for any additional precept? Yes; for Christian people do not live in an empty world. If there were no evil round them, and no proclivity to evil within them, it would be amply sufficient to say to them, ‘Be true to the light which you behold.’ But since both these things are, the commandment of my text is further necessary. We do not work in vacuo, and therefore friction and atmosphere have to be taken account of; and an essential part of ‘walking as children of the light’ is to know how to behave ourselves when confronted with ‘the works of darkness.’

These Ephesian Christians lived in a state of society honeycombed with hideous immorality, the centre of which was the temple, which was their city’s glory and shame. It was all but impossible for them to have nothing to do with the works of evil, unless, indeed, they went out of the world. But the difficulty of obedience does not affect the duty of obedience, nor slacken in the smallest degree the stringency of a command. This obligation lies upon us as fully as it did upon them, and the discharge of it by professing Christians would bring new life to moribund churches.

I. Let me ask you to note with me, first, the fruitlessness inherent in all the works of darkness.

You may remember that I pointed out, in a former discourse on the context, that the Apostle, here and elsewhere, draws a very significant distinction between ‘works’ and ‘fruit,’ and that distinction is put very strikingly in the words of my text. There are works which are barren. It is a grim thought that there may be abundant activity which, in the eyes of God, comes to just nothing; and that pages and pages of laborious calculations, when all summed up, have for result a great round 0. Men are busy, and hosts of them are doing what the old fairy stories tell us that evil spirits were condemned to do-spinning ropes out of sea-sand; and their life-work is nought when they come to reckon it up.

I have no time to dwell upon this thought, but I wish, just for a moment or two, to illustrate it.

All godless life is fruitless, inasmuch as it has no permanent results. Permanent results of a sort, indeed, follow everything that men do, for all our actions tend to make character, and they all have a share in fixing that which depends upon character-viz. destiny, both here and yonder. And thus the most fleeting of our deeds, which in one aspect is as transitory as the snow upon the great plains when the sun rises, leaves everlasting traces upon ourselves and upon our condition. But yet acts concerned with transitory things may have permanent fruit, or may be as transient as the things with which they are concerned. And the difference depends on the spirit in which they are done. If the roots are only in the surface-skin of soil, when that is pared off the plant goes. A life that is to be eternal must strike its roots through all the superficial humus down to the very heart of things. When its roots twine themselves round God then the deeds which blossom from them will blossom unfading for ever.

Think of men going empty-handed into another world, and saying, ‘O Lord! I made a big fortune in Manchester when I lived there, and I left it all behind me’; or, ‘I mastered a science, and one gleam of the light of eternity has antiquated it’; or, ‘I gained prizes, won my aims, and they have all dropped from my hands, and here I stand, having to say in the most tragic sense: Nothing in my hands I bring.’ And another man dies in the Lord, and his ‘works do follow’ him. It is not every vintage that bears exportation. Some wines are mellowed by crossing the ocean; some are turned into vinegar. The works of darkness are unfruitful because they are transient.

And they are unfruitful because, whilst they last, they yield no real satisfaction. The Apostle could say to another Church with a certainty as to what the answer would be, ‘What fruit had ye then’-when ye were doing them-’in the things whereof ye are now ashamed?’ And the answer is ‘None!’ Of course, it is true that men do bad things because they like them better than good. Of course, it is true that the misery of mankind is that they have no appetite in the general for the only real satisfaction. But it is also true that no man who feeds his heart and mind on anything short of God is really at rest in anything that he does or possesses. Occasional twinges of conscience, dim perceptions that after all they are walking in a vain show; glimpses of nobler possibilities, a vague unrest, an unwillingness to reflect and look the facts of their condition in the face, like men that will not take stock because they half suspect that they are insolvent-these are the conditions that attach to all godless men’s lives. There is no real fruit for their thirsty lips to feed upon. The smallest man is too large to be satisfied with anything short of Infinity, The human heart is like some narrow opening on a hill-side, so narrow that it looks as if a glassful of water would fill it. But it goes away down, down, down into the depths of the mountain, and you may pour in hogsheads and no effect is visible. God, and God alone, brings to the thirsty heart the fruit that it needs.

Another solemn thought illustrates the unfruitfulness of a godless life. There is no correspondence between what such a man does and what he is intended to do. Think of what the most degraded and sensuous wretch that shambles about the slums of a city, sodden with beer and rotten with profligacy, could be. Think of the raptures of devout contemplation and the energies of holy work which are possible for that soul, and then say-though it is an extreme case, the principle holds in less extreme cases-Are these things that men do apart from God, however shining, noble, illustrious they may be in the eyes of the world, and trumpeted forth by the mouthpieces of popular opinion, are these things worth calling fruits fit to be borne by such a tree? No more than the cankers on a rose-bush or the galls on an oak-tree are worthy of being called fruit are these works that some of you have as the only products of a life’s activity. ‘Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?’

II. And now, secondly, notice the plain Christian duty of abstinence.

‘Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.’ Now, the text, as it stands in our version, seems to suggest that these dark works are personified as companions whom a good man ought to avoid; and that, therefore, the bearing of the exhortation is, ‘Have nothing to do, in your own individual lives, with evil things that one man can commit.’ But I take it that, important as that injunction and prohibition is, the Apostle’s meaning is somewhat different, and that my text would perhaps be more accurately translated if another word were substituted for ‘have no fellowship with.’ The original expression seems rather to mean, ‘Do not go partners with other people in works of darkness, which it takes more than one to commit.’ Or, to put it into another language, the Apostle is regarding Christian people here as members of society, and exhorting them to a certain course of conduct in reference to plain and palpable existing evils around them. And such an exhortation to the duty of plain abstinence from things that the opinion of the world around us has no objection to, but which are contrary to the light, is addressed to all Christian people.

The need of it I do not require to illustrate at any length. But let me remind you that the devil has no more cunning way of securing a long lease of life for any evil than getting Christian people and Christian Churches to give it their sanction. What was it that kept slavery alive for centuries? Largely, that Christian men solemnly declared that it was a divine institution. What is it that has kept war alive for all these centuries? Largely, that bishops and preachers have always been ready to bless colours, and to read a Christening service over a man-of-war-and, I suppose, to ask God that an eighty-ton gun might be blessed to smash our enemies to pieces, and not to blow our sailors to bits. And what is it that preserves the crying evils of our community, the immoralities, the drunkenness, the trade dishonesty, and all the other things that I do not need to remind you of in the pulpit? Largely this, that professing Christians are mixed up with them. If only the whole body of those who profess and call themselves Christians would shake their hands clear of all complicity with such things, they could not last. Individual responsibility for collective action needs to be far more solemnly laid to heart by professing Christians than ever it has been.

Nor need I remind you, I suppose, with what fatal effects on the Gospel and the Church itself all such complicity is attended. Even the companions of wrongdoers despise, whilst they fraternise with, the professing Christian who has no higher standard than their own. What was it that made the Church victorious over the combined forces of imperial persecution, pagan superstition, and philosophic speculation? I believe that among all the causes that a well-known historian has laid down for the triumph of Christianity, what was as powerful as-I was going to say even more than-the Gospel of peace and love which the Church proclaimed was the standard of austere morality which it held up to a world rotting in its own filth. And sure I am that wherever the Church says, ‘So do not I, because of the fear of the Lord,’ it will gain a power, and will be regarded with a possibly reluctant, but a very real, respect which no easy-going coming down to the level of popular moralities will ever secure for a silver-slippered Christianity. And so, brethren, I would say to you, Do not be afraid of the old name Puritan. Ignorant people use it as a scoff. It should be a crown of glory. ‘Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.’

But how is this to be done? Well, of course, there is only one way of abstaining, and that is, to abstain. But there are a great many different ways of abstaining. Light is not fire. And the more that Christian people feel themselves bound to stand aloof from common evils, the more are they bound to see that they do it in the spirit of the Master, which is meekness. It is always an invidious position to take up. And if we take it up with any heat and temper, with any lack of moderation, with any look of ostentation of superior righteousness, or with any trace of the Boanerges spirit which says, ‘Let us call down fire from heaven and consume them,’ our testimony will be weakened, and the world will have a right to say to us, ‘Jesus we know, and Paul we know; but who are ye?’ ‘Who made this man a judge and a divider over us?’ ‘In meekness instructing them that oppose themselves.’

III. Lastly, note the still harder Christian duty of vigorous protest.

The further duty beyond abstinence which the text enjoins is inadequately represented by our version, ‘but rather reprove them.’ For the word rendered in our version ‘reprove’ is the same which our Lord employed when He spoke of the mission of the Comforter as being to ‘convince or convict the world of sin.’ And it does not merely mean ‘reprove,’ but so to reprove as to produce the conviction which is the object of the reproof.

This task is laid on the shoulders of all professing Christians. A silent abstinence is not enough. No doubt, the best way, in some circumstances, to convict the darkness is to shine. Our holiness will convict sin of its ugliness. Our light will reveal the gloom. The presentation of a Christian life is the Christian man’s mightiest weapon in his conflict with the world’s evil. But that is not all. And if Christian people think that they have done all their duty, in regard to clamant and common iniquities, by simply abstaining from them and presenting a nobler example, they have yet to learn one very important chapter of their duty. A dumb Church is a dying Church, and it ought to be; for Christ has sent us here in order, amongst other things, that we may bring Christian principles to bear upon the actions of the community; and not be afraid to speak when we are called upon by conscience to do so.

Now I am not going to dwell upon this matter, but I want just to point out to you how, in the context here, there are two or three very important principles glanced at which bear upon it. And one of them is this, that one reason for speaking out is the very fact that the evils are so evil that a man is ashamed to speak about them. Did you ever notice this context, in which the Apostle, in the next verse to my text, gives the reason for his commandment to ‘reprove’ thus-’For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret’? Did you ever hear of a fantastic tenderness for morality so very sensitive that it is not at all shocked when the immoral things are done, but glows with virtuous indignation when a Christian man speaks out about them? There are plenty of people nowadays who tell us that it is ‘indelicate’ and ‘indecent’ and ‘improper,’ and I do not know how much else, for a Christian teacher or minister to say a word about certain moral scandals. But they do not say anything about the immorality and the indelicacy and the indecency of doing them. Let us have done with that hypocrisy, brethren. I am arguing for no disregard for proprieties; I want all fitting reticence observed, and I do not wish indiscriminate rebukes to be flung at foul things; but it is too much to require that, by reason of the very inky cloud of filth that they fling up like cuttlefish, they should escape censure. Let us remember Paul’s exhortation, and reprove because the things are too bad to be spoken about.

Further, note in the context the thought that the conviction of the darkness comes from the flashing upon it of the light. ‘All things when they are reproved are made manifest by the light.’ Which, being translated into other words, is this:-Be strong in your brave protest, because it only needs that the thing should be seen as it is, and called by its right name, in order to be condemned.

The Assyrians had a belief that if ever, by any chance, a demon saw himself in a mirror, he was frightened at his own ugliness and incontinently fled. And if Christian people would only hold up the mirror of Christian principle to the hosts of evil things that afflict our city and our country, they would vanish like ghosts at sunrise. They cannot stand the light, therefore let us cast the light upon them.

And do not forget the other final principle here, which is imperfectly represented by our translation. We ought to read, ‘Whatever is made manifest is light.’ Yes. In the physical world when light falls upon a thing, you see it because there is on it a surface of light. And in the moral world the intention of all this conviction is that the thing disclosed to be darkness should, in the very disclosure, cease to be dark, should forsake its nature and be transformed into light. Such transformation is not always the case. Alas! There are evil deeds on which the light falls, and it does nothing. But the purpose in all cases should be, and the issue in many will be, that the merciful conviction by the light will be followed by the conversion of darkness into light.

And so, dear brethren, I bring this text to your hearts, and lay it upon your consciences. We may not all be called upon to speak; we are all called upon to be. You can shine, and by shining show how dark the darkness is. The obligation is laid upon us all; the commandment still comes to every Christian which was given to the old prophet, ‘Declare unto My people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sin.’ A quaint old writer says that the presence of a saint ‘hinders the devil of elbow room to do his tricks.’ We can all rebuke sin by our righteousness, and by our shining reveal the darkness to itself. We do not walk as children of the light unless we keep ourselves from all connivance with works of darkness, and by all means at our disposal reprove and convict them. ‘Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch no unclean thing, saith the Lord.’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

have . . . fellowship = have partnership. Greek. sunkoinoneo. Only here; Php 1:4, Php 1:14. Rev 18:4.

unfruitful works. Compare dead works, Heb 6:1; wicked works, Co Eph 1:1, Eph 1:21; all works of the darkness, Rom 13:12. Consequently, the works of the devil, 1Jn 3:8. Compare Joh 8:44, and contrast Eph 2:10.

darkness = the darkness.

reprove = convict. See Luk 3:19.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

11.] and have no fellowship with (better than be not partakers in, as De W., which would require a genitive, see Demosth. p. 1299. 20, : whereas the person with whom, is regularly put in the dative, e.g. Dio Cass. xxxvii. 41, ,-ib. lxxvii. 16, . . And Php 4:14 furnishes no objection to this rendering) the unfruitful works of darkness (see Gal 5:19; Gal 5:22; on which Jer., vol. vii. p. 505, says vitia in semetipsa finiuntur et pereunt, virtutes frugibus pullulant et redundant. See also the distinction in Joh 3:20-21; Joh 5:29, between and or ), but rather even reprove them (see reff.,-in words: not only abstain from fellowship with them, but attack them and put them to shame).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Eph 5:11. , ) , even: it is not enough to abstain [yourself, you must also reprove others].-, reprove) by words and deeds worthy of the light.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Eph 5:11

Eph 5:11

and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,-Have no part, be not partakers in these works which grow up in heathen darkness. They are called unfruitful, since they bear no good fruit, no good results to him who practices them or to the world, but only evil and degrading. [Those who have things in common; who are congenial; who have the same views, feelings and interests; and who therefore delight in each others society are said to be in fellowship. In this sense believers have fellowship with God and with each other. So we are said to have fellowship in anything in which we delight and of which we partake. To have fellowship with the works of darkness, therefore, is to delight in them and to participate in them. All such association is forbidden as inconsistent with the character of the children of light.]

but rather even reprove them;-Condemn them, testify both by precept and example that they are degrading. [When the Spirit is said to reprove men of sin (Joh 16:8-11), it means that he sheds such light on their sins as to reveal their true character, and to produce the consequent consciousness of guilt and pollution. Paul says the effect of preaching the gospel produces conviction-which is explained by saying: The secrets of his heart are made manifest. (1Co 14:25-26). The duty, therefore, here enjoined is to shed light on these works of darkness; to exhibit them in their true nature as vile and destructive. By this method they are corrected. So we see that so far as human agency in the production of sin is concerned, it is limited to the holding forth the word of life; or letting the light of divine truth shine into the darkened minds of men, and upon their evil deeds.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

no: Eph 5:7, Gen 49:5-7, Psa 1:1, Psa 1:2, Psa 26:4, Psa 26:5, Psa 94:20, Psa 94:21, Pro 4:14, Pro 4:15, Pro 9:6, Jer 15:17, Rom 16:17, 1Co 5:9-11, 1Co 10:20, 1Co 10:21, 2Co 6:14-18, 2Th 3:6, 2Th 3:14, 1Ti 6:5, 2Ti 3:5, 2Jo 1:10, 2Jo 1:11, Rev 18:4

unfruitful: Pro 1:31, Isa 3:10, Isa 3:11, Rom 6:21, Gal 6:8

works: Eph 4:22, Job 24:13-17, Joh 3:19-21, Rom 1:22-32, Rom 13:12, 1Th 5:7

but: Gen 20:16, Lev 19:17, Psa 141:5, Pro 9:7, Pro 9:8, Pro 13:18, Pro 15:12, Pro 19:25, Pro 25:12, Pro 29:1, Isa 29:21, Mat 18:15, Luk 3:19, 1Ti 5:20, 2Ti 4:2, Tit 2:15

Reciprocal: Lev 11:8 – they are unclean Lev 11:24 – General Lev 15:4 – be unclean Deu 20:18 – General Jos 6:18 – in any wise Jos 23:7 – That ye come Jdg 6:31 – Will ye plead 1Ki 13:9 – Eat no bread 1Ki 22:4 – I am as thou 2Ch 18:3 – I am as thou 2Ch 19:2 – Shouldest Job 24:16 – they know Psa 50:18 – consentedst Pro 1:10 – General Pro 5:8 – General Pro 7:9 – the twilight Pro 14:7 – General Pro 24:19 – Fret Pro 28:4 – but Isa 33:15 – stoppeth Isa 52:11 – touch Jer 16:8 – General Hos 4:15 – yet Mat 18:17 – a heathen Luk 15:15 – to feed Luk 23:40 – rebuked Joh 18:18 – Peter 2Co 7:11 – clearing 1Ti 5:22 – neither 2Ti 3:16 – for reproof

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

(Eph 5:11.) -And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. The spelling is found in A, B1, D1, F, G, L, and the reason for preferring it is given by Tischendorf, with many examples, in his Prolegomena, page xlvii. connects this clause with . Php 4:14; Rev 18:4. is plainly in contrast with in Eph 5:9. These have no good fruits-their only fruit, as Theophylact says, is death and shame. See the contrast between and in Gal 5:19; Gal 5:22. has been explained under the 8th verse. This admonition is much the same as that contained in the 7th verse. Rom 6:21; Rom 8:12; Gal 6:8. A line of broad demarcation was to separate the church from the world; and not only was there to be no participation and no connivance, but there was in addition to be rebuke-

. -Yea, much more-or better, but rather even-a formula which gives special intensity to the antithesis. Fritzsche, ad Rom 8:34; Hartung, 1.134; Gal 4:9. It was a duty to have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness; but it was a far higher obligation to reprimand them. There was to be not simply negative separation, but positive rebuke-not by the contrast of their own purity, but by formal and solemn reproof. 1Co 14:24; 2Ti 4:2; Xen. Symp. 8.43.

Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians

Eph 5:11. To have fellowship has the same meaning as being a partaker, which is commented upon at verse 7, but Paul adds another command in this verse, namely, to reprove the evil. The word is from ELEGCHO, and Thayer defines it at this place, “by conviction to bring to light, to expose.” According to the laws of the land, even, “to conceal a crime constitutes another crime.” If the servants of God know of the existence of sin and do not condemn it, they thereby become partakers thereof. All active things whether good or bad produce some kind of fruit (Mat 7:17), hence the word unfruitful in our verse means that it does not bear any proper fruit. Works of darkness refers to the evil practices that are performed under the cover of the darkness of error and the absence of spiritual light of truth.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Eph 5:11. And have no fellowship. The connection is with Eph 5:7; neither be partakers with the disobedient, nor have fellowship with their works, which are unfruitful works of darkness. Comp. Gal 5:19; Gal 5:22, where there is a similar contrast between fruit and works. These works are unfruitful, because not leading to salvation (comp. Heb 6:1; Heb 9:14 : dead works); corruption and condemnation are the positive result, but these are only hinted at in the word darkness.

But rather even reprove them. To have no fellowship is not enough (Bengel). Them, which must be supplied, refers to the works. Reprove points to oral rebuke, such as shows the immorality of such works, quickens the conscience of the person doing them, with a view to his improvement. Some with less accuracy explain the word convince by evidence, inferring that our duty is simply to let the light of Divine truth shine into the darkened minds of men, and upon their evil deeds (Hodge). The danger in the application of this command arises from wrong motives in the heart of the reprover, not from any too strict view of the sinfulness of the works of darkness.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1. The odious character wherewith sin in general is branded: it is styled darkness, a work of darkness, works of darkness, and an unfruitful work. Sin is styled darkness, because it originally springs from darkness, it naturally delights in darkness, it ultimately leads to eternal darkness. Sin is called a work of darkness, to imply the drudgery and toil, the labour and pains, that the sinner is at in the service of sin: the work of sin is a mere drudgery and toil, the labour and pains, that the sinner is at in the service of sin: the work of sin is a mere drudgery ; it is not a pleasurable service, but a laborious servitude.

And the apostle calling sin by the name of works, doth intimate to us, that one sin never goes single and alone, but has a dangerous train and retinue. Finally, Sin is an unfruitful work; not materially and subjectively unfruitful, for the corrupt nature of man is a rank soil in which sin thrives apace; but terminatively and ultimately, it is unfruitful in the conclusion, in the event and issue, What fruit,& c. Rom 6:21

Observe, 2. A dehortation, or negative precept: Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness: it is both the duty and interest of every christian to have nothing to do with any sinful work; the preceptive will of God requires this, sin being contrary to the holiness of his nature and will; and the dignity and purity of the gospel calls for this, which is a law of holiness, and a rule of holy living.

Observe, 3. A positive injunction: but rather reprove them.

How are we to reprove the unfruitful workers and works of darkness?

Two ways:

1. By our lips; with plainness, but yet with prudence; with faithfulness, but yet with meekness; in reproof never use sharp words, if soft words will serve the turn.

2. With our lives; thus Nehemiah, by his princely demeanor, did reprove the covetousness of former governors, So did not I, because of the fear of the Lord Neh 5:15; a holy life is a visible and daily reproof given both to sin and sinners.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Eph 5:11-12. And have no fellowship No society, no participation with wicked men in the unfruitful works of darkness Works which bring no advantage, but mischief, (Rom 6:23,) and called works of darkness, because they usually proceed from ignorance, Act 3:17; are contrary to the light of the word, Joh 3:20; are usually committed in the dark, 1Th 5:7; and bring those who live and die in the commission of them to utter and eternal darkness, Mat 25:30; but rather reprove them Show your disapprobation of them by seasonable and suitable reproof, (Lev 19:17; Mat 18:15,) and especially by the holiness of your conversation. Observe, reader, to avoid such things is not sufficient. For it is a shame even to speak of those things Except in the way of reproof; which are done of them in secret That is, says Dr. Whitby, in their mysteries, which therefore were styled , (mysteries not to be spoken of,) none being permitted to divulge them upon pain of death. Hence even the word (mystery) hath its name, say grammarians, from , to stop the mouth. The Eleusinian mysteries were performed in the night, agreeably to the deeds of darkness committed in them; so were the Bacchanalia; and they were both full of detestable iniquity; and upon that account, says Livy, were banished out of the Roman senate and Italy. These quotations, with many others which might be added to them, plainly prove, as Dr. Doddridge observes, that if the lower sort of mysteries among the heathens were first intended, as some have supposed, to impress the minds of the people with the belief of future rewards and punishments, and the higher sort of them to instruct persons of more reflection and penetration than the rest, in the knowledge of the true God, and the other great principles of natural religion, they were, long before the apostles time, greatly corrupted, and degraded to the most detestable purposes. Monsieur Saurin thinks there is a sarcasm in this verse, as if the apostle said, The heathens call these things , things not to be spoken of; true, they are properly so; things not too sacred, but too infamous to be mentioned.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove [them].

Fellowship or participation with is the thought – don’t have a part in the unfruitful works of darkness. “Unfruitful” is the negative of the fruit of the Spirit we saw a few verses back. In this case rather than the progeny of someone, it is the lack of a progeny or barren.

My wife grows violets now and then, and she has little success in growing them where we live right now. She seldom can get one of them to bloom; they are unfruitful or barren of that which they naturally produce. The problem is that they are too often in the darkness, or they are lacking light.

Why in the world would a believer get involved in works that produce no fruit, especially when it is works of darkness – REMEMBER we are the light emitters, why would we cloud that light by involving ourselves with darkness? Yes, indeed we would shed light, but why would we shed light in a place that despises the light, rejects the light and works against the light?

It is of note also, that the text says “have NO” fellowship, not have a little fellowship, or dabble in fellowship or whatever rationalization might come along – “have NO fellowship” is the standard set by God and that is the standard we will be expected to meet.

We aren’t to have a part in these works, but on the other hand we are to reprove them – we are to make the truth known, we are to expose these works of darkness for what they are. When you see a work of darkness, be sure to have your say, be sure to convey clearly the wrongness of that work, and be sure to stand against darkness when you see it. Don’t allow it to go unchallenged.

In today’s work place this may be hard; indeed it may be a little dangerous for your job. My wife works for a governmental entity and in the course of her normal Christian life in the work place; she has been accused of being religious. This is an accusation she has denied by clarifying that she has a relationship with Christ.

The point is that because she says no to some things of the world and speaks her mind on the wrongs of the world, she is “religious” and as such someone to be avoided and marked so others aren’t contaminated.

In years past employers wanted believers in their workplace so that they could trust those that worked for them, but today the honest forthright person is the one to be black balled, the one to be avoided, and the one you seek to get rid of. Yes, persecution is coming to the church and we had better prepare our children for it lest they be caught unawares.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather {e} reprove [them].

(e) Make them open to all the world, by your good life.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Children of light should also abstain from joining the sons of disobedience in their deeds but should rather reprove believers who do them because these deeds are unfruitful (cf. Eph 5:9). [Note: Hoehner, Ephesians, p. 679.] This is Paul’s third command in this section. It is the deeds of unbelievers that Christians must shun, not the unbelievers who do them. We reprove the deeds of believers who practice such evil deeds as we bring the light (Eph 5:9) next to them. This exposes them for what they are.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)