Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ephesians 5:14

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

14. Wherefore ] With regard to the fact that whatever is really brought to light, in the sense of true spiritual conviction, becomes light.

he saith ] Or possibly it (the Scripture) saith. See note on Eph 4:8.

Awake, &c.] These words occur nowhere in the O.T. verbatim. St Jerome, on the verse, makes many suggestions; as that St Paul may have used an “apocryphal” passage, exactly as he used words from pagan writers ( e.g. Tit 1:12); or that he utters an immediate inspiration granted to himself, in prophetic form. Thomas Aquinas (quoted by Vallarsius on St Jerome) suggests that we have here the essence of Isa 60:1; where the Lat. reads “Rise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem, for thy light is come &c.” Surely this is the true solution, if we add to it the probability that other prophecies contributed to the phraseology here. Dr Kay (in the Speaker’s Commentary) on Isa 60:1 writes, “In Eph 5:14 this verse is combined, in a paraphrase form, with Isa 51:17, Isa 52:1-2. The Ephesians had been walking in darkness, as dead men but the Redeemer had come and the Spirit been given. Therefore they were to awake (ch. Isa 51:17, Isa 52:1) out of sleep, and arise from the dead, that Christ the Lord might shine upon them, and they again shed His light on the Gentiles round.”

To the believer in the Divine plan and coherence of Scripture it will be abundantly credible that “the Lord” (Jehovah) of Isaiah should be the “Christ” of St Paul (cp. Isa 6:5 with Joh 12:41), and that the “Jerusalem” of Isaiah should have an inner reference to the True Israel (Gal 3:29; Gal 6:16), in its actual or potential members.

Dr Edersheim ( Temple and its Services, p. 262), suggests that the Apostle may have had present to his mind language used in synagogue worship at the Feast of Trumpets. Rabbinic writers explain the trumpet blasts as, inter alia, a call to repentance; and one of them words the call, “Rouse ye from your slumber, awake from your sleep, &c.” Some such formula may have been in public use. Bengel makes a similar suggestion here. But this would not exclude, only supplement, the reference to Isaiah.

Another suggestion is that the words are a primitive Christian “psalm” (1Co 14:26); perhaps “the morning hymn used each day by the Christians in Rome in St Paul’s lodging,” or “a baptismal hymn.” Here again we have an interesting possibility, for such a “psalm” may have given or influenced the phrase here. But the introductory word “ He, or it, saith,” seems to us to weigh decidedly for the view that the words are, in essence, a Scripture quotation.

sleepest the dead ] The sleep is more than sleep; the sleep of death. But death itself is but as sleep that can be broken (Mat 9:24) to the Lord of Life. On spiritual death see above, on Eph 2:1.

shall give thee light ] Better, as R.V., shall shine upon thee. The idea, by context, is not so much of the light of conviction, as of that of spiritual transfiguration (2Co 3:18; 2Co 4:4-6). The thought of “ being light in the Lord ” runs through the passage. It is a light consequent upon awaking and arising. Another, but certainly mistaken, reading gives, “ thou shalt touch Christ ” The “Old Latin” followed it. It is due, in part at least, to the close similarity in form of two widely different Gr. verbs.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Wherefore he saith – Margin, or it. Dio legei. The meaning may be, either that the Lord says, or the Scripture. Much difficulty has been experienced in endeavoring to ascertain where this is said. It is agreed on all hands that it is not found, in so many words, in the Old Testament. Some have supposed that the allusion is to Isa 26:19, Thy dead men shall live – awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, etc. But the objections to this are obvious and conclusive.

(1) This is not a quotation of that place, nor has it a resemblance to it, except in the word awake.

(2) The passage in Isaiah refers to a different matter, and has a different sense altogether; see the notes on the passage.

To make it refer to those to whom the gospel comes, is most forced and unnatural. Others have supposed that the reference is to Isa 60:1-3, Arise, shine; for thy light is come, etc. But the objection to this is not less decisive.

(1) It is not a quotation of that passage, and the resemblance is very remote, if it can be seen at all.

(2) that is addressed to the church, calling on her to let her light shine; this, to awake and arise from the dead, with the assurance that Christ would give them light. The exhortation here is to Christians, to avoid the vices of the pagan around them; the exhortation in Isaiah is to the church, to rejoice and exult in view of the fact that the day of triumph had come, and that the pagan were to be converted, and to come in multitudes and devote themselves to God. In the design of the two passages there is no resemblance. Some have supposed that the words are taken from some book among the Hebrews which is now lost. Epiphanius supposed that it was a quotation from a prophecy of Elijah; Syncellus and Euthalius, from some writing of Jeremiah; Hippolytus, from the writing of some now unknown prophet. Jerome supposed it was taken from some apocryphal writings. Grotius supposes that it refers to the word light in Eph 5:13, and that the sense is, That light says; that is, that a man who is pervaded by that light, let him so say to another. Heumann, and after him Storr, Michaelis, and Jennings (Jewish Ant. 2:252), suppose that the reference is to a song or hymn that was sung by the early Christians, beginning in this manner, arid that the meaning is, Wherefore, as it is said in the hymns which we sing,

Awake, thou that sleepest;

Arise from the dead;

Christ shall give thee light.

Others have supposed that there is an allusion to a sentiment which prevailed among the Jews, respecting the significancy of blowing the trumpet on the first day of the month, or the feast of the new moon. Maimonides conjectures that that call of the trumpet, especially in the month Tisri, in which the great day of atonement occurred, was designed to signify a special call to repentance; meaning, You who sleep, arouse from your slumbers; search and try yourselves; think on your Creator, repent, and attend to the salvation of the soul. Burder, in Ros. Alt. u. neu. Morgenland, in loc. But all this is evidently conjecture. I see no evidence that Paul meant to make a quotation at all. Why may we not suppose that he speaks as an inspired man, and that he means to say, simply, that God now gives this command, or that God now speaks in this way? The sense then would be, Be separate from sinners. Come out from among the pagan. Do not mingle with their abominations; do not name them. You are the children of light; and God says to you, awake from false security, rouse from the death of sin, and Christ shall enlighten you. Whatever be the origin of the sentiment in this verse, it is worthy of inspiration, and accords with all that is elsewhere said in the Scriptures.

(The grand objection to this view of our author is, that the apostle evidently introduces a citation. In the writings of Paul, the form dio legei is never used in any other sense. Whence then is the quotation taken? There is nothing absurd in supposing, with Scott and Guyse, that the apostle gives the general sense of the Old Testament prophecies con cerning the calling of the Gentiles. But Isa 60:1-3, bears a sufficiently close resemblance to the passage in Ephesians, to vindicate the very commonly received opinion, that the apostle quotes that prophecy, in which the subject is the increase of the Church by the accession of the pagan nations. The church is called to arise and shine, and the apostle reminds the converted Ephesians of their lofty vocation. It forms no very serious objection, that between the place in Isaiah and that in Ephesians, there are certain verbal discrepancies. No one will make much of this, who remembers, nat in a multitude of cases similar variations occur, the apostles contenting themselves with giving the sense of the places to which they refer. Accordingly, says Dr. Dodridge, the sense of tire passage before us is so fairly deducible from the words of Isaiah, that I do not see any necessity of having recourse to this supposition, namely, that the quotation was from an apocryphal book ascribed to Jeremiah.)

Awake thou that sleepest – Arouse from a state of slumber and false security. Sleep and death are striking representations of the state in which people are by nature. In sleep we are, though living, insensible to any danger that may be near; we are unconscious of what may he going on around us; we hear not the voice of our friends; we see not the beauty of the grove or the landscape; we are forgetful of our real character and condition. So With the sinner. It is as if his faculties were locked in a deep slumber. He hears not when God calls; he has no sense of danger; he is insensible to the beauties and glories of the heavenly world; he is forgetful of his true character and condition. To see all this, he must be first awakened; and hence this solemn command is addressed to man. He must rouse from this condition, or he cannot be saved. But can he awaken himself? Is it not the work of God to awaken a sinner? Can he rouse himself to a sense of his condition and danger? How do we do in other things? The man that is sleeping on the verge of a dangerous precipice we would approach, and say, Awake, you are in danger. The child that is sleeping quietly in its bed, while the flames are bursting into the room, we would rouse, and say, Awake, or you will perish. Why not use the same language to the sinner slumbering on the verge of ruin, in a deep sleep, while the flames of wrath are kindling around him? We have no difficulty in calling on sleepers elsewhere to awake when in danger; how can we have any difficulty when speaking to the sinner?

And arise from the dead – The state of the sinner, is often compared to death; see the notes on Eph 2:1. People are by nature dead in sins; yet they must rouse from this condition, or they will perish. How singular, it may be said, to call upon the dead to rise! How could they raise themselves up? Yet God speak thus to people, and commands them to rise from the death of sin. Therefore, learn:

(1) That people are not dead in sin in any such sense that they are not moral agents, or responsible.

(2) That they are not dead in any such sense that they have no power of any kind.

(3) That it is right to call on sinners to arouse from their condition, and live.

(4) That they must put forth their efforts as if they were to begin the work themselves, without waiting for God to do it for them. They are to awake; they are to arise. It is not God who is to awake; it is not Christ who is to arise. It is the sinner who is to awake from his slumber, and arise from the state of death nor is he to wait for God to do the work for him.

And Christ shall give thee light – Christ is the light of the world; see the Joh 1:4, note, 9, note; Joh 8:12, note notes; Heb 1:3, note. The idea here is, that it they will use all the powers with which God has endowed them, and arouse from their spiritual slumber, and make an appropriate effort for salvation, then they may expect that Christ will shine upon them, and bless them in their efforts. This is just the promise that we need, and it is all that we need. All that man can ask is, that if he will make efforts to be saved, God will bless those efforts, so that they shall not be in vain. Faculties of mind have been given us to be employed in securing our salvation; and if we will employ them as they were intended to be employed, we may look for the divine aid; if not, we cannot expect it. God helps those who help themselves; and they who will make no effort for their salvation must perish as they wire will make no effort to provide food must starve. This command was indeed addressed at first to Christians; but it involves a principle which is applicable to all. Indeed, the language here is rather descriptive of the condition of impenitent sinners, than of Christians. In a far more important sense they are asleep, and are dead; and with the more earnestness, therefore, should they be entreated to awake, and to rise from the dead, that Christ may give them light.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Eph 5:14

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

A call to slumbering souls

I. The character of those addressed.

1. If you allow yourself in the practice of known wickedness, your conscience is asleep.

2. If you live in the customary neglect of self-examination, you are in a state of slumber.

3. If you have never been in any degree affected with a sense of your guilt, and of your dependence on the mercy of God in Christ, you are among those who are asleep.

4. If you have no conflicts with sin and temptation, you are in a state of slumber.

5. The prevalence of a sensual and carnal disposition is a sign of spiritual death.

6. Stupidity under the warnings of Gods word and providence, indicates such a state of soul as the Scripture compares to sleep.

II. Apply the call.

1. This awakening must suppose and imply a conviction of your sin, and a sense of your danger.

2. This awakening from sleep, and arising from the dead, implies a repentance of sin and turning to God.

3. They who have awoke from their sleep and risen from the dead will experience the properties, and maintain the exercises of a holy and spiritual life.

III. The encouragement–Christ shall give thee light, shall shine upon and enlighten thee.

1. This may be understood as a promise of pardon and eternal life on your repentance.

2. The words farther import Gods gracious attention to awakened souls, when they frame their doings to turn to Him. The call is, Awake, arise from the dead, repair to the Saviour. Say not, We are unable to discern the way. Christ will shine upon you and give you light. Say not, We are unable to rise and walk. He will meet you with His grace. Arise, He calleth you. He will guide your steps. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)

Awake

I. Images of the sinners state.

1. Sleep. This state, though usually benign and refreshing, is sometimes one of great danger. The traveller who sleeps when exposed to excessive frost, the sailor who sleeps upon the mast, are examples.

2. Darkness. This is emblematical of ignorance, error, and iniquity, and especially of the want of any certain prospect for the future.

3. Death. The insensibility, powerlessness, and immovableness of the corpse are an awful representation of the sinners state.

II. Representations of the sinners need.

1. Awakening.

2. Enlightening.

3. Raising to life.

The ministry of our Lord Jesus affords us many and striking instances of the exercise of a Divine power in these ways.

III. A revelation of the sinners hope.

1. A Divine command: Awake! arise! There is something for man to do in order that he may enjoy the blessings of the gospel.

2. A Divine promise: Christ will enlighten thee. (Clerical World.)

The Church aroused

I. The state of mind into which a Christian may sometimes get.

1. The insidious character of it,

(1) A Christian may be asleep and not know it. Indeed, if he did know it, he would not be asleep.

(2) A man who is asleep may be kept in very good countenance by his neighbours. They may be in the same state, and sleeping people are not likely to be very active in rebuking one another.

(3) One who is asleep may have taken care before he went to sleep to prevent anybody coming in to wake him. There is a way of bolting the door of your heart against anybody.

(4) A man can do a great deal while asleep that will make him look as if he were quite awake. For instance, some people talk in their sleep, and many professors will talk just as if they were the most active, the most earnest, the most gracious, the most warm-hearted people anywhere.

2. What is the evil itself? It is an unconsciousness of ones own state, and a carelessness of such a kind as not to want to be conscious of it. The man takes everything for granted in religion. He seems, too, to be perfectly immovable to all appeals. The best argument is lost on a sleeping man, and then this slumbering spirit spreads itself over everything else. There is a heartlessness in the manner in which everything is gone about.

3. Now, two or three words upon what makes this evil of Christians being asleep a great deal worse.

(1) It is this: they are Christs servants, and they ought not to be asleep. If a servant is set to do a certain duty, you do not continue him in your service if he drops off asleep.

(2) It is so bad for us to be asleep, too, because it is quite certain that the enemy is awake. You recollect old Hugh Latimers sermon, in which he says that the devil is the busiest bishop in the kingdom.

(3) And meanwhile souls are being lost.

4. What is it that sends us to sleep?

(1) We are inclined to slumber from the evil of our nature.

(2) It is easy to send a man to sleep if you give him the chloroform of bad doctrine.

(3) The sultry sum of prosperity sends many to sleep. Fulness of bread is a strong temptation.

(4) In some people it is the intoxication of pride.

(5) In others it is the want of heart which is at the bottom of everything they do. They never were intense, they never were earnest, and consequently they have such little zeal that that zeal soon goes to sleep. This is the age of the Enchanted Ground. He that can go through this age and not sleep must have something more than mortal about him. God must be with him, keeping him awake. You cannot be long in the soporific air of this particular period of time without feeling that in spiritual things you grow lax, for it is a lax age–lax in doctrine, lax in principle, lax in morals, lax in everything–and only God can come in and help the Pilgrim to keep awake in this Enchanted Ground.

II. Christs message to those of His people who are asleep.

1. Jesus speaks this in love. He would not say awake, were it not the kindest thing He could say to you. Sometimes a mothers love lulls her child to sleep, but if there is a house on fire the mothers love would take another expression and startle it from its slumbers; and Christs love takes that turn when He says to you, Awake! Awake! awake!

2. It is His wisdom as well as His love that makes Him say it. He knows that you are losing much by sleeping.

3. It is a voice, too, which you ought to own, for it is backed up by the authority of the person from whom it comes.

4. It is a voice which has been very often repeated. Christ has been saying, Awake! Awake! to some of us many hundreds of times. You were sick, were you, a few months ago? That was Christ, as it were, shaking you in your sleep, and saying, Awake, My beloved, awake out of thine unhealthy slumbers!

5. A personal cry–Thou. Not, Awake all of you; but, Awake thou! Shall I pick you out one by one?

6. He puts it very pressingly in the present tense. Awake! awake now. Not a few years hence, but now. This moment.

III. The promise with which Christ encourages us to awake–Christ shall give thee light. What means this?

1. Instruction.

2. The light of joy. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Christ the Spiritual Light

I. The characters here addressed. Asleep, dead–expressions applicable to the natural state of man.

II. But to such the gracious invitation is given–Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. This invitation or command, very naturally divides itself into two branches–the external call of the gospel, and the internal call of the Holy Spirit.

III. The promise that is made–And Christ shall give thee light. We have already observed, that sin has darkened the understanding, depraved the affections, and rendered us insensible to every form of moral worth. It is altogether the result of Divine power, therefore, to enlighten the understanding, to purify the heart, and to bring us into subjection to the obedience of Christ. In closing our discourse, we observe–

1. That none will be able to urge, at the last clay, that they were compelled to sin, or prevented from forsaking it, by the providential arrangements of God.

2. Nor can you say that you have not sufficient means and opportunities for obtaining the blessings of redemption.

3. None will be able to say that they humbly, earnestly, and perseveringly sought the assistance of the Holy Spirit, without obtaining it.

4. Neither can you plead your inability to obey God, as an excuse for continuing in sin. (A. Gilmour.)

The sinner called

1. These words plainly suppose the person to whom they are addressed, to be in a state of darkness. For they who sleep, as the apostle elsewhere observeth, sleep in the night. He that followeth not Christ walketh in darkness, because the light of life shineth no longer upon his tabernacle.

2. The text plainly intimates to us that the sinner, or man of the world, to whom it addresses itself as to one sleeping, is in a state of insensibility. For no sooner has sleep taken possession of anyone, but forthwith all the senses are locked up, and he neither seeth, heareth, smelleth, tasteth, or feeleth anything. Present the most finished and beautiful picture before the eyes of a person asleep; he sees no more of it than if it was not there.

3. It appears from the text before us, that the world is in a state of delusion; for such is the state of them that sleep. And to what can the life of many a man be so fitly compared, as to a dream? Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. And first, the sincere penitent, who really and truly turns from sin to righteousness, and from the world to Christ, passes from darkness to light. Secondly, the sinner, by repentance, is brought out of a state of insensibility into one of sensibility. Thirdly, the penitent is translated from a state of delusion to a sound judgment and right apprehension of things, from shadows to realities: even as one awaketh from the romantic scenery of a dream, to behold all things as they really are, and to do his duty in that station in which God has placed him. (Bishop Home.)

Of the state of spiritual death and the misery thereof

First: The miserable state of the unregenerate, represented under the notions of sleep and death; both expressions intending one and the same thing, though with some variety of notion. The Christless and unregenerate world is in a deep sleep; a spirit of slumber, senselessness, and security is fallen upon them, though they lie exposed immediately to eternal wrath. Just as a man that is fast asleep in a house on fire, and whilst the consuming flames are round about him, his fancy is sporting itself in some pleasant dream; this is a very lively resemblance of the unregenerate soul. But yet he that sleeps hath the principle of life entire in him, though his senses be bound, and the actions of life suspended by sleep. Lest, therefore, we should think it is only so with the unregenerate, the expression is designedly varied, and those that were said to be asleep, are positively affirmed to be dead; on purpose to inform us that it is not a simple suspension of the acts and exercise, but a total privation of the principle of spiritual life, which is the misery of the unregenerate. Secondly: We have here the duty of the unregenerate, which is to awake out of sleep, and arise from the dead. And the order of these duties is very natural. First awake, then arise. Startling and rousing convictions make way for spiritual life; till God awake us by convictions of our misery, we will never be persuaded to arise, and move towards Christ for remedy and safety. Secondly: But you will say, if unregenerate men be dead men, to what purpose is it to persuade them to arise and stand up? And that this is the state of all Christless and unsanctified persons, will, undeniably, appear two ways.

1. The causes of spiritual life have not wrought upon them.

2. The effects and signs of spiritual life do not appear in them; and therefore they are in the state and under the power of spiritual death.

1. If all Christless and unregenerate souls be dead souls, then how little pleasure can Christians take in the society of the unregenerate! Certainly tis no pleasures for the living to converse among the dead. It was a cruel torment, invented by Mezentius the tyrant, to tie a dead and living man together. The pleasure of society arises from the harmony of spirits, and the hopes of mutual enjoyment in the world to come; neither of which can sweeten the society of the godly with the wicked in this world.

2. How great and wholly supernatural, marvellous, and wonderful is that change which regeneration makes upon the souls of men! It is a change from death to life: This My Son was dead and is alive again. Regeneration is life from the dead (Luk 15:24). (J. Flavel.)

Conviction

Conviction is the first step in the new life. It is essential to conversion, as the action of winter is necessary to the growth of spring.

I. Conviction is produced by the power of the truth.

II. Conviction awakens the guilty conscience.

III. Sometimes conviction is transient. A mere play on the feelings cannot produce a permanent change.

IV. There are instances of special means used to produce conviction. St. Pauls conversion.

V. Conviction is genuine when salvation is sought. The gaoler at Philippi.

VI. Conviction sometimes comes too late to save. Belshazzar. Dives. (The Weekly Pulpit.)

Men asleep and dead in sins, called to awake

I. The state we are here supposed to be in by nature.

1. A state of sleep. This implies–

(1) Ignorance.

(2) Insensibility.

(3) Security, carelessness, unconcern.

(4) Indolence and sloth.

II. The exhortation given to such. God calls thee by His Word; by His ministers, whom He raises up, qualifies, and sends forth, chiefly for this end; by His providence, affliction, health, adversity, prosperity, the sickness or death of friends and relations; by His Spirit, which enlightens thy mind, awakens and informs thy conscience.

III. The gracious promise made to those who take the exhortation. Christ shall give thee–

1. The light of knowledge as to Divine things.

2. The light of comfort and happiness.

3. The light of life. (I. Barrow, D. D.)

Our natural state, and its remedy

I. What the text calls us to believe.

1. That our natural state is a state of darkness. Light in the external world is the element or medium by which we see other objects. Darkness precludes light, not by extinguishing the sense, but by rendering it useless. Three gradations may be stated, three degrees of darkness, as it affects the soul and its perceptions.

(1) That in which the soul has no perception at all of spiritual objects or the things of God, which are, to it, as though they were not.

(2) That in which it sees the objects as existing, but is blind to their distinguishing qualities and relative proportions.

(3) That in which the qualities are seen, but not appreciated; they are seen to exist, but not seen to be excellent or the reverse. Not so much a darkness of the mind as of the heart–a blindness of the affections as to spiritual objects.

2. A state of sleep. This is more than darkness. The man who is asleep has his senses sealed; not his sight merely, but his other senses. External objects are to him as though they were not. All that lies beyond this life and its interests is veiled from his view, and might as well not be. But while his senses are suspended, his imagination is awake and active. The more insensible he is of that which really surrounds him, the more prolific is his fancy in ideal objects. His life is but a dream. His illusions may be of a pleasing and agreeable nature; that will only make the awakening more dreadful. It is related by one of those who witnessed and experienced a late explosion, that when it occurred he was asleep, and that his first sensation was a pleasant one, as though he had been flying through the air. He opened his eyes, and he was in the sea! May there not be something analogous to this in the sensations of the sinner who dies with his soul asleep, and soars, as he imagines, towards the skies, but instantaneously awakes amidst the roar of tempests and the lash of waves upon the ocean of Gods wrath?

3. A state of death.

(1) The suspension of the faculties is permanent.

(2) No power of self-resuscitation.

(3) The whole frame hastening to putrescence.

4. A state of guilt. Alienation from the love of God.

5. A state of danger. Exposed to the wrath of God.

II. What the text calls us to do. The real ground of mens indifference to this matter is their unbelief. They do not really believe what they are told as to their state by nature. Where this faith really exists, it shows itself in anxious fears, if not in active efforts. The souls first impulse is to break the spell which binds it. But this it cannot do; in itself it is helpless. Hence the exhortation has added to it the necessary promise–Christ shall give thee light. Repentance and faith are conditions of salvation; but the Author of our salvation is the Giver of repentance, the Author and Finisher of our faith. God forgives us freely if we repent and believe, but we can just as well make expiation for our sins, as repent and believe without Divine assistance. But (it may be asked) will not this doctrine tend to paralyze the efforts of the sinner for salvation? And what then? The more completely his self-righteous strength is paralyzed, the better. No man can trust God and himself at once. Your self-reliance must be destroyed, or it will destroy you. But if, by a paralysis of effort, be intended a stagnation of feeling, and indifference to danger, I reply that this doctrine has no tendency to breed it. Suppose it should be suddenly announced to this assembly that a deadly malady had just appeared, and had begun to sweep off thousands in its course; and that the only possibility of safety depended on the use of a specific remedy, simple and easy in its application, and already within the reach of every individual, who had nothing to do at any moment but to use it, and infallibly secure himself against infection. And suppose that while your minds were resting on this last assurance, it should be authoritatively contradicted, and the fact announced, with evidence not to be gainsaid, that this specific, simple and infallibly successful, was beyond the reach of every person present, and could only be applied by a superior power. I put it to yourselves, which of these statements would produce serenity, and which alarm? Which would lead you to fold your hands in indolent indifference, and which would rouse you to an agonizing struggle for the means of safety? I speak as unto wise men; judge ye what I say. Oh, my friends, if there is any cure for spiritual sloth and false security, it is a heartfelt faith in the necessity of superhuman help. The man who makes his helplessness a pretext for continuance in sin, whatever he may say, does not really believe that he is helpless. No man believes it till he knows it by experience.

1. Light dispels that blindness of the heart and affections which disables us from seeing the true qualities of spiritual objects. That which before seemed repulsive becomes lovely; that which was mean is glorious. That which was pleasing or indifferent is now seen to be loathsome. The beauty of holiness and the ugliness of sin are now revealed in their true colours. Nor is this all. The light which beams upon us not only rectifies our views of what we law before, but shows us what we never saw.

2. Light, then, is the remedy; but how shall we obtain it? It must be given to us. If it comes at all, it comes as a free gift.

3. Christ alone can give it. This world, to the believer, is a dark, perplexing labyrinth, and in its mazes he would lose himself for over were it not that ever and anon, at certain turnings in the crooked path, he gets a glimpse of Calvary. These glimpses may be transitory, but they feed his hopes, and often unexpectedly return to cheer his drooping spirits. Sometimes he is ready to despair of his escape, and to lie down in the darkness of the labyrinth and die. But as he forms the resolution an unlooked for turn presents a distant prospect, and beyond all other objects, and above them, he discerns the cross and Christ upon it. Look to Christ then! look to Him for light to dissipate your darkness, to arouse you from sleep, and to raise you from the dead. (J. A. Alexander, D. D.)

Christ the Light Giver

That the great intent of Christ in the gospel is to call people out of their woeful estate by sin into the marvellous light of His salvation. This is the great truth here represented; and to clear it up to you–

I. Observe how woeful and dangerous the present case of carnal unregenerate men is. It is represented to us under the notions of spiritual sleep and spiritual death; which I shall speak of both generally and apart, and then conjointly and together. First: To speak of them generally, and apart.

1. They are asleep in sin, whereas the regenerate are awakened (1Th 5:5-6). Here, then, is their misery upon the first account, they sleep in sin; and a great misery it is.

(1) Because their insensibility and security make their other sins more dangerous.

(2) Though they sleep, their damnation sleepeth not (2Pe 2:3).

(3) The sun is up, and shines into their windows (Rom 13:11).

2. The next notion is spiritual death; for we are bidden to Arise from the dead, which showeth this sleep is deadly (Eph 2:1). How are we dead? Two ways–

(1) Dead as we are destitute of spiritual life;

(2) Dead as we are destitute of the favour and peace of God.

Secondly: Let us speak of these terms conjunctly; the one helpeth to explain the other. When we hear that man sleepeth in sin, possibly we might be apt to be conceited that mans heart is not so corrupt as it is, and are ready to say of it, as Christ did of the damsel whom He raised to life, She is not dead, but sleepeth (Mat 9:24). Therefore we must take in the ether expression to help it. We do not only sleep in sin, but are dead in trespasses and sins. So, on the other side, when we hear that we are in the state of the dead, we may misconceive of Gods work in conversion, and press the rigour of the notion too far, as if He wrought upon us only as stocks and stones; therefore we must take in the other expression; we sleep in sins. Life natural is still left us; there is reason and conscience still to work upon, though we are wholly disabled from doing anything pleasing to God; that is to say–

1. We have reason. Thou art a man, and hast reason, and therefore art to be dealt with by way of exhortations. God influenceth all things according to their natural inclination, as He enlighteneth the world by the sun, burneth with fire, so he reasoneth with man.

2. We have conscience (which is reason applying things to our case), and can judge of our actions morally considered with respect to reward and punishment, and accuse or excuse as the nature of the action deserveth (Rom 2:14-15).

3. That we have a natural self-love and desire of happiness (Psa 4:6), There be many that say, Who will show us any good? (Mat 13:45-46). So that, though we are dead, so as to do nothing savingly and acceptably, yet we must remember that we are also asleep, ignorant, slight, careless, do not improve our natural reason, conscience, and desires of happiness to any saving purpose, and will not mind things. Both together giveth us a right apprehension of our woeful condition by nature, that we are corrupt, and so are said to be dead; and senseless and secure, so we are said to be asleep, mindless of our danger and remedy.

II. The manner of our recovery out of this wretched estate.

1. In the general, it is by calling of us. Awake, arise (see 1Pe 2:9; 2Th 2:14).

2. More particularly, the order of this calling is set down in the text, in these two injunctions, Awake, and Arise from the dead. We are reduced and brought home to God two ways–either

(1) Preparatively and dispositively; or

(2) Formally and constitutively.

III. The next thing is, what a blessed estate Christ calleth them into; He doth not only rescue them out of the power of darkness, but He will give them light. Many things are intended hereby.

1. By light is meant the lively light of the Spirit, or a clear affective knowledge both of our misery and remedy.

2. Light is put for Gods favour, and the solid consolation which floweth from thence (Psa 4:6-7).

3. It implies eternal glory and happiness, to which we have a right now, and for which we are prepared and fitted by grace. A tender waking conscience is a great mercy, whereas a dead and stupid conscience is a heavy judgment; for then neither reason nor grace is of any use to us; we can neither do the functions of a man or a Christian while we are asleep. First: Awake thou that sleepest.

Consider these motives–

1. Doth it become any to sleep in your ease, while you know not God to be a friend or an enemy? yea, when you have so much reason to think that He is an enemy to you, for you are enemies to Him by your minds in evil works (Col 1:21).

2. You sleep in that ship that is swiftly carried to eternity, and are just upon the entrance into another world: Lest coming suddenly He find you sleeping (Mar 13:36).

3. Yon have slept out too much precious time already: The time past of our life may suffice us (1Pe 4:3).

4. Thou hast been long and often called upon. If God had not sought to awaken you, you had the better excuse: How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of sleep? yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. (Pro 6:9-10).

5. Now is your time and season: He that gathereth in summer is a wise son; but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame (Pro 10:5). To lose time is sad, but to lose the season worst of all, and a season that bringeth profit as well as labour, as harvest doth.

6. Others care for their souls, and are hard at work for God; their diligence should awaken us (Act 26:7).

7. The devil is awake, and will you sleep? (1Pe 5:8).

8. If nature were well awake, it would disprove your courses as much as religion. Secondly: Arise from the dead; that is, be converted to God; for the voice of Christ doth not only conduce to awaken us, but to raise us from the dead (Joh 5:25). Look about you, then; entertain serious thoughts of getting out of a state of sin into a state of grace.

Take two motives to quicken you to this–

1. Better never be awakened if still we continue in our sins, for this aggravateth them (Joh 3:19).

2. Better never rise in the last day if we be not raised from the death of sin.

(1) Do not say, It is too soon; for we can never soon enough get out of so great a danger.

(2) Do not say, It is too late; for the work is yet possible, as short as your time is like to be in the world; and it will be your fault if it be not done. (T. Manton, D. D.)

Inattention to warning

It is said of birds that build in steeples, being used to the continual ringing of bells, the sound disquiets them not at all; or as those that dwell near the fall of the river Nilus (Nile), the noise of the water deafens them so, that they mind it not. Thus it is that the commonness of the death of others is made but, as it were, a formal thing: many have been so often at the grave, that now the grave is worn out of their hearts; they have gone so often to the house of mourning, that they are grown familiar with death; they look upon it as a matter of custom for men to die and be buried, and when the solemnity is over, the thoughts of death are over also; as soon as the grave is out of their sight, preparation for the grave is out of their mind: then they go to their worldly business, yea, to coveting and sinning, as if the last man that ever should be were buried. (Caryl.)

Insensible to Divine influence

The person here spoken of is first said to be asleep; and surely this gives the idea of one who may be surrounded by danger without knowing it; may be approached by enemies without perceiving it; may have the assassins blow aimed at his heart without attempting to repel it. In like manner, those by whom he is best loved may watch beside his pillow, and he is unconscious of their presence. A feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined, may be spread before him, yet his appetite is not awakened; riches and honours may be placed within his reach, yet his hand is not stretched forth to grasp them. And why? Because he is asleep. His eyes are closed, his ears are dulled, his senses are locked up by the power of slumber; and forgetfulness of his best interest, and inattention to outward objects, have come upon him. And thus is it with the unconverted man. He is surrounded by dangers which he heeds not; by enemies whom he regards not. The murderer of souls has struck at his heart and he has made no resistance. He may be active in worldly matters, and eager for worldly objects; but he has no eagerness, no activity for spiritual concerns. Wrath, and that eternal, is even now pursuing him; the bottomless abyss has yawned at his very feet, and is ready to engulph him; the thunders of the law are pealing forth their denunciations against him; and this immortal being remains heedless and unconcerned when there is but one step between him and the lake of fire. And there is an eye of love watching over him for good; there is a voice of mercy appealing to his soul; there is the marriage supper of the Lamb spread, and he is invited thereto; there are the unsearchable riches of Christ placed within his reach, with this encouraging inscription, Ask, and ye shall receive; yet he hears not the voice which cries, Look unto Me, and be ye saved; he sees not the bleeding form which stands between us and the stroke of Divine justice; the famished wretch hastens not to taste the feast; the beggars hand is not put forth to lay hold on the boundless treasures. He is asleep; and feels not, sees not, hears not, knows not these things. And yet he is often not devoid of strong feeling with respect to the things of this world; nor destitute of regard for the decencies of life. He may find, or think he finds, happiness in this very forgetfulness of God; nay, in his own way, he may make a profession of religion, and have a dreamy prospect of salvation to be hereafter received. He thinks that he may now give his faculties to earthly objects and to self-indulgence, that he may offer to God the service of the lip whilst his own passions and inclinations receive the adoration of the heart; and he flatters himself that he is happy now, and that he shall, unconverted and separated from the love of God as he is, be happy in His presence eternally. Alas! how delusive is this dream, springing as it does from the sleep of carnal security. When for a moment he thinks seriously, he finds himself not really happy, and when that hour comes in which the unawakened sinner shall be called into the presence of his Judge, where shall be all the joys either on earth or in heaven, which he promised to himself? It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty; or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he is faint and his soul hath appetite. His anticipations were but a dream, founded on self-delusion, and ending in bitter and irretrievable disappointment. (Bishop Ryle.)

Light

It is a remarkable illustration of the truth that material phenomena are designed to convey to us lessons of spiritual realities, that the language in common use to describe the latter is that of the former. For example, in this sentence we have the expressions sleep, death, light. All these are material conditions or things. Probably none of these symbolical expressions for spiritual things is so frequently used as that of light. Without entering into the disputed question as to the source whence this quotation is taken, whether it be a free adaptation of a passage in the book of the prophet Isaiah or whether (as some imagine) a fragment from some ancient Christian hymn, we can refer to not a few passages in the Old Testament in which a right spiritual condition is described as being a condition of light. In the New Testament, which is a record of the advent of Him who is the source of spiritual light, these passages are still more numerous. He is heralded as the Dayspring from on high who shall give light to them that sit in darkness. He is declared to be a light to lighten the Gentiles. He claims for Himself that He is the Light of the world. In Him is light, and they who receive of Him are no longer darkness but light in the Lord, for in Him the darkness is past and the true light now shineth.

1. Light was the first creation of God. His first recorded word is, Let there be light. Proceeding out of this creation of light comes all other creation until the end is reached and man is made in the image of God. In like manner light is the first creation of the gospel, which is the re-creation of the world.

2. Light needs no evidence of its presence. It proves itself. To the blind, indeed, it has no existence, and no explanation of it can make them understand it. But to such as have eyes to see, the presence of light makes itself known at once. The gospel light commends itself by its own light to those who are possessed of a clear spiritual eyesight.

3. Light is given in order that we may see where we are and amidst what surroundings we are placed. Apart from the gospel of Christ we can possess no, true view of life; we are overwhelmed by unsolved mysteries.

4. Light exists not merely that we may rejoice in the revelation of which it is the author, but that we may walk in it.

5. God called the light, day, and the day is given for work. Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening. I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day, the night cometh when no man can work.

6. Darkness is always fruitless (verse 11) while light is fruit-producing. The fruit of the light (for such is the true reading of verse 9, which is recognized in the Revised Version) is in goodness, righteousness, truth. Light is a necessary element in the formation of the fruit of a tree or a plant. Such if deprived of light becomes barren. How true a picture of the human soul upon which the Light of Life is not shining! (Canon Vernon Hutton.)

The Awakener is in every sleeper

God would not mock man by bidding him to awake out of death, and to arise to a new life, if the Awakener were not in the very midst of his soul to help him. God calls man from within himself. The Resurrection and the Life stirs in him, saying, Arise from the dead! and the man is already at the dawn of the heavenly life. As sunrise pricks the sleeper, and says to him, Arise! even so the hour cometh when the dead soul hears the voice of the Son of Man, and, hearing, lives. The gentleness of the Divine love opens a new day within the man, and ten thousand noiseless arrows penetrate and startle his soul. They are the life glances of the Quickener, to which the inner man responds, trembling in the pangs of the new birth, and, at the same time, blessing God with unspeakable gladness that he is alive from the dead and an heir of heaven. It happens daily that after the light has penetrated the eyelid of the sleeper, he recognizes it for a moment, turns himself, closes his lid, and sleeps again. Take heed, lest after the arrows of Christ, which are gentler than the light, have wakened your soul, you do not sleep on in death. (J. Pulsford.)

Christ our Light

The motto of the Northcotes is, The Cross of Christ is my Light.

A light needed

A man is out on a night that is as dark as pitch–a lamp is placed in his hand to guide him on his journey. Instead, however, of taking advantage of the light the lamp affords, the man says, I do not require this lamp; I know every step of the way; I will trust to my own judgment. That man, in a certain sense, does his best; he strives to keep the beaten track, and for that purpose he moves carefully and cautiously along. When, however, he makes a false step and tumbles into a ditch, or falls over a precipice, no one dreams of saying, Poor fellow! he could not help himself, he did his best. The man did not do his best. Had he done his best, and not been rash and foolhardy in refusing to avail himself of the lamp, he would have escaped the wounds and bruises that now burden him. (P. Robertson.)

Christ our Light

Christ is our only defence at the last. John Holland, in his concluding moment, swept his hand over the Bible, and said: Come, let us gather a few flowers from this garden. As it was eventime he said to his wife: Have you lighted the candles? No, she said, we have not lighted the candles. Then, said he, it must be the brightness of the face of Jesus that I see. (Dr. Talmage.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 14. Wherefore he saith] It is a matter of doubt and controversy whence this saying is derived. Some think it taken from Isa 26:19: Thy dead men shall live; with my dead body shall they arise; Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust, c. Others think that it is taken from Isa 60:1-3: Arise, shine for thy light is come, c. But these passages neither give the words nor the meaning of the apostle. Epiphanius supposed them to be taken from an ancient prophecy of Elijah, long since lost: Syncellus and Euthalius think they were taken from an apocryphal work attributed to Jeremiah the prophet: others, that they made part of a hymn then used in the Christian Church for that there were, in the apostle’s time, hymns and spiritual songs, as well as psalms, we learn from himself, in Eph 5:19, and from Col 3:16. The hymn is supposed to have begun thus:-

,

,

.

Awake, O thou who sleepest,

And from the dead arise thou,

And Christ shall shine upon thee.

See Rosenmuller, Wolf, and others. But it seems more natural to understand the words he saith as referring to the light, i.e. the Gospel, mentioned Eph 5:13. And the should be translated, Wherefore IT saith, Awake thou, c. that is: This is the general, the strong, commanding voice of the Gospel in every part-Receive instruction leave thy sins, which are leading thee to perdition; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will enlighten and save thee.

As a man asleep neither knows nor does any thing that can be called good or useful, so the Gentiles and all others, while without the knowledge of Christianity, had not only no proper knowledge of vice and virtue, but they had no correct notion of the true God.

As the dead can perform no function of life, so the Gentiles and the unconverted were incapable of performing any thing worthy either of life or being. But though they were asleep-in a state of complete spiritual torpor, yet they might be awoke by the voice of the Gospel; and though dead to all goodness, and to every function of the spiritual life, yet, as their animal life was whole in them, and perception and reason were still left, they were capable of hearing the Gospel, and under that influence which always accompanies it when faithfully preached, they could discern its excellency, and find it to be the power of God to their salvation. And they are addressed by the apostle as possessing this capacity; and, on their using it properly, have the promise that Christ shall enlighten them.

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

He saith; either God by the prophets, of whose preaching this is the sum; it may allude in particular to Isa 60:1. Or, Christ by his ministers, in the preaching of the gospel, who daily calls men to arise from the death of sin by repentance, and encourageth them with the promise of eternal life.

Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead; the same thing in two different expressions. Sinners in some respects are said to be asleep, in others, to be dead. They are as full of dreams and vain imaginations, and as unfit for any good action, as they that are asleep are for natural; and they are as full of stench and loathsomeness as they that are dead. Here therefore they are bid to awake from sin as a sleep, and to arise from it as a death. The meaning is, that they should arise by faith and repentance out of that state of spiritual death in which they lie while in their sins.

And Christ shall give thee light; the light of peace and joy here, and eternal glory hereafter. The apostle intimates, that what is the way of Christ in the gospel should likewise be the practice of these Ephesians, whom he calls light in the Lord, viz. to reprove the unfruitful works of darkness, and awaken sleeping, dead sinners, and bring them to the light of Christ.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

14. Whereforereferring to thewhole foregoing argument (Eph 5:8;Eph 5:11; Eph 5:13).Seeing that light (spiritual) dispels the pre-existing darkness, He(God) saith . . . (compare the same phrase, Eph4:8).

AwakeThe reading ofall the oldest manuscripts is “Up!” or, “Rouse thee!”a phrase used in stirring men to activity. The words are a paraphraseof Isa 60:1; Isa 60:2,not an exact quotation. The word “Christ,” shows that inquoting the prophecy, he views it in the light thrown on it by itsGospel fulfilment. As Israel is called on to “awake”from its previous state of “darkness” and “death”(Isa 59:10; Isa 60:2),for that her Light is come; so the Church, and each individual issimilarly called to awake. Believers are called on to “awake”out of sleep; unbelievers, to “arise” from the dead(compare Mat 25:5; Rom 13:11;1Th 5:6; Eph 2:1).

Christ“the truelight,” “the Sun of righteousness.”

give thee lightrather,as Greek, “shall shine upon thee” (so enabling theeby being “made manifest” to become, and be, by the veryfact, “light,” Eph 5:13;then being so “enlightened,” Eph1:18, thou shalt be able, by “reproving,” to enlightenothers).

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

Wherefore he saith,…. Either the man that is light in the Lord, who reproves the unfruitful works of darkness; or else the Holy Ghost by Paul, who here speaks after the manner of the prophets; or God, or the Spirit, or the Scripture; see Jas 4:6; but where is it said? some think the apostle refers to Isa 9:2; others to

Isa 26:19; others to Isa 60:1; some are of opinion the words are cited out of an apocryphal book of Jeremy, or from some writing now lost; and some have thought them to be a saying of Christ, that was fresh in memory: it may not be improper to observe what Maimonides says m, that

“the blowing of the trumpet in the beginning of the year had an intimation in it, as if was said, “awake ye that sleep”, from your sleep, and ye that slumber rouse up from your slumber, and search into your actions, and return by repentance, and remember your Creator;”

whether any reference may be had to this, may be considered: the words are spoken not to unregenerate men, for though they are asleep, and dead in sin, and need awaking out of sleep, and raising from the dead, yet they are never called upon to awake and arise of themselves; such a sense would countenance the doctrine of man’s free will and power, against the quickening and efficacious grace of God; but to regenerate persons, professors of religion, to whom the epistle in general was written; and who are spoken to, and exhorted in the context:

awake thou that sleepest: the children of God are sometimes asleep, and need awaking; of the nature, causes, and ill consequences of such sleeping, and of the methods by which they are sometimes awaked out of it, [See comments on Ro 13:11].

And arise from the dead; living saints are sometimes among dead sinners, and it becomes them to arise from among them, and quit their company, which is oftentimes the occasion of their sleepiness: besides, the company of dead sinners is infectious and dangerous; it is a means of hardening in sin, and of grieving of the people of God, who observe it; and by abstaining from their company, a testimony is bore against sin, and conviction is struck into the minds of sinners themselves; to which add, that so to do is well pleasing to God, who promises to receive such who come out from among them, and separate themselves from them: and it follows here as an encouragement, and Christ shall give thee light; for such who are made light in the Lord, stand in need of more light; and by keeping close to the word, ways, ordinances, and people of Christ, they may expect more light from Christ: they need fresh light into pardoning grace and mercy, through the blood of Christ; they want more to direct them in the way they should go; and they are often without the light of God’s countenance; and they may hope for light from Christ, since it is sown in him, and promised through him; and he is given to be a light unto them, and he is the giver of it himself.

m Hilchot Heshuba, c. 3. sect 4.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Wherefore he saith ( ). Apparently a free adaptation of Isa 26:19; Isa 60:1. The form for (second person singular imperative second aorist active of ) occurs in Ac 12:7.

Shall shine (). Future active of , a form occurring in Job (Job 25:5; Job 31:26), a variation of . The last line suggests the possibility that we have here the fragment of an early Christian hymn like 1Ti 3:16.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

He saith. God. This use of the personal pronoun is frequent in Paul ‘s writings. See Gal 3:16; Eph 4:8; 1Co 6:16. Awake. etc. The quotation is probably a combination and free rendering of Isa 60:1; Isa 26:19. For similar combinations see on Rom 3:10; Rom 9:33. By some the words are regarded as the fragment of a hymn.

Shall give thee light. Rev., correctly, shall shine upon thee.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Wherefore he saith” (dio legei) “Wherefore he says,” or speaks, The “he” who is personified as having spoken is the Lord, the Light of the world, according to the previous contextual setting, though it is not certain what writer Paul quoted, Joh 8:12.

2) “Awake thou that sleepest” (egeire ho katheudon) “Rise, thou sleeping ;ne. ” Note this is an imperative from the living Lord, the shining Light, directed to sleeping, fruitless, unproductive believers of the Ephesus church and other churches of like faith and order in Asia Minor, Act 20:17-35; Eph 1:1. Believers are to stir up the gift of salvation within them and bear witness of it to others as “doers of the Word,” 2Ti 1:6; Act 1:8; Jas 1:22.

3) “And arise from the dead” (kai anasta ek ton nekron) And stand up out of the company of the dead one,” the barren and unfruitful one, the unproductive one, Jas 2:17-20; 2Pe 1:8. The person who lives in pleasure is said to be “dead while she liveth,” 1Ti 5:6.

This means she is uninfluential for good, unfruitful in righteousness, or barren in usefulness to the Lord, The Sardis church came to this bad condition, Rev 3:1.

4) “And Christ shall give thee light” (kai epipausei soi ho christos) “And the Christ will shine on thee,” or bless thee. To arise from a life of barren, empty service and let one’s inner light, salvation, be known to others is to receive joy and blessings and real peace of life in daily living, Mat 5:15-16; 2Ti 1:10.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

14. Wherefore he saith. Interpreters are at great pains to discover the passage of Scripture which Paul appears to quote, and which is nowhere to be found. I shall state my opinion. He first exhibits Christ as speaking by his ministers; for this is the ordinary message which is every day delivered by preachers of the gospel. What other object do they propose than to raise the dead to life?

“

The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live” (Joh 5:25.)

Let us now attend to the context. “Unbelievers,” Paul had said, “must be reproved, that, being brought forth to the light, they may begin to acknowledge their wickedness.” He therefore represents Christ as uttering a voice which is constantly heard in the preaching of the gospel,

Arise, thou that sleepest. The allusion, I have no doubt, is to the prophecies which relate to Christ’s kingdom; such as that of Isaiah,

“

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee” (Isa 60:1.)

Let us therefore endeavor, as far as lies in our power, to rouse the sleeping and dead, that we may bring them to the light of Christ.

And Christ shall give thee light. This does not mean that, when we have risen from death to life, his light begins to shine upon us, as if our performances came before his grace. All that is intended is to show that, when Christ enlightens us, we rise from death to life, — and thus to confirm the former statement, that unbelievers must be recovered from their blindness, in order to be saved. Instead of ἐπιφαύσει, he shall give light, some copies read ἐφάψεται, he shall touch; but this reading is an evident blunder, and may be dismissed without any argument. (159)

(159) “The various spellings of the verb, and the change of φ into ψ, have arisen from inadvertence. This variation is as old as the days of Chrysostom; for he notices it, and decides for the common reading. The verb itself occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, though it is once found in the ‘Acts of Thomas,’ section 34. That light from Christ flashes upon the awakened and resuscitated; nay, it awakens and resuscitates them. As it streams upon the dead, it startles them into life. It illuminates every topic on which a sinner needs information, with a pure, steady, and mellowed radiance.” — Eadie.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(14) Wherefore he (or, it) saith.This phrase is used (as also in Jas. 4:6) in Eph. 4:8 to introduce a scriptural quotation; and the most natural completion of the elliptical expression is by the supply of the nominative, God, or the scripture, from the ordinary phrase of quotation or citation. But no scriptural passage can be adduced which, with the fullest allowance for the apostolic freedom of quotation, comes near enough to be a satisfactory original of this passage. The nearest is Isa. 60:1, Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee; and this is certainly very far off indeed. Nor is the case much helped by blending other passages (as, for example, Isa. 26:19) with this. Some additional verbal coincidences may be gained, but at the expense of still greater diversity from the spirit of the passage as a whole. Hence we are driven to conclude that the quotation is not from Holy Scripture. Yet the very form shows that it is from something well known. An apocryphal quotation is imagined by some, but with no knowledge of any quotation at all resembling it. Others have supposed it a traditional saying of our Lord (like Act. 20:35); but the form seems decisive against this. On the whole, it seems most likely that it is from some well-known Christian hymn. In the original a rhythmical character, rough, but by no means indistinct, strikes us at once. The growth of defined and formal expressionsmostly, it is true, of embryo creeds of Christian faith, as in 1Co. 15:3-4; Heb. 6:1-2; 1Ti. 3:16, in the last of which the acknowledged difficulty of etymological construction in the true reading may perhaps be best explained by the supposition of quotationis notable in the later Epistles, and especially in the faithful sayings of the Pastoral Epistles. The use of some liturgical forms is traced with high probability to a very early date. The embodiment of popular faith in hymns, always natural, was peculiarly natural as adapted to the imperfect education of many early converts, and to the practice of trusting so much to memory, and so comparatively little to writing. Some such usage certainly appears to be referred to in the celebrated letter of Pliny to Trajan, the first heathen description of Christian worship.

Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead.The word awake is used in our version to render two different words: one which properly means to wake, or be awake, or watch, as in 1Co. 15:34; 1Th. 5:6; 1Th. 5:8; 2Ti. 4:5; 1Pe. 1:12; 1Pe. 4:7; 1Pe. 5:8); the other, as here, which properly means Up! Rouse thyself! preparatory to arising and coming forth. The exhortation in both forms is common enough (see especially the famous passage in Rom. 13:11-14); but the following words, Arise from the dead, are a bold and unique exhortation. Generally we are said to be raised up from the death of sin by God, as in Rom. 8:11, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies; or Rom. 6:11, Reckon yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God; or Col. 3:1, If ye are risen in Christ. Here the soul is described as hearing the Saviours call, Come forth, and as itself rising at that call from the grave. If distinction between the two clauses is to be drawn, we may be rightly said to awake out of lethargy and carelessness, and to arise out of the deadness of sin.

Christ shall give thee light.Properly, Christ shall dawn upon thee. The word is virtually the same which is used for the literal dawn in Mat. 28:1, Luk. 23:54. The same idea is strikingly enunciated in 2Pe. 1:19, where prophecy, looking forward to Christ, is compared to a light shining in a dark place, till the day dawn, and the Day-star arise in your heartsHe, that is, who is the bright and morning star (Rev. 22:16). Christ, as the Day-star, or as the Sun of Righteousness, is already risen. The soul needs only to come out of the darkness of the grave, and the new rays shine down upon it, till (see Eph. 5:7) they pervade it and transfigure it into light.

(3 c.) In Eph. 5:15-21 the Apostle passes from lust and impurity to the cognate spirit of reckless levity, and the love of excitement, of which drunkenness is the commonest expression. He opposes to this the united forces of soberness and sacred enthusiasm, each tempering and yet strengthening the other.

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

14. Wherefore Inasmuch as this duty of bringing the darkness to light is imperative, the following call upon those in darkness, sleep, and death, is issued.

He saith Or, as in the margin, it saith. Clarke, after Grotius, plausibly refers the it to light, synonymous with the gospel. But, in all cases of the use of this formula of St. Paul, some reference is made to an Old Testament passage. Alford and Eadie think it a reference to Isa 60:1: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” Here are the three thoughts of a condition of darkness, an arising, (according to the best interpretation,) and a consequent illumination from the Jehovah-Messiah. Another opinion, as old as Theodoret, is, that the three clauses are three lines of an early Christian hymn:

Awake, thou that sleepest,

And arise from the dead,

And Christ shall give thee light.

Both the rhythm and the poetic imagery confirm the supposition that we have here one of the earliest fragments of Christian hymnology. With great plausibility, therefore, Braune blends the two suppositions, that the words are a versified paraphrase of Isaiah’s words. This view, though unsusceptible of demonstration, removes all difficulty. There is no more improbability that St. Paul should quote a paraphrase of Isaiah from an early hymn of the Church than from the Septuagint, as he more than once does.

Awake The concrete darkness which St. Paul’s Ephesians once were (Eph 5:8) is now transformed to human beings wrapt in night and darkness. They are lying in what Meyer expressively calls the sin-sleep and the sin-death. A double stratum of slumber and deadness lies upon them, the slumber denoting the indifference, and the death the moral incapability of depraved man to arouse himself into holiness and salvation. For the sin-sleep there is an awake; for the sin-death, there is an arise, a resurrection. For, with the call and in the call a power is imparted. Each dead man may revive; each sleeper may awake, if he desires and wills the bliss of life. All are alike called; and it is the free obedience of man that renders the call “effectual.”

Light The gracious light by which they themselves may become light, and walk fearlessly in the full light of the literal day.

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

‘For this reason he says, “Awake you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you”.’

We do not know the source of this saying. It may well be a conflation of Isa 60:1 combined with Isa 52:1, with Dan 12:2-3 in the background. ‘Awake, awake, put on your strength — arise, shine for your light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you — His glory shall be seen on you’. We may thus see it as a Pauline, or early church, combination of these Scriptures. However, its import is clear. Those outside of Christ in darkness must awake out of their deadness and let Christ shine on them. He is there to shine on them and reveal His glory to them. So, as the light of Christian lives convicts them of their sin and need, this is to be their response And Christ Himself will shine on them once their hearts are open to Him.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Eph 5:14. Wherefore he saith, Awake, &c. “Wherefore, when God is speaking in the prophecies of the Old Testament, of the calling of the Gentiles, and of the light which they should have by Christ, he says in effect, to those who are yet in darkness, though not exactly in these words, Awake, thou that sleepest, &c. And this particularly is the most natural import of those well-known words in Isaiah, ch. Isa 60:1. Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. That is to say, the Messiah, represented by the glory of the Lord, shines in his church; shines upon the souls of believers; in consequence of which, they arise as from the dead, and shake off their deep sleep; they rejoice in the light; they walk in it, and reflect it all around them; so that many others are awakened, and transformed by it.” See on Isa 60:1.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Eph 5:14 . This necessity and salutariness of the , which Paul has just set forth in Eph 5:12-13 (not of the mere subsidiary thought, . . .), he now further confirms by a word of God out of the Scripture.

] wherefore , because the is so highly necessary as I have shown in Eph 5:12 , and of such salutary effect as is seen from Eph 5:13 , wherefore he saith: Up, thou sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee . This call of God to the to awake out of the sleep and death of sin confirms the necessity of the , and this promise: “Christ shall shine upon thee,” confirms the salutary influence of the light , under which they are placed by the . Beza refers back to Eph 5:8 , which is erroneous for this reason, if there were no other, that the citation addresses the as yet unconverted. According to Rckert (comp. Erasmus, Paraphr .), the design is to give support to the hope expressed in Eph 5:13 , namely, that the sinner, earnestly reproved and convicted, may possibly be brought over from darkness into light. But see on Eph 5:13 . With the correct interpretation of . . ., the expositions are untenable, which are given by Meier: “on that account, because only what is enlightened by the light of truth can be improved;” and by Olshausen: “because the action of the light upon the darkness cannot fail of its effect.” Harless indicates the connection only with the words of Plutarch (tom. xiv. p. 364, ed. Hutt.): . Inexact, and inasmuch as with Plutarch and stand in emphatic correlation, and thus is essential inappropriate.

] introduces, with the supplying of (as Eph 4:8 ), a passage of Scripture , of which the Hebrew words would run: . But what passage is that? Already Jerome says: “Nunquam hoc scriptum reperi.” Most expositors answer: Isa 60:1 . So Thomas, Cajetanus, Calvin, Piscator, Estius, Calovius, Surenhusius, Wolf, Wetstein, Bengel, [263] and others, including Harless and Olshausen; while others at the same time bring in Isa 26:19 (Beza, Calixtus, Clericus, Meier, Baumgarten-Crusius, and others), as also Isa 52:1 (Schenkel) and Isa 9:1 (Baumgarten, Holzhausen). But all these passages are so essentially different from ours, that we cannot with unbiassed judgment discover the latter in any of them, and should have to hold our citation if it is assumed to contain Old Testament words as a mingling of Old Testament reminiscences, nothing similar to which is met with, even apart from the fact that this citation bears in itself the living impress of unity and originality; hence the less is there room to get out of the difficulty by means of Bengel’s expedient: “apostolus expressius loquitur ex luce N.T.” Doubtless Harless says that the apostle was here concerned not about the word , but about the matter in general, and that he cites the word of pre-announcement with the modification which it has itself undergone through fulfilment, and adduces by way of analogy Rom 10:6 ff. But in opposition to this may be urged, first generally, that such a modification of Isa 60:1 would have been not a mere modification, but would have quite done away with the identity of the passage; secondly, in particular, that the passage Isa 60:1 , specially according to the LXX. ( , , , ), needed no change whatever in order to serve for the intended Scriptural confirmation, for which, moreover, various other passages from the O. T. would have stood at the command of the apostle, without needing any change; and lastly, that Rom 10:6 is not analogous, because there the identity with Deu 30:12-14 is unmistakeably evident in the words themselves , and the additions concerning Christ are not there given as constituent parts of the Scripture utterance , but expressly indicated as elucidations of the apostle (by means of ). Quite baseless is the view of de Wette, that the author is quoting, as at Eph 4:8 (where, indeed, the citation is quite undoubted), an O. T. passage in an application which, by frequency of use, has become so familiar to him that he is no longer precisely conscious of the distinction between text and application. Others , including Morus, have discovered here a quotation from an apocryphal book , under which character Epiphanius names the prophecy of Elias , Georgius Syncellus an apocryphal authority of Jeremiah , and Godex G on the margin, the book (“Secretum”) of Enoch . See, in general, Fabricius, Cod. Pseudepigr. V. T . pp. 1074, 1105; Apocr. N.T. I. p. 524. That, however, Paul wittingly cited an apocryphal book, [264] is to be decisively rejected, inasmuch as this is never done by him, but, on the contrary, the formula of citation always means canonical passages. Hence, also, we have not, with Heumann ( Poicile , II. p. 390), Michaelis, Storr, Stolz, Flatt, to guess at an early hymn of the Church as the source. [265] Others have found therein a saying of Christ , like Oeder in Syntagm. Obss. sacr . p. 697 ff., in opposition to which may be urged, not indeed the following , which Jesus might doubtless have said of Himself, but rather the fact that the subject to could not be at all divined, as indeed Paul has never adduced sayings of Christ in his Epistles. This also in opposition to the opinion mentioned in Jerome (comp. also Bugenhagen and Calixtus), that Paul here, after the manner of the prophets (comp. the prophetic: thus saith the Lord ), “ Spiritus sancti figuraverit.” Grotius (comp. Koppe) regards even as subject: “ Lux illa , i.e. homo luce perfusus, dicit alteri .” As if previously the were homo luce perfusus! and as if every reader could not but have recognised a citation as well in as in the character of the saying itself! Erroneously Bornemann also, Schol. in Luc . p. xlviii. f., holds that is to be taken impersonaliter; in this respect it is said, one may say , so that no passage of Scripture is cited, but perhaps allusion is made to Mar 5:41 . This impersonal use is found only with . See the instances cited by Bornemann, and Bernhardy, p. 419. In view of all these opinions, my conclusion, as at 1Co 2:9 , is to this effect: From it is evident that Paul desired to adduce a passage of canonical Scripture, but as the passage is not canonical in virtue of a lapsus memoriae he adduces an apocryphal saying, which, citing from memory, he held as canonical. From what Apocryphal writing the passage is drawn, we do not know.

] up ! Comp. , . See, in opposition to the form of the Recepta (so also Lachmann), Fritzsche, ad Marc. p. 55 f.

] and then form a climactic twofold description of the state of man under the dominion of sin, in which state the true spiritual life, the moral vital activity, is suppressed and gone, as is the physical life in the sleeping (comp. Rom 13:11 ) and in the dead respectively. Comp. Isa 59:10 . How often with the classical writers, too, the expression dead is employed for the expression of moral insensibility, see on Mat 8:22 ; Luk 15:14 ; Musgrave, ad Oed. R . 45; Bornemann, in Luc. p. 97. On , comp. Sohar. Levit. f. 33, c. 130: “ Quotiescunque lex occurrit, toties omnia hominum genera excitat, verum omnes somno sepulti jacent in peccatis, nihil intelligunt neque attendunt .”

] On the form, see Winer, p. 73 [E. T. 94]; Matthiae, p. 484.

] from , see Winer, p. 82 [E. T. 110]; Job 25:5 ; Job 31:26 . The readings . and . are ancient (see Chrysostom and Jerome ad loc. ), and are not to be explained merely from an accidental interchange in copying, but are connected with the preposterous fiction that the words were addressed to Adam buried under the cross of Christ, whom Christ would touch with His body and blood, thereby causing him to become alive and to rise. See Jerome. The words themselves: Christ shall shine upon thee, signify not: He will be gracious to thee (so, at variance with the context, Bretschneider), but: He will by the gracious operation of His Spirit annul in thee the ethical darkness ( , Gregory of Nazianzus), and impart to thee the divine , of which He is the possessor and bearer (Christ, the light of the world). Observe, moreover, that the arising is not an act of one’s own, independent of God and anticipating His gracious operation, but that it takes place just through God’s effectual awakening call. On this effectual calling then ensues the Christian enlightening .

[263] Who, however, at the same time following older expositors in Wolf (comp. Rosenmller, Morgenland , VI. p. 142), called to his aid a reminiscence of the “ formula in festo buccinarum adhiberi solita .” See, in opposition to the error as to the existence of such a formula, based upon a passage of Maimonides, Wolf, Curae .

[264] According to Jerome, he is held not to have done it, “quod apocrypha comprobaret, sed quod et Arati et Epimenidis et Menandri versibus sit abusus ad ea, quae voluerat, in tempore comprobanda.”

[265] This opinion is already mentioned by Theodoret: , in connection with which they had appealed to 1Co 14:26 . Bleek, too, ad loc. and already in the Stud. u. Krit. 1853, p. 331, finds it probable that the saying is taken from a writing composed by a Christian poet of that early age.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 2118
AN EXHORTATION TO CARELESS SINNERS

Eph 5:14. Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

THERE is a harmony in the Scriptures which many overlook and destroy: detached passages are often wrested to establish a favourite system [Note: Calls to duty are supposed to imply the sufficiency of man to do the will of God; while the confessions or petitions of the saints, and the promises of Divine aid given to them, are brought to justify a negligence in the use of means.]. But the various truths of God should be viewed as they stand connected with each other; there would then be diversity indeed, but no contrariety between them [Note: God gives a command, Eze 18:31. David, knowing his duty, and feeling his inability to perform it, had long before presented this to God in the form of a petition, Psa 51:10. And God, to encourage such applications to him, promises to work in us that which he requires of us, Eze 36:26.]. This observation will throw light, as on many other parts of Scripture, so on that before us in particular; in which we have,

I.

A command

The Scripture abounds with useful and instructive metaphors. Our state is here represented under the images of sleep and death.

Sleep implies a state of inactivity and security

[Men are busily employed about their worldly concerns; but a lamentable supineness prevails with respect to spiritual things. The generality do not apprehend their souls to be in any danger: death, judgment, heaven, and hell, do not seem worthy their notice: Gods threatenings against them are denounced without effect: they are like Jonah, sleeping in the midst of a storm: hence they are described as at ease from their youth [Note: Jer 48:11.]. To the same effect is the testimony of Him who searcheth the heart [Note: Psa 10:4-5.]]

Death includes the ideas of impotence and corruption

[An inanimate body cannot perform any of the functions of life: it has within itself the seeds and principles of corruption. The soul also, till quickened from the dead, is in a state of impotence: it is incapable of spiritual action or discernment [Note: Joh 15:5. 1Co 2:14.]; its powers and faculties are altogether vitiated [Note: Rom 7:18.]; whatever is loathesome and offensive to God proceeds from it [Note: Mar 7:21-22.]. So true is that humiliating declaration [Note: Job 15:14-16.]!]

Yet, notwithstanding this state appears so desperate, we must address, to every one that is under it, the command, Awake, &c.
[Your inactivity and security involve you in the deepest guilt: your corruption of heart and life provokes the majesty of God: nor is your impotence any excuse for your disobedience. It is your love of sin that disables you for duty: nor is God deprived of his right to command, because you have lost your power to obey. Let every one then strive to comply with his heavenly call. They who exert their feeble powers may expect divine assistance [Note: See Mat 12:10; Mat 12:13. The man with the withered hand was unable to stretch it forth; but in attempting to obey, he was endued with strength.].]

To convince us that none shall fail who use the appointed means, God enforces his command with,

II.

A promise

Sleep and death are states of intellectual darkness. Hence light is promised to those who obey the Divine mandate. Light in Scripture imports knowledge [Note: Isa 8:20.], holiness [Note: 1Jn 1:7.], comfort [Note: Psa 97:11.], and glory [Note: Col 1:12.]; and all these blessings shall they receive from Christ, the fountain of light [Note: Mal 4:2. Joh 1:9.].

Knowledge
[Spiritual knowledge every natural man stands in need of: nor is it attainable by the teaching of men, or the efforts of genius [Note: Mat 11:25.]: we can receive it from none but Christ [Note: Mat 11:27.]. Hence Christ invites us to come to him for it [Note: Mat 11:29.]: nor shall an application to him ever fail of success [Note: Psa 25:9. Pro 2:3-6.].]

Holiness
[A despair of attaining this deters many from seeking it. They think their inveterate habits cannot be rooted out [Note: Jer 2:25.]; but Christ is our sanctification as well as our wisdom [Note: 1Co 1:30.]. His very name encourages us to expect deliverance from him [Note: Mat 1:21.], and he will fulfil the promises which he has made to this effect [Note: Mic 7:19. Isa 1:25.].]

Comfort
[A sense of guilt shall yield to holy joy [Note: Isa 29:19; Isa 61:3.]: deplored weakness shall be succeeded by divine energy [Note: Isa 35:5-6.]. Our delight in him shall be spiritual and exalted [Note: Isa 51:11; Isa 58:11.]: it shall far transcend all earthly pleasures [Note: Psa 84:10; Psa 4:6-7.].]

Glory
[Our Lord will not confine his blessings to this world [Note: Psa 84:11.]. He will raise his people to thrones of glory [Note: Rev 3:21.]: he will cause them to participate his own inheritance [Note: Rom 8:17.]: he will be the ground and object of their joy for ever [Note: Isa 60:19-20.].]

Application

[What greater encouragement can any one desire? What richer promises can any one conceive? How suited are they to our necessities! Let every one consider the command as addressed to himself; Awake, thou; let all our powers and faculties be called forth to action. In exerting ourselves let us expect the promised aid. Thus shall we be eternal monuments of Christs power and grace.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

(14) Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

I pause over this verse. Who is the speaker but God the Spirit. And to whom doth the Lord speak but to the Church? The promise with which the verse ends, proves this. For to whom is Christ promised but to his Church, both Jew and Gentile ? And, in whatever sense we consider the call, either to awaken in the first act of regeneration, or to rouse from a sleepy, drowsy frame, in the after stages of life; the call is most blessed. For Christ, in both instances, and in every other, is the sole life, and light of his people. Let us consider it under both.

If we consider the words, as addressed to the unawakened, before the act of regeneration hath taken place; they are the sweet voice of God the Spirit, in calling the sinner, dead in trespasses and sins. For I hope the Reader need not be told, that the child of God, though given by the Father to the Son before all worlds, and by virtue of that gift preserved in Jesus Christ, before he is called; yet, until God the Spirit, by his sovereign power, hath called from darkness to light; he is as much in the Adam-nature, dead in trespasses and sins, as all the fallen race. He is unconscious of his high interest, neither in a capability of enjoying it. Reader! pause over the subject. And if the Lord in mercy hath wrought this saving change in your heart, will you not feel the blessedness of what Paul said to the Church of the Corinthians, when reminding them of their former state of unrenewed nature. And such (said he) were some of you! But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God! 1Co 6:11 .

There is not, perhaps, a subject upon earth equally affecting, as when a child of God, escaped the shipwreck of a fallen nature, got on shore, through sovereign grace; looks back, and beholds the dreadful gulph he had been taken from. He sees the multitudes stranded, and sinking, never more to rise. He beholds thousands, not more undeserving than himself; lost forever. He stands amazed at are wonders of distinguishing mercy. He feels constrained to lift an eye to the God of his salvation, and with the astonishment of the Apostle, he exclaims: Lord! how is it that thou hast manifested thyself to me, and not to the world ! Joh 14:22 .

If we consider the words of the Holy Ghost as addressed to those of the regenerate, which in time past were called out of darkness, but are now fallen into a sleepy frame; the promise is equally the same, for it is Christ only that can give light. We have a striking example of the kind, in the instance of the Church, as recorded Son 5:2 . The Lord Jesus had just before been regaling his Church at his banquet, and feasting her with his love. But, from the body of sin she carried about with her, she soon after fell into such a cold, and lifeless state, to the love-calls of Jesus, that though she knew his voice, yet she pleaded the most frivolous excuses to keep away. Reader! it is our mercy, that as in the first instance of awakening grace, so in all the after manifestations of it, the revival begins with the Lord. We love him, because he first loved us. And it is our mercy also, to learn our nothingness out of Christ. One of old, well taught of God, thus expressed himself in the view: hold thou me up, and I shall be safe ! Psa 119:117 . If for a moment only, the Lord withdraws the arm of our support, our faith finds no holdfast. It is, I confess, distressing, yea, very distressing, thus to learn, what poor creatures we are. Nevertheless, if nothing short of such humblings, will serve to convince our proud hearts, that it is in Christ alone our strength and righteousness are to be found; spiritual poverty, and leanness, are blessed things, which ultimately tend to endear Christ.

I must not dismiss the view of this sweet scripture, before that I have added one word more, for the comfort of the Lord’s people, under such dead and lifeless frames, which bring on leanness in the soul. Painful, and shameful, as they are, yet let every child God, who hath known, and experienced, the regeneration of the soul, learn to make a right estimate between the sleepy dying frames of a believer, and the dead state of the unregenerate sinner, dead in trespasses and sins ! There is an immense difference; and the issue must be different. The one is the frailty of the saint; the other, the hopeless state of the sinner. And let the child of God, while mourning over his calamity, recollect, that in that mourning the soul is pining after Christ, though not enjoying Christ. Christ is still known, still desired. And sure I am, that where these sweet graces are in the soul, there Jesus dwells, however unconscious for the time the soul is of his presence. Holy mourners after Christ are promised to be comforted. Mat 5:4 . And it is blessed, when in a sorrowful frame, Jesus is looked for; though more desirable when we hold him fast, in the Bethel visits of his manifestations, or galleries of his grace. Son 7:5 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Ver. 14. Wherefore he saith ] Or, the Scriptare saith. See the like, Jas 4:6 ; “But he giveth (or the Scripture giveth) more grace.” It convinceth not only, but converteth; it discovereth not only, but cureth corrupt hearts. These waters of the sanctuary are healing, Isa 9:2 ; Isa 26:19 ; Isa 60:1 . Some there are that interpret this “he” of our Saviour Christ, and take this saying for a sentence of his; such as was that,Act 20:35Act 20:35 . Others read, Therefore the light saith, &c.

Awake, thou that sleepest ] Lex iabet, gratia iuvat: praecipit Deus quod ipse praestat, God giveth us to do what he biddeth us to do.

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

14 .] wherefore (this being so seeing that every thing that is made manifest becomes light, is shone upon by the detecting light of Christ, objectively, it only remains that the man should be shone upon inwardly by the same Christ revealed in his awakened heart. We have then in Scripture an exhortation to that effect) He (viz. God, in the Scripture: see ch. Eph 4:8 note: all other supplies, such as ‘ the Spirit in the Christian ’ (Stier), ‘ the Christian speaking to the Heathen ’ (Flatt), ‘ one may say ’ (Bornemann) &c. are mere lame helps out of the difficulty: as are all ideas of St. Paul having quoted a Christian hymn (some in Thdrt.), an apocryphal writing (some in Jer., Epiph., al.), a baptismal formula (Michaelis), one of our Lord’s unrecorded sayings (Rhenferd), or that he means, ‘ thus saith the Lord ’ (some in Jer. al.), or alludes to the general tenor of Scripture (Wesley), or does not quote at all (Barnes), &c. &c.) saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee ( where is this citation to be found? In the first place, by the introduction of , it is manifestly a paraphrase, not an exact citation . The Apostle cites, and had a perfect right to cite, the language of prophecy in the light of the fulfilment of prophecy: and that he is here doing so, the bare word ‘ Christ ’ shews us beyond dispute. I insist on this, that it may be plainly shewn to be no shift in a difficulty, no hypothesis among hypotheses, but the necessary inference from the form of the citation. This being so, of what passage of the O. T. is this a paraphrase? I answer, of Isa 60:1-2 . There, the church is set forth as being in a state of darkness and of death (cf. Isa 59:10 ), and is exhorted to awake, and become light, for that her light is come, and the glory of Jehovah has arisen upon her. Where need we go further for that of which we are in search? It is not true (as Stier), that there is ‘ no allusion to sleep or death ’ in the prophet: nor is it true again, that . is not represented by . The fact is, that Stier has altogether mistaken the context, in saying, “The Apostle quotes here, not to justify the exhortation ‘convict, that they may become light;’ but to exhort ‘Become light, that ye may be able to convict (shine):’ ” the refutation of which see above, on Eph 5:13 ).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Eph 5:14 . , , : Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee . So the RV, better on the whole than the “shall give thee light” of the AV. The verse contains a quotation, but the great difficulty is in ascertaining its source and understanding its precise point. It is introduced by the subordinating, co-ordinating, and causal particle (on which see under Eph 2:11 , and cf. Buttm., Gram. of N. T. Greek , p. 233; Blass, Gram. of N. T. Greek , p. 274) = , “on which account,” i.e. , “things being as I have stated them we have the Divine word, ‘Arise,’ ” etc. The is taken by some (Haupt, Abb.) as = it is said ; but in Paul’s general use it is personal, or similar subject being understood; while is the formula that may be used impersonally. (See on Eph 4:8 , and cf. Bernh., Synt. , xii., 4, p. 419.) For of the TR, which is the reading of the cursives, , which is supported by [549] [550] [551] [552] [553] [554] [555] and practically all uncials, must be accepted. It requires no to be supplied; neither is it to be explained as an Active with a Middle sense; but is best understood as a formula like , with the force of up! The imper. for occurs again in Act 12:7 , as also in Theocr., 24, 36; Menander (Mein.), p. 48, etc.; cf. (Rev 4:1 ), (Mar 15:30 ; but with a v. l. ). The verb means properly to dawn , corresponding to the ordinary Greek , which is used also in the narratives of the Resurrection in Mat 28:1 ; Luk 23:54 . This is the only occurrence in the NT of the form , which is found occasionally, however, in the LXX (Job 25:5 ; Job 31:6 ; Job 41:10 , etc.). The noun also occurs in Herod., vii., 30. Instead of [556] * and certain manuscripts mentioned by Chrys., Theod., Jer., etc., read or . This reading was connected with the legend that our Lord’s Cross was planted above Adam’s burial-place, and that our first father was to be raised from the dead by the touch of the Saviour’s body and blood. The clause as we have it means not merely “Christ will cause His face to shine graciously upon thee,” but “Christ will shine upon thee with the light of His truth and bring thee out of the pagan darkness of ignorance and immorality”.

[549] Codex Vaticanus (sc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[550] Codex Sinaiticus (sc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[551] Codex Alexandrinus (sc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[552] Codex Claromontanus (sc. vi.), a Grco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[553] Codex Boernerianus (sc. ix.), a Grco-Latin MS., at Dresden, edited by Matthi in 1791. Written by an Irish scribe, it once formed part of the same volume as Codex Sangallensis ( ) of the Gospels. The Latin text, g, is based on the O.L. translation.

[554] Codex Mosquensis (sc. ix.), edited by Matthi in 1782.

[555] Codex Angelicus (sc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.

[556] Codex Claromontanus (sc. vi.), a Grco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

So much for the terms. But whence does the passage come? The answer which first suggests itself, and which is given by many (Calv., Est., Beng., Harl., Olsh., Hofm., Weiss, Alf., Ell., etc.), is that it is a quotation from the OT, as the formula indicates, and in fact a very free reproduction and application of Isa 60:1 . The difficulty lies in the extreme freedom with which the original words are handled. There is but a very slender resemblance between what we have here and the LXX version of the prophetic verse, viz. , , , , . Nor should we have a different condition, if we supposed Paul in this case to have followed the Hebrew text. Hence some (Beza, etc.) imagine that Paul has combined with Isa 60:1 other Isaianic passages ( e.g. , Isa 9:1 , Isa 26:19 , Isa 52:1 ). But while it is true that Paul does elsewhere use great liberty in modifying, combining, and applying OT passages, it cannot be said either that these words of Isaiah have much relation to the quotation, or that we have in Paul’s writings (even Rom 10:6 , etc., not excepted) any case quite parallel to this. Others, therefore, conclude that the passage is from some apocryphal writing, the Apocalypse of Elias (Epiph.), a prophecy under the name of Jeremiah (Geor. Syncell.), one of the writings attributed to Enoch (Cod. [557] , margin). But though Paul might have quoted from an apocryphal book, and some think he has done it, e.g. , in 1Co 2:9 , it is certain that his habit is to quote only from the OT, and further this formula of citation appears always to introduce an OT passage. Meyer tries to solve the difficulty by the somewhat far-fetched supposition that Paul really quoted from some apocryphal writing, but by a lapse of memory took it for a part of canonical Scripture. Others suggest that he is quoting a saying of our Lord not recorded in the Gospels ( cf. Resch., Agrapha , pp. 222, 289), or a baptismal formula , or some hymn (Mich., Storr, etc.). The choice must be between the first-mentioned explanation and the last. Notwithstanding the confessed difficulties of the case, there is not a little to incline us to the idea that, although in a very inexact and unusual form, we have a biblical quotation before us here. On the other hand it is urged ( e.g. , by Haupt) with some force that the rhythmical character of the passage favours the supposition that we have here a snatch from some very ancient hymn or liturgical composition. The question must be confessed to be still open. But what in any case is the point of the quotation here? The passage is introduced in connection with the reference to the effects of a faithful and under the impression of the figure of the light . It takes the form of an appeal to wake out of the pagan condition of sin, described by the two-fold figure of sleep and death , and of a promise that then Christ will shine upon the sinner with the saving light of His truth. The quotation comes in relevantly, therefore, as a further enforcement both of the need for the reproof which is enjoined, and of the good effects of such a reproof faithfully exercised.

[557] Codex Boernerianus (sc. ix.), a Grco-Latin MS., at Dresden, edited by Matthi in 1791. Written by an Irish scribe, it once formed part of the same volume as Codex Sangallensis ( ) of the Gospels. The Latin text, g, is based on the O.L. translation.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Awake. App-178.

sleepest = art sleeping. Greek. katheudo. App-171.

arise. App-178.

from the dead. App-139.

shall . . . light = will shine upon thee. Greek. epiphauo; occurs only here. A paraphrase of Isa 60:1, Isa 60:2. App-107.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

14.] wherefore (this being so-seeing that every thing that is made manifest becomes light,-is shone upon by the detecting light of Christ,-objectively,-it only remains that the man should be shone upon inwardly by the same Christ revealed in his awakened heart. We have then in Scripture an exhortation to that effect) He (viz. God, in the Scripture: see ch. Eph 4:8 note: all other supplies, such as the Spirit in the Christian (Stier),-the Christian speaking to the Heathen (Flatt),-one may say (Bornemann) &c. are mere lame helps out of the difficulty:-as are all ideas of St. Paul having quoted a Christian hymn (some in Thdrt.), an apocryphal writing (some in Jer., Epiph., al.), a baptismal formula (Michaelis),-one of our Lords unrecorded sayings (Rhenferd),-or that he means, thus saith the Lord (some in Jer. al.), or alludes to the general tenor of Scripture (Wesley),-or does not quote at all (Barnes), &c. &c.) saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee (where is this citation to be found? In the first place, by the introduction of , it is manifestly a paraphrase, not an exact citation. The Apostle cites, and had a perfect right to cite, the language of prophecy in the light of the fulfilment of prophecy: and that he is here doing so, the bare word Christ shews us beyond dispute. I insist on this, that it may be plainly shewn to be no shift in a difficulty, no hypothesis among hypotheses,-but the necessary inference from the form of the citation. This being so,-of what passage of the O. T. is this a paraphrase? I answer, of Isa 60:1-2. There, the church is set forth as being in a state of darkness and of death (cf. Isa 59:10), and is exhorted to awake, and become light, for that her light is come, and the glory of Jehovah has arisen upon her. Where need we go further for that of which we are in search? It is not true (as Stier), that there is no allusion to sleep or death in the prophet: nor is it true again, that . is not represented by . The fact is, that Stier has altogether mistaken the context, in saying,-The Apostle quotes here, not to justify the exhortation-convict, that they may become light;-but to exhort-Become light, that ye may be able to convict (shine): the refutation of which see above, on Eph 5:13).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Eph 5:14. , Wherefore He says) The chief part of this exhortation is in Isa 60:1, , , Heb. ; so ibid. Isa 52:1-2, . But the apostle speaks more expressly in accordance with (out of) the light of the New Testament, and according to the state of him who requires to be awakened. At the same time he seems to have had in his mind the particular phraseology which had been ordinarily used at the feast of trumpets: Arise, Arise out of your sleep; awake from your sleep, ye who deal in vain things, for very heavy sleep is sent to you; see Hotting. ad Godw., p. 601. And perhaps he wrote this epistle at that time of the year: comp. 1Co 5:7, note.–) Ammonius: , , , to rise up, viz. so as to engage in work; to be awakened, viz. out of sleep.- , from the dead) ch. Eph 2:1.-) will begin to shine on thee, as the sun, Isa 60:2. The primitive word, , is in the LXX.; so from , , , .

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Eph 5:14

Eph 5:14

Wherefore he saith,-It is not known who said this. Probably Christ. It is thought by some to be a portion of a hymn sung in that age of the church, referring to Jesus.

Awake, thou that sleepest,-This is addressed to those persons so sunk in their degrading practices of heathenism, both in their worship and in their social life, and are addressed as asleep. [The sleeper is one not yet a Christian, on whom the light is about to shine.]

and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.-They were dead in trespasses and sins, and in view of this terrible condition, the appeal was made. The call was: Awake from your lethargy, the sleep of death, and Christ shall give you light. Jesus said: Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. (Joh 5:25). [This does not mean that the dead must be revived before they hear the voice of the Son of God, but that his voice causes them to live. So the passage before us does not mean that those asleep must arise from the dead and come to Christ for the light; but the light which Christ sheds around him through the gospel has power to awaken the sleeping dead. Thus the passage is a confirmation of what is said in verse 13, that everything made manifest by the light is light.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

he: or, it

Awake: Isa 51:17, Isa 52:1, Isa 60:1, Rom 13:11, Rom 13:12, 1Co 15:34, 1Th 5:6, 2Ti 2:26, *marg.

arise: Eph 2:5, Isa 26:19, Eze 37:4-10, Joh 5:25-29, Joh 11:43, Joh 11:44, Rom 6:4, Rom 6:5, Rom 6:13, Col 3:1

Christ: Joh 8:12, Joh 9:5, Act 13:47, 2Co 4:6, 2Ti 1:10

Reciprocal: Gen 1:3 – Let Gen 2:17 – surely Jdg 5:12 – Deborah 1Sa 25:36 – she told him 2Ki 4:31 – not awaked 1Ch 22:16 – Arise Job 14:12 – awake Job 29:3 – by his light Psa 13:3 – lest Psa 119:130 – entrance Pro 6:9 – when Pro 19:15 – casteth Pro 20:13 – open Pro 24:33 – General Son 3:2 – will rise Son 5:2 – sleep Isa 9:2 – walked Isa 29:18 – the deaf Isa 35:5 – the eyes Isa 46:8 – bring Isa 46:12 – Hearken Isa 49:9 – to them Jon 1:6 – What Mat 8:22 – and Mat 25:5 – they Mar 13:36 – he find Luk 15:17 – when Luk 15:24 – this Luk 24:45 – General Joh 1:4 – the life Joh 9:39 – that they Joh 11:11 – awake Joh 12:35 – Walk Joh 12:46 – abide Act 12:7 – Arise Act 17:12 – many Act 26:18 – and to 2Co 5:15 – that they Eph 2:1 – dead Col 2:12 – wherein Col 2:13 – dead 1Th 5:7 – they that sleep 1Ti 5:6 – dead

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

(Eph 5:14.) -Wherefore He saith. See under Eph 4:8; , Eph 2:11. It would be quite contrary to Pauline usage to suppose that this formula introduced any citation but one from the Old Testament. But the quotation is not found literally in any portion of the Hebrew oracles. Grotius and Elsner propose to make the nominative to -wherefore a man of light-one of these reprovers says; an opinion not very remote from Seiler’s version – die Erleuchteten sollen sprechen-those who are light themselves should speak to the children of darkness in the following terms-Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead. An early opinion, reported by Theodoret as belonging to , has been adopted by Heumann, Poecile, ii. p. 396; Michaelis; Dpke, Hermeneutik, p. 275, Leipzig, 1829; Storr, Stolz, Flatt, and Bleek, Stud. und Krit. 1853, p. 331. It is that the quotation is taken from one of the hymns of the early Christian church. Michaelis regards it, indeed, as an excerpt from some baptismal formula. Of such a supposition there is no proof; and the reference to 1Co 14:26 is certainly no argument in its favour. In a similar spirit Barnes says-I see no evidence that Paul meant to make a quotation at all. The idea of Stier is, that the apostle quotes some Geisteswort-some saying given to the church by its inspired prophets, and based upon Isaiah 60, and therefore warranting the , as truly as any clause of canonical writ. But the language of the apostle gives no hint of such a source of quotation, nor have we any parallel example. Others have recourse to the hypothesis that Paul has quoted from some apocryphal composition. Such an opinion has been mentioned by Jerome as a simplex responsio, while he adds the saving clause-non quod apocrypha comprobaret; by Epiphanius, Contra Haereses, p. 42, who refers to the prophecy of Elias; by Euthalius, and George Syncellus (Chronolog. p. 21), who appeal to the apocryphal treatise named Jeremiah; while Codex G gives the citation to the book of Enoch, and Morus holds generally by the hypothesis, which is also espoused by Schrader, that the clause is borrowed from some lost Jewish oracle. Rhenferd contends that reference is made here, as in Act 20:35, to one of Christ’s unwritten sayings. Nor is the difficulty removed by adopting the clumsy theory to which Jerome has also alluded, and which Bugenhagen and Calixtus have adopted, that the nominative to is a subjective influence-the Spirit, or Christ within Paul himself, an imitation of the older idiom-thus saith the Lord. Nor is the solution proposed by Bornemann at all more tenable, viz. that is impersonal, and that the clause may be rendered-wherefore it may be said-or one may say. Scholia in Lucam, p. 48. But the active form is not used impersonally, though the passive is, and is the common term. Pape, and Passow, sub vocibus; Bernhardy, p. 419. Rckert confesses that the subject lies in impenetrable darkness; but the most extraordinary of all the solutions is the explanation of Meyer, and by those who believe in a plenary inspiration it will be rebuked-not refuted. His words are-The shows that Paul intended to quote from a canonical writing, but as the citation is not from any canonical book, he adduced, through lapse of memory, an apocryphal passage, which he, citing from memory, took to be canonical. But out of what apocryphal writing the quotation is taken we know not.

Assuming that the quotation is made from the Old Testament, as the uniform use of implies, the question still remains-what place is cited? Various verses and clauses have been fixed upon by critics, the majority of whom, from Thomas Aquinas down to Olshausen, refer to Isa 60:1, though some, such as Beza, Meier, and others, prefer Isa 26:19. Isa 9:2 is combined, by Baumgarten, Holzhausen, and Klausen, with Isa 60:1 (Hermeneutik, p. 416, Leipzig, 1841). Other combinations have been proposed. The matter is involved in difficulty, and none of these places is wholly similar to the verse before us. Harless and Olshausen make it plausible that the reference is to Isa 60:1 – -Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. The imperative is there used with the verb arise; and if we turn back to Isa 59:10, the figure of darkness is employed by the prophet, as well as in Isa 60:2. The words of the apostle may, therefore, be viewed as the quintessence of the prophet’s exclamation-Arise. That idea suggested to the apostle’s mind the previous condition of those to whom this trumpet-note was addressed, and he describes it thus-Awake, thou that sleepest; and as that species of slumber was a lethargy of death, he adds-arise from the dead. Arise, be light, says the prophet, for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah has risen upon thee;-but the apostle resolves the prophecy into a more prosaic description of its fulfilment-and Christ shall give thee light. The use of the name Christ shows us, as Alford insists, that the apostle meant to make no direct or verbal quotation. But the entire subject o f New Testament quotation is not without its difficulties. Gouge, New Testament Quotations, London, 1855; Davidson, Hermeneutics, p. 334. We find that similar examples of quotation, according to spirit, are found in the New Testament, as in Jam 4:5; 2Co 6:16-17; Mat 2:23. The prophecy is primarily addressed to Zion, as the symbol of the church. Nor do we apprehend that the application is different in the quotation before us, as the words are addressed still to the church-as one that had been asleep and dead, but the Divine appeal had startled it. It had realized the blessed change of awakening and resurrection, and had also rejoiced in the light poured upon it by Christ. Nay, though it was some time darkness, it was now light in the Lord; and its light was not to be hidden-it was to break in upon the dark and secret places around it, that they too might be illuminated. In the formation and extension of any church the prophecy is always realized in spirit; for it shows of whom a church is composed, what was the first condition of its members, by what means they have been transformed, and what is one primary duty of their organization.

-awake, thou that sleepest. For the case, see Winer, 29, 2. Lachmann reads after the Textus Receptus, but the majority of critics adopt the spelling . It is used not as the active for the middle, but, as Fritzsche suggests, it was the form apparently employed in common speech. Comm. ad Marc, 2.9. That sleep was profound, but there had been a summons to awake. To awake is man’s duty, for he is commanded to obey, and he does obey under the influence of the Divine Spirit.

-and arise from the dead. The meaning of so used may be seen under Eph 2:1. Bornemann, in Luc. p. 97. is a later form for . Winer, 14, 1, h. The command is similar to that given by our Lord to the man with the withered hand-Stretch it forth. The man might have objected and said, Could I obey thee in this, I would not have troubled thee. Why mock me with my infirmity, and bid me do the very thing I cannot? But the man did not so perplex himself; and Christ, in exciting the desire to obey, imparted the power to obey. See under Eph 2:2, Eph 5:6.

-and Christ shall enlighten thee. The various spellings of the verb, and the change of into , have arisen from inadvertence. On the different forms of this verb, see Fritzsche on Mar 2:11; Winer, 15. This variation is as old as the days of Chrysostom, for he notices it, and decides for the common reading. The verb itself occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, though it is once found in the Acts of Thomas- – 34. This light Christ flashes upon the dead, and startles them into life. And the apostle continues-

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

Eph 5:14. The terms used in this verse are figurative or spiritual, and pertain to the proper conduct of Christians. Divine truth is referred to as light, because it makes known many things that could not be known otherwise. Isa 60:1-5 is a passage that deals with the subject of light, and our verse evidently refers to that. Paul is exhorting the brethren to bestir themselves from their spiritual slumber, and arise from their spiritually-dead condition so as to be ready for the light that Christ offers.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Eph 5:14. Wherefore he saith, i.e., God saith; comp. chap. Eph 4:8. The connection of this verse also has been much discussed. It seems best to regard it as a confirmation of Eph 5:12-13. The Apostle would show by this paraphrase from the Old Testament, not only that the effect of the light is as he has described, but that this is a reason why Christians should reprove, since thus others may become light through the illumination which Christ promises. In general what is made manifest is light (Eph 5:13), but Christ so shines as to give new spiritual light. Let your light shine, so as to reprove, in the hope that Christ will shine upon the convicted heart. The Scripture passage (Isa 60:1-2) is partly paraphrased, partly condensed, and (in the case of the introduction of the word Christ) interpreted in accordance with its fulfilment. This view seems most satisfactory. Other explanations: (1.) A combination of several passages. Paul does thus combine (Rom 9:33; Rom 11:8; Rom 11:26), but not so loosely. (2.) A Christian hymn based on Scripture. Purely conjectural. (3.) An unrecorded saving of Christ. Nothing to indicate this. (4.) The general tenor of Scripture. Too indefinite. (5.) A slip of memory. This implies that Paul was as unfamiliar with the Old Testament as some modern preachers; an implication opposed by Jewish habit, by his own character, and by any tenable view of his Apostolic authority.

Awake thou that sleepest. Awake; the word used in arousing a sleeper: up. The sleeper is one not yet a Christian, on whom the light is about to shine.

And arise from the dead. The sinful condition is set forth under another common figure.

And Christ shall shine upon thee. The figure is that of the morning sun; comp. Isa 60:1-2. Here we have combined the two sides of human action and Divine power. Eadie compares this command to that riven by our Lord to the man with the withered hand: Stretch it forth. If he had waited to solve the difficulty between his inability and Christs power, he would never have been healed. The light which Christ sheds around Him has power to awake the sleeping dead (Hodge).

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

The last argument which our apostle offers to consideration, for enforcing the duty of reproving the unfruitful workers and works of darkness, is drawn from the example of God himself, whose great design it is, by his holy word, to awaken men out of the deep sleep of sin and death, that Christ may give them light.

Here note, The dangerous and deplorable, though not hopeless and desperate state, of an unconverted and impenitent sinner, namely, spiritual sleep and death. Every man by nature is in a dead sleep till the renovating change; he apprehends things as a man asleep; all his thoughts of God and Christ, of heaven and hell, of sin and holiness, are slight and hovering notions, not real and thorough apprehensions; the most substantial realities are with them but phantasms and imaginations.

Imaginary dangers startle them, like men in a dream; but real dangers, though never so near, do not affect them. As in natural sleep, all the senses of the body, so in spiritual sleep, are all the senses of the soul bound up; and accordingly, this sleep is not casual, but connatural to our present sinful state; a soul drenched in sensuality sleeps, as it were, by choice and not by chance.

But how, O sinner, canst thou sleep under such a load of sin and guilt, with so many wounds in thy conscience, with so many ulcers in thy soul? Can a diseased man sleep? Can a condemned man sleep? Can a man in debt sleep?

All this the sinner is: and yet though God thunders above, and hell gapes from beneath, and the sinner hangs over it by the fretted thread of this life, yet he is in a profound sleep; but his damnation slumbers not, if he doth not speedily awake, and arise from the dead, that Christ may give him light.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Verse 14

Expressions analogous to these are found in Isaiah 26:19,60:1-3.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Years ago I was traveling along the interstate through Nebraska very late at night. I finally stopped at a rest area for a little nap. It was totally dark when I dropped off to sleep, and the next thing I knew I had awakened to a brightness that was near blinding. The sun was just above the horizon and deep red and orange shining directly into the car and when I turned to see the sun it was near blinding.

As I drove on down the interstate watching the colors develop I wondered at the brightness and the beauty of a simple sunrise. Christ will give us the light that we need to view our way through life.

A call to the lost or a call to dead saints? The context is strictly saints and how they should live, though he uses the lost as a bad example. This seems to be dead or sleeping saints – wake up and come alive is the call to the saint of God.

Note should be taken that there is a calling to the senses of the saint – it is something that we must do and then He will give light. We must take that first step to walk with Him and then He will respond to our action.

We are light according to previous verses, but here we are given light. What is in view here?

The lexicon suggests that He will give us light for life – He will light our way along the path of life, be they good times or bad times – His light can guide us through anything that comes along.

The word translated “give” and the word light is actually one word. Christ gives light – it is kind of the nature of things. We need to wake up and enjoy that light in our lives.

Barnes agrees that this relates to the church though, he suggests others relate it to the lost.

There seems to be much controversy as to who said this. Some suggest a couple of Old Testament passages, though the passages have little to do with this verse. Barnes suggests that it may have been from some book that was popular in the area at the time that we do not have now. It could also have been a saying from the Lord or one of the disciples.

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

5:14 Wherefore {f} he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the {g} dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

(f) The scripture, or God in the scripture.

(g) He speaks of the death of sin.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Since God will bring all things into the light (Eph 5:13), it is important that believers wake up and rise from the deadness of their former unsaved lifestyles. If they do, Christ will shine on them in blessing, as the sun warms what its rays touch. The source from which Paul quoted seems to have been an early Christian poem or hymn based on Isa 60:1. [Note: Wood, p. 71. Cf. 1Ti 3:16; et al.]

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