Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ephesians 5:8

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now [are ye] light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

8. sometimes ] Better, in modern English, once, formerly. See on Eph 2:13 above. He refers to the whole period of their unconverted life.

darkness ] Not merely “in the dark”. So had the night of spiritual ignorance and sin penetrated them that they were, as it were, night itself, night embodied. On the metaphor of darkness see on Eph 4:18.

light ] Again, not merely “in the light.” The Divine Light of truth, holiness, and resulting joy, had now so penetrated them that they were, in a sense, light embodied; not seeing light only, but being light, and emitting it (see below, on Eph 5:13). Cp. Mat 5:14.

in the Lord ] By your union with and knowledge of Him Who is the Light.

walk ] See above on Eph 2:2, &c., for the metaphor.

children of light ] See above on Eph 2:2, for the phrase “ children, or sons, of.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

For ye were sometimes darkness – see the Eph 2:11-12 notes; 1Co 6:11 note. The meaning here is, that they were themselves formerly sunk in the same ignorance, and practiced the same abominations.

But now are ye light in the Lord – Light is the emblem of happiness, knowledge, holiness. The meaning is, that they had been enlightened by the Lord to see the evil of these practices, and that they ought, therefore, to forsake them.

Walk as children of light – see the notes on Mat 1:1, on the use of the word son, or children. The meaning here is, that they should live as became those who had been enlightened to see the evil of sin, and the beauty of virtue and religion; compare Joh 12:36, where the same phrase occurs.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Eph 5:8

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.

The children of light and their obligations

I. The degradation from which believers have been raised. A state of wretchedness resulting: from ignorance to God and disobedience to His will.

II. The nobility to which believers have been advanced. The light of truth has shone into their hearts, and exposed to view all the abominations, all the depravity, that lay concealed in the dark chambers of imagery within. They have learned to know not only themselves, but also God and Jesus Christ, whom to know is life eternal. They are now united to the Lord, and are of one spirit. Christ dwells in them, and they in Him.

III. The duties devolving on those who are light in the Lord.

1. They are required to walk as children of light; to prove their descent, to show what family they belong to; to act according to the light bestowed, the knowledge attained; to keep themselves unspotted from the world, undefiled by the surrounding contagion.

2. They are bound to prove what is acceptable unto the Lord–to test what is well pleasing unto Him. This can only be known by the revelation of His will, oral or written.

3. They are forbidden all fellowship with the fruitless works of darkness. (J. DArcy Sirr, D. D.)

The past and the present: an incentive to acceptable walking

I. Their former state. Darkness–the darkness of heathendom. Such was the state of all men by nature. The state of nature is a state of darkness; and I may say of every unregenerate man, thou art darkness. And if this is true of our view of nature in its best form, what shall we say of the life of sin? Utter darkness! everything darkness! Our Lord says, he that walketh in darkness, knoweth not whither he goeth; and the apostle describes them as wandering stars; going from bad to worse, and from worse to worse, from one sin to another, from one error to another. But there is another description of this state of darkness, besides this: we say, that a state of unbelief is a state of darkness.

II. Their present condition. Light. A very strong expression. It is not said, ye have some light; it is not said, there is some light in you; but it is positively declared, ye are light. Of course, this can only be taken in a modified sense; because how little is the light that any of the saints of God have! We see only through the unveiled face. We see as in a glass darkly; we know in part. Alas! how little do we know of the glory of the Saviour in His person! how little do we know of the perfection of the Saviour! how little do we enter into the glory of the atoning blood! how little do our souls enter into the sweet savour of that sacrifice! and how little we realize the perfection of that Perfect righteousness, which is unto all and upon all them that believe! How little do our spirits enter into the deep and unutterable fulness that there is in Jesus! And yet, though our light be so feeble, still it is light. He never despises that light that comes from the work of the Holy Ghost in the soul of man; however feeble, however faint, He never despises it. Oh! for a word of tender caution; do you never despise it either.

III. The exhortation. Walk as children of light. If you ask for a simple view of their walking as children of light–I would say first of all it is to walk in the brightness of that light: to walk in the light of Gods precious gospel, to walk in the light of Gods perfections, to walk in the realizing view of His pardoning mercy, to walk in the light of His adoption, to walk as righteous ones, righteous in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Surely the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is to behold the sun.

2. He walks as a child of light, beloved, as he walks in the purity of that light. Observe, this is an essential part of the subject–it is the very subject for which the apostle introduced it; ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth): proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. My dear hearers, we are to walk as children of light–only be you thankful and grateful for being thus brought into the light. To be brought into the light, to one that once was blind, would be one of the first things that would fill his heart with joy. What were ye once? I am persuaded too, beloved, that if we are children of light, we shall rejoice that others be made to walk in the light of that same gospel; we shall rejoice to diffuse, as far as in us lies, that gospel around us. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)

Unconverted sinners are darkness

But what is it to be in darkness? What is this unconverted state that the Holy Ghost so often calls darkness? Take it in these four particulars. To be in darkness is

(1) to be in sin, the work of darkness;

(2) to be under Satan, the prince of darkness;

(3) under wrath, the fruit of darkness;

(4) near to hell, the place of darkness.

The Scripture by darkness ordinarily expresses some or all of these. When an unconverted state is called darkness, we are to understand by it a most sinful and miserable state. The misery of an unconverted state is so great, as even this darkness will discover it. Let us follow the metaphor a little, the better to discern it.

1. Darkness is uncomfortable. So is the state of an unconverted sinner. Who would not be weary of his life upon earth, if the sentence of continual darkness should pass upon it? Alas! more miserable is thy condition if unconverted, because the want of spiritual light is a greater misery than the want of sensible light.

2. Darkness is dangerous. He whose way lies near snares and pits, who is to pass over precipices, rocks, the brink of dangerous gulfs, and has no light to direct him, every step is the hazard of his life. No less dangerous is the way of man ever since sin entered into the world. So many snares has Satan laid, so many pits has he digged, so near we walk to the brink of the bottomless pit, as without light we cannot make one step in safety.

3. Darkness is fearful. We read of the horrors of darkness (Gen 15:12). What more apt to engender fears than darkness, when dangers are on every side, and nothing visible that may afford confidence! So the state of nature. The condition of a sinner unconverted is a fearful condition. He is encompassed with terrors on every side; such as, if he were sensible of them, would dash all his mirth and carnal jollity. Those whom the Lord has enlightened to see the dreadfulness of that state, they wonder that such can sleep quietly, or take comfort in any enjoyment, while they are not converted.

But who are those that are in darkness? How shall we know whether we be in this unconverted state?

1. Who walk in the ways of darkness? The children of light do not walk in the paths of darkness. You may know your state by your way; ways of wickedness are ways of darkness: so Solomon: The way of the wicked is darkness (Pro 4:19). He that walks in any way of known wickedness, be it drunkenness, etc., neglect of ordinances, etc., he is in darkness. By their fruits ye may know them.

2. Those that want spiritual discerning. He that has eyes and sees not, it is plain he is in darkness; what else should hinder his sight? So they that have the same understanding, the same faculty of inward sight with others, and yet perceive not that in spiritual things, that those discern who are savingly enlightened, it is evident that spiritual darkness overshadows their souls.

3. Those that act not for God. The things of God are at a distance from every unconverted man; he sees not, he knows not how to go about it.

4. Exhortation, to those that are converted, brought out of the woeful state of darkness; let this stir you up to joy and thankfulness for your deliverance. (D. Clarkson, B. D.)

Light in the Lord

For God who commanded not of us. We hear much in these days about the electric light. It is much more brilliant than the old-fashioned lamps. I was looking at one the other day, and noticing particularly that the candles, as they are called, are only black, ugly pieces of charcoal. Nothing more. As I looked at them I could not but wonder that things which by their nature were so black, could, when connected with the mysterious power which causes the flame to glow, give out such wonderful light. Truly the light is not in them. It is the unseen but mighty power working in them and through them that enables them to be useful. A tiny flaw may break the connection and stop the light–disconnected for one instant from the source the light dies instantly, and utterly.

Change of state demands change of life

In the words we have–

1. An antecedent.

2. A consequent, or an argument and an inference.

First: The antecedent, or argument, is taken from their present compared with their past estate, what they are with what they were.

1. The grace received–Ye are light; that is, filled with the light of wisdom and holiness. But can it be used of any mere man liable to such imperfections?

(1) It noteth not their perfection so much as the perfection of the dispensation they are under. Not their perfection, as if there were no darkness in them at all, but the clearness of the gospel which then shined brightly to them. There is a difference between the gospel and believers; the gospel is a perfect light, but we do but imperfectly receive it.

(2) It noteth some good measure and degree of participation, but not complete fruition. Participation it noteth, for otherwise it could not be said that we are not only enlightened, but light itself; not complete fruition, for those that are said to he light in the Lord are presently called children of the light; which doth somewhat abate of the expression.

(3) It noteth that we have received grace, not only for ourselves, but for the good of others.

2. The author of this grace–In the Lord; that is, Christ; for there is but one Lord, as well as one God and Father of all (Eph 4:5-6); and whatever good we have, we have it from Christ and in Christ.

I. Let me speak of the two opposite states, darkness and light, and there show you that the carnal estate is an estate of darkness, and the renewed state is a state of light.

1. The carnal estate is an estate of darkness. So the apostle telleth the Ephesians, Ye were not only darksome, but darkness itself, for the greater vehemency of the expression.

(1) The darkness of the understanding is ignorance; they are incapable of discerning between good and evil, know nothing of the nature and will of the true God.

(2) There is downright and apparent wandering from God.

(3) Eternal misery is the issue and close of it (Mat 25:30; 2Pe 2:17).

2. The renewed estate is an estate of light. Light is a quality pure and unmixed, and implieth both knowledge, holiness, and happiness. Knowledge, as it discovereth all things; holiness, as it is pure, and can shine on the filthiest dunghill without any stain; felicity, as it is the smile of heaven upon the earth.

II. That there is a mighty change wrought in them who are called out of one estate into the other.

1. They have a different principle. All things work according to their nature; as fire ascendeth and water descendeth; fishes go to the water, and beasts keep on dry land; it is according to their nature, and that principle of life which they have. The saints have a Divine nature: Whereby ye are made partakers of the Divine nature (2Pe 1:4).

2. As the internal principle of our operation is unlike, so the external rule of our conversations are quite different, viz., the will of God revealed in the word, which they study to know and obey: Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord (Eph 5:10); Be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is (verse 17); That ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Rom 12:2).

III. That it is good often to compare those two estates, and to consider what we are by nature and what we are by grace. First: That we ought frequently to reflect on our former woeful estate. Reasons there are for this.

1. To magnify the riches of Gods mercy in our deliverance from that woeful estate. We wonder at it more when we compare both together (1Pe 2:9).

2. That we may admire His power in the change (1Co 6:11).

3. To keep us humble (1Co 15:9; 2Co 12:7.

4. It makes us more compassionate to others, we having once had as blind a mind and hard a heart as they (Tit 3:2-3).

5. It makes us more watchful. A man who has escaped a dangerous disease or surfeit is very careful not to lapse into it again.

6. It quickens us to greater fruitfulness for time to come. Was I so zealous for sin, and shall I not do so much for God (Rom 6:19)? Since we set out so late, let us mend our pace.

7. It maketh our conversion more evident and sensible, and so quickeneth us to thankfulness and praise.

8. It increases our confidence and hopes of eternal life. He that could take us with all our faults, and love us, and pardon us, and heal our natures, and reconcile us to Himself, will He not give us eternal life after we begin to obey, love, and serve Him in our measure? (Rom 5:9-10).

9. It puts an argument in our hands against sin (Rom 6:20-21). Secondly: We ought to remember what we were by nature, so as not to deny what we are by grace (Rom 6:17).

IV. This change must be manifested by a suitable conversation: Walk, etc. Children of the light may refer to the dispensation we are under, or the grace we have received by it.

1. The dispensation we are under, as those that live in the clearness of gospel light are children of the day. Ye are not of the night; walk as children of light, that have the light of the gospel, or becoming that most holy religion which Christ hath taught us.

(1) In the light all blemishes are soon discovered, and so our sins are without excuse; whereas people that have not the gospel, or not so fully preached, are more excusable. Men might plead this, that they knew no better; but now they have no cloak for their sin (Joh 15:22).

(2) As they are without sin, so without shame, when they sin in the open light: Every morning doth He bring His judgment to light; He faileth not, but the unjust knoweth no shame (Zep 3:5).

(3) Sins are more dangerous and deadly: And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil (Joh 3:19).

2. The grace received by it. (T. Manton, D. D.)

Darkness and light

I. This verse is typical of the Christian religion. It is the appeal which the preacher to Christian hearers has to make in very varied forms and at various times all through his ministry. Advent and Lent, the special times appointed by the Church for doing it, in order to ensure its being done. But it is a work for every time; and every mission or other time of revival is a form of doing it.

II. The words are used as symbols.

1. Light a good thing; needful for our bodily health; needful for our sustenance by the fruits of the earth; without light we could not live.

2. Without light we could not work. We may put forth strength, but cannot direct it.

3. Darkness a bad thing–hurtful if continued, and destructive to animal and vegetable life. In the night crimes of violence are committed; it is their congenial home.

III. Light therefore means goodness and darkness sin.

1. Light to the soul is when all its powers are directed consciously to right ends, i.e., to holy living, to the worship and the glory of God. Darkness, when either it knows not that right end, or, knowing it, deliberately chooses something else as its purpose.

2. Contrast in these respects between the Christian and the pagan world.

IV. Earnest and practical. The personal question, the great question for us all.

1. Are you in the darkness or in the light?

2. With all your Christian privileges you should be in the light. Do you prove that you are so by love to God, watchfulness over yourself, tenderness of conscience? No mere words will be acceptable as a proof. If ye love Me, keep My commandments. On the other hand–

3. Whatever your profession of religion, and whatever your privileges, if you are contented with sin–willingly enduring it, not anxious to overcome it in your own soul and in the souls of others–then you are still in the darkness.

4. Be not satisfied to remain so. Make an effort to break your chain by the help of Jesus. (S. J. Eales, M. A.)

Learning to walk

I suppose that all you boys and girls think that you know how to walk. You would laugh at the idea of being taught how you are to use your legs now, as you were when you were babies. Well, we will see. You all know how to walk along the country lanes and turnpike roads, but if you were to go to London for the first time, you would find that you did not know how to walk. I have sometimes seen a countryman in one of the crowded streets of the City of London, trying to make his way along, and every minute he would run against some passenger, and get in the way of another, till the busy city folks were quite angry with him. There is a particular way of walking in crowded streets, and, like everything else, it has to be learned. But there is another kind of walking which has to be learned. We hear a great deal about that in the Bible. St. Paul has much to say about how we ought to walk, and he was not writing to little tiny children, but to grown up men and women. Now there are only two roads on which we can walk. One is the broad road which leads to destruction, the devils road. It seems easy to travel on it at first, but it grows harder and rougher as we go on, for the way of transgressors is hard. You know what the other road is? The Kings highway, the narrow path which leads to life eternal, Gods way, of which He says, Walk ye in it. Here are some plain rules for you, my children, which will show you how you ought to walk through life as Gods children, as children of light.

1. Then, keep to the right. You will often see these words printed up in the crowded streets of great cities. Your own conscience will tell you what is right, and whenever there are two ways for you to go in, the right or the wrong, be sure to keep to the right.

2. The next rule I give you is, keep your eyes open. If you were to walk along a road with your eyes shut, you would soon stumble or fall, or wander out of the right path; but if you keep your eyes open, you see the rough places over which you might stumble, and the muddy places where you might splash your clothes with dirt, and you can see the finger post showing you the right way. Well, in walking along the path of life you will need to keep your eyes open. There are dangerous places, over which you will stumble and fall, unless you watch for them carefully; there are temptations, like muddy pools, which will stain your white robe, and make it foul, unless you avoid them. If you keep your eyes open, you will see Gods hand directing you, and you will find that He has placed many finger posts to show you the right way. The Church is one finger post, the Bible is another, your teachers are all pointing out to you the right road.

3. My next piece of advice to you is, push your way. There are sure to be difficulties in your path. You can do one of two things, you can wait for the difficulty to be removed, or you can push your way through it. In large towns, where there are great public buildings, such as banks and offices, you often see a heavy door leading into the building, and on it is written the one word, push. Now, suppose you wished to enter that building; you might pull at that door for hours and not open it; you might ring the bell, or call to someone to open, but everybody would be too busy to listen. There would be only one thing for you to do, you must push, then the door would open. So it is with all difficulties: where theres a will theres a way; if you push against the door which is blocking your way, it will open.

4. Take another word of advice, when you meet with your enemy, fight. I dont mean an earthly enemy, and I dont mean fighting with your fists. As you walk along the roads of life, your enemy, the devil, will often stand in the path to injure you, to turn you out of the way, Whom resist, steadfast in the faith. The ancient Greeks, who were the most famous soldiers of old times, carried a shield in battle. To lose this shield and leave it behind, was the greatest disgrace which could happen to them. When a soldier was killed, or badly wounded, his companions laid him on his shield, and carried him out of the fight. I have read of a Greek mother, who said to her son as he was going to the battle, Either return with your shield or upon it. That meant, Either conquer or die. My children, it would be very sad for us to have to say, after we have met with temptations to sin–I have returned again, but I have left my shield behind.

5. Last of all, take this rule if you would walk rightly, mind the crossings. In London streets it is very difficult and dangerous to cross the road sometimes. If you are not very careful, and quite accustomed to it, you may be knocked down, and run over: or you may take the wrong turning, and lose yourself. So it is with life, we have to cross over a difficult crossing very often, and there is a great crowd of temptations and sins all around us, and if we are not very watchful, we shall be knocked down and run over by some of those temptations. (H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, M. A.)

Walk as children of light

I. Attend to the character applied to the heirs of grace. Children of light, as opposed to the children of darkness.

1. On account of their celestial extraction.

2. It denotes their spiritual illumination.

3. It signifies the purity of their hearts.

4. It refers (o the sanctity of their conduct.

5. It means that they have an inheritance of this description in heaven.

II. The apostles exhortation–Walk as children of light.

1. Shine in your conduct towards your minister. Hold him in high reputation. Submit to him, Pray for him. Receive his advice. Provide for him.

2. Shine one towards another. Cultivate unanimity. A spirit of forbearance. Help each other. Preserve a high esteem one for another, and seek to have your affection increased. Conduct yourselves towards each other with the strictest fidelity.

3. Shine in your conduct towards all around you in the world.

III. Improvement.

1. Be circumspect.

2. Be humble.

3. Take care of an implacable spirit.

4. Be steady in your profession.

5. Take the Word of God for your guide.

6. Pray that your minister may be faithful. (The Pulpit.)

Light in the Lord

Light denotes several things in Scripture.

1. Spiritual knowledge. Light and knowledge are terms of the same import (2Co 4:6). Light to discover God in Christ savingly, and to discern the things of God spiritually.

2. Purity and holiness. Sin and corruption is expressed by darkness, holiness and purity by light. In this sense the most holy God is called Light (1Jn 1:5), spotless and perfect holiness, in whom there is not the least impurity. And in reference to us (verse 7), such a light as this is life, spiritual life, which consists in the principles of holiness and purity.

3. The favour of God, and the consequent of it, joy and comfort. The favour of God, the manifesting of His loving kindness, is frequently expressed by the light of His countenance (Psa 4:6), the issue of which is joy and gladness (verse 7). Light and joy explain one another (Psa 97:11). That which is light in the first clause is joy in the latter.

4. Glory and happiness. Heaven, the seat of it, is described by light (1Ti 6:16). It is called the inheritance (Col 1:12).

Use 1. If those that are converted be light, etc., then those that are not converted are not light in the Lord. This necessarily follows by the rule of contraries. They may be light in appearance, or in respect of natural endowments, or moral accomplishments, or in the account of others, or in their own conceit and apprehensions, but they are not light in the Lord; and this shows the misery of an unconverted state, and it is useful to take notice of it more particularly. If they are not light in the Lord–

(1) they are not in the Lord. The phrase implies union; but such are without union to, without communion with, without participation of, without special relation to Him; without His special protection, without His special favour, without His gracious covenant. It may be propounded to them that they have no actual interest in, or right to, the blessings, the mercies of the covenant.

(2) They want the saving knowledge of God in Christ, they are not light in this respect. The darkness of ignorance and misapprehensions is upon the face of their souls; the prince of darkness, the god of this world, has blinded their minds (2Co 4:3-4). Though they may be knowing men in other respects, yet as to spiritual, saving, experimental, effectual knowledge of Christ, and the things of Christ, they are in darkness.

(3) They want the favour of God. They are not under the beams of Divine love, the light of Gods countenance does not shine on them, and so they are not light in the Lord. Those that are unconverted, want that which is the life and joy to the converted soul; that which sweetens all his afflictions and makes all his enjoyments comfortable.

(4) They want the lustre of holiness. This is one thing which concurs to make converts light in the Lord. This light shines nowhere on earth but in the hearts and lives of such; those that are unconverted show themselves either strangers or enemies to it. They are carnal, sold under sin, know not what belongs to an holy frame of heart; think heaven may be attained without strictness, holiness, as the Scripture requires, and the lives of the saints there recorded hold forth; jeer, deride, abuse it, under odious names; place all their holiness in some outward performances or observances; holy discourse and employments are wearisomeness to them.

(5) They want discoveries of future glory, they are not light in the Lord; they have not so much light as will discover it at a distance; there are no dawnings, no approaches, no appearances of that blessed light. It is midnight with a sinner while unconverted. But how shall we know, who are in this state, whether or no we be light in the Lord? To direct you herein, let us come to–

Use 2. by way of examination. Hereby ye may know whether ye be converted. Every convert is light in the Lord; those, therefore, that are not light in the Lord are not converted; these are so conjoined, as he that knows the one may conclude the other. Examine, then, whether ye be light in the Lord, if ye would know whether ye be converted. In order hereto observe these particulars:

(1) Light is delightful.

(2) While there is light there is heat.

Heat, as philosophers tell us, is an inseparable property of celestial light. We see a concurrence of these in fire; indeed, there may be an appearance of light where there is no heat, as in glow worms, but where there is any real light, there is some degree of heat more or less. Answerably, they that are light in the Lord are zealous for the Lord, eager in following Him, ardent in love to Him and desires after Him, fervent in spirit in serving Him.

(3) Light is progressive. The light from its birth grows and increases, till it domes to its full strength, when the sun is in the meridian. Thus it is with those that ale light in the Lord, as Solomon expresses it (Pro 4:18). This light is but a spark at first, and often accompanied with much smoke, but by degrees it breaks forth into a flame. Such grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ; they go from strength to strength, and from one degree of holiness and spiritual knowledge to another; this light daily prevailing against the darkness of ignorance and corruption, till at last it be brought forth to victory. There is a growth of knowledge in the extent of it; it discovers one truth after another, unlocks one mystery after another, and daily scatters the clouds of misapprehensions. In the clearness of it, sees gospel truths with more and more evidence, as that blind mans sight was restored by degrees (Mat 8:23-24). In the firmness of it: established in the truth to a full assurance. There is a growth in the spiritualness, the efficacy, the experimentalness, the practicalness of his knowledge. This light has daily a more spiritual and powerful influence upon his heart, to spiritualize it in his motions, intentions, inclinations; upon his conscience, to make it tender; upon his affections, to kindle them to God, and dead them to the world; upon his conversation, to reform and beautify it with more holy and exemplary actings. There is a growth in grace, too, in everyone that is light in the Lord. This light of holiness shines more and more, prevails against inward distempers and outward miscarriages, Dears down the interest of darkness, i.e. of the flesh and of the world.

Use 3. Consolation to those that are converted. If thou art a convert thou art light in the Lord, and this light discovers thy condition to be safe, comfortable, glorious, durable.

(1) Safe. If thou canst conclude by Scripture evidence, I was sometimes darkness, etc. The Lord has brought thee into a safe condition; thou art freed from those fears and dangers that thy former darkness exposed thee to.

(2) Comfortable. Light and joy in Scripture are put one for the other; and Solomon tells us: The light of the righteous rejoiceth (Pro 13:9). What cause they have to rejoice who are light in the Lord; who are in Him, united to Him, in covenant with Him, under the beams of His love, under the sweet influences of His loving, kindness!

(3) Durable. Not safe, comfortable, happy for a moment, but forever; for it is light in the Lord. If thy light were in thyself, death or other calamities might extinguish it; if thy light were in the world and outward enjoyments, it might go out of itself, for the light hereof is but as the crackling of thorns; if thy light were in wickedness it would certainly be put out (Job 18:5-6). But what can put out that light that is in the Lord? Light in other things is like them, vain and fading; but light in the Lord is as He is, everlasting. Everlasting knowledge, joy, holiness, happiness is the portion of converted souls; because they have all these in the Lord.

(4) Glorious. Nothing visible on earth more glorious than light; and these are put one for the other in Scripture (1Co 15:41). What is their glory but their light? Those who are converted have hereby a double glory, one as they are light, the other as they are light in the Lord, light in the Lord of glory, He is a glory to them, even as a robe of light would be to our body; such, and much more, is the Lord to a converted soul (Isa 60:19). (D. Clarkson, B. D.)

Walk as children of light

I. What is it to be children of light? It denotes several things.

1. Descent. They are called children of light who are of the Father of lights. Christ, the light of the world, is formed in them.

2. Propriety.

3. Destination. 1Sa 20:31, one who is near to, worthy of, destined to, death; so children of light, because ordained to it.

4. Residence. They abide in the light.

5. Constitution. Their minds, hearts, affections, are of a lightsome, i.e., a spiritual and heavenly temper; spiritual light in their minds, holiness in their wills, joy, delight, hopes of glory in their hearts.

6. Obligation. Those that are converted are in this sense children of light, because they are obliged to walk as those that are enlightened from above; to walk holily, to be followers of God as dear children. There are strong engagements laid upon them, they are bound by covenant thus to walk.

II. What is it to walk as children of light?

1. To walk at a distance from darkness (verse 11); from sin, which is the work, which is the cause of all those woeful things which the Holy Ghost expresses by darkness. What communion has fight with darkness? (2Co 6:14). He speaks of it as a most absurd, incongruous thing, that those that are light should mingle with darkness. Every degree of darkness is contrary to fight; so every sin, small or great, open or secret, is opposite, contrary, altogether unbeseeming the blessed relation of a child of fight.

2. To walk boldly; to be herein followers of God as dear children. How followers of God? The apostle tells us (1Pe 1:15-16), the light of holiness should shine in the fives of those that are Christs; holiness both exercised and diffused. Walking denotes motion and activeness.

3. Exemplarily. Children of fight must walk so as to be fight unto others, and this in divers particulars.

(1) Unblameably. So as to give no cause of offence to the weak, nor no cause of reproach to the wicked.

(2) Their walking should be convictive. It should discover and manifest the sinfulness of those who walk in the ways of darkness.

(3) Their walking should be imitable, i.e., worthy of imitation; so order their ways as they may be a pattern unto others; so shine, as others may follow the light, not in affectation of preeminence, or singularity, in unwarranted opinions or practices; but in close following of Christ, and walking exactly according to the rule of holiness.

(4) Their walking should be an ornament to their profession.

4. Cheerfully. Being children of light, they are children of joy. That is their portion, they are all Barnabases, sons of consolation, and should walk accordingly.

If it be inquired how we may walk as children of light?

1. Walk not according to opinion. This can have no better ground than vain opinion, which Moses followed not, when he chose rather to suffer, etc., and accounted the reproach of Christ, etc. (Heb 11:25-26). He had not respect to common opinion, but to something else; nor did the apostle regard it, but something of another nature (2Co 4:16-18).

2. Follow the light of the Word fully. Make use of it to discover the whole will of God concerning the duty of His children, that you may comply with it, and order heart and life by it. Decline no part of it, whatever it be.

3. Walk above the world and earthly things. Children of light are clothed with the sun; the moon, the world is under their feet (Rev 12:1). It has no high place in their minds or hearts; riches, pleasures, honours, and respect are thrown down in their thoughts, and cast out of their affections, they are not the design of their lives; the world is their footstool everywhere, and serves, does not command them.

4. Walk in the sight of heaven. Children of the fight are the children of the kingdom, heirs of heaven and glory, begotten again to an inheritance, etc. And that is one reason why they are called children of light, because they are heirs of the inheritance of the saints in light. (D. Clarkson, B. D.)

Light in daffiness

I was in a darkened room, that I might observe the effect produced by the use of what is appropriately called luminous paint. A neat card, on which the words Trust in the Lord were printed, rested upon the bookcase, and shone out clearly in the darkness. The effect fairly startled me. It was the first time that I had seen this simple but interesting effect. How remarkable that, if from any cause the light of sun or day failed to rest upon the card, its luminousness gradually declined, but returned when the suns action infused fresh light! Truly, we also, if hidden from the face of our Lord, cease to shine. Ye are light in the Lord: walk as children of the light. (Henry Varley.)

Children of light

That deep-lunged, red-blooded preacher, Sydney Smith, used to throw open the shutters to the morning sun, saying, Let us glorify the room! Both conscience and temperament led him, also, to insist on flooding the dark places of the moral world with cheerfulness, which is the sunshine of the spirit. Thus he constantly advocated the wisdom of what he called short views of life. It was obvious, he thought, that the larger part of our worries and perplexities came from the anticipation of evils. He insisted that if we were happy now, or at least not miserable, or even not overborne by the trouble of the hour, we might logically infer–nay, we should even make it a duty to suppose–that tomorrow, or next week, or next year, would also bring its balance of compensation and resistance. Every substantial grief or danger, he used to say, was accompanied by twenty shadows, and most of these are of our own making.

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 8. For ye were sometimes (, formerly) darkness] While ye lived in darkness, ye lived in these crimes.

But now are ye light in the Lord] When ye were in heathenish darkness ye served divers lusts and pleasures, but now ye have the light-the wisdom and teaching which come from God; therefore walk as children of the light-let the world see that ye are not slaves to the flesh, but free, willing, rational servants of the Most High; not brutish followers of devil gods.

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

For ye were sometimes darkness; the same as in darkness, Rom 2:19; 1Th 5:4; viz. the darkness of sin, ignorance, unbelief. The abstract being put for the concrete, shows the greatness of that darkness in which they were.

But now are ye light in the Lord; either now, being in Christ, ye are light, or rather, ye are enlightened or made light by Christ, being furnished with spiritual knowledge, faith, purity, and holiness.

Walk as children of light; a Hebraism; children of light, for those that are in the light, 1Th 5:5; q.d. Let your conversation be suitable to your condition and privileges: see 1Jo 1:7.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

8. sometimes“once.”The emphasis is on “were.” Ye ought to have no fellowshipwith sin, which is darkness, for your state as darkness is now PAST.Stronger than “in darkness” (Ro2:19).

lightnot merely”enlightened”; but light enlightening others (Eph5:13).

inin union with theLord, who is THE LIGHT.

children of lightnotmerely “of the light”; just as “children ofdisobedience” is used on the opposite side; those whosedistinguishing characteristic is light. PLINY,a heathen writing to Trajan, bears unwilling testimony to theextraordinary purity of Christians’ lives, contrasted with the peoplearound them.

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

For ye were sometimes darkness,…. Not only dark, but darkness itself; exceeding blind, dark, and ignorant, respecting spiritual things; so the Gentiles were wont to be called by the Jews, , “darkness” k itself; of this darkness,

[See comments on Eph 4:18].

But now [are ye] light in the Lord; either in, or by the Lord Jesus Christ, the light of men, from whom all spiritual light comes; or by the Lord the Spirit, by whom the eyes of their understandings were enlightened, to see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, in heart and life; the insufficiency of their own righteousness and moral virtues, to justify them before God; and the true and right way of righteousness, life and salvation by Christ; and to have some light into the several doctrines of the Gospel, and even a glimpse of the invisible glories and realities of another world: and this light is so great, that they are not only said to be enlightened, but to be light itself; and this they have not of, and from themselves, but the Lord; and therefore should

walk as children of light; not in sins, which are works of darkness, but in faith, truth, and holiness.

k Tzeror Hammor, fol. 1. 2.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

But now light ( ). Jesus called his disciples the light of the world (Mt 5:14).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Ye were. Emphatic, and according with become of ver. 7. Ye were darkness, but now are ye light. Do not become darkness again.

Darkness [] . See on Joh 1:5.

Light [] Light itself; not a lamp.

Children of light. See Mt 5:16.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “For ye were sometimes darkness” (ete gar pote skotos) “For ye were then (at that time) darkness:” a time forever behind them to which they were not to turn back, a former state of base, moral life, unworthy of a Christian, Luk 9:62; Act 15:37-38.

2) “But now ye are light in the Lord” (nun de phos en kurios) “But now and continuing hereafter ye are light in the Master,” Mat 5:15-16; 1Th 5:5. They were not merely enlightened, but “light” of the same nature and kind of their Lord, saved by His grace, delivered from the domain of darkness into that of the light, salvation, and service of God’s own Son, serving in His purchased church, Col 1:13; Act 20:28.

3) “Walk as children of light” (hos tekna photos peripatete) “Walk ye all as children of light,” 1Jn 1:7. This is the walk of safety, security, fellowship, and knowledge, Psa 119:105; Gal 5:25. They were to share it with others and bear it to those in darkness and disobedience, Luk 16:8; Joh 12:36; 2Co 3:3-4.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

8. For ye were once darkness. The precepts which immediately follow derive greater weight from the motives with which they are mingled. Having spoken of unbelievers, and warned the Ephesians not to become partakers of their crimes and their destruction, he argues still further, that they ought to differ widely from the life and conduct of those men. At the same time, in order to guard them against ingratitude to God, he refreshes their remembrance of their own past life. “You ought,” he says, “to be very different persons from what you formerly were; for out of darkness God hath made you light.” Darkness is the name here given to the whole nature of man before regeneration; for, where the brightness of God does not shine, there is nothing but fearful darkness. Light, again, is the name given to those who are enlightened by the Spirit of God; for immediately afterwards in the same sense, he calls them children of light, and draws the inference, that they ought to walk in light, because by the mercy of God they had been rescued from darkness. Observe here, we are said to be light in the Lord, because, while we are out of Christ, all is under the dominion of Satan, whom we know to be the Prince of darkness.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(8) Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.This expression is unique, and far more emphatic than the more common phrases of being, or walking, in darkness and in light. (See Rom. 2:9; Col. 1:2; 1Th. 5:4; 1Jn. 1:6-7; 1Jn. 2:9-10.) For here the outward element of light or darkness is said to pervade the inner nature of the soul. (1) Christ is the true Light, the Sun of Righteousness (Joh. 1:4-9; Joh. 3:19; Joh. 8:12; Joh. 9:5; Joh. 12:46). His servants are sometimes mere secondary lights (or candles) (Luk. 11:33-34; Luk. 11:36; Joh. 5:35; 2Pe. 1:19), kindled from His rays; sometimes, like the moon or planets, they are said, as reflecting His light, or as having His light in them (Joh. 12:35), to be actually the light of the world (Mat. 5:14), which, however, shines as a mere reflected light, so that men glorify not it, but the Father which is in heaven (Mat. 5:16). They thus become light, but only in the Lord: that is, as being made one with Him. (2) So, on the other hand, they who walk in darkness are said to be themselves darknessnew sources, so to speak, of the darkness which hates and quenches light, both to themselves and to others. The light which is in them becomes darkness; and how great is that darkness! (Mat. 6:23.) As there is a natural delight in giving light, so the reprobate state is distinguished by a horrible pleasure in spreading the cloud of delusion, sin, or unbelief, by which to hide God from man.

Walk as children of light.So our Lord teaches, While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may become children of light (Joh. 12:36; comp. 1Th. 5:5). Children of light are they who not only love the light, but also manifest the likeness of the one true Light, the Father of Lights (Jas. 1:17), being His children in Jesus Christ.

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

b. Against their secret and nightly shame be children of light and day, Eph 5:8-17 .

As the darkness of night is the element in which license and guilt find their covert, so by association of thought license and darkness are conceptually identified; while, on the contrary, truth and purity, as well as knowledge, are conceptually identified with light. These associations of thought are universal in the human mind and in human language. Zoroastrianism makes light and darkness the emblem of the two great kingdoms of good and evil in the world. St. Paul here intensifies the thought, by making light and darkness include not only the principles of good and evil, but the human embodiments of good and evil, the Church and the anti-Church.

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

8. Ye were While Gentiles.

Now are ye light Not as illuminated, but as luminous and illuminating. So our Saviour: “Ye are the light of the world.”

Children of light In the whole paragraph there is a blending of the double thought of moral and physical light. So our Lord: “Let your light so shine, that men may see your good works.” The children of light are those who are not only the true sons of moral illumination, but are so congenial with the actual light of day that the sun may freely shine upon all they do, and illuminate even the secrets locked within their breasts. And so, also, in the uses of both the terms light and darkness there is a blended double reference to the moral principles and the classes of men who embody the principles. Christians are light, and they are children of light; and, Eph 5:13, the darkness of the licentious, by having the light shine through them, becomes light.

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

‘For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.’

Having dealt with the dark side Paul now returns to the theme of the Christian’s walk. They did once walk in darkness. They were darkness through and through. Many of them had once participated in such things. Indeed they epitomised ‘darkness’. But now their darkness has turned to light. They  are  light, as God is (1Jn 1:5). They have come to Him Who is the light of the world receiving the light of life (Joh 8:12). They have become partakers of the divine nature (2Pe 1:4). They live as in His presence, in heavenly places (Eph 2:6). They are no longer under the power of darkness (Col 1:13). They dwell in the kingdom of His beloved Son, enjoying the inheritance of the people of God ‘in light’ (Col 1:12-13). Thus they are to walk in the light (1Jn 1:7), as children of light.

Living in the light is seen as a huge privilege. They should enjoy it and exult in the privilege and live continually in the light. To walk in the light, to be children of light, signifies living in the light, open before God, with nothing hidden from Him, being totally honest with Him and daily, no, each opportune moment, joyously bringing their lives to Him like an open book and letting His light shine on them. It is a life of not hiding anything from His gaze. It is letting His word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our way (Psa 119:105), showing us the way ahead. For the entrance of His word gives light (Psa 119:130). It is an attitude of heart and life to be continually fostered. So we are to walk in love (Psa 119:2) and in light. The two must go hand in hand. And this will result in the fruit of goodness, righteousness and truth, the very opposite of uncleanness and covetousness.

As Paul spoke these words he must surely have had in mind that first moment at the beginning of time when all was darkness, and God said, ‘Let there be light’, and light flooded everything. His people have now entered into a new creation. They have come from nothingness and vanity to a glorious new future. They must walk in the light that shines from God.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Walk in the Light: The Mind of Man Eph 5:8-17 emphasizes the need to walk in the light of God’s Word, which means to have our minds walk in the understanding of God’s Word. He refers to the fruit of the Spirit as the evidence of being led by the Spirit (Eph 5:9).

Eph 5:8  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

Eph 5:8 “walk as children of light” Comments – In Colossians Paul calls those children who are walking in the light of the revelation of Christ Jesus as “the saints in light.”

Col 1:12, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light :”

Jesus called us “children of light.”

Luk 16:8, “And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light .”

The saints shall shine in the presence of God for eternity.

Mat 13:43, “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

We are the light of the world.

Mat 5:14, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.”

Php 2:15, “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;”

Eph 5:9  (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)

Eph 5:9 Comments – In Eph 5:9 Paul contrasts the works of depraved humanity, “fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness” (Eph 5:3), with the fruit of the Spirit, using a similar trilogy of words, all goodness and righteousness and truth.”

Eph 5:14 Old Testament Quotes in the New Testament – It has been debated as to the source of Paul’s quote in Eph 5:14. It may have come from Isa 26:19 or Isa 60:1-3; or, Paul may have put together a number of phrases from the Old Testament in order to write this verse as a single quote. The first phrase “Awake thou that sleepest” may have been taken from:

Isa 26:19, “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.”

Isa 51:17, “ Awake, awake, stand up , O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.”

Isa 52:1, “ Awake, awake ; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.”

Paul used this phrase about four years earlier in his epistle to the Romans.

Rom 13:11, “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep : for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”

The second phrase “arise from the dead” may have been taken from Isa 26:19.

Isa 26:19, “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise . Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.”

The third phrase “Christ shall give thee light” may be a paraphrase or interpretation of Isa 60:1.

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

Adam Clarke says, “Epiphanius supposed them to be taken from an ancient prophecy of Elijah, long since lost: Syncellus and Euthalius think they are from an apocryphal work attributed to Jeremiah the prophet: others, that they made part of a hymn then used in the Christian church.” [135]

[135] Adam Clarke, Ephesians, in Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1996), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), notes on Ephesians 5:14. See the quote from Euthalius in PG 85 col. 721C.

Eph 5:15  See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

Eph 5:15 Word Study on “circumspectly” Strong says the Greek word “circumspectly” ( ) (G199) word means, “exactly.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 5 times in the New Testament, being translated in the KJV as, “diligently 2, perfect 1, perfectly 1, circumspectly 1.” Other modern translations read, “careful(ly)” ( ASV, ESV, NAB, NIV, RSV), or “exactly” ( YLT).

Eph 5:12-15 Comments – Expounding Upon “Light” – The main topic in Eph 5:12-15 is the carefulness in which believers should live their lives. However, in Eph 5:13-14 Paul takes a digression to explain the symbolism and meaning of the word “light.”

Eph 5:12-15, “For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light . See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,”

Otherwise, his main thought would read:

Eph 5:12-15, “For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light.See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,”

Eph 5:16  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Eph 5:16 “Redeeming the time” Word Study on “redeeming” Strong says the Greek word “redeeming” ( ) (G1805) literally means, “to buy up, to ransom,” and figuratively, “to rescue from loss.”

Comments – We are to make good use of every opportunity that God brings in our lives as we walk the Christian walk. Note a comment from Frances J. Roberts referring to the meaning of the term “redeeming the time.”

“My ageless purposes are set in Eternity. Time is as a little wheel set within the big wheel of Eternity. The little wheel turneth swiftly and shall one day cease. The big wheel turneth not, but goeth straight forward. Time is thy responsibility Eternity is Mine! Ye shall move into thy place in the big wheel when the little wheel is left behind. See that now ye redeem the time, making use of it for the purposes of My eternal kingdom , thus investing it with something of the quality of the big wheel. As ye do this, thy days shall not be part of that which turneth and dieth, but of that which goeth straight forward and becometh one with My great universe. Fill thy days with light and love and testimony. Glorify and honor My Name. Praise and delight thyself in the Lord. So shall eternity inhabit thy heart and thou shalt deliver thy soul from the bondages of time.” [136]

[136] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 31-2.

God dwells in eternity, and not in the realm of time. Therefore, this time refers to the realm of man, where we are bound by time. We are to use our time wisely, knowing that time will one day come to an end and we will be judged by how we used our time in this life.

Eph 5:16 Comments – The next verse (Eph 5:17) tells us to “understand what is the will of the Lord.” Thus, we are to be about doing the Lord’s will are our way of “redeeming the time.” If we interpret the words “time” and “days” within the context of this epistle, we see that God’s divine plan is to be fulfilled through the Church. We are not to be pursuing our own will or the ways of the world, for this lifestyle causes us to live out our days in an evil manner with evil men. Instead, we are to live as if eternal things were of more importance than temporal things. This explains why I began to feel a sense of urgency when I gave my life to Christ Jesus. I stopped wasting my time on useless activities, knowing I needed to know God’s Word and be about His business. In other words, I began to redeem my time when I realized that much of what goes on around me is evil activity and simply a waste of time. Our days of this mortal life are vexed with evil temptations and wickedness all around us.

Eph 5:17  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

Eph 5:17 Comments – Within the context of the epistle to the Ephesians, in which Paul is revealing to the church the glorious riches of Christ and God’s wonderful plan for each believer, Paul focuses on the believer’s “daily walk” as the means of fulfilling God’s great plan in each of their lives. This is because God’s will for us is not that we accomplish a great project in life, but rather, that we walk in fellowship with Him each day and that we walk in love with our neighbour. This is God’s plan for our lives on this side of heaven. Paul has just told us to redeem the time, because these days of our mortality are evil. As Christians we learn to lay aside wasteful activities, and thus, we need to understand God’s plan for our lives. One way we do this is by staying filled with the Spirit, which is discussed in the verses that follow.

If we will be faithful stewards of this basic calling, then God will be able to promote us to greater heights and callings; for we will then be able to stand against the wiles of the devil when they come (Eph 6:10-18). We will then be able to conquer nations and operate in the gifts of the Spirit as good stewards of these blessings that Paul refers to in Eph 1:3-14. This is called the “love walk.”

In our youthful zeal to serve Christ, we want to hear someone prophesy and tell us that we will become a great preacher or missionary or accomplish some great goal in life, but this is often our flesh speaking. Now this epistle of Ephesians teaches us that God has given to each of us a “high calling.” Therefore, we know that He has placed within each of us a seed. It is this seed of hope and expectation that, used in the right way, motivates us to strive to enter into this high calling. Therefore, our desire to do something great for God is a good desire and is not bad. However, we must know what this epistle says in order to walk out and fulfil this high calling. This seed must be watered and nurtured. This is the job of the five-fold ministry (Eph 4:11-13). If we are not submitted to our church and our pastor, then this seed cannot be nurtured and grow. God gives the parents the initial job of nurturing this seed and he gives the pastors and other church leaders the job of bring this seed to its full growth and potential.

As it is nurtured, we begin to qualify for the ministry. If you read 1Ti 3:1-13 you see that a bishop has to qualify for this office before his is called into it. You will find a comparison of these qualifications in Ephesians when we are told to walk in love and submission as husbands and wives (Eph 5:22-33, 1Ti 3:2), as parents and children (Eph 6:1-4, 1Ti 3:4-5) and as employers and employees (Eph 6:5-9, 1Ti 3:7).

Some ministers of the Gospel have forgotten the love walk in their busy pursuit of building their ministries to greater and greater heights, but there are those humble few who have learned this secret and maintained their walk of love. Some are building their own ministries in the flesh, while others are building people’s lives by the Spirit. We see these men of God, such as Oral Roberts, Kenneth Hagin, [137] Rex Humbard and others, who have been careful to walk in love. We have seen those who have stumbled and fallen because they have forgotten this principle. They have treated people harshly while focusing on the building of their ministries. This Christian life is not a project that must be completed, but rather a relationship that must be carefully maintained, a relationship with the Father and with our fellow man. God’s will is not that we accomplish a great project, but rather how we treat others while working on the project. God’s will is to build souls and not to step on souls in order to build a great ministry. This is God’s will, to walk in love with one another. This is what people like Mother Theresa [138] did in her life. Everything else will find its place under the love walk.

[137] Kenneth Hagin, Love the Way to Victory (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1994, 1995).

[138] Kathryn Spink, Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography (New York: HarperCollins, 1997).

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Eph 5:8. Ye were sometimes darkness, St. Paul, to express the great darkness in which the Gentiles were, calls them darkness itself. The kingdom of Satan over the Gentile world was a kingdom of darkness. See ch. Eph 6:12. And so, on the other hand, we find Jesus is pronounced by Simeon a light to lighten the Gentiles, Luk 2:32. The parenthesis in Eph 5:9 serves to give us the literal sense of all that is here required by the Apostle in this allegorical discourse of light. See Col 1:12-13

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Eph 5:8 . Reason assigned for the exhortation just given: For your former state of darkness (with which those vices were in keeping) is past; now, on the other hand, ye are Christianly enlightened; as befits such, let your walk be.

] prefixed with significant stress, has the force of a ground assigned as praeterite , just as at Rom 6:17 . Rckert incorrectly holds that Paul has omitted , which is at variance with good composition. The non-use of has its logical ground, and that in the fact, that the clause is not conceived in relation to that which thereupon confronts it by Just so in classical writers, where seems to be wanting. See Krger, Anab. iii. 4. 41; Bornemann, ad Cyrop. iii. 2. 12, Goth.; Klotz, ad Devar. p. 356 f.; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. I. p. 388.

] Abstractum pro concreto, to make the designation the stronger (Khner, II. p. 25 f.): dark , by which the opposite of the possession of divine truth is denoted.

. . .] now on the other hand, since your conversion, how entirely different is it with you, how entirely different must your walk be! Light in the Lord are ye, i.e. furnished with divine truth in your fellowship with Christ, in whom, as the source and giver of light (Eph 5:14 ), ye live and move. Comp. Eph 1:18 .

] as children of light , i.e. as enlightened ones. Comp. 1Th 5:5 ; Luk 16:8 ; Joh 12:36 . As such they are now to show themselves in their walk. Without the exhortation comes in with the greater energy. Comp. Stallbaum, ad Plat. Gorg. p. 510 C; Dissen, ad Pind. Exc. II. p. 276.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 2116
A CONSISTENT WALK ENJOINED

Eph 5:8. Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.

MANY imagine, that when they have believed in Christ, the work in them is complete: and, if they were then to die, it is true that they would be complete; because it is said of all believers, Ye are complete in Christ, who is the Head of all principality and power. But no man in this world is so complete, but that he still needs to be urged forward, by warnings and exhortations, and promises and examples. This is clearly manifest from all the apostolic writings, in which the saints are cautioned against every species of sin, and stimulated to every species of duty. The latter half of this epistle is altogether addressed to believers, in this precise point of view, exhorting them to walk worthy the vocation wherewith they are called [Note: Eph 4:1.]. The truth is, that saints are yet only as brands plucked out of the burning: they still bear the marks of the tire strong upon them, and are still in danger of being consumed by the influence of fiery temptations, if God in his mercy do not preserve them. Their safety is in watchfulness and prayer: in watchfulness, that they give not occasion to Satan to inflame their souls with evil: and in prayer, that, as soon as any spark shall light upon them, it may be extinguished. To all, without exception, of whom it may be said, Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord, the exhortation that is added must be addressed; Walk as children of light.

In discoursing on these words, we shall be led to shew,

1.

The change which all true Christians have experienced

They once were darkness
[The term, darkness, in Scripture language, imports ignorance, sin, and misery: and therefore most fitly expresses the state of unconverted men. The mind of the natural man is blind to the things of God: they are spiritual, and he cannot comprehend them for want of a spiritual discernment [Note: 1Co 2:14.]. He knows not the spirituality of Gods law, or the total alienation of his heart from God. He has no just views of the Divine perfections, no adequate sense of his need of a Redeemer; no true perception of the beauty of holiness, or of the excellency of a life entirely devoted unto God. To himself he lives, and not to God: he is a law unto himself, and does nothing but with a view to the gratification of his own feelings. Pleasure, interest, and honour, are the gods whom he serves: and beyond the things of time and sense he has no object of ambition or pursuit. In this state he may find what the world calls happiness; but to real happiness he is a stranger. Whatever satisfaction he feels, it is in a forgetfulness of eternal things that he feels it, and not in the contemplation of them. The thought of death and judgment is appalling to him; and is sufficient to make him, like Belshazzar, tremble in the midst of all his mirth; so that his countenance shall change, and his knees smite one against the other [Note: Dan 5:6.]. It is the heart-searching God who says, that there is no real peace to such persons [Note: Isa 57:20-21.], but that destruction and misery are in their ways [Note: Rom 3:16-17.].

Nor let it be thought that this is the character of some only whose wickedness has been of a more flagrant nature: for St. Paul assures us, that it was once his own state, no less than that of others [Note: Eph 2:3. Tit 3:3.] and therefore we may be sure that it is common to all. Indeed a very little knowledge of mankind will convince us, that the whole world lieth in wickedness [Note: 1Jn 5:19.], and unconverted men are not only dark, but darkness itself, even darkness visible.]

But they are now light in the Lord
[In their conversion they are turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God. Their views of self, of sin, of God, of Christ, of every thing around them, are changed In consequence of the eyes of their understanding being enlightened, they come forth from the broad road in which they have been walking, and begin to tread the narrow, and less frequented paths, of holiness and life. Their whole labour now is to put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and to put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Now they are no longer under bondage to the fear of death, or bowed down with the apprehensions of Gods eternal wrath: they see that he is reconciled towards them in the Son of his love; and with a spirit of adoption they come before him, crying, Abba, Father. In a word, they now enjoy peace in their souls, even that peace of God which passeth all understanding
All this they have in the Lord, that is, by virtue of union with him, and by grace derived from him. Being now members of Christs mystical body, they possess all that is in him their living Head, according to the measure of the grace they have received from him. With Christ is the fountain of life; and in his light they see light.]
Whilst we contemplate this blessed change, we must not overlook,

II.

The obligations it entails upon them

Consistency is required of all: of course, if we have been made light in the Lord, it becomes us to walk as children of light. By this expression we are taught.

1.

What line we are to pursue

[The commandment of the Lord is a lamp, and his law is light [Note: Pro 6:23.]: and by his law are we to direct our steps. That Holy Spirit who has opened our eyes, and renewed our hearts, marks out for us our path, in direct opposition to that which the unconverted world pursue; as the Apostle tells us in the words following our text: The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Whilst the ungodly indulge in all the fore-mentioned iniquities, our conduct is to be the very reverse of theirs. In opposition to all unholy tempers [Note: Eph 4:31.], we are to abound in every thing that is lovely and of good report In opposition to all that may interfere with the welfare of others [Note: ver. 3.], we are to do in all things precisely as, in a change of circumstances, we should think it right for our neighbour to do unto us And in the whole of our deportment towards both God and man, there should be the most inviolable truth, even a perfect integrity of mind, a spirit that is without guile Perhaps we may get somewhat of an idea of our duty from what we behold amongst the heavenly bodies. The stars are all irradiated by the sun; and in respect of that great luminary, may be called children of light. These, according to their capacity, reflect the brightness of the sun, and impart to others the light they have received. So it should be with us: we should make our light to shine before men, that so those who behold us may know how to walk, at the same time that they are constrained to glorify that Sun of Righteousness whose beams we reflect. This is the idea inculcated by the Apostle himself, who tells us, that we must shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life [Note: Php 2:15-16.], and proving in our own persons what is acceptable unto the Lord [Note: ver. 10.].]

But there is yet another idea, and a very important one, suggested in this expression, children of light. It is the property of light to make things manifest; and consequently, we are to bear our testimony against all the deeds of darkness, not only having no fellowship with them, (for what fellowship can light have with darkness [Note: 2Co 6:14.]?) but reproving them [Note: ver. 11, 13.], and bearing our testimony for God against all who commit them.

Such then must our conduct be, holy and exemplary, decided and firm.]

2.

In what spirit we should walk in it

[Children of disobedience are such as, from the propensity of their nature, live in wilful and habitual disobedience to Gods commands. So children of light, from the impulse of the Holy Spirit, walk cheerfully and habitually in the ways of God. They are not compelled, like slaves, to serve him against their will; but, like dear children, they love their Fathers will, and find his ways to be ways of pleasantness and peace. Nor is it merely on some particular occasions that they obey his voice: they do it constantly, and without reserve: they delight to do his will; and run the way of his commandments with enlarged hearts. This characterizes the angels around the throne: and it distinguishes also the children of the living God: they do his will, hearkening to the voice of his word [Note: Psa 103:20.], and making every succeeding act a prelude to yet further services.]

Address
1.

Those who have never yet experienced this change

[Be assured, it must be experienced before you can ever enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whether your lives have been more or less polluted with outward sin, you have all equally lived to yourselves, instead of unto God: and your consciences bear testimony against you, that to secure an interest in Christ, and to grow up into his image, and to live for his glory, have not been the great objects of your ambition, nor has your departure from this path been any source of humiliation to your souls. What is darkness, if tins be not? It is, in fact, a living without God in the world: and this path, if persisted in, will bring you to the blackness of darkness for ever. But I thank God, there is no room for despondency. The Lord Jesus Christ has come a light into the world, that whoso followeth him should not walk in darkness, but have the light of life [Note: Joh 8:12.]. For this very end was he given, that he should be a light to the Gentiles, and say to the prisoners, Go forth; and to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves [Note: Isa 49:6; Isa 49:9.]. Despair not therefore; but entreat, that, as the Sun of Righteousness, he would arise upon you with healing in his wings. And hear, for your encouragement, his gracious promise: I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight: these things will I do unto them, and not forsake them [Note: Isa 42:16.]. But delay not to seek these blessings at his hands. Seek them before he cause your darkness to increase, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while ye are looking for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness [Note: Jer 13:16.]. To this effect our Saviour himself charges you: Yet a little while is the light with you: walk whilst ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light [Note: Joh 12:35-36.].]

2.

Those who have an evidence in themselves that it has been wrought in them

[However the world may despise it as enthusiasm, there are many who have passed from death unto life, and been brought out of darkness into marvellous light. O rejoice in the Lord, who hath done such great things for you! And now set yourselves to walk worthy of this high calling. Think what manner of persons ye ought to be, and what a holy heavenly conversation becomes you. Guard against every degree of return to your former state. Guard against those who would draw you back, or impede your progress in the heavenly life. It is your privilege to walk in the light, as God is in the light [Note: 1Jn 1:6-7.]; and to have your path like the shining light, shining more and more unto the perfect day [Note: Pro 4:18.]. And, whilst this is really the desire and labour of your souls, fear not: your God will be with you, causing your light to rise in obscurity, and your darkness to be as the noon-day. Then may you look forward with confidence to that day, when your present light, like that of a taper, shall be eclipsed by the infinitely brighter splendour of the sun; even to that day, when the sun shall be no more your light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto you; but the Lord shall be unto you an everlasting light, and your God your glory [Note: Isa 60:19-20.].]

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

8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

Ver. 8. For ye were sometimes darkness ] Which hath in it (as Mr Dugard well noteth): 1. Error. 2. Terror. 3. Inconsistency with light. 4. Impossibility of reducing itself to light.

But now are ye light ] Semper in sole sita est Rhodos, saith Sylvius. The saints are always in the sunshine.

Walk as children of light ] A godly man should be like a crystal glass with a light in the midst, which appeareth through every part thereof. He is in the light, and shall be more.

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

8 .] For (your state (present, see above) is a totally different one from theirs excluding any such participation) ye WERE (emphatic, see ref.) once (no . “The rule is simple: if the first clause is intended to stand in connexion with and prepare the reader for the opposition to the second, is inserted: if not, not: see the excellent remarks of Klotz, Devar. ii. p. 356 sq.: Fritz., Rom 10:19 , vol. ii. p. 423.” Ellic.) darkness (stronger than , Rom 2:19 ; 1Th 5:4 : they were darkness itself see on below), but now (the is not expressed perhaps, as Stier suggests, not only for emphasis, but to carry a slight tinge of the coming exhortation, by shewing them what they ought to be, as well as were by profession) light (not light has an active, illuminating power, which is brought out in Eph 5:13 ) in (‘ in union with ’ conditioning element not ‘ by ’ , Chr.) the Lord (Jesus): walk (the omission of makes the inference rhetorically more forcible) as children of light (not , as in Luk 16:8 , where is contrasted with , and in next verse, where is the figurative q. d. ‘the light of which I speak:’ here it is light, as light , which is spoken of. The omission of the article may be merely from the rules of correlation, as Ellic.: but I much prefer here to treat it as significant); for (gives the reason of the introduction of the comparison in the context, connecting this with the moral details which have preceded) the fruit of the light ( , see above) is in (is borne within the sphere of, as its condition and element) all goodness and righteousness and truth (in all that is good ( Gal 5:22 ), right, and true. As Harl. observes, the opposites are , , ): proving (to be joined with as its modal predicate, Eph 5:9 having been parenthetical. The Christian’s whole course is a continual proving, testing, of the will of God in practice: investigating not what pleases himself, but what pleases Him) what is well-pleasing to the Lord ;

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Eph 5:8 . : for ye were once darkness . A consideration in support of the previous exhortation, viz. , the consideration that with them the condition in which such sins could be indulged was wholly past and gone. The is put emphatically first to throw stress on the fact that all that is now behind them, and surely not a condition to which they could revert. No requires to be supplied here. Its omission in this clause, while the next has , is nothing strange or irregular, the being inserted only “when the first clause is intended to stand in connection with and prepare the reader for the opposition to the second” (Ell.). See Ell. on Gal 2:15 ; Jelf, Greek Gram. , p 765; Donaldson, Greek Gram. , pp. 575 578. It has to be remembered also that the correlation of those two particles has by no means the position in NT Greek which it has in classical Greek. In point of fact it has little or no place in the Catholic Epistles except 1 Pet. (to some extent), or in 2 Thess., 1 Tim., Tit., Philem., and the Apoc., and is comparatively rare even in the Gospels; cf. Blass, Gram. of N. T. Greek , pp. 266, 267. The abstract , instead of or similar concrete form, adds greatly to the force of the representation. They were darkness itself, persons “in whom darkness becomes visible and holds sway” (Thay.-Grimm), so utterly sunk in ignorance of Divine things, so wholly lost in the evils accompanying such ignorance. : but now ye are light in the Lord . Instead of what they once were they had become enlightened by the Gospel, discerners of Divine truth and subjects of the new life which it opens to men. The completeness of the change is indicated again by the use of the abstract term so possessed and penetrated were they by that truth that they could be described not simply as enlightened but as themselves now light . And this “in the Lord,” for it was in virtue of their fellowship with Christ that this new apprehension of things came to them, transforming their lives. : walk as children of light . The strong abstracts , , come in fitly before the exhortation and make it more pointed. The omission of or any similar particle adds further to the force of the exhortation. If these Ephesians were now “light in the Lord,” it was not for themselves only but for others. They were called to live a life beseeming those to whom Christian enlightenment and purity had become their proper nature; cf. Luk 16:8 ; Joh 12:36 ; 1Th 5:5 . Nothing is to be made of the absence of the article here in contrast with of Eph 5:2 , the general practice being to insert or omit the article in the case of the governed noun according as the governing noun has it or wants it (Rose’s Middleton, On the Greek Article , iii., 3, 7, p. 49).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

EPHESIANS

WHAT CHILDREN OF LIGHT SHOULD BE

Eph 5:8

It was our Lord who coined this great name for His disciples. Paul’s use of it is probably a reminiscence of the Master’s, and so is a hint of the existence of the same teachings as we now find in the existing Gospels, long before their day. Jesus Christ said, ‘Believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light’; and Paul gives substantially the same account of the way by which a man becomes a Son of the Light when he says, in the words preceding my text, ‘Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.’

Union with Him makes light, just as the bit of carbon will glow as long as it is in contact with the electric force, and subsides again into darkness when that is switched off. To be in Christ is to be a child of light, and to believe in Christ is to be in Him.

But the intense moral earnestness of our Apostle is indicated by the fact that on both occasions in which he uses this designation he does so, not for the purpose of heightening the sense of the honour and prerogative attached to it, but for the sake of deducing from it plain and stringent moral duties, and heightening the sense of obligation to holy living.

‘Walk as children of light.’ Be true to your truest, deepest self. Manifest what you are. Let the sweet, sacred secrets of inward communion come out in the trivialities of ordinary conduct; make of your every thought a deed, and see to it that every deed be vitalised and purified by its contact with the great truths and thoughts that lie in this name. These are various ways of putting this one all-sufficient directory of conduct.

Now, in the context, the Apostle expands this concentrated exhortation in three or four different directions, and perhaps we may best set forth its meaning if we shape our remarks by these, I venture to cast them, for the sake of emphasis, into a hortatory form.

I. Aim at an all-round productiveness of the natural fruits of the light.

The true reading is, ‘Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light’ not spirit, as the Authorised Version reads it ‘is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.’ Now, it is obvious that the alteration of ‘light’ instead of ‘spirit’ brings the words into connection with the preceding and the following. The reference to the ‘fruits of the spirit’ would be entirely irrelevant in this place; a reference to the ‘fruit of the light,’ as being every form of goodness and righteousness and truth, is altogether in place.

There is, then, a natural tendency in the light to blossom out into all forms and types of goodness. ‘Fruit’ suggests the idea of natural, silent, spontaneous, effortless growth. And, although that is by no means a sufficient account of the process by which bad men become good men, it is an inseparable element, in all true moral renovation, that it be the natural outcome and manifestation of an inward principle; otherwise it is mere hypocritical adornment, or superficial appearance. If we are to do good we must first of all be good. If from us there are to come righteousness and truth, and all other graces of character, there must, first of all, be the radical change which is involved in passing from separateness in the darkness to union with Jesus Christ in the light. The Apostle’s theory of moral renovation is that you must begin with the implantation in the spirit of the source of all moral goodness-viz. Jesus Christ-brought into the heart by the uniting power of humble faith. And then there will be lodged in our being a vital power, of which the natural outcome will be all manner of fair and pure things. Effort is needed, as I shall have to say; but prior to effort there must be union with Jesus Christ.

This wide, general commandment of our text is sufficiently definite, thinks Paul; for if the light be in you it will naturally effloresce into all forms of beauty. Light is the condition of fruitfulness. Everywhere the vital germ is only acted upon by the light. No sunshine, no flowers; darkness produces thin, etiolated, whitened, and feeble shoots at the best. Let the light blaze in, and the blanched feebleness becomes vigorous and unfolds itself. How much more will light be the condition of fruitfulness when the very light itself is the seed from which all fruit is developed.

But, still further, mark how there must be an all-round completeness in order that we shall fairly set forth the glory and power of the light of which our faith makes us children and partakers. The fruit ‘is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.’ These three aspects-the good, the right, the true-may not be a scientific, ethical classification, but they give a sufficiently plain and practical distinction. Goodness, in which the prevailing idea is beneficence and the kindlier virtues; righteousness, which refers to the sterner graces of justice; truth, in which the prevalent idea is conformity in action with facts and the conditions of man’s life and entire sincerity-these three do cover, with sufficient completeness, the whole ground of possible human excellence. But the Apostle widens them still further by that little word all.

We all tend to cultivate those virtues which are in accordance with our natural dispositions, or are made most easy to us by our circumstances. And there is nothing in which we more need to seek comprehensiveness than in the effort to educate ourselves into, and to educe from ourselves, kinds of goodness and forms of excellence which are not naturally in accordance with our dispositions, or facilitated by our circumstances. The tree planted in the shrubbery will grow all lopsided; the bushes on the edge of the cliff will be shorn away on the windward side by the teeth of the south-western gale, and will lean over northwards, on the side of least resistance. And so we all are apt to content ourselves with doing the good things that are easiest for us, or that fit into our temperament and character. Jesus Christ would have us to be all-round men, and would that we should seek to aim after and possess the kinds of excellence that are least cognate to our characters. Are you strong, and do you pride yourself upon your firmness? Cultivate gentleness. Are you amiable, and pride yourself, perhaps, upon your sympathetic tenderness? Try to get a little iron and quinine into your constitution. Seek to be the man that you are least likely to be, and aim at a comprehensive development of ‘all righteousness and goodness and truth.’

Further, remember that this all-round completeness is not attained as the result of an effortless growth. True, these things are the fruits of the light, but also true, they are the prizes of struggle and the trophies of warfare. No man will ever attain to the comprehensive moral excellence which it is in his own power to win; no Christian will ever be as all-round a good man as he has the opportunities of being, unless he makes it his business, day by day, to aim after the conscious increase of gifts that he possesses, and the conscious appropriation and possession of those of which he is still lacking. ‘Nothing of itself will come,’ or very little. True, the light will shine out in variously tinted ray if it be in a man, as surely as from the seed come the blade and the ear and the full corn in the ear, but you will not have nor keep the light which thus will unfold itself unless you put forth appropriate effort. Christ comes into our hearts, but we have to bring Him there. Christ dwells in our hearts, but we have to work into our nature, and work out in action, the gifts that He bestows. They will advance but little in the divine life who trust to the natural unfolding of the supernatural life within them, and do not help its unfolding by their own resolute activity. ‘Walk as children of the light.’ There is your duty, for ‘the fruit of the light is all righteousness.’ One might have supposed that the commandments would be, ‘Be passive as children of the light, for the light will grow.’ But the Apostle binds together, as always, the two things, the divine working and the human effort at reception, retention, and application of that divine work, just as he does in the great classical passage, ‘Work out your own salvation, for it is God that worketh in you.’

II. Secondly, the general exhortation of my text widens out itself into this-test all things by Christ’s approval of them.

‘Proving what is well pleasing unto the Lord.’ That, according to the natural construction of the Greek, is the main way by which the Apostle conceives that his general commandment of ‘walking as children of the light’ is to be carried out. You do it if, step by step, and moment by moment, and to every action of life, you apply this standard-Does Christ like it? Does it please Him? When that test is rigidly applied, then, and only then, will you walk as becomes the children of the light.

So, then, there is a standard-not what men approve, not what my conscience, partially illuminated, may say is permissible, not what is recognised as allowable by the common maxims of the world round about us, but Christ’s approval. How different the hard, stern, and often unwelcome prescriptions of law and rigidity of some standards of right become when they are changed into that which pleases the Divine Lord and Lover! Surely it is something blessed that the hard, cold, and to such a large extent powerless conceptions of duty or obligation shall be changed into pleasing Jesus Christ; and that so our hearts shall be enlisted in the service of our consciences, and love shall be glad to do the Beloved’s will. There are many ways by which the burden of life’s obligations is lightened to the Christian. I do not know that any of them is more precious than the fact that law is changed into His will, and that we seek to do what is right because it pleases the Master. There is the standard.

It will be easy for us to come to the right appreciation of individual actions when we are living in the light. Union with Jesus Christ will make us quick to discern His will. We have a conscience;-well, that needs educating and enlightening, and very often correcting. We have the Word of God;-well, that needs explanation, and needs to be brought close to our hearts. If we have Christ dwelling in us, in the measure in which we are in sympathy with Him, we shall be gifted with clear eyes, not indeed to discern the expedient-that belongs to another region altogether-but we shall be gifted with very clear eyes to discern right from wrong, and there will be an instinctive recoil from the evil, and an instinctive attachment of ourselves to the good. If we are in the Lord we shall easily be able to prove what is acceptable and well-pleasing to Him.

We shall never walk as the children of the light, unless we have the habit of referring everything, trifles and great things, to His arbitrament, and seeking in them all to do what is pleasing in His sight. The smallest deed may be brought under the operation of the largest principles. Gravitation influences the microscopic grain of sand as well as planets and sun. There is nothing so small but you can bring it into this category-it either pleases or displeases Jesus Christ. And the faults into which Christian men fall and in which they continue are very largely owing to their carelessness in applying this standard to the small things of their daily lives. The sleepy Custom House officers let the contraband article in because it seems to be of small bulk. There are old stories about how strong castles were taken by armed men hidden in an innocent-looking cart of forage. Do you keep up a rigid inspection at the frontier, and see to it that everything vindicates its right to enter because it is pleasing to Jesus Christ.

III. Thirdly, we have here another expansion of the general command, and that is-keep well separate from the darkness.

Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.’ Now, your time will not allow me to dwell, as I had hoped to do, upon the considerations to be suggested here. The very briefest possible mention of them is all that I can afford.

‘The unfruitful works of darkness’;-well, then, the darkness has its works, but though they be works they are not worth calling fruit. That is to say, nothing except the conduct which flows from union with Jesus Christ so corresponds to the man’s nature and relations, or has any such permanence about it as to entitle it to be called fruit. Other acts may be ‘works’ but Paul will not dishonour the great word ‘fruit’ by applying it to such rubbish as these, and so he brands them as ‘unfruitful works of darkness.’

Keep well clear of them, says the Apostle. He is not talking here about the relations between Christians and others, but about the relations between Christian men and the works of darkness. Only, of course, in order to avoid fellowship with the works you will sometimes have to keep yourselves well separate from their doers. Much association with such men is forced upon us by circumstances, and much is the imperative duty of Christian beneficence and charity. But I venture to express the strong and growing conviction that there are few exhortations that the secularised Church of this generation needs more than this commandment of my text: ‘Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness’ ‘What communion hath light with darkness?’ Ah! we see plenty of it, unnatural as it is, in the so-called Church of to-day. ‘What concord hath Christ with Belial? What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate.’

And, brethren, remember, a part of the separation is that your light shall be a constant condemnation of the darkness. ‘But rather reprove them,’ says my text; that is a work that devolves upon all Christians. It is to be done, no doubt, by the silent condemnation of evil which ever comes from the quiet doing of good. As an old preacher has it, ‘The presence of a saint hinders the devil of elbow-room for doing his tricks.’ The old legend told us that the fire-darting Apollo shot his radiant arrows against the pythons and ‘dragons of the slime.’ The sons of light have the same office-by their light of life to make the darkness aware of itself, and ashamed of itself; and to change it into light.

But silent reproving is not all our duty. The Christian Church has wofully fallen beneath its duty, not only in regard to its complicity with the social crimes of each generation, but in regard to its cowardly silence towards them; especially when they flaunt and boast themselves in high places. What has the Church said worthy of itself in regard to war? What has the Church said worthy of itself in regard to impurity? What has the Church said worthy of itself in regard to drunkenness? What has the Church said worthy of itself in regard to the social vices that are honeycombing society and this city to-day? If you are the sons of light, walk as the sons of light, and have ‘no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness’; but set the trumpet to your lips, and ‘declare unto My people their transgressions, and to the house of Israel their sin.’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

sometimes = once.

darkness. The darkness of blindness. Compare Eph 4:18.

light. Not in the light, but having received the Light, are light. App-130.

Lord. App-98.

children. App-108.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

8.] For (your state (present, see above) is a totally different one from theirs-excluding any such participation) ye WERE (emphatic, see ref.) once (no . The rule is simple: if the first clause is intended to stand in connexion with and prepare the reader for the opposition to the second, is inserted: if not, not: see the excellent remarks of Klotz, Devar. ii. p. 356 sq.: Fritz., Rom 10:19, vol. ii. p. 423. Ellic.) darkness (stronger than , Rom 2:19; 1Th 5:4 : they were darkness itself-see on below), but now (the is not expressed-perhaps, as Stier suggests, not only for emphasis, but to carry a slight tinge of the coming exhortation, by shewing them what they ought to be, as well as were by profession) light (not -light has an active, illuminating power, which is brought out in Eph 5:13) in (in union with-conditioning element-not by- , Chr.) the Lord (Jesus): walk (the omission of makes the inference rhetorically more forcible) as children of light (not , as in Luk 16:8, where is contrasted with , and in next verse, where is the figurative -q. d. the light of which I speak: here it is light, as light, which is spoken of. The omission of the article may be merely from the rules of correlation, as Ellic.: but I much prefer here to treat it as significant); for (gives the reason of the introduction of the comparison in the context, connecting this with the moral details which have preceded) the fruit of the light (, see above) is in (is borne within the sphere of, as its condition and element) all goodness and righteousness and truth (in all that is good (Gal 5:22), right, and true. As Harl. observes, the opposites are , , ): proving (to be joined with as its modal predicate, Eph 5:9 having been parenthetical. The Christians whole course is a continual proving, testing, of the will of God in practice: investigating not what pleases himself, but what pleases Him) what is well-pleasing to the Lord;

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Eph 5:8. -, darkness-light) The abstract for the concrete, exceedingly emphatic; for, children of light, follows.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Eph 5:8

Eph 5:8

for ye were once darkness,-The Gentile Christians were formerly in their heathenish darkness, and practiced such abominations. [They who walk in darkness are said to be themselves darkness-new sources, so to speak, of the darkness which hates and quenches the light, both to themselves and to others. The light which was in them becomes darkness.]

but are now light in the Lord:-The light which blesses men is all concentrated in Jesus Christ. As the light, he imparts new possibilities of life to those who otherwise were hopelessly dead in trespasses and sins. The light of Christ enters into the heart through faith, and produces a high and spiritual order in the life that is thus begotten and sustained, as the apostle says, by the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. . . . Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2Co 4:4-6).

walk as children of light-Having been taught the truth as it is in Jesus, and being in the light, they were to walk according to the teachings of this life, as children reared in the light.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

The Fruit of the Light (Eph 5:8-14)

This section immediately follows the exhortation to personal purity. The clear light of Gods holiness is to be our standard. Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light (Eph 5:8). Notice that he does not say, Ye were sometimes in the dark, but, Ye were darkness. Darkness is ignorance of God, and we were once, in our unconverted days, in ignorance of God and therefore said to be darkness. We did not have the Light of life. Every natural man is in that condition. Zophar asked Job the question, Canst thou by searching find out God? (Job 11:7) And the answer is in the negative, for all philosophizing or reasoning about divine things ends in confusion because men in their natural state are darkness.

The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him (1Co 2:14). They are spiritually discerned. We were once in that condition, and when in that darkened state, we walked in darkness, and practiced things of which we are now ashamed. But having become children of the light, being born of God and made light in the Lord, we are to walk as children of the light.

In the first chapter of John we read of our Lord: In him was life; and the life was the light of men. Did you ever stop to meditate on those words? Divine life was fully revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ, for He was that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us (1Jn 1:2). John said, The life was the light of men, or, as he puts it in another place, That was the true Light which coming into the world casts light on every man (Joh 1:9, literal translation). Even if He uttered not a word, His pure and holy life, always in obedience to the Father, was in itself the condemnation of all sinful men. The life was the light. You and I are children of the light, and we possess that same life which our Lord Jesus Christ is. He is the eternal life and He has communicated eternal life to us. That life is now to be shown as light.

A lady said to me some time ago, mentioning a certain servant of Christ, Did you ever know Mr. so and so? Oh, yes, I said, I knew him well. Well, she said, you know, we had him in our home for a month and his very presence there seemed to change everything for us. Why, there was such godliness about him. He was reverent but not sullen. He showed holiness without gloominess. Our children simply loved him, and yet there was such intense godliness that soon the little things that they used to do and say carelessly, dropped away. They did not like to say in his presence what they would when he was not there; when he was looking they did not like to do those things that ordinarily they would do with utter indifference. The effect of his presence in our home was simply wonderful and yet he never reproved anybody by word of mouth for anything they did or said, but he displayed the life, and the life was the light. We have known the other kind of people also.

I have had the privilege of having in our home all sorts of Christians. Some of them were loved by our children and were always welcomed because of their Christlikeness and devotedness. Others have caused the children to gnash their teeth when they saw them coming up the walk. I can recall one good man who seemed to think it was his business to run our house when he was there. If a child was a little slow to obey or a bit flippant, as children sometimes are, instead of leaving the discipline to his parents, he would exclaim, That child ought to be spanked! You can imagine the effect on the children. You can imagine how they loved to hear a man like that preach, how they would want to see him as a visitor in our home! It is not the person who goes around constantly finding fault with other people who accomplishes the best results. He only stirs up the flesh and arouses the hatred of the natural heart to things that are pure and good. But the man who lives Christ, the woman who exhibits life eternal in the home, among friends, in the church, these are the people whose testimonies really count for God. The life is the light.

You remember how the apostle Peter emphasized the purity of life when he addressed wives who have unconverted husbands. He said to them in 1Pe 3:1-4 :

Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

I wonder if women these days have ever noticed this passage. Peter was speaking of a woman who had been brought to Christ, and her husband was still in paganism or Judaism, as the case may be, and she was deeply concerned over his conversion. What was to be her attitude? Constantly nagging and talking and reproving? Oh no. Her behavior is to be so sweet and Christlike and gracious that as he looks at her he will say, Well, my wife has something now she did not have before. She used to be so ready to speak up and talk back, and now she is so sweet and gracious. I wonder what it is that she now possesses that is so contrary to what characterized her by nature.

If any obey not the word, they may also without the word be won. In the first clause the word is the Word of God that is meant. In the second instance it means verbal nagging. The verse might be paraphrased thus: Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the Word of God they also may without nagging be won by the good behavior of the wives. And the same principle applies to every one of us. It is not merely something for women to consider. We men are also called on to live the truth we profess, not by constantly finding fault with people, not by criticizing and trying to set everybody and everything right by the words of our mouths, but by manifesting the life of Christ, the purity of Christ, the love of Christ in our lives. This is what Paul meant when he wrote, walk as children of light.

For the fruit of the light (in the King James version it is, The fruit of the Spirit, but several other translations read light) is in all goodness and righteousness and truth (Eph 5:9). Here then are the graces that should characterize those who are children of light. It is not enough to profess to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to submit to Christian baptism, to take communion at the Lords table, to be members of some Christian assembly or congregation, but we are required to show the fruit of the light in our lives. Where there is life there is fruit. Where there is only a dead profession you will not find fruit, but where people are truly born of God there will be fruit. By their fruits ye shall know them. Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right (Pro 20:11). Children who have made a profession for Christ are responsible to produce the fruit of the light, and if they act in a willful or wayward manner they should immediately go to the Lord and confess it. Their lives should be different from the lives of other children who have not yet accepted Christ. Whether young or old we are to manifest the fruit of the light.

What is this fruit of the light? For the fruit of the [light] is in all goodness The word literally means benevolence, kindly consideration for other people. If you are really born of God, you possess a new and divine nature, you will follow the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of Him we read, The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many (Mat 20:28). He laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren (1Jn 3:16). We ought. That is a word that speaks of duty. To lay down our lives for the brethren-that is the opposite of selfishness. The world says, Number one first, but we are called by God to be considerate of others first. Someone has well said that heavenly grammar is different from worldly grammar. In ordinary linguistic form the three persons are, first person, /; second person, you; third person, he or she. But in Christianity it is: first person, he or she; second person, you; and third person, I. In Christianity I come in last; I am not to put myself first. When I am thinking of comforts, I am to think of others first. But how different it is with many of us. We are content if we do a little from time to time to alleviate the suffering of others, whereas we are called to live for Christ daily and to manifest the goodness of the light continually.

And then in the second place, The fruit of the [light] is in all righteousness. Righteousness is simply doing right. What an amazing exemplification of the unrighteousness of the human heart we have seen within the last few years! Trusted officials in banks, big businessmen who were respected and thought to be absolutely reliable, have in many instances proven to be unrighteous men handling other peoples money dishonestly, unfaithful to their trust. What a lot of suicides have followed our bank failures. How fast our penitentiaries are filling up with men who a short while ago were considered dependable. Yet our modern theologians are still dreaming that human nature is not corrupt, and that every fall is a fall upward.

A friend of mine riding on the streetcar handed the conductor a gospel tract. When the conductors busy time was over, he walked down the aisle of the car to my friend and said, You handed me this?

Yes.

Why did you give it to me? I have no interest in these things.

But that is a gospel message.

I dont need the gospel. It is for sinners, but I dont believe in sin, and I dont believe that man is a fallen creature.

That is peculiar, my friend said. Why have you that machine at the door of the car?

Oh, that is to count the money.

But why do they need it for men like you in whom there is no sin?

Theologians can talk about an improved race and a sinless race and deny the fall of man, but businessmen know differently. The rule today is, Do not trust anyone until he proves that he is not a cheat. Christian, be careful about attempting to witness for Christ by word of mouth if you are not displaying the fruit of the light in your life. Be sure that behind your testimony there is a righteous life.

Finally, The fruit of the [light] is in all.. .truth. Righteousness has to do with your actions towards others. Truth has to do with your own inward sincerity. Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom (Psa 51:6). Years ago when I was a young Salvation Army officer, on one occasion our colonel came to address us. Quite a group had come in from all over the state for an officers council. I have never forgotten through all these years the faithful words of the colonel. He said, Now remember, friends, people will forgive you if you are not educated; they will forgive you if your culture is not up to the highest standards, if you are not eloquent, if you cannot sing beautifully. But they will never forgive you if they find out that you are not sincere, that you are pretending to be what you are not. When Christ dwells in us, we will be real, we will be genuine in our dealings with God and with men.

Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. In other words, Testing what is acceptable unto the Lord. We should not be so ready to compromise and say, I think this is all right; I do not see any harm in that, and run off to do as we will. Our first thought should be, I am a Christian and the Holy Spirit of God is living in me. Is this what Christ would have me do? Will this bring glory to my Lord? If I say this, if I do that, if I go here, will I really be honoring my Savior? In that way we test what is acceptable unto the Lord.

Then we are admonished to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them (Eph 5:11). As we have already seen, we prove our faith by the lives we live. The Christian cannot expect to be kept from contamination by sin and evil if he continues in fellowship with iniquity. You might as well expect a child to play in the filth and grime of the streets and not get dirty, as to expect a Christian to go on in fellowship with sin and not be affected by it.

This verse together with many others have exercised my own conscience through the years and kept me from a great many associations into which I would otherwise naturally have gone. When years ago I considered joining certain secret societies and lodges, the question at once arose, Are they composed of born-again people? If I do join them, will I be having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness? Will I be walking in the path laid down for me by Christ? For the Lord has said, Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters (2Co 6:17-18). That Scripture kept me out of many questionable circles. But I have gained immensely, for the time I would have spent in some of those associations I have been permitted to spend with the people of God or over the Word of God. Do not be afraid that you will ever lose by obedience to Gods holy Word. The strength of the Christian is in his separation from the world and his devotion to Christ.

Paul said that we are to reprove the works of darkness. By this he did not mean mere critical fault-finding, as is evident from the words of verse Eph 5:13 : All things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. That is what is needed. Just turn on the light and it will show up everything that is contrary to it. In other words, you live the pure, holy, Christlike life, and that in itself will be reproof enough of the sin that is so prevalent in our world today. All things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. John wrote in his first Epistle, God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Light is the very nature of God, and the moment one comes into the presence of God he is exposed as a sinner. But there in the presence of God he sees the precious blood on the mercy seat reassuring him that his sin has been atoned for and put away. Thus he enjoys peace with God as he walks in the light unafraid because he is in Christ.

The danger is that all this may become merely head knowledge. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light (Eph 5:14). It is not possible to find any one Old Testament Scripture that contains these words in their exactness. They are rather a free translation of Isa 60:1. There the Spirit of the Lord speaking through the prophet says, Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. The apostle takes that word arise to mean, wake up out of your sleep. He is calling Christians to wake up, just as when you go into your childs room in the morning and say, It is time to wake up! Many who profess to be Christians are like people sleeping in a cemetery, sleeping among the dead with their heads pillowed on the gravestones! You who are children of the light (this is not a message for the unsaved but for those who are saved and have gone to sleep): Awake.. .and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. Come out from among them, and be ye separate. Show by your life that you are different from the unsaved worldly people around you.

Do you want blessing? Do you want a sense of the light of His face shining on your life? Do not tolerate any hidden wrong; confess it and turn from it. Maybe it is a letter you ought to write, maybe an acknowledgment you ought to make, maybe some money you ought to return. Do you say, I cant afford it? But it is not yours. Put things right and then trust God for the rest. Righteousness first, and other things will follow. Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

ye were: Eph 2:11, Eph 2:12, Eph 4:18, Eph 6:12, Psa 74:20, Isa 9:2, Isa 42:16, Isa 60:2, Jer 13:16, Mat 4:16, Luk 1:79, Act 17:30, Act 26:18, Rom 1:21, Rom 2:19, 2Co 6:14, Col 1:13, Tit 3:3, 1Pe 2:9, 1Jo 2:8

but: Isa 42:6, Isa 42:7, Isa 49:6, Isa 49:9, Isa 60:1, Isa 60:3, Isa 60:19, Isa 60:20, Joh 1:4, Joh 1:5, Joh 1:9, Joh 8:12, Joh 12:46, 1Co 1:30, 2Co 3:18, 2Co 4:6, 1Th 5:4-8, 1Jo 2:9-11

walk: Eph 5:2, Isa 2:5, Luk 16:8, Joh 12:36, Gal 5:25, 1Pe 2:9-11, 1Jo 1:7

Reciprocal: Gen 1:3 – Let Lev 24:2 – the lamps Deu 27:9 – this day Job 29:3 – by his light Psa 56:13 – the light Psa 107:14 – brought Psa 147:20 – not dealt so Ecc 2:13 – light Son 2:11 – General Isa 25:7 – he will Isa 44:9 – their own Zec 14:6 – not Mal 4:2 – the Sun Mat 5:14 – the light Mat 5:16 – your light Mat 6:23 – thine Luk 4:18 – and Joh 12:35 – Walk Rom 6:4 – even Rom 13:13 – us 1Co 6:11 – such Eph 1:18 – eyes Phi 2:15 – ye shine 1Th 2:12 – walk 1Th 5:5 – General 1Th 5:8 – who 1Pe 4:2 – no 2Pe 1:19 – a light 2Jo 1:4 – walking

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

(Eph 5:8.) -For ye were once darkness. As Chrysostom says, he reminds them . introduces a special reason for an entire separation between the Church and the Gentile world. Their past and present state were in perfect contrast- -ye were once darkness–emphatic; and deeds of darkness were in harmony with such a state. is the abstract-darkness itself-employed to intensify the idea expressed. See Eph 4:18. Darkness is the emblem and region of ignorance and depravity, and in such a miserable condition they were once. But that state was over-the dayspring from on high had visited them-

-but now ye are light in the Lord. No precedes, as the first clause is of an absolute nature. Klotz, ad Devarius, vol. ii. p. 356. is adversative, now being opposed to once. Chrysostom says, . , an abstract noun also, is the image of knowledge and purity. See under Eph 1:18. Their condition being so thoroughly changed, their conduct was to be in harmony with such a transformation. -in fellowship with the Lord; and light can be enjoyed in no other element. The phrase is never to be diluted as is done by Fritzsche in his allusion to similar phrases. Comment. ad Roman. 8.4; 1Jn 1:5-7. For as applied to Christ, see Eph 1:2-3. Such being the case, there follows the imperative injunction-

-walk as children of light. There needs no formal to introduce the inference, it makes itself so apparent, and is all the more forcible from the want of the particle. 2Co 6:14; 2Co 6:16. is often used in a similar connection. See under Eph 2:3. The genitive is one of source, and neither noun has the article. Middleton, Gr. Art. p. 49. Luk 10:6; Luk 16:8; Joh 12:36; 1Th 4:5. Negatively they were not to be partakers; but neutrality is not sufficient-positively they were to walk as children of the light. As children of light, they were to show by their conduct that they loved it, enjoyed it, and reflected its lustre. Their course of conduct ought to prove that they hated the previous darkness, that they were content with no ambiguous twilight, but lived and acted in the full splendour of the Sun of Righteousness, hating the secret and unfruitful deeds of darkness referred to in the following context. , under Eph 2:2. First, the apostle has referred to love as an element of Christian walk, Eph 5:1-2; and now he refers to light as an element of the same walk; different aspects of the same spiritual purity; love, and not angry and vengeful passions; light, and not dark and unnameable deeds.

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

Eph 5:8. Were sometimes darkness refers to the time when these Ephe-sians were in the darkness of heathenism. Having been led into the light of divine truth in Christ, their walk or general conduct should be in harmony with such divine truth. Children of light is a figure similar to the one in verse 6 except that it applies to truth instead of unbelief.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Eph 5:8. For. TO become partakers with those who indulge in these sins would be a relapse.

Ye were once; were is emphatic; it is past

Darkness; not merely living or abiding in it (comp. Rom 2:19; 1Th 5:4), but themselves actual and veritable darkness (Ellicott).

But now are ye light in the Lord. More than enlightened; they have themselves become light (comp. Eph 5:13), and that in fellowship with the Lord, the source of light and life to men. The word light is a comprehensive designation of the Divine life and character, both ethical and intellectual in its meaning, in contrast with darkness (Braune). Comp. marginal references.

Walk as children of light; let your conduct correspond with what you, by grace, have become. Christian exhortation always has this tone.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Here the Ephesians are put in mind of the darkness and blindness of their heathen state, before the light of the gospel came among them; they were not only dark, very much in the dark, but darkness itself: he next acquaints them with their happy condition, by entertaining of the gospel of Christ; they therefore became light in the Lord, they were savingly enlightened by the word and Spirit of God; and accordingly he urges them to walk answerably to their Christian profession, Walk as children of the light.

Note here, 1. That the state which every soul is in by nature, and before conversion, is a state of spiritual darkness; like men in the dark, they go they know not whither, they do they know not what, they stumble and fall they know not how and when.

Note, 2. That all those whom God calls effectually out of the darkness and ignorance of their natural and unregenerate state, he doth enlighten them by his word and Holy Spirit.

Note, 3. That such as are so called and enlightened, ought to walk suitably to their privilege, and answerably to their high and honourable profession. Walk as children of light; that is, holy, humbly, cheerfully, thankfully, before God; exemplarily and unblamably before the world.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Walking As Children of Light

The Ephesian brethren had been involved in the wicked ways of darkness before they obeyed the truth. In Christ, they were light because sin had been put away. So, Paul admonished them to live like the children of light they had become (5:8; Mat 5:14-16 ; 2Co 4:4-6 ). Light is a necessary ingredient of plant growth and fruit bearing. It is also important for a Christian to stay in the light so he can bear the fruits of goodness, righteousness and truth (5:9).

Walking in the light will cause a Christian to be living proof of what is “well-pleasing” (A.S.V.) to the Lord. Such proof will result from careful prayer, study of God’s word and the transformation of mind that comes from such (5:10; 1Th 5:17 ; 2Ti 2:15 ; Rom 12:1 -). Nothing good, in the spiritual realm, is grown in darkness, thus no good fruit is produced there. Those in Christ cannot be in partnership, or have anything in common, with such works but must expose them ( Joh 16:8-11 ). This can be done through preaching and living as God would have one live (5:11; 2Ti 4:15 ; 1Pe 2:11-12 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Eph 5:8-10. For ye were sometimes That is, once; darkness In a state of total blindness and ignorance, without any light of instruction without, or divine grace within, and therefore had some excuse for living such unrighteous and profane lives: but now ye are light in the Lord Enlightened by the divine word and Spirit, and brought to the saving knowledge of God and Christ, and of divine things in general; and consequently such vicious practices as you formerly pursued would be utterly inexcusable in you now. You are now under an indispensable obligation to walk as children of light That is, in a manner suitable to your present knowledge. For, &c. As if he had said, Such walking is the proper, natural result of your illumination and spiritual condition; the fruit of the Spirit is in Consists in; all goodness, righteousness, and truth That is, the Spirit works these graces in those persons in whom he dwells, graces quite opposite to the sins spoken of Eph 4:25, &c. By goodness we are to understand an inclination and endeavour to perform all good offices to our fellow-creatures, especially to the children of God: by righteousness, justice, and fair dealing toward all men: and by truth, freedom from hypocrisy, dissimulation, guile, and deceit. Some MSS., together with the Syriac and Vulgate versions, read here, But the fruit of the light, &c., which Estius, Grotius, Mill, and Bengelius, think the true reading, because there is no mention made of the Spirit, either in what goes before, or in what follows. The common reading they suppose hath been taken from Gal 5:22. Proving , making trial of, proving by experience, or approving; what is acceptable , well-pleasing; to the Lord And how happy they are who in all things are governed by his will.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Verse 8

Sometime darkness; some time in darkness.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now [are ye] light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

“Sometimes” is rather misleading here since the lost condition is not a sometime sort of thing; it is a permanent condition until Christ makes a change. It is possible that Paul is speaking of their post salvation condition, and if that is the case sometime would be acceptable. The term is translated “in times past” and that translation more than it is translated sometimes, but it would be the context that would tell which was appropriate.

Whether “sometimes,” or “in times past” the result of salvation is a NOW condition of light rather than darkness. Light is our condition and we ought to walk like it rather than blending into the crowd as so many believers do.

I recently saw a Barna report that over three million believers in America are unchurched. I would suggest there are three million people that can’t find a Biblical church to attend, but that would be negative so I won’t. The interpretation of the church leadership that was asked about it was that this is diminishing the witnessing of the church and that it is a detriment to the church.

I might suggest, that the assumption that all non-churched believers are non-practicing Christians is about as arrogant an assumption as I have heard in years. Why would that assumption be made – especially in light of the fact that most “churched” believers don’t witness.

If I were a church leader I would question what the problem might be as to why the people are unchurched. Is it the church, is it the way we do church, is it the lack of teaching, is it the lack of fellowship, or is it the lack of spirituality in the leadership – I can find a number of possibilities that do not relate to the unchurched peoples lives at all.

Darkness is the lack of light or the ignorance of divine/spiritual requirements and personal duty. This looks forward to the associated ungodliness and immoral living as well as hell, according to the lexicon I have – darkness leads to eternity in hell and light leads to eternity with God.

We mentioned using hell and judgment in our witnessing. What a passage to point out the differences that our choice will make.

“Walk” relates to progression, to making one’s way, or as one of the lexicon’s meanings which I really like “to make due use of opportunities.” I really like that – making full use of Godly opportunities of life as well as making due use of all opportunities for witness, for ministry and for assisting others.

That is the life we ought to desire, it is the life that God desires for us, and it is the life we ought to desire for our spouses and children.

“Light” is of interest to us. We are in the light when we walk in the daytime or in our home when the lights are on. We live in a high crime neighborhood and have had problems with car break in, grapffiti etc. so I have enveloped our home/property in light. We have three lights on the house, one on the garage and then two motion detecting spotlights around the car.

Now, in the day time the house is in the light, but at night it emits light. It lights up our yard, and the yards surrounding. This is the idea of this Greek term from which we gain our term phosphorous. (phos) “Light” means light emitting, thus we are not to be walking in light but we are to be walking lights. We should be broadcasting light everywhere we go and always be lighting up those around us.

Take a few hours to contemplate that in relation to your everyday life. Who have you enlightened, who have you illuminated of late? Are you walking in the light of others, or are you phosphorous and showing off others via your light?

As with our home, light deters wrong, it makes everything quite visible so others don’t want to show themselves for what they really are. Your light will in fact limit sin at times. If people know you do not like nasty stories, they will not come to you with them – usually – rather depends on where they are in the darkness 🙂

We had a salesman years ago that loved dirty stories and every week he would come to the shop and tell the same story to everyone. The first time he told me one I just stared at him. He found out quickly that his stories had no place within my ear’s space. After that one time, he always came to me with a “clean” story after he had made the rounds with the dirt.

We need to be dampers of sin, not enablers. We need to extinguish, not fan the flame.

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

5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now [are ye] {c} light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

(c) The faithful are called light, both because they have the true light in them which enlightens them, and also because they give light to others, insomuch that their honest conversation reproves the life of wicked men.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The reason Christians should not partake with unbelievers in their evil deeds is that we were formerly darkness (cf. Eph 4:17-19) but are now light, having trusted Jesus Christ (Eph 2:1-3; Eph 3:17-21; cf. Mat 5:14; Col 1:12-13). The second command is to walk as children of light. Obviously it is possible for the children of light not to walk (live) as children of light (cf. 1Jn 1:6-7). Otherwise the command would be unnecessary.

"The gravest disservice that any man can do to a fellow man is to make him think lightly of sin." [Note: Barclay, p. 194.]

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