In The Light of God: A Walk Through Ephesians Chapter Five

Chapter five of Ephesians, the chapter that includes the must debated husband and wife roles, brings forth Paul’s deepest understandings of what it is to live in the light of Jesus. He says some hard to swallow things. So let’s get right to it.

“ 1 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. 3 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. 4 Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.”

Paul speaks in verses 1-5 of the way in which Christians should live away from sin. He calls Christians to be imitators of God. In the day, orators would strive to imitators of their teachers. It was really only through imitation that one could become a great orator. They would literally strive to imitate their teachings in both what they say and do and how they say it and do it. Christians should be imitators of God. A son often wants to imitate his father. If a boy’s father is a construction worker, he asks for trucks for Christmas and dresses in blue jeans and a tool belt and imitates his father. If his father is a business man, he puts on a suit and carries his backpack like a brief case. It is natural for a son to want to be imitators of his father because it is the father who is the caretaker and hero of the son. In his eyes he can do no wrong. It is sad that in the world fathers too often disappoint their sons and daughters. They children no longer wish to imitate him and to think of imitating God is altogether both frightening and unappealing.

Paul says that Jesus lives a life of love and in the end of sacrifice for us. His aroma was pleasing to God. This term goes back to the days of animal sacrifices in which case the burning of the flesh would rise into the heavens and be a pleasing smell to God or the gods of the day. It is a hard thing to imagine but it was God’s pleasure killing his son. And likewise it was Jesus’ please to die for us. It is in this idea that may be one of the largest stumbling blocks for unbelievers to comprehend. Why would a loving God kill his only son in order to save a bunch of unruly people? But that is exactly what he did. Therefore, because God is loving and because Jesus loves us, his own life was sacrificed and it was a pleasing aroma to God.

Paul goes on to say that some sins should not even be spoken of. This is hard to imagine in today’s world where you can watch many movies and see every sin in the world committed and glorified in a short two hour period. But Paul instructs Christians not to tell crude jokes, not to laugh at unclean things, and not to revel in the idols of this world. If a person does such things on a regular and consistent basis, he is in effect turning his back on the God who made him and worshiping something of this world. The term “falling into sin” is just that. It is a literal fall from grace. If Christians abstain from taking, joking, and thinking about such sins, it will be much easier not to fall into it. That is not to say that Christians should ignore the world and be no part of it but only that Christians should strive to uphold the glory of God. Saying some things and telling some jokes do not glorify God.
“6 Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. 7 Don’t participate in the things these people do. 8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. 10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,
‘Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.’”
Paul uses the contrast of light and dark here to describe the difference in Christians and non-Christians. Christians live in the light of the Lord and non-Christians dwell in the darkness. Paul calls Christians to live in that light because the light produces good fruit. To live in the light may be rather unappealing to some who feel their sins are too great, their scars to visible, and their hearts too weak to stand in front of the world and God in the light. However, think of the sun. A person who lives away from the sun for a long period of time begins to suffer both mentally and physically. There is even a term for the long winters some people face, known as S.A.D., or seasonal affective disorder. Prolonged absence from the sun can cause weight gain, lethargy, and depression. So, light is good for the soul. A person who has experienced S.A.D. knows that when they get out into the sun their disorder begins to fade and there is a healing that takes place. It is the same with the light of God. While those who live in darkness commit evil sins and never heal from them, those who live in the light and commit sins or have sins committed against them are able to find healing. You can’t fix a car in the dark, you have to have light to see what is wrong. In that same way, you can’t fix your heart in the dark, you must bring light to it in order to diagnose the problem and heal it.
Paul ends with a quote but we do not know its origin. It may have very well been a hymn the early church sang. Whether that is true or not, there is no doubt the validity in the statement. Rise from the dead and Christ will give you light.
“15 So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. 16 Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. 17 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. 18 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. 20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. 24 As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. 25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.[b] 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. 28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. 29 No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. 30 And we are members of his body. 31 As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” 32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. 33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

In verse 21, it all hits the fan for some. (For more fun husband and wife instructions see 1 Corinthians 7.) Paul begins by instructing Christians to live like those who are wise. Christians must live in the way of the Lord, not the way of the fools who throw their lives away for earthly pleasures. He then transitions into his statement on marriage. In that day, much like today, a marriage didn’t really mean a whole lot. It was easy to get divorced and it was easy to get remarried. A marriage was not so much two souls united as it was two lives intersecting every now and again in order to have a child or to enjoy each other for a few moments. Paul instructs wives to submit to their husbands. In today’s feminist world, it is a hard verse for many to hear. But that is not the end of the story. Husbands must love their wives as Jesus loves the church. That means that it should be easy for wives to submit to their husbands because they are righteous men who love them dearly and sacrifice much in order to care for them. Jesus gave his life for the church and this is in essence what a husband and wife must do for each other. A man must leave his mother and father and be joined to his wife where the two are united into one. A man would not treat his own body badly but rather care for it and nourish it. Since his wife is part of him and vice versa, both of them must do only what is good for each other. That means that wives should give their bodies sexually to their husband and they should respect their husband above all but God. Husbands likewise should give his body to his wife. That means he should give it to her sexually and give it to her through his work, his life, and his purpose. Since the man is the head, he is responsible. That means he must work hard to provide a good life for his wife. He must care for her both financially and spiritually. He has to pay attention to her and love her.

In the days of Paul, women were very unimportant. (Go back to my post on Chapter 2 and you will see that the women were considered only more highly than the Gentiles, which isn’t saying much.) The women in many places could not dine with the men, could not speak to the men, could not socialize with the men, or even go outside alone without her husband. Women had no say in divorce but a man could divorce her for any reason. The woman had no say in anything that went on outside the home and it was her duty only to give herself to her husband sexually and to tend to the housework. To many women that sounds absurd and indeed it is. But why does it sound absurd? Is it because of the status placed of women or because the husbands made the wives a small part of their lives? I would submit to you that women and men today are different only in one area. The women now can do whatever they want. The feminist movement gained women a lot of rights outside of the home. I am not saying that it is wrong for women to have equal rights with men. After all, God did make both in his image. However, Genesis says that Eve was created to keep Adam company, to be his helper. That doesn’t mean that a woman can’t work but that a husband and wife should not have separate lives. Eve was created from the flesh of Adam. Therefore, she is a part of him. Without Sarah, I do not know where I would be right now, I know that my faith would not be as strong and that my life not as joyous. I know that my heart would be more hardened and my life less shining. She is in many respects a part of me. Thus so should a husband and wife be. The feminist movement failed in one respect in particular. It created a life separate from a wife’s husband. Two bank accounts, two beds, two schedules, two television rooms, two separate meals leads only to two divorce lawyers in many cases. It is important for husbands and wives to be a part of each other’s life. To help each other throughout the day. While Paul instructs a wife to submit to her husband, he is not saying that the husband can rule over her with an iron fist. He must love her as Jesus loves the church. That is a sacrificial love, an unending love, a love so deep that nothing can tear it apart. It is not always easy to love but in the light of God, nothing is too hard to accomplish. A marriage then consists of three partners, husband, wife, and God. Without God in the relationship, darkness can creep in.