Walk in Light
EPHESIANS 5:8-14
I TITLED ANOTHER BLOG “WALK IN LIGHT” LAST YEAR AT CHRISTMAS… As I’m sure you would agree, a large number of passages from Scripture have to do with the believer’s intimate association with light, understandably so, for God is light…
NAS Psalm 89:15 How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O LORD, they walk in the light of Thy countenance.
ESV John 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
AS WE HAVE BEEN LEARNING THESE PAST WEEKS, Paul’s favorite analogy to communicate his exhortations to believers is referring to the Christian life as a walk. In chapters 4 and 5, Paul has already encouraged the Ephesians to “Walk Worthy” (4:1), “Walk in Unity” (4:1-16), “Walk in Love” (5:1-2), and “Walk in Purity” (4:17-32; 5:3-7). In our passage for this morning, vv. 8-14 of chapter 5 of Ephesians, Paul exhorts his readers – and us today – to “Walk in Light.”
“BELIEVERS ARE CALLED BY PAUL, ‘CHILDREN OF LIGHT’ (5:8), and they are commanded to demonstrate this fact each day by steadfastly refusing to participate in the sinful actions and attitudes of unbelievers.” – Garner/TAR
NAS Ephesians 5:8-14 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. 14 For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.”
“THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS ALWAYS A CALL TO BE WHO GOD SAYS WE ARE.” – Hoehner… As I like to say, “We are not who we think we are; we are who God says we are.”
IT’S ANOTHER BIBLICAL CONTRAST. The entire Bible may be said to be a book of contrasts: right and wrong, good and evil, righteous and unrighteous, believers and unbelievers, love and hate, and light and darkness. We were once darkness, but now we are light.
THE KJV VERSION OF V. 8…
NKJ Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
IF YOU ARE A BELIEVER, THIS IS YOUR LIFE HISTORY CONDENSED: “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.”
“PAUL IS REMINDING BELIEVERS OF THE GREAT CHANGE THAT HAD OCCURRED when they became Christians. Notice that he does not merely say that they had been ‘in darkness,’ but rather that they ‘were darkness.’ In their unconverted state they had been so permeated by the realm of evil that they themselves personified that realm. But now as a result of regeneration, of salvation through Christ, they were not only ‘in the light,’ but through their vital union with Christ, who is the light of the world, they themselves are here characterized as ‘light.’ They share Christ’s life and nature, and they exhibit His character.” – Kent
KJV John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO INTELLIGENTLY SPEAK ABOUT LIGHT FROM THE BIBLE without drawing upon the writings of the apostle John. The Greek word for light, φῶς (phos), is used some 70 times in the N.T.; in John’s gospel, epistles, and the book of Revelation, are found 31 of them (in Paul’s writings there are 12). Listen to a few more instances from John’s writings…
NAS 1 John 1:5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
NAS John 12:46 “I have come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness.
NAS 1 John 1:7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
LIKE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS, OUR LIVES IN CHRIST are to reflect the mind and will of God.
WALKING IN LIGHT IS ANOTHER WAY OF SAYING WALKING IN OBEDIENCE… “The children of light do the will of God.” – Bruce
“WALK IN LIGHT” MEANS DO WHAT GOD SAYS IN HIS WORD. When we are obedient to God’s commands in Scripture and surrendered to the power and leadership of the Holy Spirit, then and only then may we say that we are truly walking in light.
NAS Ephesians 5:9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
NOTE THAT THE CLAUSE IS ENCASED IN PARENTHESES; it is explaining v. 8.. Verse 9 is telling us what it means to walk as a child of light. Walking in light is marked by or verified by “all goodness and righteousness and truth.”
FRUIT IS THE PRODUCT OF AN ACTION. The action is light (genitive of production – Wallace). “It is the light that produces the fruit. Paul is listing the fruit – goodness, righteousness, and truth – so that believers can measure their lives to see if their actions or works are the result of the light.” – Hoehner
IF WE CANNOT LOOK AT OUR LIVES AND SEE GOODNESS, RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND truth, we must ask ourselves, are we really children of light.
WHEN YOU CONSIDER THIS VERSE CAREFULLY, IT IS DIFFICULT TO SEE ANY difference in “the fruit of the light” and “the Fruit of the Spirit”…
NAS Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
THE FRUIT OF THE LIGHT AND THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT ARE IDENTICAL. They both come from God and both are produced by the believer.
FRUIT IS WHAT IS PRODUCED IN THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER WHEN the believer is submissive to God’s power residing within.
NAS Ephesians 5:10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
THIS IS SUCH AN AMAZING VERSE, I BELIEVE. I could easily have written a blog just on this single verse, which is subordinate to the main verb “walk” in v. 8.
“TRYING TO LEARN” IS A PRESENT ACTIVE PARTICIPLE. Participles are words that usually describe something, like adjectives. Most of the time, as here in v. 10, they describe or modify verbs. “Walk” is the main verb of this passage.. “Trying to learn” is describing “walk”; it is showing us “the manner of the walk of children of light.” – Hoehner
LIGHT IN THE BIBLE STANDS FOR GOD’S BLESSINGS, PRESENCE, AND revelation (Isaiah 2:9) that is incarnate in Jesus (Isaiah 58:8; 59:90; 60:1-2, 19-20; John 8:12).
THE GREEK WORD HERE IS MOST INTERESTING… δοκιμάζω (da-kee-mahd-zo) means 1. to make a critical examination of something. to determine genuineness, put to the test, examine 2. to draw a conclusion about worth on the basis of testing, prove, approve [BDAG].
IN THE BIBLE, THERE IS A TESTING TO BRING ABOUT FAILURE, AND there is a testing unto approval. Satan tests us in hopes we may fail; God tests us to make us stronger so that we may succeed.
δοκιμάζω (da-kee-mahd-zo) MEANS TO TEST OR SCRUTINIZE SOMETHING or someone in order to approve that entity rather than testing with failure in mind… A great example of this definition is found in 1 Peter 1:7…
NAS 1 Peter 1:7 that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
INSTEAD OF “PROOF” AS IN THE NAS, THE ESV HAS “TESTED GENUINENESS.” I like that better. I think it more precisely conveys the sense of the passage. It is a fact of Scripture that God commonly tests us so that we will grow stronger in some way, sooner or later. God tests us to determine if we are genuine – not so that He might know, of course; He already knows; but that we ourselves might know.
THERE IS GREAT WISDOM TO BE REALIZED IN THAT TRUTH – AMEN? If we go through our trials trusting God, our faith is genuine. If, however, we go through our trials relying on our own resources and even blaming God for our trials, then there is every reason to believe our faith is spurious, unauthentic, false.
WHAT ARE WE TO LEARN? OR WHAT ARE WE TO APPROVE? Paul tells us in the next part of v. 10: “what is pleasing to the Lord.” In vv. 8-10, Paul has stated that believers are to walk as children of light and approve what is pleasing to God. Light exposes what is pleasing to God. And light exposes what is not pleasing to God. The Word of God, the Bible, is a guide, of course, for this purpose. However, certain situations in life are not directly addressed in the Scriptures. In such cases, believers need to find principles from the Scriptures whereby they might be able to make choices that will please the Lord. Although not mentioned here, as the Scriptures are consulted the Holy Spirit enlightens and enables believers to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.” – Hoehner/TAR
SCIENTIFICALLY, LIGHT, OR WHAT WE WOULD CALL VISIBLE LIGHT, is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is visible to the human eye (about 400–700 nm). In a scientific context, the word light is sometimes used to refer to the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Light is composed of an elementary particle called a photon. Three primary properties of light are: (1) Intensity, or brightness; (2) Frequency or wavelength and; (3) Polarization or direction of the wave oscillation. Light can exhibit properties of both waves and particles. This property is referred to as wave-particle duality. The study of light, known as optics, is an important research area in modern physics.
LIGHT IS ENERGY, luminous energy or radiant energy.
THE SPEED OF LIGHT (186,282 miles per second) is, according to Einstein, the maximum speed in the universe. That seems to perfectly fit God, doesn’t it? Consider that the physical property most closely identified with God is light, and that light is the most fascinating and most powerful “thing” in the world.
THE WORD “LIGHT” IN GREEK IS φως (fos). We get our English words photo, photograph, and photon from this Greek word.
OBVIOUSLY – BUT IT IS NEVER WISE TO OVERLOOK THE OBVIOUS – light removes darkness. Light makes things visible. Light reveals danger. Consider when you turn the light on in a dark room or a dark stairwell how helpful and comforting light is. Consider how a street light can aid your travel. Consider how the Bible lights your path in this world…
KJV Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
AND DO YOU KNOW THAT – SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING – YOU ARE LIGHT? Christians are God’s reflected light. We are in this way like the moon. The moon doesn’t have its own light. The sun is the source of light that the moon reflects. Light is not a natural human possession; we have no light of our own. Our light comes only from Christ. God is the source of light and we are to reflect that light to others.
NAS 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
PAUL GOES ON TO TELL US IN VV. 11-12…
NAS Ephesians 5:11-12 And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.
WORKS OF DARKNESS ARE “UNFRUITFUL”; they produce nothing of worth; “they are dead and sterile” – Bruce… I think we all know this and have experienced this. Rather than engage in works of darkness – which are the ways of the ungodly world, of course – we are told to instead expose them. The little word “even” is for emphasis.
HOW ARE WE TO EXPOSE THE UNFRUITFUL DEEDS OF DARKNESS”? Simply and profoundly by living as children of light. Light exposes darkness.
“BY OUR ACTS AND OUR SPEECH WE CALL PEOPLE FROM DARKNESS TO the light Christ gives.” – Snodgrass
“WE EXPOSE ERROR NOT BY SCREAMING ABOUT THE ERROR BUT by illuminating truth with the brilliant examples of our lives, lived in healthy, holy obedience to God.” – Steadman
PAUL SAYS IT IS “DISGRACEFUL EVEN TO SPEAK OF” the deeds of darkness. “Some things are so vile and do so much damage to our walk that they should be discussed with as little detail as possible, because even describing them is morally and spiritually dangerous.” – MacArthur…
I THINK OF OUR MODERN SAYING: “TOO MUCH INFORMATION,” something we say when someone is describing something with words that cause us to cringe.
“SOME DISEASES, CHEMICALS, AND NUCLEAR BY-PRODUCTS are so extremely deadly that even the most highly trained and best-protected technicians and scientists who work with them are in constant danger of contamination.” – MacArthur
NAS Ephesians 5:13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.
MANY SCHOLARS AND SOME OF OUR MODERN TRANSLATIONS make this clause part of v. 14. I studied this and my conclusion is we cannot be certain. I’m going to treat it as it is presented in the NAS, as a separate sentence.
PAUL IS NOT BEING SIMPLISTIC; HE IS BEING EMPHATIC: when anything is exposed by light, it becomes visible. “Light is that which makes things manifest, that which shows them to be what they are. When sin is revealed, it loses its ‘hiddenness’ and is seen for the ugliness it is.” – MacArthur
OBEDIENT LIVES INVARIABLY INEVITABLY EXPOSE SIN in the lives of others around us.
NAS Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 “Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
PAUL CONCLUDES OUR PASSAGE FOR THIS WEEK IN V. 14…
NAS Ephesians 5:14 For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.”
THIS VERSE IS CONSIDERED TO BE POETIC BY MOST SCHOLARS: “Many commentators believe v. 14 is taken from an Easter hymn sung by the early church and used as an invitation to unbelievers who might have been in the congregation. The words are really a capsule summary of the gospel message.” – MacArthur
“AWAKE, SLEEPER, AND ARISE FROM THE DEAD. AND CHRIST WILL SHINE on you.”
I THINK IT IS INTERESTING TO READ IT LITERALLY FROM THE GREEK: “Rise up, the one who is sleeping, and stand out of the dead ones, and Christ will shine on you.” The Greek word for “arise” (ἀνίστημι [an-is-tay-mi]) is the word from which we get the English word “resurrection.”
SOME OTHER VERSE TO PONDER WHEN CONSIDERING WALKING IN LIGHT…
NAS John 3:19-21 “And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil. 20 “For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
NAS 2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
AND NOW BACK TO WHERE WE BEGAN IN V. 8 OF EPHESIANS. We are, as Paul said, “children of light”…
NAS Ephesians 5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light
WE WERE ONCE DARKNESS, NOW WE ARE LIGHT. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! In the deepest appreciation of that fact, in honor and obedience to God, it is our privilege and responsibility to “Walk in Light.”
– Professor Thomas A. Rohm
