EPHESIANS: Light Exposes
EPHESIANS Number 57
Ephesians 5:11–14 (KJV 1900)
11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
12For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
13But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
14Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
I want to take a moment to look at the word “reprove.” This word has two primary uses. The first is “to criticize or correct, especially gently” and the second is “to disapprove of strongly; censure.” The Greek word here is ἐλέγχω (elegchō) to scrutinize or examine carefully, bring to light, expose. *BDAG Keep this definition in mind. Especially in the sense of “exposed.” We’ll see how the passage explains this in a moment.
As the children of Light, the royal priesthood of God, we are not to join in with the unfruitful, dark, and wicked manner of living exemplified by those in the world. Before we are tempted to get carried away with this and make up a new law about disassociating ourselves from the world completely—as some have done—let’s pause to remember what the Scriptures have to say on this matter.
In John 17:15–16 (KJV 1900), Jesus tells the Father, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” Yet in Luke 7:34 (KJV 1900) He said, “The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber [drunkard], a friend of publicans [tax collectors] and sinners!”
While we do not join in ungodly conduct (actively taking part is what is meant by the word “fellowship” – see BDAG pg. 952 συγκοινωνέω (a)), we do not separate ourselves and wall ourselves off from them. The word of Christ has been maligned far too often for such separatist “holier than thou” attitudes. Such conduct precludes credible presentation of the good news of Jesus Christ. At the same time, we do not join them in active participation. Instead, we continue reading.
Verse 13 of our text reads, “But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.” We could update the English here this way. “All things that are exposed are made visible by the light.” We can easily understand this. If we walk into a dark room, we cannot see the things it contains. When we illuminate the room, those things are immediately obvious.
No doubt you can see what this passage is teaching us. Our mere presence with those who live in the kingdom of darkness makes clear that a Light bearer from the Kingdom of Light has come. In the brilliance of this illumination, it becomes obvious that wickedness and evil are present with them.
Our passage then continues in verse 14, saying, “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” This is a call to repentance. A call for the denizens of darkness to change their minds, call upon the Lord, and be transferred to the Kingdom of Light themselves.
Paul speaks about the will of God for those lost in darkness in 1 Timothy 2:3–4 (KJV 1900) where he wrote, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Peter also spoke of God’s desire in 2 Peter 3:9 where he wrote that Father “is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (KJV)
As Paul says in Ephesians 5:15–16 “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15–16, KJV 1900)
* William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature, 2000, 315.
