Ephesians 5–6

The "therefore" of the first verse connects this portion with the last verse of the preceding chapter. God has acted towards us in kindness and grace, and now we should act towards one another as God has acted towards us. So we are urged to be imitators of God "as dear children". We are not to try to imitate God to become children, but because we are children. Walking as "dear" children implies a walk governed by affection. A servant may obey correctly because the law requires it, but a child should obey out of love. We are not servants but sons.

God becomes the pattern of our imitation the moment we accept, by faith, the gracious declaration of His love to us in Christ. To aim at that likeness while still knowing nothing of His free forgiveness of our sins is nothing but proud folly from a darkened mind. Only those born of God can really imitate what God does.

The imitation enjoined is not artificial but natural. Here are children playing in the market-place. They hold an imaginary court. This little girl, dressed in cheap finery, is pretending to be a queen. She copies a queen's manners as best she can, but it is all crude and put on. Nearby a small boy is watching his father. Soon friends smile and remark how like his father he is. He hardly knows he is doing it, and it is completely natural: he is his father's son, with his father's life and nature. Now it is as children of God that we are called upon to be imitators of God.

What a mighty principle opens up here for believers! What limits can there be if we are urged to imitate God Himself! This is not a demand pressed on man, as the law was, when man stood before God on his own responsibility as a creature. God has revealed Himself in grace. Still He is God and no one else. And since He has given us His own nature, there could be no lesser or lower standard. That would dishonour Him and the very grace He has shown us.

Having accepted us in the Beloved, the title which naturally could be only His is now by grace applied to all His saints. It is as "dear children" that we are called to show to one another some faint reflection of that love which He has so abundantly bestowed on us in Christ.

If He says to me, "Dear child," what a thought I have of Him and what a wonderful condition I am in! Suppose a father says, "Dear child" — the expression gives consciousness of the love. He may have done all kinds of things for me, but the very word conveys to me where I am.

We are light in this way — as His imitators. This light has come to us in the person of Christ, so we keep our eye on Him. We are to "walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us." So it is God we imitate. But it is Christ who brought the knowledge of God to us, and that makes Christ our pattern. He is our light, because He has faithfully and perfectly presented God before our soul.

Asa's history reveals his weaknesses. God, in His comments on his character, gives no hint of them. He loves to commend whatever is lovely in His servants' lives, and only when necessary exposes their failures and follies. May we in this, as in all things else, be "imitators of God"!

We are to walk in love. This is not natural to us as the children of Adam, but it is natural to us as born of God, for God is love. Walking in love simply shows the Divine nature in practice. So it adds, "as Christ loved us," because in Christ the Divine nature appeared in all its fullness and perfection.

If we are accepted in the Beloved, we are now urged to "walk in love" (Eph. 5:2). We ought to walk in a way that matches our high place. Responsibility flows from relationship... But to imitate anyone, we must know that person. Now God has made Himself known to us. He has placed us in His presence and given us His mind.

The burnt offering pictures Christ — He freely offered up His life to God as a sweet savour... When divine love comes down here, it always returns upward as self-sacrifice. God acts in love; Christ walked in love; and divine love acting in a person offers itself to God as a sweet savour.

He gave Himself for us, yet His blessed offering and sacrifice was to God. As an offering, it speaks of the value of the gift in God's eyes. As a sacrifice, it shows how great a thing Christ gave up for the glory of God. His sacrifice has the character of both the peace offering and the burnt offering. The peace offering brings us into sweet agreement with God in Christ, and the burnt offering rises to God to delight His heart of infinite love.

Here we see the sacrifice of Christ on its burnt offering side. It was a sweet smelling savour, and — blessed be His name — it was "for us." In 1 Peter 2:24 we get the trespass offering side of His cross. There "a sweet savour" could not be said. He bore our sins, and drank the cup of divine wrath that our sins deserved.

The death of Christ was a propitiatory offering, and we cannot follow Him in that. But we can imitate Him in the love that would lead us to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters (1 John 3:16). Paul mentions two saints of God who risked their own necks for his life. If one risks his life for another, that is the same as laying it down.

Such love goes far beyond what the law demands, that a man love his neighbour as himself. Christ did more, for He gave Himself to God for us. This is the love we are asked to imitate... In its little measure, like the infinite love of Christ, it will go up as a sweet savour to God.

Still, the sweeter and more blessed it is, the closer it stands to evil — unless divine power and self-judgment keep it. It brings people together. It awakens spiritual affections. But what begins in the Spirit may end in corruption of the flesh, as we see at Corinth... These lusts of the flesh were not merely forbidden; they were not even to be named. They were God's holy ones, saints; and the question now was what is fitting for saints, not merely for men.

There is danger even among the saints of God. The devil can come in and turn love between believers into a snare. He does this not only when we allow open evil to break out, but through the unjudged leaning towards it... The Lord in no way forbids the happy cheerfulness which He loves in His saints. He does not call us to be monks. That is man's way of keeping the flesh under restraint, and only another form of self. We may have self in a legal form and self in a lax form. Under any form it is not Christ, and the only thing which God values now is Christ.

The things listed in verse 3 appeal to instincts rooted deep in man's fallen nature. We do well to avoid the things themselves, and also the contamination that comes from thinking about them. We cannot talk about them without thinking of them, even if we condemn them in our talking. Therefore let us not talk about them.

The apostle Paul's confession in 1 Timothy 1:13 is a model. It is not "sharing" but a confession meant to praise the grace of God in reaching such a sinner as he was. Notice that his confession does not go into indecent details. He speaks only of how he opposed God — his blasphemy against God's truth and the harm he did to His people. As for confessing sexual matters in public, Scripture emphatically forbids this.

This means that we should not mention these things frivolously and so make little of them... The Bible does not use the word fornication only for prostitution. It covers all sexual relations outside marriage — even where the couple mean to marry, and even if it happens only once.

It is not limited to money, and it is often linked with open wickedness. The word means "desiring more than is necessary," and so "reaching out to grab." That is why it is applied to the lusts of the flesh. It is declared to be idolatry (Col. 3:5).

Elsewhere (Eph. 5:3; Col. 3:5), and especially in the first passage, covetousness and fornication are spoken of together. Fornication really springs out of covetousness, as the tenth commandment had already taught.

Since believers are "called saints" (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2), their ways should be such as are suitable for saints... They are not called to become saints by a holy walk. They are urged to a holy walk because God's calling has already made them saints... How unfit it is for people set apart like this to walk in uncleanness! And how wrong for followers of Him who was rich, and became poor for our sakes, to be clutching at the riches of this world!

They are not called to become saints by a holy walk. They are urged to a holy walk because they are saints through God's calling. The apostle says these things "are not convenient" — that is, not suitable. … It is not only in deed, but in word, that believers are to act in a way that suits saints.

He does not limit his warning to unrestrained immorality, or to the greedy desire for whatever pleases man. He extends it to unholy language too, whether openly shameful or hidden under a veil of refinement… Here again he brings in not only the absence of what is improper in the Christian, but the positive side as well: the heart turns to God's goodness, and that breaks out in thanksgiving.

The Lord in no way forbids the happy cheerfulness which He loves in His saints. He does not call us to be monks, which is man's way of keeping the flesh under restraint, and only another form of self. Self can take a strict, rule-keeping form, and self can take a loose form. In any form it is not Christ, and the only thing God values now is Christ.

In the presence of Christ we will find joking unsuitable. This does not mean that the one who walks in the light of God's face is unhappy. No cloud hangs over the joy of the person who is in God's presence. But such a Christian feels which things do not suit someone called to imitate God.

Things like those listed in verse 3 appeal to instincts deeply rooted in man's fallen nature. We do well to avoid the things themselves, and also the stain that comes from thinking about them. We cannot talk about them without thinking of them, even if we condemn them as we talk. So let us not talk about them… A Christian is neither a fool nor a jester, so let us not appear as either in our conversation.

We will soon find that refusing to join in foolish talking and jesting will bring plenty of scorn, and make us a spectacle. A quick wit or a clever reply is a natural ornament! But harmless as it may seem to us, there is very grave danger of defilement lurking here.

Scripture is positive as well as negative; if folly is not to flow from our lips, giving of thanks should. Happy occupation! The heart is so satisfied with divine grace, and so taken up with Christ, that out of its abundance thanksgiving wells up to Him.

Nothing is truly pleasant to the Spirit but Christ. In a saint, joy in the Holy Spirit should take the place of the thoughtless merriment that is natural to us. We are to trade the mirth that so often leaves a sting for that pure and precious gladness in which God Himself has a part.

What is the remedy? Here it is — a heart filled with the peace of Christ, the word of Christ, Christ Himself. Nothing else will do. We must begin with the heart. Where the heart is fully occupied with heavenly things, we will make very short work of every attempt at evil speaking, foolish talking and jesting.

In Ephesians 5:5 the true reading brings both Greek words for knowing together: iste (from oida) and ginoskontes. Knowledge gained from outside had passed into inward, conscious knowledge. It was what they were well aware of, and knew. In the way the words are used, that process could not run the other way.

Covetousness involves no dishonesty. It is not even hard or sharp dealing. It is no more than the desire for more — the very spring of modern effort, the drive to better yourself that everyone is urged to have, from the workman to the millionaire. So the creature becomes the object, not God; and so covetousness is called idolatry. It is man looking down, not up in dependence on God.

You do not need to bow down to a piece of wood or stone to be an idolater. Whatever commands the heart is an idol. Giving the heart to that thing is idolatry, and the one who gives it is an idolater… What is covetousness? It is either a desire to get more, or the love of what we have… But whether it is the desire to grasp or the desire to hoard, either way it is idolatry.

These are things for use. They are exhortations, not merely to apply to other people, to measure them by, but to take home to ourselves. They are for saints, not for the world. No doubt we find the evil warned against in the world. Our hearts ought to feel for those who will have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. But remember that the main purpose of the Holy Spirit was to warn and guard the saints themselves.

It is most important to remember this. Let sovereign grace do all it will. Let it reach the worst. Let it cleanse the most defiled. Still God's moral ways do not bend. His nature does not change. He hates and can never tolerate wickedness. His love may find — and has found — a glorious solution to that difficulty in the cross of Christ. But God and sin can never walk or live together.

The believer is a joint-heir with Christ, for in Him "we have obtained an inheritance." But to have a part in the kingdom of Christ and of God, our character must suit it. Seen in Christ, we are already fit to share the inheritance of the saints in light. Here, though, the question is not so much one of standing as of conduct.

A child of God may fall and commit some of these things, but no true believer will continue to live in them.

Those marked by uncleanness, covetousness and idolatry will not only miss the blessings of the coming kingdom of Christ and of God. Being disobedient to the gospel, they will also come under the wrath of God. Unlike this present evil world, the kingdom of God will be a place where love rules and lust is shut out. What will be true of the coming kingdom should mark the family of God today.

The apostle warns us not to let empty words deceive us. So men with their philosophy and science will excuse lust. They try to dress sin up in poetry and romance to make it look attractive. Even so, because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience. The "sons of disobedience" are those who have heard the truth but have rejected it.

Man's empty philosophy might indeed try to twist the teaching of grace into permission for immorality. But the apostle warns them against such corruptions of the truth... There is no need for a long argument. This teaching approves the very practices that bring God's judgment on the children of disobedience. Its emptiness is clear at once.

Sons are those who show the typical or distinctive traits of their fathers. Scripture often uses this idea of a child standing for a parent in moral matters. So the "sons of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2) are those whose conduct shows disobedience as plainly as a son resembles a father.

Here God explains the reason for His final judgment on Saul. It is the same reason as His judgment on every sinful man: disobedience and departure from God. And these are the very words we find again in Ephesians 2, the chapter that declares the sinner's condition of death: "sons of disobedience" and "without God in the world."

We think it very unsound and dangerous to teach that people will only be judged for rejecting the gospel. "For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words: for because of these things [and not merely because of their rejection of the gospel] the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience."

Men might deceive them with empty words. They might chatter about Christian liberty and anything else. But "because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." He is speaking, of course, of the world, and not of Christians. He does not threaten Christians with the wrath of God. At the same time, this wrath really does come upon the children of disobedience, and that makes the warning deeply solemn. Christians, therefore, must not be in any sense partakers with them. There must be the fullest possible separation.

The firm and decisive way in which the Apostle draws the line in verses 5 and 6 is very striking. The kingdom of Christ and of God is marked by holiness. The unholy are outside that kingdom and subject to the wrath of God. There was to be no mistake about this. Then as now, some wished to blur this sharp line and excuse unholy living. Other scriptures show that a true believer may fall into any of these sins. But no true believer is marked by any of them. Whatever people say about themselves, no one marked by such sins should be counted a true Christian.

Human philosophy might try to twist the teaching of grace into permission for immorality. But the apostle warns them against such corruptions of the truth. There is no need for a long argument. You can see at once how empty such teaching is. These were the very practices that bring God's judgment on the children of disobedience. They had been in that condition themselves. But God called them out of it. How could He bear to see them walk in the very acts He delivered them from?

God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all the unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18). It hangs above all over those who keep sinning against the holy light of gospel truth. Such people are called here the children of disobedience (or unbelief). True faith and willing obedience are one and the same in principle, and this shows it. Faith is an active principle, and works by love. Men hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ but do not receive the truth in the love of it. That is when they become liable to the special condemnation announced here.

Whatever they claim to be, they have no part in the kingdom of God. So we, who have an inheritance in the kingdom, can have no part with them. This is what verse 7 so plainly states. Notice too that the last word of that verse is them. We are not only to avoid the sins, but also to avoid all participation with the sinners. The persons as well as the evils are to be avoided. The difference between us and them is as great and as distinct as that between light and darkness.

People may assume that because God is love, the grace of God is indulgent toward these sinful things, but it is not so. These very things are why the wrathful judgment of God falls on the children of disobedience (v.6). Will a believer let himself share in any way with such people? These things are so glaring today on radio, TV and in newspapers and magazines. Saints must be very careful and watchful against such contamination.

You know that just doing what is right would never satisfy your renewed conscience. You must have the springs of action purified. It is what Christ has done that asks it of you. These unclean things, as I read in verse 3, do not suit saints. Am I to put uncleanness aside because it is uncleanness? No; I put it aside because it does not suit saints... I refuse to take part in uncleanness, because I was in darkness, but now I am transformed. I am a new creature, a child of light.

It is not enough for our souls to refuse to be partakers with the children of disobedience, as in verses 6, 7. We must have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even expose them (v. 11). It is all part of our wonderful place and responsibility as children of light. This is not law, which only condemns by a standard applied from outside. It is an inward divine capacity that searches everything. Love is its source and its end, yet it spares evil even less than law does, and it brings in good by the Holy Spirit in Christ.

Now we were what is contrary to His character, we were darkness; not only in the dark, but darkness in our nature, the opposite of God who is light. Not one ray of what He is was found in our will, our desires, our understanding. We were morally destitute of it.

It is not simply that we were in the dark, ignorant of God. Our nature itself was darkness, because it found its pleasure in everything that is against God. Now we are partakers of the divine nature, and that nature is marked by love and light.

The Lord was light in Himself; we are not light in ourselves, but in the Lord. And the exhortation is, "Walk as children of light." God has taken us out of darkness. Think of it. The more we feel in our souls that we are in the light, as God is in the light, the more we will want a walk that suits it. But we measure all responsibility by our relationship. We are in the light to start, and our responsibility flows from that fact.

Since the change is so complete, the word is "walk as children of light." Be consistent with what you are, not merely with what you ought to be. We are light — yes, light in the Lord. That is at once the ground, the character, and the measure of what suits our ways as Christians. So let us walk accordingly. How comforting is the call of grace to holy ways! God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we are His children, we are children of light. How completely law disappears as the motive or the pattern of our walk.

If you are outside today, you will be in the sunshine, as long as the sun is shining. You can turn your back on the sun so that you do not see it, but you are still walking in the sunshine, even if you do not enjoy it. This is what can happen in our lives. We cannot return to a walk in darkness because we have been taken out of darkness into His wonderful light, but we can walk as children of darkness. That is why it is said, "Walk as children of light". We are to walk in accordance with the position which we have been given by grace.

But we are no longer darkness, nor in darkness, but are children of light: the fruit of the light — that is, the practical result of knowing God fully revealed — should be shown in all "goodness and righteousness and truth."

I refuse to take part in uncleanness, because I was in darkness, but now I am transformed. I am a new creature, a child of light.

Verse 9 explains what will shine out. The correct reading is not "the fruit of the Spirit," but "the fruit of the light." Three words sum up that fruit — goodness, righteousness, truth. The opposites — evil, iniquity, unreality — should be entirely shut out of our lives. Walking this way as children of light, we prove what is pleasing to God. We prove it not by reasoning, but by practical experience. We put things to the test, and so learn it for ourselves.

No doubt these are the marks of the Spirit's gracious work. That may be what put "the Spirit" in place of "light" in the common text. But there can be no reasonable question that the true thought and word in verse 9 is "the light"... In Galatians 5 it is the fruit, not of the light, but of the Spirit. There it stands against the works of the flesh... Here the contrast is not with legal tendencies and the workings of flesh, which the law both provokes and condemns. It is with the darkness which we once were when we were without the Lord.

Verse 9 is a parenthesis. Light produces goodness, righteousness and truth. Goodness is that which actively seeks the good of others. Righteousness is carrying out properly the duties of whatever relationship we are in. Truth is transparent honesty.

We are to walk in keeping with the position grace has given us. So we are called to something wonderful: to walk as children of light and show the fruit of light, which is in all goodness. This has the character of love. Only then do righteousness and truth follow. These would be more the characteristics of light, but goodness leads us to the love of God.

The works of darkness bear no fruit. But those who walk in the light, as He is in the light, bear precious fruit. Goodness, righteousness and truth are out of reach for the natural man. They are found in the way of those whom the Spirit, through faith, shapes into practical likeness to Christ. He is Himself the essence and fulness of these things. By staying close to Him, we reflect what we enjoy in Him. Our fruit, whether scanty or abundant, must savour of the Root that bears us.

This is all part of our marvellous place and responsibility as children of light. It is not law, which only condemns by an outward standard applied from without. It is an inward and most searching divine capacity. Love is its source and its end, yet it spares evil even less than the law does, and it brings in good by the Holy Spirit in Christ... Light by its nature reveals itself and everything else. This is just as true in spiritual things as in nature.

This verse is connected with what is said about light in verse 8; verse 9 is in parentheses. This is what we have to learn in our conduct. People often say it is hard to find out the will of God. But this is because we are not ready to face difficulties, and then we cannot find out His will. In this verse we see the state of soul that loves to please. It enters into the spirit of the walk, and it takes in the wishes of God, so as to be acceptable to Him.

euarestos (literally 'well-pleasing,' from eu, 'well,' and aresko, 'to please') means 'acceptable' to God, Rom. 14:18; 'agreeable' to the Lord, Eph. 5:10; 'well-pleasing' to Him, Col. 3:20. These passages show that the older rendering "we may be accepted of him" in 2 Cor. 5:9 is wrong: it should be "agreeable to him."

He was certain that he was accepted. Yet he never forgot that he had to stand before the judgment seat of Christ… So for Paul, being accepted and being acceptable were two different questions, and both mattered greatly. He knew by the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ that God had accepted him. He worked hard to be acceptable. So the teaching of grace was not weakened, even though he never lost sight of his responsibility.

Being light in the Lord, we are to walk as children of light. That walk will show itself in "all that is good and right and true", for these things are the fruit of light. Walking this way, we shall prove in our own circumstances what is acceptable to the Lord… One writer said: "A child watches his father and learns what pleases him. He knows what his father would want in the situations that come up."

The discernment of a Christian depends on his spiritual and moral state, and God means it to be so. He will not simply be a director who hands us decisions. He makes us depend on our spiritual state even to know what His will is. This is not a set of higher rules for a select few. The discernment of the inward life makes what it sees both a delight and a duty at once.

Is this our simple purpose? … In any common act of life, our question should be: is this acceptable to the Lord? When buying an item of clothing, it should not simply be, will this suit me? but, is it acceptable to the Lord, does it suit Him?

To please Him who gave Himself for our sins is both the duty and the desire of the new man… We are no longer our own, but His who bought us. We please Him when we trust Him and obey His words. A Christian's business in the world is Christ, and nothing else. That word covers every lawful kind of situation and work. If we cannot do something wholeheartedly for Him, we should not do it at all.

In walking as children of light we prove in experience what is acceptable to the Lord. Since He has no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, neither should we. He reproves them and so should we. We are not to argue about them or against them. We are to reject them plainly.

Instead he should expose them — not necessarily by attacking the world's practices head on, but by a consistent godly life that reproves wrongdoing. Men's secret sins have as large a place now as in Paul's days. They are too shameful even to name. But the light exposes them and declares their true character, for light makes everything visible. Such exposing will not bring love to the witness, but rather hatred, as our Lord Jesus said: the world hates Him because He testifies that its works are evil (John 7:7). In His case the darkness hated the light; it was too much for them.

This word, reprove, occurs again, you will notice, in verse 13. Its meaning is not exactly admonish or rebuke, but rather expose. It is to expose, as by light, the true character of the works in question. If a believer shines out in his true character, his whole life will have that effect. His Master's life did this in the highest measure. Still, of course, there may be many times when words of rebuke are needed.

We are not to argue about them or against them. We are simply and clearly to reject them. Even to talk about the vices practised in secret by the ungodly is a shame. The believer has far more profitable things to engage his thoughts and conversation.

It is a great thing for the Christian to be in the habit of living in what is good. We live in a world where we must deal with what is evil… But it will not do to be always occupied with it. It defiles even when we judge it. Think of the man who handled the ashes of the red heifer in Numbers 19. He was doing a service by gathering them up and laying them outside the camp. Yet he was unclean until evening, and the same was true of the man who applied them. It is soiling to our minds even to be judging evil.

We are to hate the unnoticed, quiet activities of the flesh as much as those that are openly filthy and corrupt. We are to loathe the secret, refined ways of selfishness as much as those that are open and shameless. To the Christian, Christ is the perfect model.

To speak of the things that the flesh can do in secret is shame. The light of Christ reproves the evil that it exposes. Where Christianity has shaped a land, people cannot publicly commit the gross sins that others commit openly elsewhere. The light in Christians is too strong. Sadly, as the light declines, sins again become more public and open.

Notice that this word, reprove, comes again in verse 13. It does not quite mean warn or rebuke. It means expose. It is to expose the true character of the works in question, the way light does. If a believer shines out in his true character, his whole life will have that effect, just as his Master's life did, in the highest measure of all. Of course there will still be many times when words of rebuke are needed.

It is not law, condemning by an outward standard held up against us. It is an inward and deeply searching divine capacity. Love is its source and its end, yet it spares evil even less, and it brings in good by the Holy Spirit in Christ... It belongs to light to show itself and everything else, and that is just as true in spiritual things as it is in nature.

I have no doubt that this translation of Ephesians 5:13 is wrong. "Whatever is made manifest is light" is not only untrue; it is also not the point of the passage. The passage speaks of things being made manifest by the light. I admit the passage is difficult. But I believe the sense is, "what makes everything manifest is light," or, "it is the light which makes everything manifest." The form of the Greek word is found only here, and it would be a middle with an active sense.

The last clause of this verse changes its meaning. It depends on whether you take the word translated "manifest" in an active or a passive sense. Either way it states an obvious truth. On the whole, the light seems meant to do more than detect. It also subdues and gives life.

Instead he should expose them. He need not attack the world's practices head on. A consistently godly life is itself a reproof of wickedness. People's secret sins fill as much room now as in Paul's day. They are too shameful even to name. But the light exposes them and declares their true character, for light shows up all things. Such exposing will not bring the witness love. It will bring him hatred, as our Lord Jesus said: the world "hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil" (John 7:7). In His case the darkness hated the light: it was too much for them.

In verse 13 Paul continues along the line of holiness, righteousness and truth. But it is very important to see that the light of God never contradicts His love... Christ is always the true light. We have no light in ourselves, so even if we as Christians are called light it can only be light "in the Lord".

Bright sunlight shows up every detail of natural things. In the same way, the true light of God shows the real character of everything in the spiritual and moral realm. Are we willing to turn that light on our own conduct? And on popular religious schemes that compromise more and more of the truth of Scripture?

In both of these Scriptures the spirit, not the letter, is what applies to the point in hand. Used this way, it carried divine authority. So in the passage from Ephesians there can be little doubt that Isaiah 60:1 was in Paul's mind. There we read, "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you."

In verse 14, a sleeping man is called to "awake," not a dead man: he is a believer, but sadly, in what a state. A man asleep is no better than a dog asleep. Neither one notices anything around them.

The Scriptures alluded to seem to be Isaiah 52 and 60. But the application here is clearly to believers, sleeping among dead men or dead things. They are called to arise, so that Christ may give them light — not life, which would be their first need as unbelievers.

Sorrowful condition for a saint to slip into! What use is a sleeper as a witness to God and the truth? Thanks be to God, such are not dead. The spark of divine life is there, and nothing can put it out. But they have sunk into a state of spiritual numbness. They have lost their enjoyment of heavenly grace and their usefulness in testimony.

The unbeliever is dead to God. The true believer, if he does not pay attention to these exhortations, may fall into a condition of sleep. In that sleep he is like a dead man. In such a condition he will not profit from the light of Christ. … It has been well said, "It is Christ Himself who is the source, the expression, and the measure of light for the soul that is awake."

Awake, rise and open the shutters of your dark chamber of deathlike sleep. Then the sun can shine in, and Christ can give you light. And if there is in your heart some secret idol-chamber — love of money, or worldliness, or something else that has slipped in between Christ and you and taken His place in your heart — open the door. Let the light of Christ and His word shine in and expose the idol in all its ugliness.

It is a solemn thing that this call goes to the company who know more than many, as at Ephesus. They had the highest truth, and were in danger of going to sleep over it.

In Scripture, folly and wisdom are not just matters of intellect. They always have a moral character. It is the fool who says in his heart, "There is no God." The fear of the Lord is called the beginning of wisdom. The believer as a child of light has "the mind of Christ"; he has the Holy Spirit to teach him the deep things of God. He may have little worldly wisdom or knowledge, yet he has "an anointing from the Holy One," and so has the mind of God in all that concerns His things. But the flesh is always there to fight against the Spirit. So it takes careful watchfulness to walk as wise men, and not as fools.

Wisdom, as well as light, is a distinctive attribute of the new man. The Greek philosopher searched for wisdom in vain. It has come, unasked, to the awakened sinner. Christ, who is the wisdom of God in the eyes of our faith, has also been made our wisdom by God. By the counsels of that wisdom we are taught to walk... Moreover, we need wisdom to use rightly what we know. Careful watchfulness always goes with true wisdom. Those whose road to the kingdom runs through many temptations need it. In a land of danger, we must walk with measured steps... We are in the path of folly the moment we begin to walk at our own discretion.

Uprightness is not enough. If I have to cross a bog, I may be perfectly sincere in seeking a house on the other side. But if I do not look about me, I may sink in the bog. I must look about me. It takes wisdom to go through this world — I mean as a Christian.

The main force of this warning seems to be aimed at the deception that would make exact conduct a matter of indifference, so long as soundness of doctrine is kept up. This lowest of fallacies can still be a danger to us, if we are not kept near to God in the spirit of our minds.

This is not only about avoiding certain things. There is something to gain: divine wisdom to live Christ. We have to walk with all the wisdom of God. Satan is seeking to trip us up, to dim our testimony, to cause that to be seen in us which is not Christ.

We are urged to walk wisely. The first fourteen verses teach that the true measure for a right walk is God's nature of light and love. We are to profit by that teaching, and "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise." In an evil world the Christian will need wisdom, but this wisdom is in regard to what is good. So, in another letter, the Apostle can write, "be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil" (Romans 16:19).

For though a believer is not a fool, yet he may be unwise and not use his time to advantage.

Our neighbours who reject Christ still hold us responsible for Christian conduct. So we find exhortations in other parts of the Bible that tell us, in principle, that we have to take heed to what we do. Think for example of Ephesians 5:15... I am sure we all see how necessary this warning is. Our "doings" should match our words and be a bright testimony for the Lord.

Folly and wisdom in Scripture are not merely intellectual qualities, but have always a moral character. It is the fool who says in his heart, "There is no God." Scripture calls the fear of the Lord the beginning of wisdom. The believer as a child of light has "the mind of Christ"; he has the Holy Spirit to teach him the deep things of God. However little gifted in worldly wisdom or knowledge, he has "an anointing from the Holy One," and so has the mind of God in all that concerns His things.

It is to weigh something, consider it carefully, and so grasp its meaning.

A believer is not a fool, yet he may be unwise and not use his time well. He should not be like that. He should understand what the will of the Lord is for him (v.17). To understand is not simply to know, but to see rightly what he knows. The will of the Lord is always spiritually profitable.

Our wisdom will show itself in redeeming the time and understanding what the will of the Lord is. The days are evil. If the devil could have his way, there would never be a time or an opportunity for what pleases the Lord. To do good we will have to seize the moment from the enemy... Nehemiah learned the will of the Lord for His people by prayer and fasting. So when the opportunity came, standing before king Artaxerxes, he seized it (Nehemiah 1:4; Nehemiah 2:1-5). A person can know a great deal about evil and still not know the will of the Lord, and so still be "unwise".

"Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." I will never know what the will of the Lord is if I am not near Him in the daily life of my soul. That is a clear case. A man who is doing the will of God is not living for himself. His only thought is to do what God wishes.

The Lord deals with us morally. He will not let me find out His way unless there is in me the spirit of obedience... "If anyone's will is to do God's will," says our Lord, "he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority," John 7:17.

A servant may hear his master say, Do this, or, Don't do that, and share nothing of his master's reasons for either one. The child is under far greater obligation to complete and unquestioning obedience, yet he obeys in a different way. He knows his father's character and habits. He knows his father's purposes and plans. So he is expected to sense at once what will please his father and what will give his father joy.

I think all that follows rests on this verse 17 — that we understand what the will of the Lord is for us. Once we understand that, the rest will follow. Then nothing in this world will intoxicate us. It need not be wine. Ambition can intoxicate us. So can desires that people around us count as completely acceptable — not gross evil, but things that take us away from the will of the Lord.

It is one thing to be indwelt by the Spirit, and another to be filled with the Spirit. All believers are indwelt; but how few, sadly, are filled! ... To be filled with the Spirit is to be under the direct energy of the Spirit's action. It stands here in contrast with the forced, natural cheerfulness that wine causes. Instead of that, the believer should have the joy and happiness that the Holy Spirit pours into his heart. This will find its suitable outlet in expressions of joy; not the foolish songs of the world, but the psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.

There is a vessel filled with the Spirit. It is the very same vessel, only changed. It was once filled with wine; now, in a spirit of thanksgiving, it is bubbling up with melody to the Lord.

The word psalm means a sacred song sung with a stringed instrument. Hymns are songs of praise to God, and the word clearly covers many of the psalms too. Still, not all psalms are hymns, and hymns are not always psalms. Spiritual songs covers more than praise. It includes songs of spiritual experience, songs celebrating events in Scripture, and songs of meditation on its various truths.

The Old Testament Psalms cannot carry true worship. In them worship goes to Jehovah, and not to the Father and the Son. A finished redemption was not yet known. And the psalms that call down judgment are quite out of keeping with the spirit of the New Testament. So the psalms of Ephesians 5:19 cannot be the Psalms of the Old Testament. They must be psalms written for Christian worship.

There is no supply of psalms, hymns, or spiritual songs written by inspiration for the Christian; for the Jew there is a very large one. Do you wonder at this? ... The Jew needed such praises made for him; the Church does not. The Christian and the Church have the Holy Spirit, which the Jew did not have, and so have within them a full spring for making melody in the heart.

Personal worship is the first effect of being filled with the Spirit, and the fellowship of believers naturally follows it and carries it on... Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are the audible expressions of a melody that begins in secret, in the heart where Christ dwells. When we are in the Spirit and speak to ourselves, we speak of Jesus; when we answer one another, it is in the Lord's song... There is no melody for Christ if our hearts are still far from Him, even though the words we use may have come from His Spirit.

Believers here are told not to sing only, and not to make melody in the heart only, but to do both. No amount of melody with the voice can take the place of melody in the heart.

Singing is audible, but making melody in your heart is more vital. This is surely an encouragement to those who have trouble carrying a tune!

We should always make sure our hymns and songs of praise are directed to God. Faith and the energy of the Spirit turn the heart straight to Him. Most religious singing today is probably aimed at people instead.

The world's joy expresses itself in a physical way; it is mere natural excitement, such as that caused by wine. The believer's is to be the opposite of this. It is not the lift given by natural causes, but the deeper delight ministered by the Spirit of God. It is one thing to be indwelt by the Spirit, and another to be filled with the Spirit. All believers are indwelt; but how few, sadly, are filled!

This is not a mere duty. I need not say we cannot deny the duty part. But it is clear the Holy Spirit assumes the saints will feel and understand this: it directs the heart rather than demanding something from it... Our hearts are naturally so legal that we tend to turn the words of our God to us into a law we must bend to. That happens even with the knowledge of God we have. Instead we should see that this is the good portion God has given us. Thanksgiving always for all things is then the natural expression of the heart taught by the Holy Spirit.

Thanksgiving is not optional on our part. The apostle declares that it is "the will of God in Christ Jesus" that we should "give thanks in all circumstances."

It is not giving thanks in everything that we do. It is more. No matter what God does, or permits to be done, I am entitled by faith to receive it as a blessing to my soul. So I give thanks for it. Whatever the trial may be — disappointment, scorn, distraction, the thousand influences that come from an evil world — I am not to thank Him for these. I thank Him for the blessing that God designs for me through them.

A man must know he has a good portion who can rejoice always in all things, who can give thanks always for all things. The natural man cannot receive such a word as this... God seems to say in this passage, My child, you will never be in any circumstances, or in any position, in which you have no cause to give thanks... This giving of thanks is not one or two links of a chain, then broken off; no, it is continuous and unbroken and lasting.

He could and did give thanks in the hour of deepest trial. In Matthew 11 and Luke 10 we see Him rejected by men... The dark shadows of the cross were already falling across His path. Then we read: "At that time" — mark it well. At that time, when all was darkest and He had unspeakable anguish ahead, "Jesus rejoiced" and said, "I thank you, Father." Oh, for grace to imitate Him in this — not only in subjection to the will of God, but in receiving the heaviest trials from the Father's hand, knowing that all is for eventual blessing.

He was occupied with circumstances, and not with the God of circumstances.

Redemption has set the believer in a position of eternal obligation to the God of grace... Everything, then, is to be acknowledged thankfully. The thing received, whether good or bad, matters less than the hand that gives it... Notice the deliberate precision in the language of this verse. Its many-sided purpose is to keep us from falling below the true level of spiritual worship when we give thanks.

This constantly thankful spirit will have both a preserving and a fruitful effect. It will make submission to one another in the fear of God simpler for us. So we will recognise God as being in control, rather than the will of man dominating.

The first three chapters show the believer's standing in Christ, and God's thoughts about the Church. The practical teaching that follows falls into four groups. They match the believer's relationship with the Church (Eph. 4:1‑16), the world (Eph. 4:17‑5:21), the family (Eph. 5:21 — Eph. 6:9), and the powers of darkness (Eph. 6:10‑17). In each of these positions, the rule of conduct given to him matches his standing, shown earlier in the letter.

Another word is added here that seems a little out of place: "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." The cheerfulness stirred up by wine is quarrelsome and self-assertive. The gladness of heart poured out by the Spirit is not. The deep sense of grace that calls forth praise and thanksgiving to God humbles instead of exalting. The fuller the heart is of praise to God, the lower it will be in its own esteem. So comes submission to one another. It does not come merely out of kindness and good nature, but out of the deep sense of the fear of God. That fear never stops filling the heart occupied with His goodness and love.

Submitting myself to another means accepting and taking a lower place under another person's lawful authority over me. Obedience means behaving and acting according to that place. I do that by submitting my will to the will of the one who has authority over me. It holds whether I am there by my own choice or by necessity, such as birth. Naturally speaking, the two are not always the same. There may be an outward submission without real obedience. In the Christian sense, both are a matter of the heart, as being done to the Lord.

Then you get a spirit of grace, "submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ." It does not mean submitting to do evil if you ask me to. It means that faith has no will of its own. If you want me to do wrong, I cannot do it, because it is not God's will; but in everything where my own will is concerned, I give way to you. We are to submit to one another in the fear of Christ. It is what sitting in heavenly places produces on earth.

Now look at the second part of our verse. It tells us that such submission of one to another is to be "in the fear of Christ." That is the correct reading, not "in the fear of God," as the common version has it. The fear of God is all-important. It marks the beginning of God's work in a soul, as with the thief on the cross. It also marks the Christian's walk in holiness of life (2 Cor. 7:1). Yet in this passage, as in Colossians 3, the Spirit of God delights to set Christ Himself fully before the eye of faith as Head of the Church — the second Person of the Godhead, the Father's well-beloved.

Christian humility of mind willingly takes the lowest seat at God's great feast of mercy. It knows how unworthy it is of what it is so freely called to share. So it gladly lets God's other guests go first. If the heart is in its right state, it will always see the Lord in His people. Then showing them deference in love becomes an easy and welcome duty. This habitual turning to God is what keeps Christian fellowship from sinking into ordinary human company.

This Scripture shows that the position of the wife is one of subjection. The wife is indeed told to obey, but the ground of it is the place she holds. A word or two added in the translation has somewhat hidden this. We read, "As the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be." But leave out the word "let." The italics show it was added. Then we have a simple statement of fact: "As the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives to their own husbands in everything." This matters. The obedience asked of the wife then flows out of the position she is set in — the natural fruit of the relationship. In other words, obedience to her husband is not left to the wife's choice; it is to be given because of her relative place.

The apostle speaks of the place where the church has been set, that of subjection to her Head. He is not speaking of her actual practice. Sadly, how much self-will and losing sight of the Headship of Christ has spoiled that practice! But the truth stands: "the church is subject to Christ." He is her glorified Head. The Christian wife is to learn the great principle and act on it.

Such is the general principle. But then, you will notice, there is always a measure and a guard in every such word of Scripture. It is not simply said, "Therefore, let the wives be subject in everything to their own husbands," but "Therefore, as the Church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be." So Christ's own blessed way of caring for the church, and of dealing with it in its due subjection to the Lord, becomes the pattern for wives towards their own husbands.

There seems to be one limit to this statement. The words in Colossians show it: "Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord" (Col. 3:18). Suppose the husband's will interferes with the wife's own responsibility to the Lord. Suppose it clashes with the Lord's will as given in His word. If she must choose between obeying her husband and disobeying the Lord, then the Lord must have the supreme claim. With this one exception her submission to her husband must be complete.

Wives are told to submit to their husbands. Husbands are never pressed to keep their wives in subjection. The duty pressed on them is to love their wives.

The subjection of the believer to the Lord, or of the Church to Christ, is no curse or bondage. These are now the models for the wife's subjection. She is to be subject to her own husband, "as to the Lord," and as "the Church is subject to Christ." How beautiful to see a human relationship turned into a picture of the mystery — and a relationship that draws part of its character from the fall! In that mystery God displays His "manifold wisdom" to "the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places."

Husbands are not told to rule. That is not where they are likely to fail. They are told to love. Wives are not addressed this way. With them, love is not as likely to be weak as submission is. So what is put before the husband? "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her." Once we take this in, it lifts us above the merely natural level. God's own love is our heavenly pattern.

Natural affection is recognised here, but a far higher kind of love is brought in. It re-shapes an earthly relationship after a heavenly pattern. The past, present, and future love of Christ for the church are all brought to bear on the husband's duty to his wife.

The first thing of all is His own love, which nothing outside Himself caused. "He loved the church" — perfectly, as God loves, without limit. Here we see how complete His love is. "He gave Himself." He did not only do something for it: "He gave Himself!" ... The self-sacrifice of Christ was absolute: it was Himself, all He is, and all He was in His perfection. Everything in His nature was behind it: "He gave Himself."

He then gave Himself; and He could give no more.

Let us remember that He did not first make the church worthy to be loved, then love it and give Himself for it. He loved it as it was, then gave Himself for it, and now works to make it suitable to Himself. ... Christ loved the church in all its deep need, and gave Himself for it; then, having made it His own, He cleanses it and makes it fit for Himself. None of us is content when someone we love is not what we would wish. Christ will not be content until the church suits Him completely.

Husbands are to love their own wives by no lower standard than Christ's love for the church (v.25). He gave Himself for it. He did not just give many gifts; He gave Himself. If one is not willing to give himself for an intended wife, he ought not to marry her. Notice what this whole section stresses: love works for the greatest good of the one it loves, and it pays for that itself.

Think of a Christian husband who has spent a hard, stormy day resting his heart on Christ's love and warming himself in it. He does not come home and frown his wife into silence, submission, and obedience. He loves her into it. The only force he uses is his own example — his submission to Christ the Head, his dependence on Him, and his obedience to His Word.

Christ Jesus Himself is woven through every part of it. He Himself is the beginning, He Himself the end, He Himself all the way through. He gave Himself as the beginning; and He presents it to Himself as the end. Meanwhile He tenderly cares for the church.

But what is the object of Christ's love in the future? "That He might present it to Himself" — not to another. Not, here, to display it to the world, but "TO HIMSELF," "a glorious church." Yes, not a church in shame, but glorious, "not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing," but "holy and blameless" (Eph. 1:4; 5:27).

In paradise, when God built the woman, He presented her to Adam: this is what will happen concerning the church; Eph. 5:27. He has given His life for her. He washes her by His word. He will present her to Himself glorious, with the same glory He Himself has as risen and glorified. This will be the marriage supper of the Lamb. The church is the bride united to Jesus in glory. She is justified, purified, and glorified. A bride in a lowly body is not fit for a Bridegroom in a glorious body.

This is the complete account of what Christ does: He cleanses the Church as well as sanctifies it. All defilement has to go, and in both cases God uses the washing of water by the word. But there is a third and future fruit of His love — "that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing." There we have the complete blessing of the Church. Cleansing will no longer be in question. All the love of Christ will have its perfect effect, and the Church will be glorious according to His own likeness.

There are two things by which beauty is marred: spots and wrinkles. The first show defilement. The second come from passion, or from worry and age. Both are the effects of sin — the first directly, the second indirectly. If there were no sin in the world, there would be no spots and no wrinkles. Everyone dislikes wrinkles, clean or not. But only a clean person avoids spots. Someone with dirty habits does not mind them.

So at the rapture we shall all be without spot for ever. Second, we shall be without wrinkle, without any marks of decay. Third, we shall be fully holy in nature. Fourth, without blemish… These four marks mean we shall be stainless, ageless, sinless and blameless in the day that is coming when He presents us collectively to Himself. Nothing less than His own standard will do…

It will have no spot, that is, no defect of any sort. No wrinkle, that is, no sign of age or decay, "nor any such thing," that is, no other defect of any imaginable kind. Could language be stronger or more sweeping? How could that fit the idea that the Lord will catch up only some of the many who make up the church when He comes? In that case He would indeed present to Himself mutilated fragments rather than a church without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.

Yet they do give us a very different idea of the reality of things from what we often think when we come together, twenty or more of us, let us say, to break bread. All of us are very weak, all failing, all apt to make mistakes. Not one of us is anything to be proud of. We think, "What a poor lot we are!" And it is true. But when we read verses like these, we see that a work of the Lord is in progress upon us.

The Spirit of God here assumes a necessary way of nature, and assumes it with approval. That regard for one's self which each of us is ready enough to give has God's own approval. And then, on this very principle of nature, the apostle goes on to set out the Lord's nourishing care of the Church... So if I can understand my love for myself, I may understand Christ's love to me. My Lord owns the duty I owe myself as a duty He owes to me. He can only nourish and cherish me, as I would nourish and cherish myself.

He is now taking up the common instinct that men naturally avoid pain and take care of themselves. He is speaking only of the fact. He says: look upon your wife as a part of yourself. Anything that would wrong her is that much wrong done to your own body.

And what are nourishing and cherishing? Nourishing is food, and cherishing is warmth of affection. You have the truth ministered by the gifts the Lord gives — that is the nourishment, and saints need nourishment... not just the ministry of all that He is to our souls to form us like Himself; He also leaves out no detail of tender care for His own.

Not only has Christ a heavenly aim, but His love performs the work which, so to speak, is natural to it. He cares tenderly for the church here below; He nourishes it, He cherishes it. The church's needs, weaknesses, difficulties and anxieties are only openings for Christ to show His love... If the end is heaven, He does not leave the church abandoned here. She learns His love where her heart needs it.

It is a great comfort to know this is true of the Church as it is now, when we think of the ruin all around. Does Christ ever cease to nourish what belongs to Him? Impossible. In spite of all the ruin, He has the same care for His people.

Scripture never speaks of Him as Lord in relation to the Church. That clause in Ephesians 5:29, when read rightly, stands: "even as the Christ the Church." To the Church, whether seen as His body or His bride, He is head, not Lord. Lord of course He is; God made Him such... Headship and Lordship both belong to Him, but they are not interchangeable terms. As Lord, He stands apart from all others; as head, He is in close association with what He is joined to.

Christ's care of the church does not flow from prerogative only, but His care and tenderness are exercised over it... The love we have to learn is not supremacy in love, but caring, as it were, for Himself.

Christ's love in cleansing the Church is set here before the Christian husband. That is not so that he should set to work and do the same with his wife. It is so that he may, in a general way, learn from our loving Head in glory to show his love to his wife in tender concern for everything that touches her welfare... There are not a few who show great willingness (I do not say skill) for washing their wives' feet, but let them starve at the same time. If you do not know how to nourish and cherish your wife, as your own body, you are not fit to wash her feet.

What heights and depths this comparison holds! It shows that the debt of love is never paid, but always owed. And yet that love delights to own the debt, and to keep paying it, lavishing care and tenderness on her who has become one with him in God's view.

No one, he says, ever hated his own flesh; he nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. This is the precious side of Christ's love for the present time, which the apostle presents here. His love does the work which, so to speak, is natural to it. He cares tenderly for the church here below. Her wants, weaknesses, difficulties and anxieties are only opportunities for Christ to exercise His love.

Sanctifying and cleansing look on to the presentation in glory. Nourishing and cherishing belong to our journey on earth. His love not only looks on to the glory. It also watches over us on the way there, as we pass through this dark world from which He is absent. He knows the circumstances we are in and the trials we have to meet. He knows our weaknesses and infirmities. In them all He cares for us and meets our needs.

God Himself approves the regard for oneself that each of us is ready enough to give. The apostle says Christ acts towards us on this instinctive verdict of nature: a man is to love his own body. So if I can understand my love for myself, I may understand Christ's love to me. My Lord acknowledges the duty I owe myself as owed by Him to me.

We are, as it were, a part of Himself. We have our existence and our being from Him, as Eve had hers from Adam. He can say, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."

We must not take this literally here. But could language set out the mystical union of Christ and His Church more clearly or more forcibly? These words come from Adam's cry of wonder when he woke from his deep sleep. That sleep pictures the death of Christ for His redeemed, so that He might have a Bride for His affections. When Adam looked at his bride he said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." That was literally true of Adam and Eve. It is used as a symbol of Christ and His Church.

The verse is sometimes applied to Christ's becoming man; but it is the reverse of that. It does not mean Christ taking our flesh and bone, but our being made members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. It is our relationship to Christ risen from the dead, not Christ's relationship to us as a man on earth. We are really a part of Himself, united to Him as He now is in the presence of God.

So it is clearly the raised and ascended man who is made head of the body, and set over all things. There was no such man until the ascension. So where people set up the church before Pentecost in their imagination, union loses all its reality and the church loses all true existence. "He who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him." We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. All of this assumes the man Christ, and Christ ascended, when union is spoken of — and that is union by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Adam falls into a deep sleep. God takes a rib out of his side and builds a woman from it. Then God Himself marries our first parents. Is not this a beautiful picture of Christ and the church? He falls into the deep sleep of death, and through His death He forms His Bride. Thousands of years later the believers at Ephesus read in Paul's letter how a husband should behave towards his wife. Yet that was not the main thought. Paul used their earthly relationship as a picture of Christ and His church... But if we throw doubt on Genesis, we throw doubt on Ephesians too.

Marriage begins a new estate. Father and mother are to be loved and honoured still, but relied on no longer as protectors. The man departs from his state of dependence as a son to become himself the head of a new house.

Before a man marries, his chief relationship is that of a son. His responsibility is towards his parents. But when he marries he leaves his father and mother and holds fast to his wife. From then on she becomes his chief care, for he and she are no longer two but one flesh.

God established marriage as the first of human relationships. He makes it clear for all later generations that a man should leave his father and mother and cling to his wife. It is just as clear that the woman should leave her parents to become fully devoted to her husband. The word "cling" is beautiful here. It involves the reality of love, of devotedness and of faithfulness.

I hardly need to say that this verse rules out everything opposed to complete confidence in such a relationship. The husband, if he acts in the spirit of it, has no secret from the one who is part of himself.

The man who loves his wife loves himself, and he is to leave other relationships to be joined to his wife. The Apostle quotes from Genesis. But he states clearly that this is a great mystery about Christ and the church. Christ, as Man, left all relations with Israel according to the flesh to secure His church.

This is sometimes applied to Christ's becoming man, but it is the opposite of that. It does not mean Christ taking our flesh and bone; it means our being made members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. It is our relationship to Christ risen from the dead, not Christ's relationship to us as a man on earth... It is our union with Him, not His incarnation.

The mystery is no longer "hidden in God"; it is disclosed. You must always keep this in mind when you read about the mystery — it is now revealed and nothing is left in the dark. God sets the secret out in His own light, and He expects the simplest Christian to receive it. Could any words do more to destroy the common idea that a mystery means something we cannot understand, and that a godly person dare not look into?

Here we have a special part only: the union of the Church with Christ, as of His body, His bones and His flesh. This union sets the Church in its own special and wonderful place, when all was headed up in Christ in heaven and earth. It is a special mystery to itself.

The emphasis of the Apostle's language is very remarkable. All the mysteries of God are the subject of His stewardship. Even so, the only other place where he speaks of a great mystery is where he describes the coming of the Living One in flesh, and its effects, under the title of the "mystery of godliness." Only one wonder is greater: the Son of God taking our flesh. Next to it stands this mystery, which declares the Church to be the acceptable spouse of Christ.

The relationship of husband and wife is not simply a convenient illustration. Ephesians 5 makes it clear that God modelled marriage on what He had in His mind: the relationship of Christ and the church. That relationship of Christ and His church was in the Divine mind in eternity, and in time God set up the relationship of husband and wife.

The particular way God made Eve out of Adam gives marriage a special holiness. The husband is to cherish his wife as part of his own being. It also supplies a beautiful picture of Christ's relationship with the Church. As Adam was not complete without Eve, so Christ, though Head over all, is not complete without the Church... As Adam fell into a deep sleep, so Christ went into death. As Eve was formed out of Adam, so the Church is given life with Christ, and has His own life.

The word "sacrament" comes from the Latin sacramentum, the oath of loyalty taken by Roman soldiers. So it is a church term, not a Scriptural one. The Latin translation uses it for the Greek word mysterion, mystery. It does so in Eph. 5:32, where the Apostle speaks of marriage. From this, the Roman Catholic church makes marriage a sacrament. The absurdity of this is clear. If the Greek word mysterion always meant a sacrament, the usual church sense of the word would be gone. Think of "the mystery of the gospel," "the mystery of godliness," "the mystery of iniquity." And if it does not always mean that, then on what authority in Eph. 5:32?

The full union is still only a hope. Yet the Christian husband or wife believes that such a relationship exists, and that belief is to govern their feelings about the merely natural tie. Loving from principle, in the power of faith, is something different from obeying a natural instinct... Here we are taught that among Christians, Christ is to be the one rule that governs every relationship a member of His body may be called to fill.

The apostle's "nevertheless" is very important. It has wide application. Clearly the Holy Spirit saw the need for such a qualifying, moderating, regulating clause when, having commented on the heavenly side of the subject of marriage, He adds the words of this verse.

Are not husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, earthly relationships? Unquestionably. True, they are formed on a heavenly model and to be carried out after a heavenly pattern... Still they are relationships in nature, formed on the earth and to be carried out in daily life. There will be no such relationships in heaven.

Of what use is it for a man to speak of lofty theories about the heavenly relationship of Christ and the church while he fails every day of his life in his earthly relationship as a husband? His wife is neglected. She may be treated coldly or harshly. She is not nourished, cherished, sustained and ministered to according to the heavenly model of Christ and His church.

The marriage relationship is set forth in the highest possible light... We are to walk in this light, and so the Christian husband is to love his wife as he loves himself — no small standard, that! — and the wife to reverence her husband.

The wife, being "one flesh" with him, he must nourish and cherish her, even as Christ the church. What heights and depths this comparison contains! It shows indeed that the debt of love is never paid, but always owed. And yet love delights to recognise it, and to be always paying it, lavishing care and tenderness on her who has become one with him in the view of God.

The word "fear" is the same as the one translated "reverence" in Ephesians. It teaches that her behaviour should recognise the position the husband holds in God's order and appointment. There is no thought of slavish dread, but simply the loving reverence which seeks to please and fears to offend. This grows naturally out of giving her husband his true place — his place as her head. So when she gives him respect, she also honours God's appointment.

Let her see that she reverences or, literally, fears her husband... Whatever the confidence of a wife in her husband, it is surely a fitting thing for a wife to fear him. Nor is this in the least incompatible with love... Here it is the fear that dreads to offend, and earnestly seeks the husband's honour... The principle always holds. As nothing justifies a husband in not loving his wife, so nothing justifies a wife in not reverencing her husband.

She reverences her husband (it might read, "Fear the husband," Eph. 5:33), while she knows that he loves her as Himself.

We are not to forget that the husband is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to reverently fear her husband. Here lies the true secret of married happiness, and it is because these scriptural exhortations are not heeded that so much sorrow and distress are found in many homes.

The subjection of children to their parents is part of God's order as seen in nature. Under the law, God attached a special blessing to keeping the commandment that required this duty. Christianity takes up the obligation, but transplants it from natural ground to divine ground... So the obligation of children, like that of wives, is tied to "the Lord." It is not just what nature dictates, though that is perfectly right. It is the acknowledgment of the Lord's claims as represented in the parents. The Lord Himself, who "learned obedience," was the beautiful example of this. It is recorded that in His life on earth He went with His parents to Nazareth and "was submissive to them."

Each of us acknowledges Christ as Lord, and we are to carry out the responsibilities of every relationship in the fear of the Lord. The wife is to be subject to her own husband "as to the Lord" (v. 22). Children are to obey their parents "in the Lord" (Ephesians 6:1). Fathers are to train their children in the "admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). Servants are to do "service as to the Lord" (Ephesians 6:7). And masters are to remember that they have a Master in heaven.

A Christian household runs easily where the young obey — above all, where they "obey in the Lord." Natural affection is sweet, and the lack of it is a sign of the dangerous last days. But it is not enough. Conscience is not enough either. It matters greatly in its place, but it is not an adequate guard, and it cannot be a spring of power. The Lord is. And how blessed it is when duty is clothed with Him and absorbed in Him!

Obedience is urged on two grounds. First, "For this is right" (Eph. 6:1). That is, God declares that obedience is a righteous thing for children to give their parents. It suits the place of a parent to command, and the place of a child to obey.

Even a little acquaintance with life shows that the first step in a downward career has often begun with disobedience to parents. Write the histories of all the poor prodigal sons and daughters who are now trying to satisfy their hunger with the "pods that the pigs ate." You will find that the root of all their misery goes back to self-will and refusal to submit in their father's home.

It is of the first importance to notice that children are set in direct personal responsibility to the Lord. They are placed under parental authority. At the same time they are under responsibility to Christ, and so they are to obey "in the Lord." This at once defines both the character and the limit of their duty. The commands of the parent, when rightly given, have God's authority behind them, so the child obeys not only the parent but also the Lord. On the other hand, no command could be binding if the child could not obey it in the Lord.

There may be very unusual circumstances in which a parent asks a child to do something morally wrong — stealing, cheating, or worshipping an idol. This would be a plain exception. In that case the child should refuse to obey the parent, firmly but without defiance. Ephesians 6:1 reads, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord." So the child should always obey unless he is told to disobey the Lord.

Obedience describes what children owe in conduct and action. "Honour" expresses something else — the settled feeling they should carry towards their parents. It is an unusually solemn word. It is the same word our blessed Lord uses when He says, "that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him." (John 5:23.) … To honour their parents, children must not only accept their position and their right to control them. They must also value and deeply respect them, as those the Lord has set in their place of authority.

Children being subject to their parents is part of God's order as seen in nature. Under the law God attached a special blessing to keeping the commandment that laid down this duty. Christianity takes up the obligation, but moves it from natural to divine ground… So the duty of children, like that of wives, is tied to "the Lord." It is not merely what nature dictates, though nature is perfectly right here. It is the recognition of the Lord's claims, as represented in the parents. The Lord Himself, who "learned obedience," was the beautiful example of this. Scripture records that in His lifetime He went with His parents to Nazareth and "was submissive to them."… The law appears here not to show that believers are under it, but to prove the special value God attached to this duty. He even stepped outside the ordinary character of law by joining a promise to it — a promise that shows the link between this duty and earthly blessing.

A father may be hard and cruel, but his children are still to honor him. A mother may even be irresponsible, but her children are to honor her — that is, to show proper respect. This is not a legal commandment for believers today, yet Ephesians 6:1 shows it still carries moral weight. Our motive is not to submit to legal demands, but to delight in pleasing God.

The command to honour father and mother was the first commandment with promise, as the apostle says when writing to the Ephesians. Other commandments had the threat of death attached to them. This one carried the promise of long life on the earth. The apostle's reasoning is this: if a Jewish child was not only bound, but encouraged by such a promise, to deeply respect his parents, how much more should a Christian child obey them — not merely in the law, but in the Lord.

There is no real difficulty about the force and limits of this command. The relationship it deals with belongs to this life, and so does the promise. What the land was to the Israelite by natural descent, the word of grace now is to those who share in the heavenly calling. For them, godliness holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come (1 Tim 4:8).

There is no doubt a government of God going on through all the present time, and in it these things are fulfilled in a measure… As Christians, they may be taken from the earth when, simply as obedient children, they would have been kept on it. But the Christian's loss is gain, as we know.

The penalty announced against the "stubborn and rebellious son," who would not "obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother," may seem very severe to us. But it shows how much importance God puts on this fifth commandment. If everyone kept it faithfully, there would be very little breaking of the five commandments that follow it.

Children being subject to their parents is part of God's order as seen in nature. Under the law, God attached a special blessing to keeping the commandment that laid down this duty. Christianity takes up the obligation, but moves it from natural ground to divine ground... The law is not brought in here to show that believers are under it. It is brought in to prove how much value God placed on this duty. He even stepped outside the ordinary character of law by joining the command to a promise, and that promise shows the link between this duty and earthly blessing.

If that is how God valued a child's honour for his parents under law, is it worth less now — now that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ makes His nature known and calls us into the relationship of sons to Himself? Respect for that old word met with His approval and reward in the righteous government of God. He watched over and prospered those who honoured their parents. So did His revelation of Himself in grace loosen the obligation for His children? Did it make the love that prompts and sustains such honour less precious in His own eyes now?

The apostle quotes the commandment along with the promise God attached to it in the Old Testament. He does not quote it as something absolutely true for the present time, but to show how important God held it to be... The promise reads "that it may go well with you and that you may live long on the earth" — or "in the land," which the connection would rather suggest. There is no doubt a government of God going on all through the present time, and in it these things have a measure of fulfilment... As Christians, they may be taken from the earth when, simply as obedient children, they would have been kept on it; but the Christian's loss is gain.

Paul refers to this promise, which has often been a difficulty to some, as though temporal promises now belonged to a certain line of conduct. The citation only shows us how much God valued obedience under the law. However, I believe there is a blessing belonging to obedience to parents. But in the order of the government of God, in the ways of God with us personally in this world, there are important things which modify this.

There is no real difficulty about the force and limits of this command. The relationship it deals with belongs to this life, and so does the promise. What the land was to the Israelite by natural descent, the word of grace now is to the one who shares the heavenly calling. For such a person, godliness holds a promise for the life that is now, as well as for the life to come. It is well with us, and we know and enjoy the Father's favour, as long as we are walking as obedient children in His light.

Israel soon failed badly here. Absalom, son of David, rebelled against his father and tried to kill him, and his days were not long on the earth. A father may be hard and cruel, but his children are still to honour him. A mother may even be irresponsible, but her children are to honour her — that is, to show proper respect... Our motives are not to be those of submitting to legal demands, but of delighting to please God.

This next group in the household is unlike the others. Society, not nature, set up the relationship. The servants named here were slaves. Whether slavery is right or wrong, humane or cruel, is not the point here. Christianity takes people in the social position where it finds them, and shows how they may live Christ in that place. Its work is not to remodel society, but to teach the believer to display Christ.

Even if the care of God had not provided such an answer, one thing would still hold. Conditions are easier for servants now. To use that as a reason to deny their duty to their masters would be ungrateful and base. The ideas of liberty in our day have changed the state of husbands and wives, and of parents and children, almost as much as that of masters and servants. But wherever the relationship exists, the duty remains for each and all.

The same principle applies to employees in any business. They are to take honest care to carry out every duty of their working relationships faithfully, with a sincere heart, as to Christ. If Christ is the Object of our service, it will never become a burden.

As you might expect from the very name, the primary duty of the servant is obedience... and, as with children, the obedience required is almost unlimited... The only limit lies in their higher obligations to the Lord. Scripture does not state this outright, but it clearly implies it when it says, "You are serving the Lord Christ." Up to that limit the servant owes full obedience — so long as the command does not intrude on what he owes to the Lord as His servant... In truth it is the Lord's rule in the household, worked out through the master, whom He holds responsible for its order.

The words "with fear and trembling" do not in the least mean the slavish fear of man that lays a snare. That hardly needs saying. Such service could not be done "with a sincere heart," nor "as you would Christ." Besides, the next words rule this out too: servants are not to work only when watched, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ.

I would point to Philippians 2 and 1 Corinthians 2, and places like them. They show that we ought not to lower "with fear and trembling" to mere dread of punishment. It is a sense of our own weakness, joined with a sense of solemn responsibility before God.

The similar noun aplotees occurs eight times, and is translated in different ways: three times as "simplicity," twice as "singleness of heart," twice as "liberality," once as "bountifulness." It means literally "one-foldedness," a single, simple structure. So its meaning in Scripture is that there should be no hidden motive and no double-dealing in what a Christian does. He should be what people call "transparently honest."

Here again the obligation moves out of the range of the old creation and links to Christ in glory. Like wives and children, the servants are called to give their obedience "as you would Christ." That at once lifts their duties above the legal force of the old system and above the legal contract of today. Even a slave's duties gained dignity and sweetness the moment he could say, "I am doing this to please Christ, not for reward and not to escape punishment."

How good it is to know that our God graciously stoops to connect His name and His glory with the humblest duties of ordinary home life! This is what gives dignity, interest and freshness to every little act, from morning till night... It is not working for wages, but serving the Lord Christ.

"Not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers." The worker's eye is not to be on the master's face. If it is, he will be tempted to please the master, and so become a people-pleaser. The smallest duty loses its value before God if he does it for men instead of for Him. That would be walking by sight, and not by faith.

This guards against a common fault the apostle calls "eye-service." A Christian who wants to please the Lord works with the same energy and faithfulness behind his employer's back as in front of his face. He will not waste time because his master is away, or the foreman is in the next room. He will not put a fine shine on the boots he makes while the soles are mostly brown paper.

What then guards against this eye-service that only pleases men? The lifting thought that we serve the Lord Christ. Our work is for the eye of the Lord in heaven, not only for the eye of the master on earth. Even the dullest work of the lowliest slave is still work done for the Lord of all.

Here again the duty belongs no longer to the old order of this world, but to Christ in glory. Like wives and children, the servants are told to obey as they would obey Christ. That at once lifts their duties above both the force of the old law and the work contract of today. A slave's duties became noble and sweet at once if he could say, "I am doing this, not for reward, and not to escape punishment, but to please Christ."

So the servants stand in the Lord's presence. They are the servants of Christ. They are to do the will of God from the heart, and to keep their eye on the Lord alone. Remembering this is the secret of all happy, cheerful service and of all true obedience. It also frees them from depending on what their masters are like. Christian servants would avoid many traps if they kept this in mind.

Is it not worth noticing how wide and deep the liberty in Christ is? There is nothing violent here, and nothing revolutionary. Yet the change is complete, absolute, and final in its principle and character. A person still has to grow in valuing it and showing it. That growth matters, because it is Christianity worked out in practice… What a gift this is to the Christian slave! What a strong motive for a man who already knows he is free in Christ, with a freedom far above his circumstances.

The grace of God, which brings salvation to men of all ranks and degrees, does not need a change in a person's position in life. It teaches us how to make every position beautiful… People cannot help thinking of Christ when they see His people doing the hardest and most tiring work cheerfully, and without fault, for His sake. Self-interest pushes people to work well. A Christian should work better still, and more sincerely, out of love for Christ.

Nowhere is the honour of Christ so closely tied to the conduct of the believer as in the case of the servant. The hardships of his lot, and the injustice and cruelty he might suffer, only made the power of the life of Christ in him stand out more. And no one else receives so clear a promise of reward: "knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free." What comfort for the suffering slave! He can look past the drudgery and unpaid labour of his lot here, and know that faithful work done gladly for the Lord's sake is not, and never will be, forgotten.

Did they serve unreasonable and cruel men? How lifting and steadying it was, then, to look past the man to the Lord, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive it back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or free. If the reward fails here, it will surely come at the judgment seat of Christ. Christians are not called to reform the world as they pass through it, but to behave as heavenly people in the middle of it. These principles, though addressed to slaves, apply just as strongly to employed servants.

This principle applies to the poor slave, who is now Christ's servant and so truly free. Suppose the Lord has given him a lowly and trying service. That will be no dishonour to him in the day of final reward. Servant and master will stand together before their common Master. He will reward them not according to the place they filled, but according to the faithfulness with which they filled it. The Master then will be One who Himself took the very lowest place to serve us all.

All service, whatever its character, carries responsibility to the Lord, and here lies the encouragement. His eye is on the faithful servant. He marks his discouragements, trials and sorrows. He holds him up by His approval now, and by the hope of "the reward of the inheritance" he will receive at last from his Lord's hands. Soon He will settle accounts with all His servants. At His judgment seat (2 Cor. 5:10) each of us will receive what is due for what we have done in the body, whether good or bad.

Hope and fear each have their healthy influence as springs that regulate conduct. Verse 8 states the first of these clearly. It reminds the Christian slave, and encourages him in doing good: whatever good anyone does, he will receive it back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or free. On the other hand, the next verse warns the master that there is One in heaven whom he also serves, and who shows no partiality.

Not even the cup of cold water given in His name will be forgotten on that coming day. It is not in the heart of Christ to forget the least thing, however simple, done by the humblest of His disciples out of love to His name. And even if the service never gets done, He remembers the honest desire to serve and please Him. Love rewards, but working for reward and working for love are two different things. The labourer in the vineyard who worked for his coin got his coin, but he did not get his master's smile. It is the Christian's happy privilege to work for love.

A Christian master and mistress may realise in their consciences the authority of their Master in heaven, and in their hearts His goodness and kindness. As far as they do, they will "do the same things" to their servants that they wish their servants would do to them. They will give their servants "that which is just" — a matter of conscience towards Christ. And not only what is just, but also what is "equal" (or "fair"), as a matter of the heart in kindness.

Wilful neglect or careless work displeases a master. Everyone knows how strongly he is then tempted to speak harshly, and even to threaten punishment. How many masters have dismissed a valuable servant this way! Feelings rose, the words came out, and pride, it may be, refused to take them back. So the servant has left. The Scriptures show a better way — refraining from threats.

Masters should not use threats either. Threats usually come out of temper. If the master does not carry them out, his authority grows weaker. If he does carry them out to keep his authority, it often hurts both master and servant.

This verse should read, I believe, "their Master and yours is in the heavens." That adds a point of importance: both master and servant are responsible to the one Lord, and will stand together at the same judgment seat.

They will govern, and govern firmly, as they should, because God has entrusted their authority to them. But they will remember that those under them answer directly to their Master in heaven. Along with themselves, those servants are the Lord's servants. So in this respect there is equality, despite the difference in their positions on earth.

The words "knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven" make the principle clear. The Lord's authority limits the authority of masters, and indeed masters are subject to it. So masters are supreme in their own area, and may call for obedience that far. But if they try to push into the wider circle where the Lord alone is supreme, their servants are released from their obligations.

Earth recognises and permits social distinctions, but they have no existence in Christ's judgment. Even a Christian master might forget that. Master and servant will all answer to Him. A low position might cause discouragement; to that person He holds out the prospect of reward for faithful service. A high position might lead to oppression; to that person He holds out the judgment that will follow an abuse of power.

The Christian religion has found its way into the middle of evil, and given liberty where there was none. It has given liberty even to poor slaves, without taking them out of their state of bondage. The gospel does not touch that position. Paul acknowledges slavery as a right when he sends the slave Onesimus back to his owner. He tells that owner that in grace he would treat this slave as a brother.

Believing bosses should be just with their employees and give them fair wages. They should give what is just for the body, the soul and the spirit of the employee. These commands reflect the thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ for the workplace.

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might." This is like the first sound of a trumpet. To what does it call the saints — does it call you? Not to survey the enemy's stronghold, or to show you what you have to overcome, but to turn all your thoughts gently to the Lord Himself. Before it says a word about enemies or conflicts, it calls you to survey your strength. That strength is the mighty Lord, seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly places.

The Apostle points our thoughts to the power that is for us. Only then does he describe the power against us. To face this conflict we must always remember that all our strength is in the Lord. Our difficulty is often to realise that we have no strength in ourselves. We would like to be strong in numbers, strong in gifts, or strong in the power of some forceful leader. But our real and only strength is "in the Lord and in the strength of His might".

The word "Finally" (older translations read "Finally, my brothers") shows that what we have considered leads up to this climax. On our own we are no match for the enemy. But the Lord has met him and overcome him. If we are strong in Him, our very weakness makes room for the one power that can defeat him. He showed the might of His strength when He went down into the enemy's territory, overcame him, and led a host of captives. We have to meet a foe whose power the Lord has broken, but who still tries to overcome us by his tricks.

"Be strong in the Lord" means: be wholly subject to the Lord's authority. That subjection is true strength. It opens to us the power of His might — an inward, living strength that evil cannot overcome, even when we look weak.

The prayer of the first chapter brings before us the power of God's might. God has raised Christ from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places, "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come". Now, says the Apostle, that is the "immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe". The power against us is far greater than our own. But the power toward us surpasses every power that opposes us.

The real idea here is a passive one. "Be strengthened in the Lord." There can be no real difficulty in understanding this. Who has not talked over their troubles with a friend, and come away stronger for the sympathy and advice? It is far more true of the Lord. When we keep coming to Him, His power flows into us — power greater than anything that can stand against us in the spiritual battle.

All our blessings are in the heavenly places in Christ. Satan and his angels are still there, so we have to fight for every bit of ground we hold... God gave the whole land of promise to Israel... But they had to fight for every inch of it to hold it in practice. So the heavenly places are ours — but how much have we laid hold of?

The enemy contests the highest position hardest. Where we are most clearly Christian, he will oppose us with all his power... When Israel reached Canaan, the land God had given them, that was exactly where they had to fight. They had to fight to possess what God had already made theirs. So we must remember what this conflict is about. We will hardly feel it unless we are set on possessing what is already ours.

We have to stand, not so much against the devil's strength — Christ dealt with that — as against his tricks. The truth is that the cross made him a defeated enemy for us, and we always have the right to treat him that way... His tricks are what we should always fear most. To resist them we need to put on the full armour of God.

Many people can stand his roar, yet his tricks beat them. Israel could look calmly at the high walls of Jericho, because they knew God was with them. But the crafty Gibeonites, a neighbouring people who fooled them, beat them completely. How treacherous our poor hearts are! We cannot trust them!

A trick is something that looks fair and innocent, and yet lures the soul away from the path of obedience. How often the devil tries to lead those who have the truth into a side-path. At the start it turns away so slightly that objecting to it would seem fussy. Each of us can ask one simple question that exposes every trick: "If I follow this course, where will it lead me?"

God gives this armour to the Christian, so that he may be for God in the very place where the devil's tricks are at work. Not one piece of it is against God, not one piece stands between the soul and Him. God puts Himself behind the armour, as if He said, "I am here behind the armour with you." It comes from Him, to be used for Him.

But there is a full suit of armour that He Himself made. It can resist every weapon the enemy's craft has forged against us. No part of it is like the gear made to stop physical weapons. You cannot buy it in a shop and put it on like a coat or a hat. It is all shaped in the soul, and is spiritual in nature, and no weapon of the enemy can pierce any part of it.

The armour has to be "put on". Being Christians does not mean we have put it on. The armour is provided for us as Christians, but it remains with us to put it on. It is not enough to look at the armour, or to admire it, or to be able to describe it.

It is no good having part of it on and another part missing. Satan will be quick to notice the gap, and we cannot be rightly for God if we are not for Him in every way.

But there are times when the enemy makes special attacks on God's people. He wants to rob them of particular truths. Such attacks make an evil day for the people of God. To meet them we need to have on the whole armour of God. It is too late to be putting on the armour in the middle of the struggle.

First, we are told to remember that it is not against flesh and blood that we wrestle. The devil may indeed use men and women to oppose the Christian and deny the truth. But we have to look past those people and see the one who is using them. At Philippi, a city where Paul preached, a human woman opposed him. But Paul saw the evil spirit that was moving her. In the power of the Name of Jesus Christ he took up the fight with that spiritual wickedness. He commanded the evil spirit to come out of her (Acts 16:16-18).

The translators showed how strange the thought was to them. They put "high" into the text instead of "heavenly." But here the devil and his angels stand where the armies of Canaan stood when Joshua and Israel fought them.

The conflict, then, is against Satan and his hosts, whatever the instrument used. Principalities and powers are spiritual beings in a position of rule with power to carry out their will... Toward the world they are the rulers of the darkness of this world. Toward Christians they are the "spiritual power of wickedness in the heavenly places". The world is in darkness. It does not know God. These spiritual beings rule and direct that darkness — the darkness of paganism, philosophy, so-called science and unbelief. They direct the superstitions, corruptions and modern errors of the Christian world too. The Christian is brought into the light... So the opposition to the Christian has a religious character. Spiritual beings try to rob him of the truth of his heavenly calling. They try to draw him into a path that denies that truth, or into conduct that does not match it.

For us, the fight is not with flesh and blood, as Israel's fight was. Our blessings are spiritual in the heavenly places... Israel had passed through the wilderness — had crossed the Jordan; the manna had stopped; they ate the grain of the land... So it is with the Christian... We are sitting in the heavenly places in Him, so that we may enjoy the things of heaven as the fruit of our own country. But conflict is before us, if we want to enjoy them practically... The enemy is subtle. We have to withstand his tricks even more than his power.

Let us name a few of these tricks. Teaching that breeds unbelief. Empty superstitions. Evil doctrines. False ideas about where the world's history is going. Here we are not dealing with our own desires. We are in conflict with the enemy's direct attacks... Here we stand face to face with Satan, with the deceit of unrighteousness, and with false teaching. These are the things we are to resist.

There are "the rulers of the darkness of this world." A closer rendering is "the world-rulers of this darkness." These are Satanic authorities and powers that rule this world of darkness. We might well fear them if we were not under the protection of the Lord Almighty. The word translated Almighty is literally the All-ruler. The world-rulers may be great. But they are nothing in the presence of the All-ruler. It is like this world: great to us, yet tiny beside all things — the mighty universe of God.

The first thing to notice is that the Holy Spirit calls on us to take up the full armour of God. Neither the strength nor the wisdom of man is of any use in this conflict. Since we have to do with the hosts of Satan on the one hand, we need on the other "the whole armour of God." Our natural character and habits may not matter where the Spirit of God is at work to save our souls in His grace. But they matter greatly in the presence of a foe who knows how to take advantage of every unguarded opening.

It is of the greatest importance for us to understand that this armour is given to us on God's part, given to the Christian by God so that he may be for God in the very place where the wiles of the devil are at work. Not one bit of the armour is against God, not one bit of it stands between the soul and Him. God puts Himself, as it were, behind the armour, as if He said, "I am here behind the armour with you."

The armour has to be "put on." It by no means follows that because we are Christians we have put on the armour. It remains with us to put it on. It is not enough to look at the armour, or to admire it, or to be able to describe it; we must "put on the whole armour of God."

Here the apostle repeats the exhortation of verse 11. His own mind is deeply impressed with the frightful array of our foes... "Therefore take to yourselves the whole armour of God." No part must be left unguarded. The enemy knows how to take advantage of the smallest opening.

In a general sense the whole period of Christ's absence is an "evil day" for the believer. There are, however, occasions when the enemy makes special attacks upon the people of God, seeking to rob them of special truths. Such attacks constitute for the people of God an evil day. To meet these we need to have on the whole armour of God.

But there are moments when this power is allowed to show itself in a more particular way. The enemy then uses the world against the saints. He darkens the light which shines in it from God, and he troubles and leads astray the minds of professing Christians and even of believers. Our part is to do all that the confession of His name requires, whatever it costs, and to be found standing when the storm and the evil day are past.

The season of conflict is not the time for putting on the armour. If I am merely trying to grasp and get hold of Christ while in conflict, I cannot have peace of soul. Then there will be no power "to withstand in the evil day." ... You will never fight Satan with energy so long as you are asking, "Am I on the Lord's side or not?" "Is God for me or against me?"

How often the victory of faith is too great for the faith that won it! A believer who has defeated the enemy for a long time, and freshly too, may tire of the struggle and turn aside into a path that looks easier. He then proves his own folly and his very great danger, even if in the end God delivers him by pure mercy. So resisting is not enough. "Having done all," having finished everything required, we are still "to stand."

We are in possession of our place, and our business is to hold it... It is not a matter of gaining ground on Satan as if he were in possession. The object of the enemy is to turn us away from this by whatever trick and manoeuvre. So in conflict the matter is to stand against the wiles, and having done all to stand.

The true sense of these words supposes not only a settled position, but the soul in activity at the call of the Holy Spirit. Much harm has come from treating this passage as if it were about standing. It is something quite different. It is practical arming and conflict. It rests on the most blessed standing anywhere revealed in the New Testament, and it makes a fitting close to the letter that reveals that standing.

Before God our righteousness is perfect. It is Christ Himself, and we are the righteousness of God in Him. But we do not need armour there. We are sitting in the heavenly places: all is peace, all is perfect. But here we need armour, real practical armour, and first of all to have the loins girded with truth. The loins are the place of strength when they are properly girded, but they stand for the intimate affections and movements of the heart. If we let our hearts wander where they like, instead of staying in communion with God, Satan has an easy hold on us.

Girding means applying truth to the soul. The word deals closely with the will and with the movements of the heart. This is arming for conflict in a most practical and effective way. But we must do it in the presence of God, before we meet the enemy. The soldier's belt holds the rest of his armour close to him, so he can march and is strong to fight... There is also a reference to an eastern custom. People there tied their long loose robes up around the waist, so the cloth would not get in the way while they travelled or worked.

To know the truth and be set free by the truth is one thing; to have our loins girded with truth is another. It is the intimate dealing of truth with the soul, so that there is no laxity of heart or indulged will, but instead the affections and judgment braced up to Christ and the things of Christ.

Girding up the loins means getting ready for action. Truth is to set the limits of all we do. The truth is to govern us. God gives us the truth, but we must put it on... God's word is truth. But the truth in the Bible will not defend us. What defends us is truth applied in a practical way to all we do.

The breastplate of righteousness is not divine righteousness. It is uprightness of heart before Him, a clear conscience in simple uprightness in what we are doing... There is no good conscience without it. If you do not have a good conscience, Satan soon knows you have a bad one. He will touch you on that point and play on it, for he is a master of tricks.

The righteousness we have been speaking about is quite different from the righteousness of God. In that righteousness we stand accepted in Christ Jesus. He is our righteousness, complete and unchangeable in the presence of God — but not as a breastplate. All conflict is over there. Here we still need practical righteousness, so that we can fight our enemy the devil and win. Still, the righteousness of God which we are made in Christ Jesus is the foundation of the other.

This armour is not like the armour people once wore on the battlefield. An armourer made that armour for them, and they put it on when they were about to fight. You put this armour on from the inside, like the feathers of a bird. It all has to do with our practical state. So if truth has not girded your loins, you will never wear the armour of righteousness, because this is practical righteousness.

The feet of the soldier of Christ — that is, every believer — must be steadied and strengthened by the preparation the gospel of peace gives. Only then can he hold his ground in such a contest. In short, the believer must have "peace with God," which is the fruit of believing the gospel of peace. Only think of a soldier going into battle badly shod, or with torn boots, especially over stony or muddy ground! How can he hold his ground against the enemy with his feet blistered and wounded?

"Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Some insist this means going out to preach the gospel; it is nothing of the kind. It is the soul walking up and down in that blessed avenue "the gospel of peace" — day after day, in real life. You can go out and preach the gospel, and announce it, without being there yourself. God may even bless it. But when He speaks of the armour, He does not mean mere ability to go out and announce it. He means you yourself in the full, blessed, daily, hourly enjoyment of the gospel of peace.

It is a wonderful privilege to carry with us wherever we go the message of the gospel of peace. God has given this privilege to all His saints; it is not the preacher's alone… This preparation is not only for speaking the word of the gospel of peace. It is also so that peace matching the gospel marks every step we take.

This does not mean preaching the gospel to others, Christian service or soul winning. Through the gospel we have perfect peace with God. We know that God is for us; who then can be against us? This perfect peace, in which we stand, is our preparation… Israel wandered over desert rocks and desert sands for forty years with shoes that did not wear out. We too travel through the wilderness with our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. That peace will last as long as God Himself… He cannot touch anyone who rests in the peace of God and trusts in the God of peace.

The peace of the gospel is to apply itself to all the circumstances of the way… And as the shoe would arm us against the defilement of the way, so it guards against its dust and dirt. Can anything better keep us from falling under the power of circumstances — and so inevitably being defiled by them — than the quiet assurance that our God and Father holds them in His hand? To be ruffled and disturbed by them throws us off balance. We then try our own methods of putting things right, and our methods grow less careful as unbelief gains on us.

Selfishness will always be a quarrelsome thing; it says, I must maintain my rights. But the Christian carries peace, because he has peace within; he carries the spirit and character of Christ through the world… A man can walk untouched through everything they can bring against him; his feet are shod.

Our feet must have battle shoes on, for the soles of the feet are sensitive… We need something that protects us against sensitive feelings that can lead us into wrong paths and wrong company. That protection is "the preparation of the gospel of peace"… Let us watch that our shoes are always on our feet. Then we are not so easily hurt by the words, actions or inactions of our brothers and sisters in Christ, or of unbelievers.

The shield was the one defence the soldier could not do without. Without it, the rest of his armour could not protect him from missiles. It is the same in our spiritual warfare. We cannot enjoy truth, righteousness or peace unless faith is in active use.

This is to be "over all". Faith in God, faith in His promises, faith in His Word, simple childlike faith is to cover the head and the body like a great shield.

This means the confidence in God Himself which the soul has every right to hold, and is encouraged to hold. I say, in Himself, because it cannot be separated from the godly and righteous state that the earlier parts of the armour show. Yet it is a confidence that springs only from what God is known to be in His own nature and character.

It is the full assurance of the heart in the love of God, according to the revelation which He has given of Himself. "God for us" should be written across the Christian shield… Notice, this is more than the faith that simply receives God's testimony about Christ for salvation — though of course it rests on that.

FIERY DARTS are darts tipped with material that catches fire in flight or on impact. They burn as well as pierce.

If you put down your shield in front of you, and the man next to you puts down his in front of him, and so on and so on, you have a wall. It is a position that cannot be broken. That seems to be the picture here. Notice that they are fiery darts, not just darts. In Scripture fire often pictures God in judgment: "our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29).

Faith can quench nothing but its opposite, which is unbelief. All the darts of the Wicked One, fiery as they are, are of that kind… The cruellest wounds the soul can suffer are suggestions of unbelief. Outward trials are nothing next to a dart that is fiery in itself, and whose heat dries up the moisture of the spirit. It does this by cutting off our view of Him who is our only confidence and joy.

Satan's darts are many and varied. They include subtle deceit, insinuation, flattery, intimidation, wrong teaching or wrong emphasis, lack of balance, working on the emotions, enticements to sin, and many more. Only an active, watchful confidence in the Lord will keep us ready to meet and quench these darts as we should.

His wife said to Job, "Curse God and die." That was a cruel thrust. But Job met it with the shield of faith, the very thing our verse describes: "Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:9-10). And the fiery dart fell to the ground.

The two weapons the Lord used — the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit — we may use also. Indeed, we are told to take hold of them so that we may "extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one."

You cannot hold up the shield of faith if you do not have the inside armour on. That means the belt of truth around your waist and the gospel of peace under your feet, enjoyed here and now. Then you have power to hold up the shield of faith.

The helmet rests on the head. It covers the head, the place where we think. Assurance of salvation — past, present and future — is this helmet. As we wear it, and as it rules our mind and heart, the devil's tricks cannot land on us. We have a salvation that is secure... It is sad to see thousands of believers without the helmet of salvation. They have no assurance of salvation, so they are easy prey to the devil's tricks.

This surely comes from the Old Testament prophecy which speaks of Christ putting on "righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head" (Isa. 59:17). But with Christ it is the righteousness He carries out in judgment. It is the salvation He brings as the deliverer of His people. With us it is the righteousness and salvation we have in Him.

The helmet of salvation is the bold and joyful awareness of the full deliverance God has worked for us in Christ. This crowns the various parts of the armour already noticed. So what follows is not another means of defence — the defence is complete — but the weapon for attacking the enemy: the sword of the Spirit, God's word. How wise it is to place it last of all!... If we do not know this order in practice, we make the word a mere toy, or a whip for self, instead of the sword of the Spirit; we misuse it and it has no power.

Nothing is more dangerous than to use the word if it has not touched my conscience. I put myself in Satan's hands if I go beyond what I have from God, or beyond what my soul holds.

The helmet comes before the sword: without this confidence, this assurance, we cannot even handle the sword of the Spirit. Without it Satan can use even the word of God to overthrow us. This word is called the sword of the Spirit, not of the understanding, but of the Spirit in us. It is the Spirit of God who alone can handle the sword of the word. It is the Spirit who recalls the suitable passage at the moment of temptation... We may reason about the things of God, but reasoning does nothing for us against the enemy. The Spirit must act in us and apply the word.

Satan knows how to use Scripture against the truth. A piece of Scripture taken out of its connection has kept many a saint in bondage, pressed him hard, and wounded him. That is not the sword of the Spirit. So the Word of God is not always the sword of the Spirit. But the sword of the Spirit must always and only be the Word of God.

The sword of the Spirit is "the word (literally, the saying) of God" — not the word of God in general, but the word that applies, the word spoken at the right time. It is not the whole Bible we are to bring to someone, but the word that fits his actual condition. This needs wisdom and the Spirit's guidance.

The Christian cannot "fight the good fight" by natural wisdom or powers of argument. In the wilderness our Lord defeated Satan by using the sword of the Spirit. Three times He quoted from Deuteronomy, and began each quotation with the words, "It is written." We need to know our Bibles to use our sword.

Last of all comes activity for others, just as before there was dependence for ourselves… What a gracious way to encourage and strengthen believers! It gives them a sense of the value of their prayers, both in God's sight and in fellowship with the most blessed apostle God ever gave the church. … He felt his own need and the need of the work.

No doubt, as an apostle of Christ, he was in one sense independent of their prayers… But he felt two things too deeply: the reality of his own weakness, and the blessing of spiritual fellowship. So he valued with all his heart every genuine expression of sympathy towards him.

Great servant of God though he was, he wanted the prayers of others who were not so great as he was. But he asked for prayer with one aim. Not that he might be let out of prison and his circumstances made easier, but that he might finish his ministry in full, even as a prisoner.

It is beautiful to see the apostle here. He does not rely on having been filled again and again with the Spirit for special testimony. He asks instead that, now as always, he may magnify Christ in his body with all boldness… Notice that he does not ask them to pray that he may be filled with the Spirit, but that he may speak the Word with boldness.

It was not good news with a plain and obvious meaning, as in earlier days — the keeping of promises that belonged to the age or ages of this world. It was the mystery that none of this world's rulers knew, or they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

When he was free he thought of himself more as an ambassador of the Gospel, urging people to be reconciled. Now, as a prisoner, he sees himself as an ambassador of the mystery — the mystery he opened up briefly in the earlier part of the letter. It is called "the mystery of the Gospel" because the one springs out of the other and follows on from it. If we do not understand the Gospel, we cannot understand the mystery.

We learn from this that a particular spiritual gift is not enough to make Christian ministry prosper. Much more is needed. The deep distrust of himself that always stayed with this chosen vessel of God's grace was, in fact, what kept him morally safe… By the phrase "mystery of the Gospel" we are to understand the full teaching of the grace of God in the calling of the Church, which is the most striking display of that grace.

Paul wanted to keep on with this precious ministry, so he asked the saints to pray. He knew well that the enemy would be glad to silence this wonderful truth. In these last days the truth of the mystery is so little known among God's people. Should there not be constant prayer to God that this precious truth may be announced with boldness in the power of the Spirit?

A Christian of Asia who accompanied Paul on his last visit to Jerusalem. The apostle sent him from Rome to the Ephesians and to the Colossians. After Paul's release, he sent him to Ephesus again. Paul describes him as a beloved brother, a faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord. So he was the kind of man Paul could send with confidence on these missions to encourage the saints.

Tychicus carried the letter addressed to the Colossians. It was written to correct the evils which had arisen in that church, and to warn them against the wicked doctrines being spread among them. Onesimus the slave carried that beautiful little letter addressed to his master Philemon. And at the same time when Tychicus and Onesimus left Rome, Paul handed to Tychicus the letter to the Ephesians. Never before and never after were such weighty and blessed documents entrusted to human messengers.

There is a temptation to give Ephesians the same date... But I think the visit of Tychicus to Ephesus was a separate one, made at a time when Timothy was not with the apostle at Rome. Timothy is not joined with Paul in the opening address, as he likely would have been if the letter had been written at the same time as Colossians.

Writing to the saints at Ephesus, he describes Tychicus as "a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord" (see also Colossians 4:7). That is no small verdict, above all when we remember that the Holy Spirit inspired it. And it was a remarkable mercy to the aged apostle to have, at this moment, such a servant to send on his behalf to Ephesus.

The service of God can be entrusted only to faithful men. If they are not faithful, how can they be qualified as leaders? So Paul, like Nehemiah, surrounded himself with servants of Christ who had been tested and found faithful (1 Corinthians 4:17; Colossians 4:7, 9; 1 Timothy 1:12).

Walking in full affection himself, he counted on people caring for him; walking as Paul did, this is taken for granted. Here, and in his letter to the saints at Colossae, he speaks of having sent Tychicus to declare his state — so that they might know his affairs, and how he was doing. We also, if we walk in the love of the Spirit, can always count on others being interested in our "affairs." In the world it would be pride to suppose others are anxious about our concerns. But the saint knows the love of the Spirit in the saints, and counts on it.

The mission of Tychicus was not only to deliver this letter safely. Through the presence of a faithful minister in the Lord, the saints at Ephesus were to enjoy a double comfort. They would hear a fuller account of Paul's affairs from the mouth of one who had just left him. They would also have his own ministry in the gospel while he stayed among them. The language of these two verses is interesting, too. It shows the broad distinction between what the apostle wrote under the direct inspiration of God, and what he might say to his brothers by word of mouth through a familiar messenger. No doubt they listened eagerly to what Tychicus might say about Paul and his fellow believers at Rome. But his letter was of another kind of interest. In reading that, they read the word of God.

He himself walked in full affection, so he counted on people caring for him. Anyone walking as Paul did takes this for granted. Here too (vv. 21, 22), and in writing to the believers at Colosse, he says he has sent Tychicus to tell them how he is — "that you may know my affairs, and how I do." He takes their love for granted. We also, if we walk in the love of the Spirit, can always count on others caring about our "affairs." In the world it would be pride to think that others were anxious about our concerns. But the believer knows the love of the Spirit in fellow believers, and counts on it.

He counted on their love — not only in their prayers for him, but in their wanting to know how he was doing… What a contrast to the spirit of men is the mighty, gracious working of divine love in the heart! It counts on the tender concern of believers for the man who served and loved them in the Lord. Man, left to himself, would either be cold and hard, or would fear that people would call him vain, as if his affairs could interest anyone else. But Christ changes everything for the hearts of those who have received Him.

This is where the letter really ends. He simply adds a few words about himself and his own affairs, which he counts on the believers to care about. So Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will tell them everything of this kind. And he has sent him not simply so that they would know his affairs, but so that their own hearts would be encouraged.

Then he tells them that he is sending Tychicus, "that he may encourage your hearts." Oh, if we could be like that! — in prison, yet able to comfort others… That is just like Paul: sending a cheering word from a prison in Rome to the believers at Ephesus. What cannot the Spirit of God work?

Here is a worker who gave Paul nothing but cause for gratitude. Writing to the believers at Ephesus, he describes Tychicus as "a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord" (see also Colossians 4:7). That is no small verdict, and we should remember that the Holy Spirit inspired it. It was a rare mercy for the aged Apostle to have such a servant to send to Ephesus on his behalf at this moment.

It is beautiful to see how tender his care is for the feelings of believers. He counts on their affection. He sends a man who would help them grow in their souls, and who would also meet their anxious longing for news about his own position and circumstances… The personal messages and greetings, so beautiful in some of the letters, are missing here. Tychicus himself probably carried them.

Thankfully, life is NOT all battle. There is conflict, in dead earnest at times, but not always. At the close of this wonderful letter the apostle steps back from the battle, if we may say so, to enjoy the "home of the heart". That home is LOVE, and in these closing verses there are four references to love... In the first two we have love on what we might call the horizontal level. In verse 23 we come to the vertical... Perhaps most of us know that Ephesians is really a letter of love (about 14 times).

He then asks for them peace with love and faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. When He left His own, the Lord left them His peace. Paul wants the saints to enjoy this peace. All that we have is the sovereign gift of God, and comes to us through the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is worth noticing the significant addition of the words "with faith" in this salutation. In this way the Spirit keeps reminding us what our blessings and enjoyments really are: part of the heritage of God. Without the active exercise of faith there can be no felt share in the love of God or in His peace. Both are ours in Him who gave them to us in His Son. But to enjoy them — and so to rise above the corrupting and the discouraging influence of present things day after day — we must walk daily by faith and not by sight.

The closing salutation fits: "Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptness." Without the Father and the Lord, what is anything else? Without incorruptness, even love — or what people call love — would be worthless.

He closes with the salutation: "Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Then he widens it to fit the character of this letter, which is hardly a local one: "Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption."

What a full and beautiful prayer to close this letter! This letter opens up all the purposes of love in God's heart towards us, the wonderful blessedness of our standing "in Christ," the walk that suits our heavenly calling, and the weapons provided for our heavenly warfare. It is doubtful that the "Amen" belongs to the original text. But it will surely be the fitting response of every believing heart.

This greeting does not view them as highly advanced or deeply taught Christians. It does not point to their exalted position, or to God's most wonderful purpose in Christ, which He has made them the subjects of. It simply speaks to them as those who "love our Lord Jesus Christ," and love Him "in sincerity." Grace, he says, be to all such.

"Uncorruptness" goes far beyond "sincerity," because it brings in what is due to God and Christ, and not merely the honest character and way of the man who teaches. The related word is just as weakly represented in Ephesians 6:24; for people might be sincere enough and still spoil the "incorruption" which there qualifies the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice how Paul qualifies that love. It is to be "in sincerity": pure, genuine, uncorrupted affection for our Lord Jesus Himself. It is not the kiss of a traitorous heart. It is not the gushing words of someone who utters smooth sentiments. It is the warm beating of a soul that cherishes its object, and values it more than position or service or honour of any kind.

Only there must be purity of heart and motive. The last words of verse 24, "in sincerity," or "in incorruption," are a reminder to us. Even in the early days when Paul was writing, what was corrupt had found a way in among those who professed to be Christian. To love the Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption is the hallmark of reality, the fruit of the genuine work of God.

Just as incorruptible seed produces the right fruit, so the Word which makes known divine love produces this too in the hearts of those who believe. It is written, "We love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Of such people it is said, "we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us." God expressed that love to us in Christ on Calvary's tree. He shows it toward us "in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." So the knowledge of divine love made known in Him gives birth to that incorruptible love for our Lord Jesus Christ which marks all saints.

Every true believer learns sooner or later that he needs Christ's grace to keep him day by day. As the Lord Himself said when He was here, "apart from me you can do nothing." Love for the Lord Jesus makes us dependent on Him, because it brings us nearer to Him. Near Him we learn the boundless stores of grace that live in Him. Those who only profess Christ pretend to love Him. But where there is no reality there can be no nearness to Christ, and no knowledge of the grace available in Him.

If only this closing word of Paul had been heeded! Then the sad rebuke of unreturned affection — "you have abandoned the love you had at first" — would never have been needed.