(for the fruit of the light [is] in all goodness and righteousness and truth,)
The call just before this verse is to walk as children of light. Verse 9 breaks in to say what that light bears: goodness, righteousness and truth. The wording also raises a well-known question — fruit of the light, or fruit of the Spirit?
The verse does not start a new subject. It pauses the command to walk as children of light. Then it names what that walk bears, and what it shuts out.
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.
These same three qualities do mark the Spirit's work. That may be how the older reading arose. But the contrast being drawn here settles the wording.
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.
The three words cover different ground: how we treat others, how we meet our duties, and how honest we are.
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.
The order matters. Goodness heads the list, and righteousness and truth come after it.
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.
No one produces these qualities on his own. They are fruit, and fruit needs a root.
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.
So the fruit of light is not just something pleasant in a person. It carries the character of light itself, and light never leaves evil alone.
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.
- Light, not Spirit — the true reading is "the fruit of the light." Galatians 5 sets the Spirit's fruit against the flesh; here the contrast is with the darkness we once were.
- Light gives — the position comes first; the walk keeps true to what grace has made us.
- Light bears — goodness seeks the good of others. Righteousness meets the duties of each relationship. Truth is plain honesty.
- Light roots — none of this is native to us. The fruit tastes of the Root that bears it, and it grows by staying close to Christ.
- Light reveals — the fruit that pleases God also shows up the works of darkness, because revealing is what light does.
proving what is agreeable to the Lord;
Paul has just called the Ephesians light in the Lord, and this verse tells them what that light is for. So how does a believer find out what pleases the Lord when no rule covers the situation?
This verse does not stand alone. Commentators read verse 9 as a side note, so that verse 10 links straight back to the call to walk as children of light. One writer also says why God's will can seem hard to find.
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.
This Greek word turns up in other letters too, translated in different ways.
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."
The same word marks a difference Paul kept clear in his own life:
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.
This proving grows out of the walk itself. One writer shows how, with a picture from family life.
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."
God could have given a list of answers for every case. One writer explains why He did not.
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.
This proving reaches the smallest choices, down to what we buy.
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?
One writer gives the reason it reaches that far: we belong to Christ, who bought us.
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.
This proving shows up in real life, and it also draws a line.
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.
- Light first. The verse hangs on verse 8: because we are light in the Lord, we can tell what suits Him. The order is never reversed.
- Learned, not looked up. We learn as a child learns his father's likes, by watching. That knowledge fits situations no rule could cover.
- Proved, not just known. God holds back a list of answers on purpose. Our discernment follows our spiritual state, and what it sees becomes both a delight and a duty.
- Accepted, then acceptable. Grace settles our acceptance; being acceptable is our daily work. Holding both keeps grace intact and responsibility awake.
- Everything, or nothing. The test reaches clothes and work alike. If we cannot do it wholeheartedly for Him, we should not do it at all.