for ye were once darkness, but now light in [the] Lord; walk as children of light,
Paul has just warned the Ephesians about the sins that once filled their lives. Here he says why those sins no longer fit them: they are not just in a new place, they are new people, and their walk must match that.
What We Once Were
The apostle does not say the Ephesians were in the dark. He says they were darkness. One writer presses how total that condition was:
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.
The problem was never only ignorance. Another writer names what the old nature loved, and what has taken its place:
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.
Light In the Lord
The verse does not say only that we are light. It adds the words that carry the whole weight — in the Lord. Our position, and the responsibility that follows it, both start there:
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.
The Command To Walk
The verse does not tell them to become light. It tells them to walk as children of light. The order matters:
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.
The position cannot be lost, but the walk can fall out of step with it. One writer pictures it with sunshine:
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.
Fruit and Refusal
The next verse tells us what this walk produces, and where it comes from:
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."
This also gives the believer his motive for refusing the sins listed earlier in the chapter:
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.
Summary
- Were. Not in darkness only — darkness itself, with not one ray of God's character in the will, desires or understanding.
- Are. Light, but never light in ourselves: light in the Lord, sharing the divine nature and loving what He loves.
- Walk. Be consistent with what you are, not merely with what you ought to be. The position sets the measure of the path.
- Bear. The fruit of the light is all that is good and right and true — the practical outcome of knowing God as He has revealed Himself.
- Refuse. The believer turns down impurity not just because it is wrong, but because it does not belong to a new creature, a child of light.