What does it mean to walk circumspectly (Ephesians 5:15)?

Eph. 5:15: "See that ye walk circumspectly, etc., not as fools, but as wise." This is not only to avoid certain things, but there is something to be gained: 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.

The believer's walk then is to be with sober care and consideration, not as that of ungodly fools (v.15). God's love and God's light have been powerful incentives for our walk, now we are also to use God-given wisdom in walking circumspectly. Being wise is a true characteristic of a believer. "Redeeming the time" (v.16) is fully and rightly using the opportunities that each occasion may offer. Such care and concern is of great importance because the days are evil. For though a believer is not a fool, yet he may be unwise and not use his time to advantage. Let him not be this way, but understand what the will of the Lord is for him (v.17). To understand is not simply to know, but to rightly perceive what he knows. The will of the Lord is always spiritually profitable.

Verse 15. "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise." Wisdom, as well as light, is a distinctive attribute of the new man. What the Greek vainly seeks for has been brought, unsought, to the awakened sinner. Christ, who is the wisdom of God in the eyes of our faith, has, also, been made of God our wisdom. By the counsels of that wisdom we are taught to walk. If we follow it, our way will be above (Prov. 15:24; Col. 3:1, seq.). Hell is beneath us, and snares of destruction are around us in the world. Our. safety is in setting our faces towards heaven. Moreover, we want wisdom to use rightly what we know. Circumspection is a constant attendant of true wisdom; and such a quality is needed by those whose passage to the kingdom lies through manifold temptations. In a land of danger, we must walk with measured steps.9 Now it is the eye of his father that is the guide of a wise child (Ps. 32:8). We are in the path of folly the moment we begin to walk at our own discretion. The main force of this warning seems to be directed against the Antinomian deception, which would make exactness of conduct an indifferent thing so long as doctrinal soundness be maintained. This basest of fallacies is not so gross as to be without danger to us, if we are not keptnear to God in the spirit of our minds.

(Vv. 15-17). Thirdly, we are exhorted to walk wisely. Learning from the first fourteen verses that the true measure for a right walk is God's nature of light and love, we are to profit by this teaching, and “walk carefully, 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 Epistle, the Apostle can write, “Be wise as to that which is good, and simple as to evil” (Romans 16:19). Our wisdom will be seen in redeeming the time, and understanding what the will of the Lord is. The days are evil, and if the devil could have his way there never would be a time or opportunity for that which is pleasing to the Lord. To do good we shall, as it were, have to seize the occasion from the enemy. If understanding the will of the Lord, we shall often find that an evil day can be turned into an occasion for doing good. Nehemiah, by prayer and fasting, learnt the will of the Lord concerning His people, so that when the opportunity came, in the presence of king Artaxerxes, he seized the occasion (Nehemiah 1:4; Nehemiah 2:1-5). It is possible to have a great knowledge of evil and yet be ignorant of the will of the Lord, and thus still be “unwise”.

90 In 1 John it is said, "If we walk in the light," that is, absolutely; but, realising position, we walk in it. It is position; we are actually there. It is not like standing in righteousness. Here he is looking at practice. Walking is a real thing. It is not as if I say, Christ is my righteousness. It is a real living place we are walking in. Of course he judges in detail all sins. All the Gentiles are walking in darkness - I refer to the passage in Ephesians. "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools but wise." Uprightness is not sufficient. If I have to go through 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 requires wisdom to go through this world, I mean as a Christian.

The whole of the preceding exhortations are thus briefly summarized: "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." (vv. 15-17.) 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." It is the fear of the Lord that is declared to be the beginning of wisdom. The believer as a child of light has "the mind of Christ;" he has the Holy Ghost to teach him the deep things of God. However little gifted in mere worldly wisdom or knowledge, he has "an unction from the Holy One," and so has the mind of God in all that concerns His things. But the flesh is constantly present to lust against the Spirit, and it needs circumspection therefore, constant watchfulness, to walk as wise men, and not as fools. This is what the Christian is exhorted to exercise. If he is called out of the folly of the world, and has the hidden wisdom of God given him, he is urged to walk worthy of his vocation. And this is all the more necessary because the times are evil, so that every opportunity needs to be seized.

"See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time." Now, how is understanding to exercise itself? In the philosophy of the schools? I am to have an understanding of the will of the Lord. He keeps you, again I say, as a heavenly creature in company with Christ; as a man walking across the face of the earth, He keeps you equally with Christ. When He sends you into the field of battle He arrays you in Christ, He puts Christ upon you. Who but the Spirit could come down into the traffic of such a world and keep Christ in your company through it all! So the old man might get drunk with wine. The new man has the Spirit to fill himself with. If that is to be mortified, this is to be cultivated.

While we have courage and energy, yet as in the evil day, He says, "Walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise" Christians need not make trials for themselves by want of circumspection. If you are not careful and vigilant, be sure the devil is; and he never forgets to watch for an opportunity of injuring. "Make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way." There are lame saints, and it is the lame men who want a straight road. A man full of Christ can walk through many a difficulty without suffering for it; but all are not such; for those who are not, remove every difficulty out of the way. Be of good cheer; you are come to mount Zion, or grace.

There is no question of going to join in violence to gain wealth, nor is that from which we should be kept the wrong done to us by evil men; but the wisdom and sense of what is right, which the fear of God leads to, keeps us from being led into the path of the wicked man. Wickedness is deceitful! We are apt to get hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. We have need to walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise - wise concerning that which is good. Restraint of heart which walks in the fear of God, lowliness (for it is the opposite of pride), is guided in judgment and sees God's way in the seemingly bewildered concourse of men and circumstances. It has its own way, and has only to follow it; only it depends on God for it. It is the way of the evil man from which the soul is kept here (v. 12). The servants of Jehovah are supposed to have a path of uprightness, to a certain degree; so has natural conscience. The evil man has left it.

Our walk is to be with carefulness, having the flesh under complete control; neither intoxicated with the delights of mere nature, which result in spiritual poverty, nor oppressed with the drowsiness that clothes a man with the rags of a lifeless morality. Neither let us behave as fools, but as wise men; watchful to lay hold of opportunities to turn the flying moments to good account, so that not one shall be wasted but all used up in the service of the Master.