Ephesians chapter 5

vs 1

Imitating God, or following his example, would be pretty much impossible without his incarnation. How can humans follow the example of a God in heaven?

vs 2

The primary example we should follow is Christ's sacrificial love. However, we're not to give up our lives necessarily, but instead live them out for the same purpose.

vs 3

Not even a hint! Not a whisper. These first three things seem to be focused on activity.

vs 4

These next three seem to be focused on how we speak. The NASB calls it 'silly talk' which just sounds funny.

But what do these things really mean? It's important, because we do a lot of talking. Does obscenity mean you can't talk about gynecology? Does foolish talk mean we're not allowed to go "gibber gabby googoo" at babies? Does coarse joking mean we aren't allowed to use sarcasm?

These terms obviously have meanings, so we can't discount them. But is it possible that they have to be read in a bit of a cultural context? If so, how do we choose how to read these in relation to our context? If we follow the norms of our context, then we won't be any different. If we choose the norms of 30 years ago, then aren't we just championing a different cultural context (a historical one)? Of course, if we judge it personally by what we feel, then we'll get into arguments.

vs 5

We can see the obvious repetition of verse 3 here. Paul also draws a string between greed [or coveting in the NASB] and idolatry. This isn't the only time, either. And that has major implications for a society that has almost championed greed.

vs 6

If we think about the parallel between vs 3&5, there might be a similar one between 4&6. I don't know about that for sure, but it is interesting that this one seems to be talking about empty words. So is it possible that the main problem with the types of speech in vs 4 is that they are 'empty', that is, they deceive people because of their lack of truth? That might help a little, but it still seems to spell the death penalty for jokes and sarcasm.

vs 7

The root word for what is translated as partner here is used in Luke 5:7 to describe their fishing partners. So I guess it means like a business partner, however in Ephesians it also has a preposition thing which denotes union. The word used in Ephesians isn't used anywhere else, by the way.

vs 8

Paul goes one step further than normal here - instead of the Ephesians being "in darkness" or "in light", he just calls them straight out darkness and light. Which makes it sound much more spiritually bound to who they are as people, in my opinion.

vs 9

If you have any queries about what it means to live in the light, Paul gives an excellent summary here.

vs 10

Find out! There is a searching here, a learning, a process. Christians don't just know. We have to work at it, learning what God's will is. It's not that God's will is necessarily progressive or changing, but instead that every generation has to discover it.

vs 11

Wow. Does he really mean that? That makes Christians sound like 1930's pulp detectives. "$20 a week, plus expenses" and we go and expose who the bad guys are. Awesome.

The reality is, of course, that the prophets expected Israel to do this. It means pointing out the iniquity and injustice that people do, and defending the cause of those who are defenceless. Christians should be doing this all the time. But sadly, we are afraid of doing it, because then the rich, powerful unjust people hate us. And they are bad enemies to have. Lucky we've got God on our side, eh? But we don't often think like that.