Today's verses build directly off last weeks, so I'm going to go ahead and start reading from 5:3. Hopefully, as I read them, you'll find yourself thinking, "Hey, I understand these verses."
(3) Now, sexual immorality and all uncleanness or greediness must not even be named among you,
just as it is fitting for the holy ones,
(4) and shameful behavior and foolish talk or coarse/crude joking,
which aren't proper,
but rather thanksgiving.
(5) For this you know,
knowing that every sexually immoral or unclean or greedy one-- who is an idolater-- does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
(6) No one must deceive you with empty/valueless words.
For because of these things God's wrath is coming on the sons of disobedience.
(7) And so then, don't be/become companions/accomplices with them.
(8) For you were formerly darkness.
Now, [you are] now light in the Lord.
As children of light walk.
For the fruit of the light [is] in all goodness and righteousness and truth,
(10) testing and approving what is pleasing to the Lord,
(11) and don't participate in the unfruitful works of darkness.
Now, rather even, expose them.
(12) For the things in secret being done by them are shameful even to talk about.
(13) Now, all things being exposed by the light are made visible.
(14) For everything being made visible, light, it is.
Therefore, it says,
"Wake up, O sleeping one,
and rise from the dead,
and the Christ/Messiah will shine on you.
Paul says that there are two ways you can live. You can live as children of the light, or you can live as children of the darkness. You can live as a people who have risen up to a new life in Christ. Or you can live as spiritual zombies, as the walking dead. The question that faces you, every single day, is which of these you will choose.
On the one hand, you can choose to live as children of the darkness. You can do the types of sins that are shameful to even talk about: sexual immorality, moral uncleanness, greed, shameful behavior, foolish talk, and crude joking. If you choose this, there are two things you need to understand. First, these things aren't fitting-- they aren't proper-- for God's holy people. Second, these things will keep you from inheriting God's kingdom. If you are this type of person, you don't get eternal life. So if you choose the life of darkness, you need to understand that there is a very real cost.
Your other option is to walk as children of the light. The starting point for this way of life is thankfulness. You value what God did for you in Jesus. You know you were dead in your sin, without hope, without God, on the outside of God's family. And God forgave your sins in Jesus, and made peace with you. God brought you into his holy family, to live as holy people. And you understand that if God brought you into his family, to be part of his holy people, you need to live as holy.
So how will you live? Which will you choose?
This brings us to Ephesians 5:15, and the beginning of our passage today.
(15) And so then, watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
(16) making the most of the time/age, [Wisdom 2:5?; Hebrews 9:9]
because the days, evil, they are. ["evil" is focused].
There are two ways to live, two paths that we can take in life. We walk unwisely, or wisely. And the thing that distinguishes those two ways to walk, in this verse, is how we use the time we have to walk.
My wife really enjoys going on walks when it's nice out. But her idea of a good walk, revolves around walking fast. She only has so much time. Many people want her attention, and her cooking skills, and her help in all sorts of areas. And it's hard to go on even a half hour walk. She makes the most of her time by walking incredibly fast. A walk, for her, isn't just about getting some sunlight, or a little peace and quiet, or maybe, once in a great while, some quality time with her husband. It's about getting a workout in, and if you walk with her, you expect that you'll be walking fast.
We've all felt the pinch of not having enough hours in the day to live exactly how we want. As we walk through life, we make decisions about how we'll divide up our hours, working, eating, relaxing. How much time will we slow down, and spend with family, and friends, and this church? How much time do we spend on our hobbies, or interests? How much time do we privately spend reading the Bible, or other books? How much time do we spend seeking God's face, and trying to hear God's voice?
What Paul is saying, is almost this. In any discussion about how we should we divide up our day, and allot our hours, Paul would maybe start by dividing it up two ways. We make decisions about how much time we will spend living faithfully, loving God and people, and how much time we'll spend sinning.
We live in evil times (verse 16). There are many ways to sin. There are many different types of deeds of darkness. And we have to make a choice about how carefully we will walk, in light of that. It's easy to lose valuable time to sin.
People who walk wisely keep in mind that their time is limited, and that there's actually no certainty about when their road ends. They use their time well, living faithfully toward God and people. People who are unwise, don't intentionally keep that perspective. Probably, they will look back on their life, and realize how short it seems. And they'll look back with regret, because they wasted so much time, and missed so many opportunities to be fruitful, and do the good works that God gave them to do (Ephesians 2:10).
Verse 17:
(17) For this reason do not be foolish,
but understand what the will of the Lord [is],
These days are evil, and your days are short. So then, "for this reason," walk wisely. Don't be foolish, but instead, understand what Jesus wants from you.
When Christians talk about finding God's will for their lives, they are often consumed by questions about who they'll marry, or where they'll live, or what job they'll do. God probably has a preference on some of those things, and asking God those questions is a smart, wise thing to do. But the starting point for any discussion of "the Lord's will for your life," should begin by talking about holiness, righteousness, faithfulness, love. What's God's will for you-- or here, actually-- what's Jesus' will? Jesus' will is that you live wisely, focused on the lifestyle he wants from you.
And with this, we come to verse 18, which begins a single sentence that goes all the way through verse 24 in kind of a classically Paul run-on sort of way. I'll read through verse 24, and then unpack it bit by bit:
(18) and don't be drunk with wine, in which there is wastefulness.
but be filled with the Spirit,
(19) speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and Spiritual songs,
singing and praising in your hearts to the Lord,
(20) giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to our God and Father,
putting yourself under one another out of fear/reverence of Christ,
(22) wives to their own husbands as to the Lord,
(23) because (the) husband is (the) head of the wife,
as also Christ [is the] head of the church--
he [being the] savior/protector/deliverer of the body--
(24) but just as the church puts itself under Christ,
in this manner also, the wives to their husbands in everything.
And now everyone's wondering what I'll say next, right?
The easiest way into understanding this is to go straight nerd, right off the bat. Paul starts this section with 2-- and only 2-- commands. (1) Don't be drunk with wine, but rather, (2) be filled with the Spirit. This is the main idea for the section. "Be filled with the Spirit."
Then, you'll notice there's a long string of indented phrases after that, that begin with "ing" verbs: speaking, singing, praising, giving thanks, being subject." These "ing" verbs are participles. And when participles follow the main verb, they work to help explain the main idea (in a variety of ways, but in one way or another, they explain). Here, these 5 "ing" verbs all explain what it looks like to be filled with the Spirit. They aren't separate commands. They aren't the focus. The focus is on 2 things: (1) don't be drunk with wine, but (2) be filled with the Spirit.
So let's start there. "Don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit." One of the things that teachers or speakers do sometimes to help you hear them a certain way is offer you a contrast. Obama used to do this a lot. He'd say, "Some people say, we should do this or that. Some people want you to believe this or that." What Obama was doing was setting this idea out there, so that he could interact with it somehow. "Some people think that health care isn't a right for everyone. But I say, we all deserve to receive the health care we need." Obama starts it that way so that you have a framework for understanding what follows. Jesus used this as well. In Mark 2:17, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
By setting up the contrast, Jesus is forcing his hearers to think about why Jesus came, with a sharpness to the thought you might otherwise miss. Usually, in these contrasts, the less important point is put first, and it is supposed to shape the way you hear the more important second point.
We've talked about this before, but the fancy term for this is point-counterpoint sets (*Steven Runge, Discourse Analysis of the Greek New Testament, is where I was first exposed to this). So, returning to Ephesians, Paul here gives us a point-counterpoint set. "Don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit." Paul's concern here isn't that the Ephesians are getting drunk. He's trying to give you a framework, a particular perspective, to help you understand what it means to be filled with the Spirit.
So let's start by talking about being drunk with wine. Let's understand the frame. When people are drunk-- when they are filled with wine-- it influences every single part of their lives. You can tell when someone is under the influence. They walk a certain way-- they can't walk in a straight line. They talk a certain way-- everything's slurred, and comes out slow. And they see the world in a certain way-- their field of vision narrows, everything gets blurry. When you are drunk with wine, it influences every single aspect of your life.
And the thing about getting filled with wine (and this I think is the other half of why Paul frames this why he does), is that it's a total waste. When we lived in California, our Sunday school class was filled with wine snobs, who understood and appreciated all the subtle differences in wines. I say that in love, don't get me wrong. I don't think they'd disagree with me, or be offended. What I taste, when I drink wine, is rancid sour grape juice. But they taste something expensive, and sophisticated, with subtle notes of this and that. My California friends understand Paul here, much better than me. Wine is a gift from God to Noah, and thus to all mankind. It's meant to complement a meal, to be enjoyed in moderation by people age 21 and older. Wine is used as a celebration. What it's not supposed to be, is a way to get drunk. Paul says that's "excessive." It's wasteful. Some here translations here use really complicated English words, that I had to google to figure out what they meant. They'll say it's dissipation. or something else I'm not even sure what it is. But I think the basic idea (following Clifton Arnold), is that getting drunk on wine is just a waste.
So don't get drunk on wine, but instead, be filled in an ongoing way (the present tense in the command is imperfective) with the Spirit. What's wasteful with alcohol, is smart and brilliant and logical and desirable when it comes to the Holy Spirit. The more filled you are, the better off you'll be. And when you are filled with the Spirit, it influences every single part of your life. You see the world in a certain way. You see what God wants; you see right and wrong clearly. You walk in a certain way. You see the world as filled with possibility because of God's power and presence. You walk as children of the light. You walk worthily of your calling. And you talk a certain way-- you don't tell crude jokes, you don't gossip. Instead, you build each other up.
Now, when it comes to be filled with the Spirit, we should have two questions. The first, is this:
(1) How can we be filled with the Spirit?
I could make this really complicated. But it's basically quite simple. Let's turn to Luke 11:9-13 (NRSV updated no reason):
9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for[e] a fish, would give a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if the child asked for an egg, would give a scorpion? 13 If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit[f] to those who ask him!”
If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, the main thing you do, is ask your Father in heaven. You ask, you knock, you seek. And eventually, you'll find that your Father opens that door, and gives you his Holy Spirit in a more complete, full way. Once He's done that, you'll better understand what it is you're asking for. And then, asking for the Holy Spirit becomes part of your daily walk with God. Every day, you seek to be freshly filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul doesn't tell us any of that here, because he seems to assume we know how this works. But that's the heart of it.
So question one, is how can we be filled with the Holy Spirit. And I think, basically, you ask.
The second question, is this:
(2) What does it look like to be filled with the Spirit?
This is where Paul's focus lies. Paul goes on to explain what this looks like. When participles follow the main verb, again, they explain it. Here, we have 5 participles, starting in verse 19, that explain what it looks like to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The first four are not controversial:
(1) speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
(2) singing and
(3) praising in your hearts to the Lord,
(4) giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to our God and Father,
I'd like to say three things about these four things. If that's not confusing.
First, the idea here with these first four music-sounding participles, I think (following Tim Mackie sort of), is that when we talk to each other, we find that our speech sounds like the psalms, in particular, and other worship songs we sing. So if we think about the psalms, how do they sound? There are protest psalms, often called laments, but the idea with protest psalms is that sometimes life gets tough, and we need God to do more than He's been doing, and we even wonder where He is. When we're in that situation, we're honest about that, and transparent. Protest psalms give us words to talk about our tough times, in community, just as the original psalmists did in their own communities.
Other psalms are psalms of thanksgiving. When God comes through for us, and we have testimonies about what God has done, we share those stories with each other. Our speech sounds like a psalm of thanksgiving.
Other psalms are wisdom psalms, where God's people encourage each other to live in a way that respects (="fears") God, that focuses on living rightly toward God and people, sticking on the path God sets out for us (Psalm 1), and not getting upset or frustrated when the wicked seem to prosper.
If we take a step back, then, what would it look like to have our speech sound like the psalms? Our speech would be honest, and God-focused, and it would build each other up (Ephesians 4:12, 29).
The second thing I want to point out about these four things (and here, I'm building on Tim Mackie again), is how this language ties in to Paul's temple imagery. We, as the church, in Christ, are God's holy temple (Ephesians 2:21). Christ dwells in our hearts through faithfulness (Ephesians 2:17). We are to be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 2:17). We are the place where God is present. So it makes sense that when we come together, that we sound like God's holy temple, filled with thanksgiving, and worship, and praise.
And the one last thing I want to say here, is all of this isn't something we need to try to manufacture out of nothing. This type of speech and community is supposed to naturally flow out of a Spirit-filled life. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, these four participles naturally follow. This is what church life looks like.
With this, we come to verse 21. English Bibles here tend to do us no favors. They wall off verse 21 from what precedes, and treat it as unconnected to being filled with the Holy Spirit. But this is the fifth participle, unpacking what it looks like to be filled with the Holy Spirit:
Verse 21:
(21) putting yourself under one another out of fear/reverence of Christ,
The key verb here, the participle, is usually translated as "submitting to one another." And as soon as we translate it "submitting," we can feel the pressure and the tension in the room starting to rise.
The idea with "submitting," is voluntarily choosing to put yourself under someone (in the middle/passive).
(1) It's something you choose to do. It's not something you're forced to do (in the middle/passive).
(2) "Submitting" is not the same thing as "obeying" or "complying" (*Clifton Arnold). In chapter 6, Paul will command children to "obey" their parents (Ephesians 6:1), and slaves to "obey" their masters (Ephesians 6:5). BDAG: ?pa???? glosses this as: to follow instructions, obey, follow, be subject to w. gen. of pers.
Submitting, putting yourself under someone, is different from that.
Within human societies, there are clear power structures. They are people who are in charge. We don't live with anarchy. And normally, "to put yourself under someone" means to live in a way that respects those power structures. There are verses where slaves are commanded sometimes to "obey" their masters. But other times, slaves are commanded "to put themselves under" their masters (Titus 2:9; 1 Peter 2:18; so also Epistle of Barnabas 19:7; Didache 4:11).
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so also Epistle of Barnabas 19:7. Joseph Barber Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer, The Apostolic Fathers (London: Macmillan and Co., 1891), 286:
7Thou shalt be subject unto thy masters as to a type of God in shame and fear. Thou shalt not command in bitterness thy bondservant or thine handmaid who set their hope on the same God, lest haply they should cease to fear the God who is over both of you; for He came not to call with respect of persons, but to call those whom the Spirit had prepared.
so also Didache 4:11. Joseph Barber Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer, The Apostolic Fathers (London: Macmillan and Co., 1891), 231:
11But ye, servants, shall be subject unto your masters, as to a type of God, in shame and fear.
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Paul commands the Roman church to "put itself under" government authorities. You do this, by paying your taxes, pay your respect, give the honor that they are due (Romans 13:5-8).
In 1 Chronicles 29:24 (LXX), all the leaders of Israel, and all of David's sons, "put themselves under" the new king, King Solomon. This is really interesting, and helpful, I think. Imagine that you're one of David's other sons. You have a more or less clear path to the throne. You are part of the royalty, and nobility. But what you do, is put yourself under your brother, who has now become king. You put yourself under King Solomon.
In 1 Peter 5:5, the church is commanded to put itself under the elders of the church.
So ordinarily, the idea with this verb, is that there are existing power structures, and leaders, that all of human society is organized under. There are masters, and government leaders, and kings, and elders. And God's New Testament people are called to put themselves under all of those people, through the NT. I'm not disputing any of that.
But let's turn back at this point to Ephesians 5:21. Be filled with the Spirit... putting yourself under one another out of fear/reverence of Christ,
Paul here, is saying something radical. All of us are called to put ourselves under each other. I'm supposed to voluntarily put you over myself. I treat you, like a slave would treat his master, like a taxpayer should treat the IRS, like David's sons treated King Solomon, their brother who is now king.
If I'm doing this right, what does this look like?
I treat you with respect, and honor. I treat you as though you are above me. And I do this within the church, even if I was the master, and you were my household slave. Or even if I was the king, and you were my "subject."
Up this point, I think there's still widespread agreement. Some of us might be nervous, and already thinking about the next verse. But up until now, we should all be on the same page. We are all called to voluntarily put ourselves under each other. If we brought in the gospels, and what Paul says elsewhere, we'd say, our calling is to be like Jesus. Jesus came, humbled himself, becoming a human being, dying a miserable humiliating death, as an act of service to God and people (Philippians 2:1-11). Or let's turn to Mark 10:42-45. James and John go to Jesus (in Mark's version), wanting to be seated at Jesus' left and right hand when Jesus takes his throne. And this is what Jesus tells all of them:
42 So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43 But it is not so among you; instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Whoever wants to be great in God's kingdom, is called to mirror Jesus' own life-- to voluntarily live as slaves toward each other, serving each other (Mark 10:42-45), giving up your own life for others. If that meant heroically taking a bullet for someone-- if it was a single act of selflessness-- it'd be easier. But this servant life, is usually a lifestyle, filled with many moments that are costly, and sacrificial, and often unnoticed.
This is how we build each other up, until we reach the full measure of the stature of Jesus (Ephesians 4:12). Filled with the Holy Spirit, we speak the psalms to each other, and we voluntarily put ourselves under each other, growing together into Christ.
Here's where it gets tricky, and controversial, because Paul is still working hard at making a huge run-on sentence, and he expects us to hear this all at once.
Don't get drunk, because that's wasteful, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. Verse 21,
(21) putting yourself under one another out of fear/reverence of Christ,
(22) wives to their own husbands as to the Lord,
(23) because (the) husband is (the) head of the wife,
as also Christ [is the] head of the church--
he [being the] savior/protector/deliverer of the body--
(24) but just as the church is under (or: puts itself under) Christ,
in this manner also, the wives to their husbands in everything.
Starting in verse 22, Paul pivots, from talking about how life should like inside the church, to how life should look like inside typical first century Roman households. We are all called to put ourselves under one another, wives to their husbands as to the Lord Jesus. And then, let's just peek ahead. In Ephesians 5:25, who does Paul address? [husbands]. In Ephesians 5:33, Paul sums up husbands and wives (NIV no reason): 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Then, if we keep peeking ahead, we see in Ephesians 6 that Paul goes on to address children (Ephesians 6:1-2), parents (Ephesians 6:4), slaves (Ephesians 6:5-7), and masters (Ephesians 6:9).
So basically, the rest of Ephesians 5, and the first part of Ephesians 6, are about how first century Roman households should work. How should husbands and wives relate? How should dads and their kids relate? How should masters and their slaves relate? And the big messy question, is how do these power structures fit in to Ephesians 5:21, with our calling to "put ourselves under" one another? Is it a hard pivot in verse 21, from talking about the church to family? Or is it a soft pivot? Does a master "put himself under" his slave by treating his slave well? Do parents put themselves under their children by raising them in a particular way? Does a husband put himself under his wife? And does that mean that husbands and wives should voluntarily submit to each other, or is submission a one-way street?
Lots of questions. Thousands of pages written on all of that. And we're basically read to be done for the day, right? So let's tackle that next week.
What I'd like to leave you with today, is thinking about this beautiful picture of the church that Paul draws for us.
Imagine a church where we watch carefully how we walk. Where we understand that we are only here on this earth, in these bodies, for so long. We're on the clock. Each of us has to make a decision about how we will use our time, not just dividing it in terms of work, and leisure, and church, and family, but also in terms of faithfulness, or sin. We can choose to make the most of our time, by not living in bondage to sin, but by living faithfully.
And what does that look like? It starts, verse 17, by understanding what Jesus wants, and what Jesus is trying to create on earth-- one holy family, one temple, who live in peace with God and each other. It continues, verse 19, with a lifestyle of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Every day, we ask God to give us his Holy Spirit, a fresh filling, a fresh anointing (Luke 11:13). And every day that we ask this, and our Father says "yes" to this, we will find two end results: (1) Our speech will sound like the psalms. We will be honest, and open, with each other. We will build each other up, celebrating the good times, crying out with each other in the hard times. And (2), we will voluntarily choose to put ourselves under each other. We will live sacrificially, focused on the other. And we will do that, regardless of how big of a earthly hotshot we are outside of these walls.
In four words, then, here's the sermon: "Live smart, be filled." Go in grace.
Translation:
(15) And so then, watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
(16) making the most of the time,
because the days, evil, they are. ["evil" is focused].
(17) For this reason do not be foolish,
but understand what the will of the Lord [is],
(18) and don't be drunk with wine, in which there is wastefulness,
but be filled with the Spirit,
(19) speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and Spiritual songs,
singing and praising in your hearts to the Lord,
(20) giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to our God and Father,
(21) putting yourself under one another out of fear/reverence of Christ,
(22) wives to their own husbands as to the Lord,
(23) because (the) husband is (the) head of the wife,
as also Christ [is the] head of the church--
he [being the] savior/protector/deliverer of the body--
(24) but just as the church puts itself under Christ,
in this manner also, the wives to their husbands in everything.
