The Apostle has made it clear in the foregoing paragraph that the Christian, although he was known as a Gentile, must indicate the great change that has taken place through regeneration (4:17). The Christian shows that he belongs to the company known as light-bearers. No matter how the actions of those who are known as Christians may be hidden and things done in secret, the time will come when they will be brought to light and instead of being a help, will be a positive hinderance to the individual and to the cause.

Ver. 15. Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise.

This probably refers to the thing that Paul said in Ver. 11, “Having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness/* We are living in a world of darkness. The great majority of the human race is classed with unregenerate. Paul realized the great danger of being led away with those who love darkness and thus becoming like the world. He instructs us not to be partakers with those who are in darkness and doing deeds while in darkness, but if we belong to the children of the light to go a step further and reprove those who walk without being guided by the light.

It is not only “walk”� but “look.” The Christian who looks and knows before taking the next step is the one who can be trusted and followed. The Christian must show that he is not a fool, and not unwise, but wise to observe the steps and seize every opportunity in this great period of darkness through which the church must pass. These are days so perilous that every Christian needs the very best wisdom of God and His will to save him from the fatal stumbling that is so prevalent in this age when the lamp—the Word of God—is so much neglected.

“Not as unwise, but as wise.” One would think that the incentive mentioned in the Word of God for the higher attainment in Spiritual life would be readily accepted and all professing Christians would act in a way that their conduct would show this change (1:18-21). The Apostle's prayer is that their understanding might be opened and that enlightenment might be granted.

Ver. 16. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Buying up the opportunities. This is what those do who act not as unwise men, but as wise. They show it in their walk. There is a reason given here for this resolution not to miss an opportunity of doing God's will, because all ought to be aware of the moral corruption which surrounds them and is unfriendly to Christian righteousness. Through Christian righteousness he was to offer a continual protest on the behalf of the Divine authority which even other men had forgotten. They were to redeem the time by the use of the opportunities because “the days are evil.”� They were in the days of Nero, an emperor who was under the direction of Satan. There are so many who are too reckless to think and too impatient to learn. Everything in these times in which we live is sacrificed for speed. The telegraph and daily newspaper symbolize the age. The public love to catch quickly any new sensation. A premium is set upon carelessness and hurry. Earnest men who are anxious for the triumph of a good cause, push forward with unweighed denunciations that destroy Christian advocacy, and wound the cause of truth and charity. Men pushing forward without the right knowledge of God, understanding the Divine plan, must in the end receive some loss and fall under the judgment of God and His Word. It is after all, truth that lives.

The Apostle (4:21) calls our attention to the fact that he has heard and been taught by Jesus Christ—“As the truth is in Jesus.”� Now it depends altogether on whether we have heard Him and have been taught by Him even as the truth is in Christ. It is not as though we had heard this and that teaching about Christ, not as though we had heard this and that thing concerning Him, but as we have heard Him. That is, heard Christ himself, for His words which He speaks to us are Spirit and Life (John 6:63). The Apostle does not say, ”˜”˜The truth as it is in Jesus.”� If the Apostle had said that, it would imply that there is some truth that is not in Him and that is not the case. Notice the words as they appear in the text: “As the truth is in Jesus.”� This implies that there is no truth apart from Him. Jesus declared in his farewell sermon, “I am the truth,”� and the words which testify of Him are truth. Here is the key for the worthy and righteous walk. The time-servers are unwise both intellectually and morally.

Saint Paul sees a special reason for heedfulness, because “the days are evil.”� Those who are best acquainted with the early history, realize the Church was passing through a very critical period, but from that time to the present, what period has not been critical for the church that stands true to the truth as it is in Jesus? It is the time when we must employ every means to increase our knowledge of Christ. We are living in a time when faith must be strengthened and Spiritual life must be tested by the Word of God. The Christian man must be prepared at any time for the siege. Therefore, fortifications must be strengthened and soldiers must drill each day with the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, that the training for Christian warfare may be thorough, that Christ our Captain can depend upon us for victory at each attack of the enemy.

It was just four years until Peter, the Apostle of Pentecost, and Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, the great missionary and organizer of churches, the writer of Church Epistles, were numbered with those who died a martyr's death. Just a few years later, in the year 70, we have the capture of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Jewish temple and nation, so that in the year 63, when the Apostle wrote the Epistle, the sky was everywhere dark and lowering with times of coming storms. No one could tell when the siege would be on. The Bible was full of prophetic teaching concerning the times of the early Christians. The Bible is full of prophetic teachings concerning the times in which we live. However, even the professing church is so occupied with the material and industrial, that the visions of God, and the Word of eternal truth are unheeded and the crisis may be at hand and yet unknown.

Ver. 17. Wherefore be ye not foolish (unwise), but understand what the will of the Lord is.

This teaching follows very naturally what he has said about the necessity of wisdom. These are days of unrest and we do not know the will of the Lord which is the greatest need. Paul says to Timothy, that people will be “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”� (2 Tim. 3:7). The intellectual is now over-emphasized, the physical is receiving the attention of the public, and the will of the Lord as revealed in the sixty-six books which contain His plan for the human race is unstudied and unheeded. People are looking around everywhere for something to satisfy this unrest. The Ephesian Christians must understand that Christ is no mere adviser, that the Christ life must be one that harmonizes with the Word of truth, not that which suits the individual himself. Christ is our Lord and it is our business to understand Him in order that we may execute His designs. Because of this, Christ's servants require a watchful eye and worthy intellect. They must not be triflers, given to sentiment. They must be men great in mind.

We have studied two great prayers given to the church in this epistle (1:17-23, 3:14-21). God has wonderfully revealed what it means for the Christian to have his standing in Christ and that the church is being built as a Body for the Lord Jesus Christ as a habitation for God.

Ver. 18. And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot (excess), but be filled with the Spirit.

In this Ephesian church were converted thieves and drunkards, and now why is it necessary to give this admonition? These are some of the unfruitful works of darkness and lead to dangerous association and fellowship. Some men take drink in excess to deaden their sensibility to trouble, to lessen the pain, to destroy their memory or disturbing feelings, but some take the intoxicating cup to incite to action the mind. They claim things become more vivid and plain. This is the kind of drinking which brings men into violence and profligacy. Paul indicates, however, how this craving for something that is not in harmony with the walk of the Christian should be satisfied— “But be filled with the Spirit.”� We must forsake all sins which render it impossible for the righteous and pure Spirit of God to grant to us fullness of His Spirit, and open the channels to the streams that flow from the Divine and eternal fountains, so they may find their way into our nature. If you do this, your vision of eternal things will have a perpetual keenness. Your joy in God will be anticipation of the blessed life beyond the grave. The source of true righteous enthusiasm is not bodily or mental excitement, but a Divine Spiritual impulse.

Ver. 19. Speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody (music) with your heart to the Lord.

People who are filled with the Spirit of God are interested in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Their enjoyment is fellowship with those who are full of the things of God. This comes from the Spirit of God which dwells in Christ.

Their singing was not always to be worship addressed to God. They were to sing to each other as well as to Him; just as the minister is to preach to those who are before him and bring the message from God, so those who have the gift of song are to sing to the church. We are to sing about God's power in order to give new energy and courage; songs about the glory of Heaven to transfigure hope into rapture, singing and making music in our hearts to the Lord. Spiritual enthusiasm creates an inner music in the heart as well as the utterances given to God in song.

Man's body is the temple for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit lives in the temple. The Holy Spirit directs the person that gives him a home in the temple. Paul prays (3:19) that we may be filled unto all the fulness of God, and then instructs us to grow to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (4: 13). The Holy Spirit's fulness is manifested within the individual soul and within the church. If this be true the body possessed by the Holy Spirit, as members of the church, is truly the Body of Christ and even becomes the habitation of God (2:21, 22).

Their talk was music. They spoke to each other in songs and Spiritual psalms. Hearts filled with the Spirit, love to sing. Even those who are not able to lead in song enjoy the melody referred to by Paul. This was the custom in each church, that the Christians would take up a psalm and draw out one of the pearls and in turn would recite them at their meetings and adapt them to their measures and modes of song.

In the next two verses we have two more manifestations of the presence of God's Spirit:

Ver. 20. Giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.

Continual thankfulness welling up from the full heart. “In everything give thanks,”� he wrote to the Thessalonians in his earliest letter. We do know that all things work together for good to those who love God. It is in the evil days as well as in good days. Nothing comes altogether amiss to the child of God. In the heaviest burden, the sharpest sting of injury, this is all included, in everything or all things. We may not know now, but we shall know hereafter.

“Always,”� the Apostle says, “for all things.”� Here Paul leaves no moment of room for discontent. He had learned the secret of contentment in whatever state he was. If he learned this in that early period of tremendous opposition, what is our experience as we live in the present period?

Ver. 21. Subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.

In the Corinthian church we find many were ready to prophesy, sing and recite, and that confusion arose in the church meetings, and some admonition was given. The Apostle does not want such a scene to occur again. He asks for a full leadership of the Spirit, and when free utterance is given in song through the inspiration of new life, he adds this word of caution as he closes the paragraph, “Being subjected one to another in the fear of Christ.”� God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor. 14:33). “The fear of Christ.”� Christ is the unseen witness and present at their assemblages. The Christian ought always to remember that the church was made up of different members and these members have a relation one to another because they, as an organism, are known as the Body of Christ. Thus in mutual subjection lies their freedom and strength and peace.

QUESTIONS

• What can you say about the Christian's position?

• Why does Paul open this paragraph by using the word “look”�?

• How can the Christian “redeem the time”�?

• Are the days as evil now as they were when this book was written?

• Can one be a Christian and not be filled with the Spirit of God?

• What substitute does Paul give to take the place of fellowship of unfruitful works of darkness?

• What effect has music on the Christian's life?

• Name the two things that grow out of a Spirit filled life.

  (1) Always giving thanks,

  (2) Proper conduct in one's position, or submission, or proper relationship as members of the Body of Christ.