Ephesians 5:1-21

2. Precepts based upon the Self-sacrificing Love of Christ.

The connection of thought with chap. Ephesians 4:32 is very close; God's forgiving love is directly presented as a motive (‘therefore') for the exhortation to follow Him (Ephesians 5:1). But God's forgiving love cannot, so far as its effect upon Christian life is concerned, be separated from the self-sacrificing love of Christ, which is therefore presented as the strongest motive to walking in love (Ephesians 5:2). In sharp contrast with this walk in love, the Apostle enumerates certain sins of lust and greed and tongue (Ephesians 5:3-4), enforcing the warning by recalling their certain knowledge of the exclusion of those who habitually thus sin from the kingdom of Christ and God (Ephesians 5:5).

In view of the frequent excuses for such vices (Ephesians 5:6), the Apostle warns against association with wicked men (Ephesians 5:7-10), since such association would be a relapse from light to darkness. He also warns against fellowship with wicked works (Ephesians 5:11-13), since it is the duty of Christians to reprove these, though some of them are unmentionably shameful, it being the nature of light (and Christians are ‘ light ') to make manifest and even by reproof to reveal the true quality of such wicked works; this duty being further enforced by the promise that Christ Himself will enlighten and quicken such (Ephesians 5:14). The exhortation is resumed, after the digression of Ephesians 5:11-14, and a strict attention to the Christian walk is enjoined (Ephesians 5:15), opportunities to do good are to be sought for (Ephesians 5:16), progress to be made in the knowledge of Christ's will (Ephesians 5:17), instead of being filled with wine, they are to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), the new exhilaration expressing itself in both public and private songs of praise (Ephesians 5:19), in constant thanksgiving in the name of Christ (Ephesians 5:20), and in submission one to another (Ephesians 5:21). The last thought forms the basis for the special precepts which follow (chaps. Ephesians 5:22 to Ephesians 6:9).