Believers are exhorted to be “followers of God, as dear children” (Eph. 5:11Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; (Ephesians 5:1)). God has revealed Himself as love and as light. In former verses God is seen as love, and hence we are told to “walk in love.” Here God is seen as light, and hence we are told to “walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:88For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (Ephesians 5:8)).
The universal principle is, that believers are to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called” (Eph. 4:11I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, (Ephesians 4:1)). Since believers are saints (Rom. 1:77To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:7); 1 Cor. 1:22Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: (1 Corinthians 1:2)), they are urged to a saintly walk because they are saints through God’s calling. These believers had once walked in the lusts of the flesh, but now having the life of Christ, they were to show forth this life in their walk. How unfit for those thus sanctified to be walking in uncleanness! Nor is it merely in deed, but in word, that believers are to act “as becometh saints.” The lightness of heart which in the old man thus expressed itself, might now in the new man find a suitable expression in the “giving of thanks.”
But another motive is added. “For this we know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Eph. 5:55For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. (Ephesians 5:5)). If we are to have part “in the kingdom of Christ and of God,” we must be morally suited to it in character. As seen in Christ we are already made “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:1212Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: (Colossians 1:12)), but here the question is not so much one of standing as of conduct.
Failure Does not Alter the Principle
No doubt there is often grievous failure, but this does not alter the principle. What distinguishes a well-governed state is order and obedience to law. What distinguishes the kingdom of God is holiness and purity of walk. In a well-governed state, there may be instances of disorder and disobedience to law; among members of the kingdom of God, there may be instances of unholiness and impurity of walk. But in both cases this is a departure from the normal order. Thus license and immorality are condemned equally by the grace and by the government of God, and the believer is appealed to, both as a saint and as a member of the kingdom of Christ and of God, to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith he is called.
Man’s vain philosophy might indeed seek to pervert the doctrine of grace into a sanction of immorality, but the vanity of the teaching which would sanction such practices is seen at once by the fact that these are the very practices for which God’s judgment comes upon the children of disobedience (Eph. 5:66Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. (Ephesians 5:6)). They had been in this condition themselves, but God had called them out of it. How could He possibly endure that they should walk in the very acts from which they were thus delivered? “For,” he argues, “ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:88For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (Ephesians 5:8)).
The Light of Life
Christ has come to reveal God as light, as in all other ways. Hence He speaks of Himself as “the light of the world,” and declares that “he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:1212Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)). Scripture knows no such thought as a man who is in the light walking in darkness. It gives abundant instances of the failure of believers, and shows how the flesh, where allowed to work, is just as bad in the converted as in the unconverted person. But for all this the human thought that a believer can continue to walk and delight in sin is utterly opposed to the teaching of God’s word: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:6-76If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:6‑7)). The two broad classes are therefore the believer, who walks in the light and has fellowship with God; and the unbeliever, who walks in darkness and has no fellowship. The Ephesian converts had once belonged to the former class, but were now in the latter. As children of the light they were to show what was acceptable to God, and to bring forth the fruit of light.
Where Light is, Darkness Disappears
Where light is, darkness disappears. Hence, where the rays of God’s light are allowed to search the heart there is real and deep judgment of evil, as well as practical separation from it. So the apostle says, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them (Eph. 5:1111And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. (Ephesians 5:11)). The believer not only walks in the light, but by so doing becomes himself a source of light. So our Lord says, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin” (John 15:2222If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. (John 15:22)). Darkness does not discover itself, but is discovered by the light. Mere philosophy, however deep, cannot show things according to God’s thoughts. Life and light must go together. Only the quickened soul can discern in Christ the light of the world, and see all things in the form and color in which this light reveals them.
Our Walk
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” (Eph. 5:15-1715See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:15‑17)). Folly and wisdom in Scripture are not merely intellectual qualities, but have always a moral character. The believer as a child of light has “the mind of Christ”; he has the Holy Spirit to teach him the deep things of God. But the flesh is constantly present to lust against the Spirit, and it needs constant watchfulness to walk as wise men and not as fools. This is all the more necessary because the times are evil, so that every opportunity needs to be seized.
A particular example is then given which illustrates the principles thus laid down — “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:1818And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; (Ephesians 5:18)). The world’s joy expresses itself in a carnal manner; it is mere natural excitement, such as that caused by wine. The believer’s is to be in contrast with this. It is not the exhilaration ministered by mere natural causes, but the deeper delight ministered by the Spirit of God.
There is another word added which seems somewhat strange — “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God” (Eph. 5:2121Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. (Ephesians 5:21)).The mirth excited by wine is quarrelsome and self-assertive; not so the gladness of heart shed abroad by the Spirit. The deep sense of grace which calls forth praise and thanksgiving to God humbles instead of exalting. The fuller the heart is of praise to God the lower it will be in its own esteem, and hence the submission one to another; not indeed out of simple kindness, but in the deep sense of the fear of God, which never ceases to fill the heart occupied with His goodness and love.
T. B. Baines