Walk Circumspectly; Be Filled With the Spirit (Ephesians 5:13–19)

Eph. 5:13. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for everything that is made manifest is light.

The passage is somewhat obscure. It seems that holy Paul wished to show how the conscience of sinners and the impious is awakened through reproof. Their deeds are dark, their conscience has grown dim, and none of them sees how shameful and ruinous it is to live as they live. When, he says, you expose them by your radiant, dispassionate life and by your word, the full shame of their manner of life will be revealed, their own conscience will be awakened, and will in turn begin to expose them. In this way their shameful life will be seen in all its nakedness by everyone. Light has shone into this darkness, and everything hidden within it will be illumined. He wrote something similar to the Philippians: “Do all things without murmuring or disputing, that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life” (Phil. 2:14–16). The life of perfect Christians—pure and blameless children of God—is indeed a luminary for a sinful generation. There are many books, many words, and everyone has his own mind: what is lacking? — The ability to live. Show how to live by your own life, and no word will be needed. All will be clear without a word. Without life, even a clear word remains somewhat obscure. But with life—the word is yet more powerful. An indication of how the word exposes the conscience we find in holy Paul’s description of the order to be kept in church assemblies, particularly regarding the use of the gift of tongues. In tongues, he says, if there is no one in the assembly who understands them, do not speak—unless there is someone who can translate and interpret your speech to the assembly. Otherwise it is better to keep silent. For in a church assembly everything must be directed toward the mutual edification of all. Let each person speak in an intelligible language and with intelligible speech. Suppose you have gathered in church and all have begun to speak in tongues. If someone uninstructed and unbelieving comes in at that moment, hearing you, will he not say that you have lost your minds? But if you speak in an intelligible language and with intelligible speech, then some unbeliever or uninstructed person who enters will be “convicted by all, [and] called to account by all, and thus the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so, falling on his face, he will worship God, declaring that God is truly among you” (1 Cor. 14:24, 25). — It is about this manner of exposing the conscience and revealing the secrets of the heart that holy Paul speaks in our present passage. Expose them, he says, both by word and by a contrasting manner of life. By the light proceeding from you, the ways of the impious and sinful will be illumined, and their impurity and shame—invisible to those who live according to them—will be disclosed and made manifest. Just as objects hidden in darkness, when light falls upon them, become manifest by that light, so too all the unfruitful works of darkness, being exposed by your word and your contrasting life, receiving this illumination from you, will be revealed and made known as worthless, and will be recognized as such by all. This is the meaning of the words: “but all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light.” Further: “for everything that is made manifest is light”—this provides clarification of what precedes. An object is dark as long as the rays of light have not fallen upon it; but when rays do fall upon it, it becomes manifest, bright, illumined. The words “is light” mean the same as “is bright” or “is illumined.” Thus the life of the impious and sinful will become bright from your reproof and life—bright not in the sense of emitting light, but bright in its very darkness: it will be clearly visible how worthless that life is.

Holy Chrysostom says: “He said that you are light; but light reveals everything that happens in the dark, so that, he says, if you are virtuous and worthy of admiration, the impious will have no means of concealing themselves. For just as when a lamp stands, everyone is illumined, so when the light shines from you, the exposed wrongdoers will be struck down. Therefore one must expose them. — Just as a bodily wound, so long as it remains hidden, covered on the outside, and continues to go deeper, receives no treatment whatever, so also sin, as long as it is hidden as it were in darkness, continues to act with very great freedom and boldness; but as soon as it is exposed—it becomes light: not the sin itself—for how is that possible? — but the one who committed it. For if he is brought before the assembly, if he is admonished, if he repents, if he receives forgiveness—have you not dispersed the darkness that was his? Have you not then healed his wound? Have you not called forth fruit from barrenness?”

Eph. 5:14. Therefore it is said: Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.

“Therefore it is said”—who is it that says it? No such saying is found in Holy Scripture. From where, then, does it come? Some say that holy Paul took it from some apocryphal book and, forgetting this, cited it as a scriptural passage; others say that such a saying came from the lips of the Lord Himself and reached holy Paul through oral tradition; others say that holy Paul heard such a voice in spirit and in heart and cites it as a word of the Lord; others hold that it was composed by holy Paul from various passages of Scripture. None of these explanations is satisfactory. Close to the truth, perhaps, is the conjecture of blessed Theodoret, that this is a verse from some liturgical hymn composed in those days by more perfect Christians or even by the Apostles themselves. That this was so, holy Paul himself attests in his epistle to the Corinthians: “each one of you has a psalm” (1 Cor. 14:26). — Or perhaps someone among the converted heard such words in an extraordinary way at moments of supernatural stirring—possibly from among the Ephesians themselves. Since this saying was known and circulated among the Ephesians as a word from on high, the Apostle expresses himself thus: “therefore it is said”—meaning: someone from on high, or a voice from on high, as you know.

Our other commentators do not concern themselves with indicating who said it, but take up directly the task of clarifying what is said. — What then is said? — A call to the sinner to turn in repentance to the Lord Saviour. Through the word and life of perfect Christians the conscience of the sinner has been awakened; he sees clearly his own worthlessness and is ready to seek salvation: what is he to do? — Rise from the sleep of sin, draw near to the Lord, and He will give you light. And in general, what else did Christians, by their manner of life and their confession of faith, say to those among whom they shone as lights, if not this: let every person arise from the sleep of sin and the death of sin and draw near to Christ the Saviour!

Natural sleep and natural death serve as expressions of sinful sleep and sinful death. The sleeping man, like the dead, does not hear, does not see, does not feel, does not move. So too the sinner is stricken in spiritual terms by heedlessness, insensibility, and blindness, and he has no movement whatsoever in the direction of saving his soul and attaining eternal blessedness through pleasing God. — Yet the spirit is in him, only stricken with a lethargic sleep. When a ray of grace passes through the anointed word of Christians or their radiant life and reaches the spirit, it at once opens its eyes and begins to display the movements proper to it—fear of God, the disquiet of conscience, condemnation of all former life and a demand for its change. Then the sinner himself hears within: arise, O sleeper! — But conscience alone will only torment him, without giving peace. Then comes the word about the Saviour, and it constrains the sinner to lay hold of faith in Him as the sole means of salvation. The sinner believes, is reconciled with God, and is illumined by Christ the Lord. Everything then becomes clear to him—what his life ought to be and what he may expect in the future. From that point he walks in the light of His countenance and rejoices only in His name. — Glory to the boundless mercy of God toward us sinners.

Eph. 5:15. See then that you walk carefully, not as unwise but as wise.

Having so high a calling—to be the light of the world—walk in such a way as to be equal to your station, so that no one may find anything blameworthy in you, except perhaps that you are Christians and wish all others to be Christians as well. — “Carefully” — πως ακριβως — precisely, correctly, punctually according to the obligations that rest upon you, exactly as is expected of you. But the commandments are known: act according to them—and that is all. What is the purpose then of the warning “see” and this norm: “not as unwise but as wise”? — The purpose is this: that even good deeds can be spoiled—sometimes by unseasonableness, sometimes by inappropriateness, sometimes by excessive zeal. Determining how to do a deed so that it falls precisely in its proper place, time, and measure is a matter of wisdom. Wisdom both sets and holds the general norm of conduct and examines each individual deed. Unwisdom acts headlong or, as it is also said, haphazardly. As a result it wastes both strength and time, yet bears little fruit—though it strives to do only good and not evil. — “See” moreover implies dangers, snares, and nets. And of these there is no lack. There are many entanglements in external circumstances capable of drawing one away from what is right and dragging one toward what is wrong; within oneself there is also much that can lead one astray; and the enemy does not slumber. There are so many reasons to be watchful and to walk with the utmost circumspection. Blessed Jerome writes: “Well is it said to the Ephesians that they, having their faculties trained for the discernment of good and evil, should walk carefully and, testing all things, hold fast to what is good. He who sees how he ought to walk and knows how to step carefully so as not to stumble against a stone, saying: ‘Your law is a lamp to my feet’ (Ps. 118:105), is certainly wise. And I do not think that some simple person, a man of limited mind, could fulfil this commandment, even if he wished to walk carefully. From this we must understand that even moral precepts—which many consider to be perfectly clear on the grounds that it is said: ‘the commandment of the Lord is radiant, enlightening the eyes’ (Ps. 18:9)—stand in need of thorough examination in order to find wise application. That radiant commandment enlightens the eyes of those who, having put aside foolishness, have devoted themselves to the active assimilation of the lessons of wisdom.”

Eph. 5:16. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

He shows the way to fulfil the preceding commandment, to walk wisely and carefully. You will succeed in this, he says, by “redeeming the time.” But what does it mean to “redeem the time”? — Not to waste it to no purpose, but to strive in every way to make something of it that can serve the ends of our life. Blessed Theodoret says: “Redeem the time by using it as you ought.” Blessed Jerome writes: “When we spend time on a good deed, then we redeem it.” — The purpose of time lies in eternity; the present life is given as preparation for a blessed life in the future. He who directs everything toward this end, not allowing even small intervals of his time to pass in idle occupations, redeems all his time. The reason why one must hasten to redeem time in this way is that “the days are evil.” Evil can mean wicked; it can also mean cunning. A cunning person—you think you are about to catch him, but he slips through your hands. Such is time: it flows swiftly, so swiftly that you cannot lay hold of it. The Apostle says as it were: make haste; do what you can in every minute; do not let time pass by in vain—it will be gone, you cannot bring it back.

Or—“evil days” signifies the present evil age, full of evil and enticements. It seeks to take all our time from us, and we must strive not to allow this, strive to retain time for ourselves, to turn it to our own profit, for our eternal ends. Time is presented as the object of a struggle between us and the evil age. The latter pulls it toward itself, while we must pull it toward ourselves. Blessed Jerome writes: “By doing good, we redeem the time and make it our own, instead of selling it to evil. No one consumed by worldly cares and seeking riches redeems time for himself. — If we redeem the time as we ought, we in some sense transform it: we turn evil days into good ones and make them, out of days of the present age, days of the age to come. — One can also interpret this passage differently: O Ephesians, upon whom, having awakened from the sleep of this age, the Sun of Righteousness—Christ the Lord—has shone! Walk carefully and wisely, not yielding to the changeableness of the times, but on the contrary, striving, amid that changeableness, always to maintain yourselves invariably unchanged. Let persecution follow upon persecution—you hold to one course and care about one thing: not to change like the moon, as the foolish do, but to stand unwavering in what was once begun. I will explain my thought by an example from Scripture. Joseph had one aim—how to please God. And this remained unchanged in him amid the many changes of his life’s circumstances. It was not altered by his brothers’ hatred, nor by the state of slavery, nor by the enticements of his mistress, nor by the gloom of the dungeon, nor by power over all of Egypt. He was always the same, and by redeeming his time, he turned evil days into good ones. The same can be said of Job. He was subjected to various trials; but neither wealth nor poverty, neither wounds nor the reproaches of friends, nor abandonment by all, nor the subsequent restoration of his prosperity—nothing changed him. He redeemed his time and turned evil days into good ones.”

Eph. 5:17. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of God is.

Here is the means both for walking with wise circumspection and for redeeming the time as one ought! — Find out what God desires of you in any given situation, and fulfil that. He has already said earlier: “proving what is well-pleasing to God”; now he says the same again: “understand what the will of God is.” So important and so necessary is this, in order not to distort the proper mode of action through one’s own prudence, which is always insufficient. Our prudence—very often, if not always—distorts a matter, being deflected from rectitude by self-pity, desire to please others, and many other causes that seem respectable by human reckoning. But understanding the will of God disperses all the mists that hang over the paths of our life, and clearly points out the straight way, and thereby safeguards and establishes the rightness of our action, or brings it to light in life—on condition, of course, that the original covenant—to walk unwavering in the will of God, sparing not one’s life—is vividly present to the mind, so that this awareness, and not something else, governs the plans of our life. Blessed Jerome writes: “Since the time is evil and it is necessary to redeem it, one must first ask for wisdom in order to understand what the will of God is. We cannot walk carefully unless we first understand God’s will. In every situation one must first consider what God wills, and only after due deliberation do that which shall be recognized as well-pleasing to Him.”

Eph. 5:18. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

On this bitter earth it is natural for a person who cannot forget that he was created for a life in paradise to seek diversions. Everyone seeks and finds them in his own way. Every people and every person has its own consolations. The most universally cheering element is wine. But being sensual, it provides a sensual kind of cheer. For Christians, who are born of the Spirit and are a dwelling-place of the Spirit, whose life is hidden with Christ in God, diversion of this kind is inappropriate. What is proper to them is joy in the Holy Spirit. The Apostle therefore writes to the Ephesians—to avoid the former and seek the latter.

“Do not be drunk.” But how is one to set the limit at which drunkenness begins? For Christians it is more fitting to abstain entirely—except in extremity, for medicinal purposes. Of course it is not wine that is blameworthy, but drunkenness; yet even a small quantity of wine kindles a fire in the blood, and the carnal cheerfulness that arises from it scatters the thoughts and undermines one’s moral steadfastness. What need is there to put oneself in so dangerous a situation? Especially when one recognizes that every minute of time must be redeemed, whereas by this act it is not minutes but whole days that are surrendered free of charge to the enemy—and not even free of charge, but at a cost? — Judged strictly, therefore, the drinking of wine ought to be entirely banished from use among Christians.

Holy Chrysostom, while permitting the use of wine for cheer, does so not for everyone, but only for those in sorrow and illness. “Do you want to know,” he says, “that wine is good? — Listen to the words of Scripture: ‘Give strong drink to those who are perishing, and wine to those who are in bitter distress’ (Prov. 31:6). And rightly so: for it has power to soften affliction and anguish and to drive away sorrow. ‘Wine gladdens the heart of man’ (Ps. 103:15). — The other sensible use of wine is drinking it for health. This is, according to Chrysostom, its primary purpose. ‘Wine,’ he says, ‘was given to us for nothing other than the health of the body. Listen to this blessed one (the Apostle Paul), who writes and says to Timothy: ‘Use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments’ (1 Tim. 5:23). — For this reason God created our bodies as temperate, requiring little to fill them, in order to teach us by this very fact that we were created for another life. He wished to grant us that life from the beginning, but since we made ourselves unworthy of it, He deferred it, and during this period of deferral He does not allow us to enjoy ourselves without measure. A small cup of wine and a piece of bread is sufficient to satisfy the human stomach. The Master of all irrational creatures God created as needing far less in comparison with them; He gave us a small body, indicating by this that we should strive toward another life. ‘Do not be drunk,’ says the Apostle, ‘with wine, in which is debauchery’: it does not save, but destroys not only the body but the soul as well.’”

“Debauchery” — ασωτια — dissoluteness, a riotous life, all-round licentiousness and depravity. Drunkenness is the mother and nurturer of all vices; it inflames also the irascible part of the soul. Holy Chrysostom says: “It makes us hot-tempered and brazen, reckless, irritable, and intolerable.” But most directly of all—it multiplies acts of fornication. For “the belly, exceedingly inflamed, seethes with lust,” as blessed Jerome expresses it.

“But be filled with the Spirit.” “As it is impossible to serve two masters, God and mammon (Matt. 6:24), so it is impossible to be filled both with the Spirit and with wine” (Jerome). This is why “the holy Apostle, having rejected the harmful intoxication, introduced in its place the spiritual one” (Theodoret). “Do you want,” he says, “to rejoice? Do you want to spend the day cheerfully? I give you spiritual song. Drunkenness destroys the harmony of our speech, causing one to stammer; in the same way it distorts the eyes and everything else. Learn to sing psalms, and you will see the sweetness of this occupation, for those who sing psalms are filled with the Holy Spirit, while those who sing satanic songs are filled with an unclean spirit” (holy Chrysostom).

How different are the consolations of carnal and spiritual people! The former are filled with wine, while the latter are filled with the Holy Spirit; wine arouses in the former a carnal merriment, while the Holy Spirit bestows upon the latter a spiritual and divine gladness; wine inflames the former to all manner of lustful acts, while the Holy Spirit teaches the latter to praise God and give thanks with every kind of good work. Come, O Comforter, Spirit of truth, and dwell—even in us!

What is the meaning of the words: “be filled with the Spirit”? — The Spirit of grace has dwelt in Christians from the time of baptism and chrismation. And is not the approach to the sacraments of repentance and communion the reception of the most abundant influxes of grace? To those who already possess the Spirit it is fitting to say: “do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess. 5:19). But how is it possible to say to those same persons: “be filled with the Spirit”? — The grace of the Holy Spirit is given to Christians because such is the power of the Christian faith. But the Spirit dwelling in Christians does not accomplish their salvation alone, but together with the free acts of the Christian himself. In this respect a Christian can both grieve and quench the Spirit—and can also contribute to the Spirit’s perceptibly manifesting His workings within him. When this occurs, the Christian is aware of an extraordinary state within himself, expressed as a quiet, deep, and sweet joy, rising sometimes to an exultation of the spirit. Here is spiritual intoxication! Contrasting it with intoxication from wine, the Apostle says: seek not the one, but this intoxication—calling it being filled from the Spirit. Thus the commandment—to be filled with the Spirit—is nothing other than the instruction to conduct oneself, or to employ those actions on one’s own part, which would assist or give the Holy Spirit opportunity and scope to manifest Himself perceptibly: to work tangibly upon the heart.

In the writings of men of God who were counted worthy of such grace and even dwelt continually under its overshadowing, we find an indication of two things in particular required of a person for this end—the cleansing of the heart from the passions, and the turning of prayer toward God. These same means the Apostle Paul has also indicated. Earlier he taught how to cleanse the soul from the passions of lust and anger, and here—immediately following the words: “be filled with the Spirit”—he points also to prayer. Holy Chrysostom introduced these two methods into his commentary as well. That prayer opens to the Spirit of God the freedom to act upon the heart, he has already said in the passage quoted above, saying: “Those who sing psalms are filled with the Spirit.” And that purity from passions leads to the same end, he says immediately after: “Is it within our power to be filled with the Spirit? — Yes, within our power. When we shall cleanse our soul from falsehood, cruelty, fornication, impurity, and covetousness; when we shall become kind-hearted, compassionate, and attentive to ourselves; when there shall be no buffoonery in us—when we shall have made ourselves worthy of it, then what will prevent the Holy Spirit from drawing near and flying to us? — And He will not merely draw near, but will fill our heart.”

Eph. 5:19. Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord.

In what connection should these words be taken—in this way: when you have been filled with the Spirit, then sing with lips and heart? Or in this way: if you wish to be filled with the Spirit, then sing? — Is the singing with lips and heart presented here as a consequence of being filled with the Spirit, or is it indicated as a means toward that end?

The visitation of the Spirit is not within our power; it comes as the Spirit Himself is pleased to grant it. And when it comes, it brings the powers of our spirit into a state of intense stirring. A song to God then weaves itself of its own accord. Freedom is possible only in this: whether to allow this song to be sung within the heart, or to give it outward expression also in voice, audible to all. In the latter case, the Apostle has laid down as a rule that in the church everything is to proceed decently and in order.

From this it is evident that both being filled with the Spirit and singing under His action and visitation cannot be the subject of a commandment, but only of desire and seeking, together with the use of appropriate means. The guidance on the prudent outward expression of the song formed inwardly is not part of the content of the present text. Consequently, these words must be taken not in the first connection but in the second. Be filled with the Spirit; and for that purpose sing. Singing will stir the Spirit, or bring one into a state of the Spirit’s visitation, or of His perceptible action. Blessed Theodoret writes that the Apostle introduces spiritual intoxication when he says: “be filled with the Spirit,” and shows how to attain to it, namely: “by unceasingly praising God in song, by recollecting oneself, and by always stirring the mind.” This amounts to saying: by means of singing with tongue and heart.

It is not difficult to understand that in this matter the chief thing is not the beauty of the singing but the content of what is sung. And it works in the same way that a speech written with inspiration inspires the one who reads it. The feeling placed in the word passes through the word into the soul of the one who hears or reads it. So it is with the songs of the Church. Psalms, hymns, and odes of the Church are Spirit-moved outpourings of reverent feelings toward God. The Spirit of God filled His chosen ones, and they expressed the fullness of their feelings in songs. One who sings them as one ought can, conversely, enter into the feelings expressed in them and, being filled with them, bring himself nearer to the state capable of receiving the workings of the grace of the Spirit, or fit himself for that state. Such is precisely the purpose of ecclesiastical songs: through them to kindle and fan the spark of grace hidden within us. This spark is given by the sacraments. To fan it and transform it into a flame—for this purpose psalms, hymns, and spiritual odes were introduced. They act upon the spark of grace as the wind acts upon a spark that has fallen into combustible matter.

But let us recall that such an effect belongs to them on the condition that the use of them goes hand in hand with the cleansing of the heart, as holy Chrysostom said, following the course of the speech of holy Apostle Paul himself. Further conditions are indicated in this very passage, namely: first, that the songs be spiritual; and second, that they be sung not with the tongue only but also with the heart.

The Apostle indicates three kinds of songs: psalms, hymns, and odes. All of these were certainly used in the apostolic age and differed from one another in some way. Not having examples of them, we will not undertake to define what kind of songs those ecclesiastical songs bearing these names were, and will understand by each of them a song of the Church in general. And that these were indeed ecclesiastical songs—that is, songs sung in the assembly of Christians—is evident from the fact that the Apostle commands them to speak these songs to themselves, εαυτοις, which all commentators understand as: to one another mutually.

Thus, in order for the singing of ecclesiastical songs to lead to being filled with the Spirit, the Apostle requires that these songs be “spiritual”—by which one must understand not merely that they ought to be spiritual in content, but that they ought to be Spirit-moved, to be themselves a fruit of the Spirit, or to have poured forth from hearts filled with the Spirit. Otherwise they will not lead to being filled with the Spirit. This is according to the law that what has been placed into a song is what it will give to the one who sings it. If human thought has been placed into it, human thought is what it will produce; if a gracious element has been placed into it, grace is what it will stir up also in the one singing. But if it is a mere collection of words, it will produce nothing.

The Apostle’s second requirement is that the songs be sung not with the tongue only but also with the heart. It is not enough merely to understand the song; one must enter into sympathy with it, or receive its content into the heart, and sing it as though it were flowing from one’s own heart. From a comparison of the present passage with others it is evident that in the apostolic age only those sang who were in such a disposition, while others entered into a like-minded disposition with them—and the whole church assembly sang and made melody to the Lord only from the heart. What wonder that as a result the whole assembly was filled with the Spirit? What treasure is hidden in the songs of the Church, when they are performed as they ought to be!

Holy Chrysostom says: “What do the words mean: ‘singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord’? — This means: approach this task with attention, for the inattentive sing without profit, uttering only words, while their heart is wandering elsewhere.” Blessed Theodoret adds to this: “He sings with the heart who not only sets the tongue in motion but also stirs the mind to understand what is being uttered.” Other holy Fathers, writing about the turning of prayer toward God, hold that it is performed in the best manner when it is performed by the mind, established in the heart.

What the Apostle says here about the church assembly applies equally to private psalmody, which each person can perform separately at home. And the fruit of this can be the same, when it is performed as one ought—that is, with attention, understanding, sympathy, and from the heart.

Let us also note that although the Apostle’s words speak of singing, his thought points to the turning of prayer toward God. And this, properly speaking, is what stirs the Spirit.