Ephesians · chapter 5 of 6
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Ephesians 5 calls believers to imitate God as beloved children and to walk in love, as Christ gave himself for them. Paul contrasts darkness with light, asks them to make the best use of the time and be filled with the Spirit, and teaches mutual submission. He then applies this to marriage: wives submit to their husbands and husbands love their wives as Christ loved the church.
Ephesians 5 continues the practical part of the letter that began in chapter 4. Paul shows how the new identity is lived out in relationships, in personal conduct and at home, taking as his model Christ and his love for the church.
Paul urges believers to be imitators of God, as beloved children, and to walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Sexual immorality, all impurity and covetousness must not even be named among the saints, nor crude joking; instead there should be thanksgiving. The immoral have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God, and no one should deceive believers with empty words.
Once they were darkness, but now they are light in the Lord, and they must walk as children of light, whose fruit is goodness, righteousness and truth, discerning what pleases the Lord. They must take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them. A hymn calls the sleeper to awake so that Christ may shine on him.
So they must look carefully how they walk, not as fools but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil and understanding what the will of the Lord is. They must not get drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with their hearts and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Paul then applies that mutual submission to marriage. Wives submit to their husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. Husbands love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to sanctify her and present her in splendor, without spot or wrinkle; they should love them as their own bodies. He cites Genesis: a man shall be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. Paul calls this a profound mystery that refers to Christ and the church, and concludes that each husband should love his wife as himself and that the wife should respect her husband.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Paul asks us to imitate God as beloved children and to walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. Christian love has a concrete model: the self-giving of Jesus.
Once they were darkness, but now they are light in the Lord, and so they must walk as children of light. Conduct flows from the new identity, not the other way around.
Do not get drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. Paul contrasts two ways of being controlled: one destroys, the other produces praise, gratitude and mutual submission.
Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. The model for the husband's leadership is Christ's sacrifice, not domination.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: God, as beloved children. — Ephesians 5:1
Answer: In love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. — Ephesians 5:2
Answer: Once darkness; now light in the Lord. — Ephesians 5:8
Answer: Being filled with the Spirit. — Ephesians 5:18
Answer: As Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. — Ephesians 5:25
Answer: To Christ and the church. — Ephesians 5:32
Ephesians 5 asks for a life that shows: gratitude instead of complaint, light instead of secrets, praise instead of excess. In a small group you can ask which traits of our speech and entertainment do not fit being children of light and what simple changes could be made.
On marriage, the text puts both spouses under the same standard: the sacrificial love of Christ. Paul does not authorize abuse or domination but describes a relationship of mutual service. Married couples can ask how they express that love and respect today, and single people how to learn from Christ's model in their own relationships.
Ephesians 5 shows how the people of light live in practice, from personal conduct to marriage. In chapter 6, Paul will go on to family and work and finish with the call to put on the armor of God.
It is a principle for the whole Christian community: serving one another humbly out of reverence for Christ. The following verses apply that principle to marriage. Christians understand differently how it takes shape at home, but all agree that it excludes abuse.
Paul compares the husband to Christ, head of the church, who gave himself for her. Some see here a leadership of the husband in the home; others stress service. Either way, the text defines that headship by the sacrificial love of Christ and not by power.
The phrase points to being continually guided and controlled by the Holy Spirit, not a single experience. The results the text mentions are concrete: praise, gratitude and mutual submission. Someone filled with the Spirit is recognized by character more than by special emotions.