Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Ephesians
Chapter 5: Be Filled with the Spirit
Ephesians 5 calls the children of God to walk in love, in light, and in the Spirit. 'Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God.' Immorality and filthiness have no place among the saints. 'Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.' Believers are to 'walk circumspectly... redeeming the time,' and, above all, 'be not drunk with wine... but be filled with the Spirit,' overflowing in psalms, thanksgiving, and mutual submission. Then Paul lifts marriage to its highest meaning: wives and husbands picture Christ and the church, for 'Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it,' and present it 'a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle.' 'This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.' The chapter shows us the walk of love and light, the Spirit-filled life, and the love of Christ for His bride.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Ephesians chapter 5. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Greek words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Here Paul calls believers to walk in love and light, to be filled with the Spirit, and to see in Christian marriage the picture of Christ's love for His church. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
Walk in Love
Imitate God and walk in the love Christ showed at the cross.
Children of Light
Once darkness, now light in the Lord; walk as children of light.
Be Filled with the Spirit
Not drunk with wine, but filled and overflowing with the Spirit.
Christ and the Church
Marriage pictures Christ's sacrificial love for His bride.
As Christ Also Hath Loved Us (Ephesians 5:1-7)
Imitate God as dear children and walk in the self-giving love of Christ, keeping clear of the immorality that shuts men out of the kingdom.
Followers of God, as Dear Children
"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For 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. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them."
Word Study
"followers," Greek mimetes (μιμητής). The word means an imitator, one who copies another; from it comes our word "mimic." "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children." The old word "followers" here means imitators: we are to imitate God, to copy our Father, as beloved children naturally imitate a father they love. And the specific thing to imitate is love: "walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God." The pattern of our love is the cross, where Christ gave Himself for us, a self-giving, sacrificial love that pleased God as "a sweetsmelling savour." To be a mimetes of God, then, is to love as Christ loved, not with a sentimental feeling but with self-sacrifice for the good of others. This is the highest calling of the Christian life: to imitate our heavenly Father, whose very nature is love, by walking in the same self-giving love that Christ showed at Calvary. Children resemble their Father; the children of God are to be imitators of God, walking in love.
Explanation
The standard is nothing less than God Himself: "Be ye therefore followers (imitators) of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us." Christ's self-sacrifice is both the pattern and the power of Christian love. Against that love Paul sets the sins that counterfeit it — "fornication, and all uncleanness," covetousness, filthy talk — which are "not convenient" for saints and shut a person out of "the kingdom of Christ and of God." Children who imitate a holy Father cannot make peace with impurity.
Gospel Focus
Paul draws the practical conclusion from the gospel of grace: since we are God's "dear children," we should "be ye therefore followers of God," imitators of our Father. And the heart of imitating God is love: "walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour." The model of our love is the cross, where Christ gave Himself for us; His sacrifice was a fragrant offering to God, and our lives of self-giving love are likewise pleasing to Him. Then Paul draws the sharp line between this walk of love and the works of the flesh. Among the saints, "fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness" should "not be once named", not even hinted at, so foreign are they to those who imitate God. Corrupt speech too, "filthiness... foolish talking... jesting," has no place; "but rather giving of thanks", the redeemed tongue overflows with gratitude, not filth. Paul warns solemnly that those given over to such sins, "no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater," have no "inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." A life dominated by these sins is not the life of a child of God, and "let no man deceive you with vain words", do not be fooled into thinking such things are harmless, "for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." So the walk of love and the walk of impurity are opposites, and the children of God must not be "partakers" with the disobedient. To be an imitator of God is to love as Christ loved and to leave behind the impurity that brings His wrath; grace calls us not to license but to the sacrificial love and purity that become the children of God.
Be Filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:8-21)
Once darkness, now light in the Lord, believers walk wisely, redeeming the time, filled with the Spirit and overflowing in thanksgiving.
Walk as Children of Light
"For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 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. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God."
Word Study
"be filled," Greek plerousthe, from pleroo (πληρόω). The word means to fill, to make full; the form here is a present, ongoing command in the passive: keep on being filled. "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." Paul draws a deliberate contrast: as wine fills and controls the drunkard, so believers are to be filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit, but to good and not to "excess." This filling is not a one-time event to look back on but a continual reality to live in, "keep being filled," a life kept full of the Spirit. And Paul shows its overflow: the Spirit-filled life bubbles up in worship, "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," in thanksgiving "always for all things," and in humble "submitting yourselves one to another." The evidence of being filled with the Spirit is not merely spectacular gifts but a heart full of song, gratitude, and humility. This is the Apostolic normal: not an occasional touch but a continual fullness of the Spirit, keeping the believer overflowing with the praise of God and the love of others. Be filled, and keep on being filled, with the Spirit.
Explanation
Identity drives behavior: "ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light." Believers are to have "no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness," but rather reprove them. Then a call to wise, deliberate living: "redeeming the time, because the days are evil," "understanding what the will of the Lord is." The center of it is fullness: "be filled with the Spirit" — overflowing in "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," in constant thanksgiving, and in "submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." A Spirit-filled church sings, gives thanks, and yields to one another.
Gospel Focus
Paul now uses the image of light. "Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord." Note he does not say we were merely in darkness, but were darkness itself; and now we are not merely in light but are "light in the Lord." So, "walk as children of light," for "the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth." The children of light "prove what is acceptable unto the Lord," discerning and doing His will, and they "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them", exposing sin rather than sharing in it, for light by its nature makes things visible. Paul quotes a call to awakening: "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Then he calls for wise, watchful living: "walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." We are to buy up every opportunity, using our limited time for God in an evil age, "understanding what the will of the Lord is." And at the center of the wise, light-filled walk is the Spirit: "be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." Instead of being controlled by wine, the believer is to be continually filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit. And the marks of that fullness pour out: worship, "speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord"; thanksgiving, "giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ"; and humility, "submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." Notice that all is done "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ", the Apostolic pattern of doing everything in that one saving name, to the one God our Father. The Spirit-filled life is a life of song, gratitude, and mutual submission, overflowing from a heart kept full of the Spirit of God. Walk in the light, redeem the time, and be filled with the Spirit.
Christ Also Loved the Church (Ephesians 5:22-33)
Marriage is a living picture of Christ and the church: the husband loves as Christ loved and gave Himself for His bride.
This Is a Great Mystery
"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband."
Word Study
"the church," Greek ekklesia (ἐκκλησία). The word joins ek, out of, with a form of kaleo, to call; it means an assembly of those called out, and in the New Testament, the people God has called out of the world to Himself. Paul makes the ekklesia the bride of Christ: "Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it." The relationship of a husband and wife is a living picture of Christ and His called-out people. Christ is "the head of the church," and "the saviour of the body"; He "loved the church, and gave himself for it," dying to redeem His bride. His purpose is to "sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word," and at last to "present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle... holy and without blemish." The love of a husband is to imitate this: sacrificial, cleansing, cherishing. The ekklesia is not a building or an institution but the beloved bride Christ died to save and is making holy. To grasp what the church is, look at how Christ loved it: He gave Himself for it, and He will present it to Himself glorious. We are that called-out people, "members of his body," loved by the Bridegroom who gave His life for us.
Explanation
Paul frames marriage by the gospel. "Wives, submit... as unto the Lord," for the husband is head "even as Christ is the head of the church." But the weight falls on the husband: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it" — a love measured by the cross, that nourishes and cherishes as one's own body. Marriage, Paul reveals, was always a picture of something greater: "this is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church." Husband and wife are living a parable of the Bridegroom and His bride.
Gospel Focus
Paul now applies the Spirit-filled, mutually submissive life to marriage, and in doing so unveils its deepest meaning. To wives: "submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord," for "the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church." This headship is not tyranny but the pattern of Christ, who is head of the church and "the saviour of the body." To husbands comes the weightier charge: "love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it." The husband's love is measured by the cross: Christ loved the church and died for it. And Christ's love is purposeful and cleansing: He gave Himself "that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word," and finally "present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle... holy and without blemish." Christ is making His bride pure and beautiful, and will one day present her to Himself in glory. So a husband is to love his wife "as their own bodies," to nourish and cherish her "even as the Lord the church." Then Paul cites the creation ordinance, "they two shall be one flesh," and reveals its hidden depth: "This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church." From the beginning, marriage was designed as a picture of the union between Christ and His people. The one-flesh union of husband and wife images the union of the Saviour and His bride, "for we are members of his body." So marriage is holy, and its love is to reflect the love of Christ; and the church is precious beyond measure, for Christ gave Himself to make her His glorious bride. Husbands, love as Christ loved; wives, reverence as the church reveres her Lord; and let every Christian marvel that the Lord Jesus so loved the church, His bride, that He gave Himself for her and is making her holy for the day He presents her to Himself, without spot or wrinkle, glorious forever.
Chapter 5 in Review
Ephesians 5 calls the children of God to walk in love, light, and the Spirit, and crowns it with the picture of Christ and the church. "Be ye therefore followers of God... and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us." Immorality and filthiness have no place among the saints. "Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light," wisely, "redeeming the time," and, above all, "be not drunk with wine... but be filled with the Spirit," overflowing in song, thanksgiving "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," and mutual submission. Then marriage is lifted to its highest meaning: husbands love "even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it," to present it "a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle." "This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church."
For the Apostolic reader this chapter shows the shape of a life filled with the Spirit. As children of God we imitate our Father, walking in the self-giving love Christ showed at the cross, leaving behind the impurity that brings His wrath. We who were darkness are now light in the Lord and walk as children of light, wise and watchful in an evil age. And the heart of it is the continual fullness of the Spirit, not an occasional touch but a life kept full, overflowing in worship, gratitude, and humility, all done in the name of the Lord Jesus to the one God our Father. Finally, the chapter reveals that even marriage was designed to picture the gospel: Christ's sacrificial love for His church, His bride, whom He gave Himself to cleanse and will present to Himself glorious. So walk in love and light, be filled with the Spirit, and let husbands and wives display the love of Christ and His church, for the Lord Jesus so loved the church that He gave Himself for her.
- Imitate God and "walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us" (5:1-2).
- "Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light" (5:8).
- "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (5:16).
- "Be not drunk with wine... but be filled with the Spirit" (5:18).
- Husbands love "even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it" (5:25).
- Marriage pictures "Christ and the church" (5:32).
Questions for Reflection
- Do you "walk in love," imitating the self-giving love of Christ?
- Are you walking "as children of light," redeeming the time in an evil age?
- Are you continually "filled with the Spirit," overflowing in worship and thanks?
- How does the love of Christ for His church shape your view of marriage and of the church?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. Imitating God; walking in love; purity: Ephesians 5:1-7; Matthew 5:48; John 13:34; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Colossians 3:5-6. Children of light; wise walking: Ephesians 5:8-17; John 8:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:5; Colossians 4:5. Filled with the Spirit; worship and thanksgiving: Ephesians 5:18-21; Colossians 3:16-17; Acts 2:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:18. Marriage as Christ and the church: Ephesians 5:22-33; Genesis 2:24; Colossians 3:18-19; Revelation 19:7-8; 21:2. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- Walk in love and purity; imitate God: Ephesians 5:1-7; John 13:34; Colossians 3:5-6.
- Children of light; be filled with the Spirit: Ephesians 5:8-21; 1 Thessalonians 5:5; Colossians 3:16-17.
- Marriage as a picture of Christ and the church: Ephesians 5:22-33; Genesis 2:24; Revelation 19:7-8.