Living as Light
Ephesians 5:8-14
How would you describe the relationship between the following pairs of words? What is one word that describes the way that each pair is related?
- inside / outside
- top / bottom
- wet / dry
- big / small
- all / nothing
- hot / cold
- in / out
- public / private
- expensive / free
- sit / stand
- happy / sad
- easy / hard
- good / bad
Perhaps one word that comes to mind is contrast here, because each pair of words features two things that are different from each other somehow.But the difference is more specific than say, just, an apple from an orange or a truck from a car. As you have probably observed, each of these word pairs are opposites. According to Lexico.com, the word opposite means “a person or thing that’s totally different from or the reverse of someone or something else.”
In Eph 5:8-14, Paul speaks about another pair of opposites, which is darkness and light. This is a concept that appears throughout the Bible and is a metaphor that stands for “spiritual and moral conditions: death versus life, lost versus saved, evil versus goodness.”[1] By saying this, Paul doesn’t mean that darkness and light are always moral in nature, or that darkness is automatically evil. After all, God’s creation of the world and universe included both light and darkness, and daytime and nighttime, and he said that everything he made and did in creating the world was “very good” (Gen 1:31).
Yet, we also know that the Apostle John called the life and ministry of Jesus “the light of men” (John 1:4). Then he said that the Jesus “shined in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5). By using this analogy, John not only portrayed the truth about Jesus as ‘light,’ but he described the sinfulness of the world as ‘darkness.’
Paul picks up on this analogy (or metaphor) here in his letter to the believers at Ephesus, and he does so in a way that’s illuminating. He helps us understand how our lives as followers of Christ should be not simply different, but opposite of the way that nonbelievers live. We should be as different as light is from darkness, and as the sunshine at noon on a day without clouds is from the darkness of a closed, concrete cell without windows. Let’s put this in simple terms:
We should live in a way that’s opposite of the world.
Paul says, “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Eph 5:8). This statement calls for empathy and honesty. It remind us that we used to be this way. Until the light of Jesus shined into our lives and healed our spiritual blindness, we used to be like the unsaved world around us.
We should never look at the people of this world with condescending eyes or an arrogant attitude. We know what it’s like to be lost, to live in spiritual darkness, don’t we? Let’s not pretend we don’t. So, to help us keep this honest outlook and to protect ourselves from pride, Paul reminds us that we, too, were once darkness. We should also notice that:
Paul connects our activity to our identity.
He didn’t say, “You were once in darkness,” but he said, “You were once darkness.” This is important because Paul is actually describing our pre-Christ, unsaved identity as darkness. We weren’t just victims of darkness; we were sources of darkness. We weren’t just prisoners of war; we were soldiers in Satan’s army. We did our part to promote the errors of sin and suppress the truth of Jesus, but not anymore. We are now “light in the Lord.” This is our new identity, we are “children of light.” So, we should “walk” that way.
What does it mean to be “children of light?” This stands in contrast with the way Paul described nonbelievers as “children of disobedience” a few verses before (Eph 5:6), or as “children of wrath” (Eph 2:3), or as “sons of disobedience” (Eph 2:2). To comprehend this idea, we should familiarize ourselves with how the Bible uses this “sonship” concept.
- 1 Kings 20:35 mentions the “sons of the prophets.”
- Neh 12:28 mentions the “sons of the singers.”
- Neh 12:35 mentions the “sons of the priests.”
Do these phrases refer to the prophets’ “kids,” singers’ “children,” or offspring of the priests? They don’t. They refer to something like “membership in a guild” of some kind.[2] Our modern concept of “unions” may help us understand what this means. We know about a teachers’ union, an electricians’ union, a police union, or a steam-fitters’ union. These are guilds or groups of people joined together by a common set of behaviors, interests, and skills. When one member goes on strike, they all go on strike – and if some refuse to strike, they take the heat, don’t they? Well, as followers of Christ:
We’ve left the guild of darkness and joined the guild of light.
We don’t belong to the “darkness union” anymore, we belong to the “association of light.” Christ himself told us that we are “the light of the world” (Matt 5:14). So, while this is our identity (we’re card-carrying Christians), we need to walk, talk, and act accordingly. Members of the teachers’ union do what? They teach, and they’re supposed to teach with excellence. Members of the electricians’ union do what? They do electrical work, not plumbing. And members of the church do what? We shine the light of Christ into the world of darkness, through the words we speak and the lives we live – or at least that’s what we’re supposed to do.
Have you ever grabbed a flashlight when you needed it most, only to find out that the batteries were dead or the bulb was out? Not fun. Let’s not be that way for Jesus. So, what’s this light supposed to look like?
Christian light is goodness, righteousness, and truth.
If you study the Greek NT manuscripts available to us today, you’ll discover that some of them say here (in Eph 5:9), “the fruit of the Spirit.”[3] A handful of manuscripts say this and so they resemble “the fruit of the Spirit” mentioned in Gal 5:22. But the vast majority of manuscripts, both those which are older and those which are widespread say, “the fruit of light,” which definitely fits with the immediate context better.
This being the case, it is very reasonable to point out here that Paul views the “light of God” as a fertile field that produces a very particular crop, and this crop is very abundant and fruitful, too. In fact, this crop is threefold, “goodness, righteousness, and truth,” and it’s abundant, indicated by the word all. This is what “light living” yields – goodness, righteousness, and truth.
These three “fruits” are moral and ethical qualities that distinguish a genuine child of God:
- Goodness: one pastor describes this quality as “moral excellence…being good in both nature and effectiveness.”[4] This stands in contrast to the badness of sexual sins, crude language, violence, exploitation, and material greed that characterizes the unsaved world. Whatever God does is good, admirable, and excellent. Whatever Satan does is bad, repulsive, and disgusting.
- Have you ever picked apple at an orchard? If so, then you know what it’s like to grab an apple from the tree that’s squishy, rotten, worm-infested, and simply no good. What do you do it then? You toss it to the ground and look for an apple, one that’s shiny, firm, unblemished, and very good. As people come into contact with your life, do they find a person who’s good like God, or someone who’s repulsive like Satan?
Righteousness: this word refers to having a right relationship with God, esp. by treating God properly as he ought to be treated on a day-to-day basis, giving him the honor, respect, obedience, and worship that he deserve. It also refers to having a right relationship with other people. It means that by walking in the light, we treat other people properly, as they ought to be treated, with fairness and impartiality, because they have been made in the image of God.
Truth: this quality is “honesty, reliability, trustworthiness, and integrity – in contrast to the hypocritical, deceptive, and false ways of the old life of darkness.[5] As people who “walk in the light” and are members of the “guild or God’s light,” we should be known for speaking with transparency and reliability, saying what we mean and not tricking or misguiding people with our words. Light brings clarity, shadows bring confusion.
When people spend time with you, what do they see? Someone who behaves with moral excellence, fairness and impartiality, and honesty and sincerity? Or do they see someone with questionable morals, prejudiced perspectives, and shifty, uncertain words? Are you a flashlight that’s working for Jesus, or are your batteries dead?
God’s light shines on all situations.
As the light of God produces the godly virtues of goodness, righteousness, and truth through our daily decisions and everyday lives, these virtues are like the rays of light that shine from a flashlight into a dark room. They help us “find out what is acceptable to the Lord” (Eph 5:10). When we shine a flashlight into a dark room, we can see more clearly what’s in that room so we can decide the best way forward. Otherwise we’d trip and fall.
I do this at church sometimes when I walk through the basement. To save the church some pennies, I don’t turn on the ceiling lights but use my cellphone light instead. When I shake my phone, a flashlight turns on (a nifty feature of the Moto G phone), then I know how to walk through the basement from one side to the other. Sometimes I have to step around some choir chairs, or some FrontLine chairs, or maybe even a MityLite table.
In a certain way, that’s what Paul is talking about here. As “sons of light,” we should learn how to shine the light beams of “goodness, righteousness, and truth” into the darkness that surrounds us in this sin-cursed world. We do this by asking questions like, “In my current situation, what’s the best way to apply the principles of what it means to be good, righteous, and truthful?”
You see, the questions we ask should not be just, “What works?” or, “What’s popular?” The questions we should be asking are, “What’s good, what’s righteous, and what’s true?” To be sure, there’s actually a time to ask questions like, “What works?” or, “What’s popular?” Sometimes that’s what a good and righteous peacemaker must do, but not at the expense of God’s truth.
We should also be especially careful about asking the question, “What’s in it for me?” or, “What do I want?” Once again, this isn’t always a bad question, but it shouldn’t be the governing question. This is the governing question for the unsaved world around us and it leads to all kinds of careless and selfish, repulsive and destructive behavior.
When Christ died on the cross for our sins, he did the good, righteous, and truthful thing in light of our fallen, helpless, sinful condition – and I’m glad he did! We should do the same for one another, and for people in the world as well.
By making “goodness, righteousness, and truth” the rays of light that guide us day by day, we will learn how to make choices that “please the Lord.” Notice how Paul says that we should make choices that are acceptable “to the Lord.” This reminds us that we should view Christ as our unquestioned master and king.
Calling any person our “master” is a very unpopular thing to do these days. We don’t like kings and we don’t like bosses. We’re a very rebellious and independent culture. Nevertheless, such descriptions should only characterize the unsaved world we live in. They should not characterize those of us who are “children of light.”
In all that we do, we have a mammoth obligation to please God as our Lord and Master. I don’t have the right to ask, “What do I want?” before I first ask, “What do you want, Lord?” As children of light, we need to stop ranking our personal opinions, preferences, and feelings higher than the expectations of God, our Lord, in every situation of life.
The light of God exposes shameful behavior.
As I mentioned already, when we shine the light of God’s goodness, righteousness, and truth into the darkness of the world before us, we see the right way to go. We see what is acceptable to God in every situation as we apply these principles to our daily choices. But something else also happens. When we project these virtues out from our lives, we expose the “works of darkness” that are there. Imagine these scenarios in your mind:
- A mother turns the light on in her daughter’s room and discovers books, toys, papers, and clothing everywhere – not to mention an unmade bed.
- A spelunker climbs down into the shaft of a cave, then turns on his flashlight. In a matter of seconds, he sees bats, snakes, and other critters scurrying for the shadows.
- A group of teenagers tour a haunted house at Autumn time. It’s dark inside, but whenever the lights flash on, they see all sorts of horrible things – beheaded corpses, disgusting zombies, and blood and gore of various kinds (all pretend of course!).
Each of these scenarios illustrate for us what happens when we turn lights on. It’s a good thing to do because it shows us where to go and how to get there. In this way, light helps us make good choices. Yet at the same time, turning lights on in the darkness will reveal some other things as well, things that are “unfruitful” and “shameful.” “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret” (Eph 5:11-12).
- Unfruitful means “useless and unproductive.” This should bring to mind the image of a fruit tree that produces no fruit, a vine that produces no vegetables, a field that produces no crops, a business that produces no income, a savings account that produces no interest, or an investment that produces no dividends.
- Shameful means “dishonest, inappropriate, disgusting, repulsive, ugly, horrible, and gross.” This is the opposite of whatever is “good, righteous, and truthful,” isn’t it? In fact, it reminds us of what Jesus himself said: “Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God” (John 3:19-21). Sin grows like mushrooms, and sinners dwell in darkness like bats live in caves, far away from the reach of the sunlit lands above, “in secret.” And when the light of God shines into the darkness, shameful things will appear where they hoped to be hiding.
Now, this “exposing” of sinful deeds, how should it happen? You see, it isn’t necessarily our role as Christians to march around our schools, our workplaces, and our communities, exposing everyone’s sins at random like a “bull in a china shop.” It happens as a residual result of what comes before. As we speak words, make decisions, and do things that are guided by the principles of “goodness, righteousness, and truth,” we shine God’s light into the world around us. This means that we will see more clearly to make godly choices, but it also means that we’ll expose the shameful things that are around us as well.
Here’s how it works. When you’re at work, it’s not necessarily your job to walk up to each of your coworkers and tell them their language is foul, their humor is repulsive, and their addictions and entertainment are ungodly. Instead, it’s your job to abstain from such language, humor, addictions, and entertainment when you’re around them.
If they swear, you don’t have to say, “Stop saying that!” (though you can if it’s appropriate at the moment). If they tell a crude joke, you don’t have to say, “Stop telling jokes like that!” (though you can, perhaps). Instead, you will hear their curse words and quietly wince, and when you speak to them, you will use good, fair, and sincere words, not words of sharp accusation with judgmental tones.
And when they tell a crude joke, you might discreetly walk away, or you may simply *not laugh* when others would naturally do so, or you might say something like, “Okay, yeah. Not too funny there,” with a tone of gracious irony. Without calling them out, you’ll be shining the light into their lives, exposing their shameful behavior as you look for ways to move forward with grace, fairness, and sincerity.
Children of light don’t participate in shameful acts.
With all this in mind, one thing is clear. As children of light, we should not participate in the unfruitful, shameful works of darkness. In fact, Paul says that they are so shameful we should not even make them a topic of conversation (Eph 5:12). This doesn’t mean we should remove ourselves entirely from every sinful person, “since then you would need to go out of the world” (1 Cor 5:10). You have to be around ungodly people at school, at work, and in life in general. The key is that in doing so, we don’t participate in their ungodly behaviors. This resembles what Paul said before, “Do not be partakers with them” (Eph 5:7). The word fellowship means “sharing, joining together, having in common.”
The Apostle Peter gave a similar warning to believers when he said, “For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles – when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you” (1 Pet 4:3-4).
We should not say what they say or do what they do, even though we’re around them – and by living in a contrasting way, we will shine the light on their shameful behavior by default. Just your presence alone will make them uncomfortable, even though you do nothing but treat them with grace, fairness, and sincerity. This is being light.
What’s more, we should not share with them in the experiences that Paul has already mentioned (Eph 5:3-4): “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.” Then, what Peter also mentioned (1 Pet 4:3-4). When they do these things, we should not be participating with them or sharing in these experiences.
It’s one thing to sit down over a meal or go to a ball game with a nonbeliever. These are good things we should do, but we have no reason to hang out with them when their stated purpose is overt sinful behavior. Can you see the difference? By not participating with them, you will “expose” the shamefulness of their works simply by not being there, not by going and telling them off.
So, what is the purpose of being light in a sin-darkened world? After all, it’s not comfortable – either for us for nonbelievers – to expose their sinful deeds. But the purpose of being light is not to play “gotcha,” be a “tattle-tail,” or act as a judge over them.
Living as light helps dead people see Christ.
Eph 5:13 says, “All things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.” What Paul is saying here is that to expose the sinfulness of nonbelievers’ lifestyles, we don’t need to become experts about their sins, researching and getting all familiar with the psychology that’s behind their secret, wicked behaviors.
Instead, it’s our responsibility to study God’s Word to learn more about what God’s goodness, righteousness, and truth are like. As we learn what God says about these virtues and we learn to let these virtues guide our lives in dependence upon him, then we’ll shine the light on the decisions before us and the people around us. When we do this, we will inadvertently expose the works of darkness. It is the light (esp. the goodness, righteousness, and truth of God) that reveals what’s bad.
When this happens, it leads to an important outcome. People who are going our sinning in the darkness of this world get a very special opportunity when you shine the light onto their wicked behavior. Paul writes, “Therefore he says: ‘Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Eph 5:14).
This is a fascinating verse. It may be a patchwork combination of several verses from Isaiah, but it isn’t a match to any one of them very closely. In fact, there isn’t any clear statement elsewhere in the Bible, which leads many Bible scholars to suggest that Paul is referring to a 1st-century song that believers sang in their churches to invite nonbelievers to come to Christ for salvation.
- This seems very likely due to its poetic, lyrical nature.
- It also seems likely when know what Paul has already said about the spiritual deadness of believers before they believed on Christ. In Eph 2:1 he said, “You he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” Then in Eph 2:5 he said, “Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved.” Of course, the word sleep here is a nice way of referring to death, made clear in the second line.
- This also seems likely because in the previous verses, Paul speaks to the members of the church at Corinth using the plural form of you (as in “you all” or “all of you” as a group). He returns to this plural you Eph 2:15 as well, but he switches to a singular you in Eph 2:14 here, which indicates a possible shift in audience.
These factors in mind, I will suggest that Paul is making an evangelistic appeal here, inviting nonbelievers to believe on Jesus for salvation, to be rescued from the darkness of sin.
Knowing this, we should recognize that by walking in the light (following goodness, righteousness, and truth as our guiding principles of life in dependence upon Christ), we do more than just please our Lord. We also become vessels of light (flashlights, so to speak) for nonbelievers around us who are walking in spiritual death and darkness. Not only do we know the way to go for ourselves, but we show nonbelievers the way to Christ as we expose their ungodly behavior through our lives.
So, by living as God’s light the way that Paul teaches here, we discover God’s will for our lives one step at a time. We also expose the wickedness of nonbelievers’ sins (inadvertently). But we also reveal to nonbelievers the way to salvation in Christ, which makes our daily life and sequence of decision-making an ongoing evangelistic opportunity.
When we choose to walk in darkness, as nonbelievers live, we keep the lights off and lost people can’t see Jesus and know how to be saved. When we live as light, making good, righteous, and truthful decisions, we expose people’s sins around us, but we also reveal the light of Jesus to them so that he can shine his life into their lives, too – through you!
“We’ll leave the light on for you.”
In 1962, Motel 6 launched in Santa Barbara, CA what would go on to be a nationwide, U.S. motel franchise with over 1,000 locations. The chain is best known for the way that radio personality Tom Bodett closed every radio and television commercial for the franchise. At the end of each ad, he’d say, “Motel 6. We’ll leave the light on for you.” Then in a 50th anniversary commercial, in 2012, he ended a commercial by saying, “We’re motel 6, and the light’s still on.”
How about us? As a church in a city that’s blanketed by the darkness of sin, is the light still on? Paul wrote to the members of the church at Ephesus, a 1st-century church in a sin-darkened city, and his message still enlightens us to our mission today. We don’t need to go snooping around, calling out people’s sins. But we do need to live our daily lives by making choices marked by the goodness, righteousness, and truthfulness of God. By doing this, we turn on the light not just for ourselves, but for the nonbelievers around us so that they can come to Christ as we have done and be rescued from their sin. As we move forward into the summer of 2020, let’s be sure to leave the light on for Jesus.
[1] Robert G. Bratcher and Eugene Albert Nida, A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1993), 129.
[2] John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), Neh 12:28.
[3] The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Eph 5:9.
[4] MacArthur, Ephesians, 209.
[5] Ibid., 210.
