Eph. 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Eph. 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
I think Paul singled out drunkenness as a specific contrast to encouraging the Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit. Drunkenness is characterized by being out of control and the domination of the flesh in one’s life. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is characterized by being in control and having the love of God dominate your life. The Greek for excess is a reference to being profligate or having an immoral lifestyle. A life controlled by the Spirit will example a life of morals and purity.
When one is filled with the Spirit, he/she exhibits a joyful heart. One of the expressions of a joyful heart often comes through singing or humming psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Although the Greek did not help me differentiate greatly between these three categories, it was clear that these would be songs that were spiritual or religious vs. carnal; it even emphasized ethereal or heavenly vs. demonic. I thought of the psalms as scripture set to music, hymns as man’s worshipful thoughts set to music, and spiritual songs as the general category of all music that glorifies God and enhances the worship of the child of God.
Courson: “When I feel things aren’t going very well, I’m tempted to lose heart. When this happens, the only thing to do is to speak to myself in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” To which I give a hearty Amen!
Eph. 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
The child of God should be ever in at attitude of thanksgiving for “all things” that are his/hers in Christ; I think that is the proper reference in the context of Paul’s letter and in connection with being filled with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit will always lead the child of God to glorify and worship God and His Son Jesus.
John 15:26 “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me….”
John 16:13-14 “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”
Eph. 5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
When we act wisely and are filled with the Spirit, our lives will be characterized by a humility that submits to one another in the fear of God. The scripture defines the fear of God as the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10). It’s another way of describing a heart that is yielded to the authority of God. I think it is an admonition to recognize and honor the God-established authorities in one’s life—beginning in the home.
Eph. 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Eph. 5:23 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.
Eph. 5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Christian wives are instructed to submit to their husbands “as unto the Lord.” Not because he is necessarily wiser than you or even more spiritually mature than you, but just because you desire to obey God. By submitting to your husband, you are submitting to God. When two people are married, they become one in the eyes of God.
Genesis 2:24 “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
A body can only have one head, and God has designated that position to the husband. Paul uses that comparison to picture the relationship between the church (the bride) and Christ as its head. If she accepts Jesus as Savior and LORD, a Christian wife is to obey Him by submitting to her husband.
Eph. 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Christian husbands are to love their wives in the same way that Christ has shown His love for the church through giving His life in sacrifice to provide for her salvation. My contention is that the husband has the far harder responsibility, and that no woman will have a problem yielding to a husband who loves her in accordance with that instruction. The harder test is yielding to the authority of a husband who does not love you according to the love of Christ, but the will of God is clear that the Christian is to yield to authority as established by Him. (See journal on 1Peter 2-3 for further teaching.)
Eph. 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph. 5:27 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.
In these verses we are told why Christ was willing to give Himself for the church—to make us clean and pure and present Himself with a glorious perfect bride. God the Father and His Son Jesus do everything with a pure love for us and for each other. Though we have been declared righteous in Christ, He continues to sanctify and cleanse us through the ministry of the Word. The Word has long been recognized as a life-changing agent. The Psalms, and especially Psalm 119, contain many references to its power in the life of men of faith.
Psalm 119:9, 11, 50, 105 “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word….Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee….This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me….Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
And God Himself declares its power through the prophet Isaiah and the writer to the Hebrews.
Isaiah 55:11 “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Eph. 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Christ is the head of the church, the body of Christ.
Colossians 1:13&18 “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son…. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”
Just as Christ in love sacrificed Himself and provided for His body, the church, the Christian husband is to love his body, his wife. A person who loves himself will take care of his body. A Christian man who wants to take care of his body will love his wife.
Eph. 5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
Eph. 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
Paul could not conceive of a man who hated his own flesh and would fail to nourish and take care of it; it is just part of our nature. Sad to say, that outside Christ and through the deceit and influence of the enemy, many learn to treat their bodies shamefully and neglectfully.
Under normal circumstances most men are concerned about providing for the needs of their body. It is in the very nature of God’s Son to love and care for His body, the church, as part of His very being. The fact that he uses the language of caring for flesh and bones vs. flesh and blood gives emphasis to the fact that Paul is speaking spiritual truth. Scripture is clear that the life of the body of flesh is in the blood. In Christ, we are looking forward to a body of flesh and bones whose life is in the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:50 “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”
Eph. 5:31 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 powerful verse that is basically ignored in our society today—even among Christians. A man is to leave his father and mother for the purpose of joining his life to a woman to become one flesh for life.
Divorce has become the rule more than the exception. Even among “Christians” the divorce rate is no different than that among those who aren’t. It is God’s will that marriage be a “til death do you part” partnership.
Matthew 19:5-6 “And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”
Every Christian divorce in particular is an act of destruction. What was established as a life partnership meant to fulfill the needs of both man and woman is now regarded as a temporary arrangement to fulfill selfish needs until the grass looks greener elsewhere. The vows to commit through richer or poorer and in sickness and in health are just words often uttered with no true commitment from the heart.
Eph. 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Contrary to how man has made a mockery of the commitment God intended for marriage, Christ is totally committed to His bride. I think the mystery Paul is referencing is how Christ views His relationship to His church as pictured in God’s intended relationship for marriage between man and woman. Though man may pervert the picture, he can’t change the truth that it was intended to represent as first established by God.
Eph. 5:33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Again emphasizing the practical application of the truth he is teaching, Paul summarizes the role of the Christian husband and wife. The husband is to love his wife as part of his own being, and the wife is to reverence (show respect through submission to) her husband.
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