The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 228

in their pinched and miserly souls. (,}od is an angry God against those who love sin, and our only course is to forsake it. Harless and Olshausen believe the word here rendered "covetousness" to mean in this connection "intemperance," the desire, not for gold, but for fleshly gratification-the making a god of the belly, and so an idolat.ry. Of course, if this sense be taken of .-AEov,((", it agrees better with the context and makes more emphatic Paul's appeal for purity. Do we make as much in there days of the Divine wrath as we should? As the love-pain of God as one writer bas called it., it is surely well fitted to enforce morality. ' III. PAR Fr:RTRER SHOWS TH.l.T THE DEEDS OF DABIO.""ESS ABB Ul."'FRUITFUL. (\-ers. ~11.) He tells the Ephesians they were once in darkness, and did these ,:c..<ls of darkness. But they ha,e come into the light which is shed upon our pith by our radiant Lord. They must walk, consequently,' as children of the light, remembering that the frnit of the light (so Rerised Version) is in all goodness and rigoteonsness and troth. 'l.'hus they would prove what is well-pleasing unto the Lord. In so doing they would have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but ·would rather reprove them. Now, in arguing that the works of dark- ness are "unfruitful," Paul is advocating morality on the ground of expediency, -· He has already applied the Divine sanctions, but he does not hesitate to back these up by showing that what God wills is good. Natural law endorses the Divine prece_pts. Bnt this is quite distinct from the position that the natural law can secure obedience when it stands alone. All experience disp:·oves this. Utilitarianism is not a suffi- ciently broad basis for a sound morality. But the expediency of moral rectitude is an important argument in its favour. Sooner or later a man who commits deeds of darkness finds he has made a mistake. IV. BUT IT IS A PURE LIFE WHICH wn.r. REALLY REPROVE 'rHEH. (Vera. 12-14.) It is thought sometimes by superficial people that accurate descriptions of the deeds of darkness will do something to disgust people with them. But this is Satan advising man again to become wiser by eating forbidden fruit. Paul's opiniqn is that it is a shame to speak and therefore to think of what is done by the sinful in secret. All the prurient curiosity which feasts itself like flies on foul corruption is of the devil. 'l'he true plan, therefore, is not to mention such matters. Let them be buried in oblhion, but let Christians awake from all lethargic slumber, and arise from the corruption of spirita.al death, and in the light of Christ live purely. Thus shall the deeds of darkness be reproved. All tbat we have to do then is to carry in the light, and the darkness and its deeds will stand convicted before us. The Ephesians are to indulge in no scandalous conversation under the pretence of defeating the doers of the dark deeds; but they are to walk in the light of Christ and be pure, and lo! the sinners shall hide themselves before them. V. Tnm ]l[A.Y BE REDEEMED BY HOLY LIVING. (Vere. 15, 16.) There he.s been 110me discussion as to the exact meaning of "time" in thjs passage. Harless is clearly of opinion-in which, as in most matters, he is followed by his French disciple, M. Monod-that "opportunity" ( der rechte Zeitpunkt) best expresses ..-dv Ka,pdv. Paul is consequently anxious that in evil days, such as those upon which the Ephesians' have fallen, they should be watchful and wise enough to "buy up eagerly their opportunity," and do the best they can for their age. This is by holy living. There is no other way of understanding the times and fulfilling our course in them. It will thus be seen that Paul appeals to the Ephesians, by both the love and wrath of God, • by the expediency and power of a pure life, to walk worthy of their high calling. In • this way he expects to enlist them in the great army of united and brotherly souls who are gathering round JeaDB our King and Head. May we all respond to his appeal! •-B. M. E. Vera. 17-21.-Inspiration, spirit= and spiritwJ,. Following up his exhortations about holy Ii.ma-, Paul now proceeds to the subject of understanding the Lord's will. In doing so he ~mes across the necessity which human nature feels for excitement of some kind, and, warning the Ephesians against the low excitement of wine, he ' Upon 'Redeeming the Time,' Saurin bas two sermons in his tome viii. pp. 187-268; e.n 1 Jonathan Edwa1ds has a short discourse on 'The Preciousnes~ of Timo,' founded on Yer. 16. en. v. 1-33.] THE EPISTLE TO 'l'HE EPHESI.A.NS. 22!)