The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 245

(Rom. xii. 2), The expression "well-pleasing" to God throws a light upwards on God and downwards on man. (1) It reveals God. It indicates (a) his moral suscep- tibility. He is not indifferent to the moral conduct of his creatures. It indicates (b) his forgiving mercy. Man, though a sinner, can, through his infinite mercy, render himself acceptable to him. (2) ltj reveals man. (a) It indicates the highest end of his being. What higher object can a creature have than to please the Crea.tor? (b) It indicates the highest blessedness of his being. The smile of the Crea.tor is the heaven of the creature. III. DEMONSTRATION. The Christian man develops in his life certain glorions things. "The fruit of the Spirit [light) is in all goodness and righteousness and truth." He demonstrates in his life: 1. Divine beneficence. "In all goodness." He is full of social love, tender, compassionate, self-sacrificing. 2. Divine righteousness. He is a man of inflexible honesty, unswerving rectitude. In him the "righteousness of the Law is fulfilled." 3. Divine reality. His thoughts, sympathies, actions, are in harmony with the eternal realities of being. He is neither a visionary nor a hypocrite. His thoughts are true, his life is sincere. CoNOLUSION. What an infinite boon is the gospel to mankind I How glorious the transformation it effects I how righteous the obligation it imposes I how great the power it confers I-a power to demonstrate in our life the good, the right, and the true.-D. T. Vers. 11-14.-(1) Two 1oorlds of one race. "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. Whereforu he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." The text may be regarded as a portraiture of two distinct worlds of men on this earth-the world of the wicked and the world of the Christly. Here we have- I. THE WORLD OF WICKED MEN. The characteristics of these men are here indicated. 1. '.l'hey are worthless. Their works are" the unfruitful works of darkness." Uugo,lly men live in moral darkness. The sun, which alone reveals things as they are in tho spiritual world, shines not in their heavens. All the light they he.ve are the electric flashes of an impure atmosphere. They work in the dark, and their works are " unfruitful." That is "unfruitful" of good. The soil that is sterile as regards it~ capability of producing fruit is often fertile in its capacity to produce noxious weeds and poisonous herbs; so the ungodly soul-it is unfruitful in goodness, but prolific iu crime. 2. They are clandestine. " Which are done of them in secret." Thot' '.ll there may be an allusion here to the abominable mysteries which were celebrated in Greece under the screen of night and secrecy, it describes the general character of a sinful life. All is secret. Sin is necessarily hypocritical ; it speaks in a. false voice ; it works under masks. The more corrupt the human soul the more sneakish anil clandestine. '!'he good alone can afford to be bland and open. 3. They are shamifal. "For it is a shame even to speak of those things." Heathenism has ever abounded and still abounds with nameless iniquities (Rom. i. 24-32). But sin in all its form~ is a shameful thing. It is essentially disgraceful, disreputable, and ignominious. A man has only to think calmly of it in the light of conscience and God, in order to brin_g burning blushes to his cheek. Sin is a shame. 4. They are sleepy. " Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest." A sinful soul is sleepy in a moral sense. It is unconscious of its moral surroundings-it is filled with illusory dreams; it must one day be aroused to a sense of reality. Unlike natural sleep, moral sleep does not refresh and invigorate, but enervates and destroys. 5, They are mortal. "Arise from the dead." Everywhere the Bible represents sin as a state of death. The sinful soul is like a corpse. It is odious and the victim of external forces. Such is the world of wicked men around us. It is worthless, clandestine, shameful, sleepy, mortal. II. THE WORLD OF CHRISTLY MEN. These are represented by the Christians at Ephesus, the men to whom the apostle is writing. This world has a work to do with the other-the dark world of wickedness around them. And it is here indicated. What is it? 1. Separation. "Have no fellowship." It does not mean, of course, that Christians are to have no intercourse or dealings with the ungodly. This conhl not be, and ought not to be if it could. It means that they are to have no spiritual 24G THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. [ea. v. 1-33.