Ephesians 5:15–21 · WEB Classic
15 Therefore watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore, don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;
21 subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.
Believers are to watch carefully how they walk, living wisely and making the most of the time because the days are evil. Paul calls for attentive conduct in a world that supplies ample opportunity for foolishness. Time can be spent in ways that serve Christ or wasted defending habits we should have abandoned.
Making the most of the time does not require filling every minute with visible activity. Rest, ordinary family life, and quiet service can be wise uses of time. A frantic schedule can conceal substantial foolishness. The question is whether our choices fit the Lord’s will and the responsibilities he has actually given us.
Understanding the Lord’s will belongs to this wisdom. In context, Paul has been explaining the conduct that pleases him. We should not make the will of God so mysterious that we ignore the obedience he has plainly stated. A person can anxiously seek a hidden instruction about tomorrow while refusing to tell the truth today. The letter gives us plenty to do before we need a secret map.
A continuing life under the Spirit
Paul contrasts drunkenness, which involves dissipation, with being filled with the Spirit. Drunkenness gives an intoxicant a destructive influence over judgment and conduct. The alternative is life increasingly shaped by the Spirit of God. The command is directed to believers who have already been sealed with the Spirit (1:13).
The command concerns their continuing life under the Spirit’s influence. These believers already belong to God and have received his Spirit as the seal of that belonging. Paul now describes people whose judgment, speech, gratitude, and relationships are being shaped by the one who indwells them. Their participation is active: they attend to the Lord’s truth, speak it to one another, and give thanks to the Father through Jesus.
Colossians 3:16–17 · WEB Classic
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord. Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:16–17 gives us a close comparison. There Paul commands believers to let the word of Christ dwell richly among them. They teach and admonish one another, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and give thanks to the Father through Jesus. Ephesians commands the filling of the Spirit and describes the same shared life of song, gratitude, and reverence. Read the descriptions beside one another and the connection becomes difficult to miss. The Spirit’s work and the rich presence of Christ’s word produce a congregation whose life is directed toward the Lord.
Notice how the Colossians instructions sit within the chapter. Paul has told the people to put away anger, slander, and lying, then to put on compassion, humility, patience, and forgiveness. Christ’s peace rules among people called into one body. The word dwells richly in that community as its members teach, correct, and encourage one another. A man does not fulfill the passage by collecting enough information to answer every Bible question while making his family wish he would stop talking. The word is to shape the person using it.
The parallel does not identify the Spirit with a written text or suggest that accumulating information automatically produces obedience. The Spirit is the divine person at work among believers, and Christ’s word supplies the truth through which they are taught and admonished. We should not oppose these gifts as though attention to Scripture prevents the Spirit from acting. A congregation learning Christ’s truth and putting it into practice is pursuing precisely the life these passages describe.
The commands are also addressed to the community. Speaking to one another, singing together, giving thanks, and submitting in reverence for Christ involve shared relationships. Spirit-filled living cannot be assessed entirely by a person’s private experience. It becomes visible in the truth he contributes, the gratitude he expresses, and the way he treats people when his own preference must yield.
Acts 16 gives us an instance of singing that reaches beyond pleasant circumstances. Paul and Silas have been beaten, put in prison, and secured in stocks. Around midnight they are praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners are listening (16:22–25). Their surroundings supply very little assistance to a comfortable evening. They nevertheless address God together, and people beside them hear their worship.
Luke goes on to describe the earthquake and the jailer’s conversion, but the men are already praying and singing before the doors open. Their praise is not a reward God receives after he has improved the accommodation. They turn toward him while the conditions remain painful. Paul’s instruction in Ephesians likewise makes thanksgiving and song part of a life directed toward the Lord, rather than a performance dependent upon circumstances we would have chosen.
Singing addresses both the Lord and the people beside us. A hymn can put a truth into the mouth of someone who is struggling to say it alone, and the congregation can remind a grieving believer of a promise he needs to hear again. That gives the words weight. They should communicate something true about the Lord rather than merely provide a pleasant occasion for everyone to feel much the same thing. Melody helps us remember; it is worth giving one another words worth remembering.
That shared ministry can be quiet. A believer returning after a bereavement may find it difficult to sing about hope without weeping. The people around him can carry the words he cannot presently manage. Another member who has been preoccupied with his own disappointment may hear a promise clearly enough to give thanks. The congregation is serving one another while addressing the Lord; the person with the strongest voice is not necessarily the person receiving the greatest help.
Giving thanks always for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus to the Father expresses a life of dependence. It does not require calling evil good or thanking an abuser for his cruelty. We can lament real wrong and still trust the Father whose goodness is not defeated by it. Gratitude concerns confidence in God, not denial of what has happened.
Submitting to one another in the fear of Christ puts reverence within the relationships where self-importance usually expects to be served. The person who has sung of Christ’s goodness may need to listen patiently when another member corrects him. At home he may need to set aside a preference, share a burden, or admit that his plans overlooked someone else’s need. Paul’s worshippers remain accountable to the same Lord when the song ends and another person asks them for help.