Ephesians 5:6 Commentary and Bible Study

The variety of different ways in which the world, the flesh and the devil attempt to persuade us that black is white and white is black is staggering. Satan never gives up and his audacity is breath-taking. It might be thought that Christians were proof against such bare-faced and frontal attacks, but Satan is not satisfied to achieve anything less than the full apostacy of the believer and so attacks again and again. He is never content to infect the church of God in a mild way, but is determined to completely corrupt Christ’s bride. Through lies and falsehood he approaches us, using words of subtlety. Paul calls them empty words or vain words, because there is nothing substantial about their reasoning. They start from false premises, and they do not deliver the benefits they claim to deliver. They do not of course advertise that they are vain, but that is what they are. Actually they come to us as reasonable words, that deserve to be believed and are to our advantage. Sin is a great persuader. It lies about the pleasure it is able to give, and it lies about the consequences of yielding to it. It lies when it tells us that we will be in control of our sinful choices, for its intention is to take us completely out of control as fast as possible. As Charles Hodge says, it has been common throughout the ages to extenuate the particular sins mentioned here. It is urged that they have their origin in the very constitution of our nature; that they are not malignant; that they may co-exist with amiable tempers; that they are not hurtful to others.The last phrase of the verse should be read with the emphasis on the word, ‘because’ – ‘for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience’. They are the very reason wrath comes. This statement opposes and corrects the chief element of deception hidden in what is likely to be the attack posed by empty words. Such words try to break the connection between these sins and the judgment that follows, as if it were a mere coincidence that the two things came together. Christians of course know of the wrath to come and a great many unbelievers have heard of it also. But do they realise that it is a direct consequence of the sins that men engage in. It is God’s specific response to those sins and the connection between them is not vague but immediate. The day of judgment is not just coming on mankind as God’s general expression of anger towards sinners. No, his anger is directly provoked by these named sins. How then can Christians think that they can lightly commit the same sins? Will there be no wrath for them? If they are truly converted, they will not lose their salvation, but they will suffer loss in some form. However, others who think they are saved will by such self-deception prove themselves to be reprobate. They are not afraid to put themselves in the same position as unbelievers whose situation is so fearful. They are called the sons of disobedience, because this is the chief characteristic of them. Disobedience marks their passage through this world and God notes every act of disobedience they are guilty of. Each one is a direct incitement of his wrath against them. There is in this term a sense of destiny, for they are the sons of destiny not just because they belong to that group by their behaviour but because they are destined to end their lives in state of disobedience. Although the wrath of God is coming largely in the future, Paul uses the present tense to bring out the certainty of what is to come, looking at the past, present, and future as part of one great plan of God, none of which can fail to take place.