Ephesians 5:11

Eph_5:11

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Renunciation of evil ways

1 Those in whom there is the light of grace and true knowledge must not walk in evil works, nor communicate in them.

(1). Not to have fellowship in sin is not to be an agent in sin, in whole, alone, or in part with others, neither in greater or less measure to live in it.

(2) Not to be accessory unto the sins of others; as

(a) By provoking to sin.

(b) By commanding.

(c) By counselling.

(d) By consenting.

(e) By carelessness to prevent sin.

(f) By not repressing sin when it has entered.

(g) By applauding sin.

(h) By not testifying against sin.

(3) Not to have fellowship with sin binds us to avoid the appearance of evil.

(4) It binds us to turn from it with detestation.

2. The ways of sin bring no good to those that walk in them.

3. Those who walk in light must reprove and convince those who walk in evil. (Paul Bayne.)

The duty and manner of Christian reproof

I. Gods people, His children, are a reproving light. They are called out of darkness into marvellous light, that they might reflect the, light of Him who hath called them out of darkness into His marvellous light. But, beloved, there is another quality in light, there are many others indeed, but this one especially here to be noted, which is, that there is a detective and a reproving quality in light. We know not the beauty of an object but as the light unfolds it; we know not its faultiness, we see not its defects, they are to us unknown without the light; but the light reveals them. The Lords people are especially called to stand; not merely as a reflecting light, not merely as a diffusing light, but as a reproving light, reproving the darkness around them. Whatever there is in a believer peculiar to him as a believer, is a light that reproves the world. Is it the life that he has, the life of faith? It is a reproving light to the world. If we look to the love of the believer, or what he loves; he loves Christ. In this love of Christ we shall see that he is a reproving light to the world. But especially do we see this in the quality of a believers happiness. When a child of God is enabled by the Spirit of God to realize clearly his adoption; when he can look up with humble hope and believing confidence, and say, My Father! when he knows something of the power of this truth, that communion with God, submission to God, and obedience in the ways of God is the very highest element of real enjoyment; when it speaks peace to him and quiets him in the midst of all his troubles, and dries up his tears--oh! what a reproving light is this oft to the world that lieth in darkness. He says, I see the effects; I see a real principle, I know not whence it comes, but I see a positive amount of happiness, I have never seen anything like it before. I have seen a man in wealth, but his wealth did not make him happy; I have seen a man in poverty, but his poverty did not make him miserable; I have seen him in health, he saw no brightness in health save only as he was enabled to live to God; I have seen him in sickness, and in sickness I have seen him peaceful, he knew that joy, that peace that passeth all understanding; I have seen him in death, I have seen him when called to die, ready to depart--to me to live, he said, is Christ, to die is gain; and I have seen him in the last article of death, but death had no sting, he was enabled to rise above it by faith in Christ Jesus, and say, O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?

II. But, observe now, secondly, they are placed in the midst of these unfruitful works of darkness. Ah! dear hearers, we have but poor notions of sin. Every sin is that which deserves Gods wrath; it has death for its wages, and eternal misery, if unrepented of, for its consummation. Therefore, confine not your minds to gross sins merely, since all sins are the works of darkness. Why are they called unfruitful? I have no doubt that it has especial reference to this darkness, as the very cause of barrenness. Yet, beloved, the saints of God are placed in the midst of these unfruitful works of darkness; why is it? Could not the Lord God have delivered them and translated them at once to their eternal home? Could He not in the case of Israel of old have taken them to Canaan at once without taking them through the waste howling desert? Who denies it? But should you ask wherefore He does it not, we see it typically unfolded in the eighth of Deuteronomy, at the fifteenth and sixteenth verses--Who hath led thee through a great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that He might humble thee, and that He might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end. See, then, wherefore they are placed in the midst of a dying world; see wherefore they are surrounded by these unfruitful works of darkness; see the great end and object, it is not the result of chance, it is the appointment of infinite wisdom, tenderness, goodness, and love.

III. But, beloved, observe now the exhortation that is given--have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Now, observe, it is not said, have no fellowship with the unfruitful workers of darkness, never will you meet with a precept of that kind in Gods Word, we must needs go out of the world if we try. But there is more than this in the precept--but rather reprove them. Here we come to one of the most difficult paths in the believers walk. There are many ways in which the believer is called upon from time to time to reprove the works of darkness. By diffusing the truth. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)

Avoidance of sinful works

That the children of light should live in a perfect abhorrence of, and stand at a great distance from, the unfruitful works of darkness.

I. For the object. We have a general and unlimited expression, The unfruitful works of darkness. But what they are we may collect from the context, Uncleanness, fornication, evil concupiscence, etc.; and (Rom_13:12-13) the apostle reckoneth up other things. These and such like heathen practices are such as the apostle intendeth.

1. They are called works of darkness for these reasons--

(1) Because they are done by men in their carnal estate, who are destitute of the Spirit of God, and all saving knowledge of His will.

(2) Because they are suggested by the temptations of the devil, who is the prince of darkness, and the ruler of the darkness of this world; and therefore called his lusts (Joh_8:44); his works (1Jn_3:8).

(3) Because they cannot endure the light, but seek the veil and covert of secrecy.

There is a three-fold light.

(1) Natural. They rebel against this light (Job_24:13).

(2) Light spiritual, the light of Gods Word: For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved (Joh_3:20).

(3) There is another light, and that may be called practical, or the light of a holy conversation: Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven (Mat_5:16).

(4) Because these men are condemned to everlasting darkness; for if they live and die in these sins without repentance, they are unavoidably cast into utter darkness, where is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

2. These are said to be unfruitful by a μείωσις, that is, damnable; as Heb_13:17, That is unprofitable for you. The meaning is, hurtful and pernicious; however, the expression is emphatical. These works produce not only no good fruit, but certainly bring forth evil fruit, and prove bitterness in the end. Mere evil, as evil, cannot be the object of choice; there is some fruit or benefit expected in all that we do, but sin will never make good its word to us.

(1) It doth not answer expectation; the sinner looketh for more contentment and satisfaction than he doth enjoy: And what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind? (Ecc_5:16). It is a fruitless enterprise; so that very experience is enough to confute it; and that is one reason why objects of sin are loathed when we have our fill of them (2Sa_13:15).

(2) It is not valuable; the profit will not counterbalance the loss, nor the pleasure the pain (Mat_16:25).

II. The acts of our duty about it; and they are two.

1. That we must have no fellowship with them in evil. To understand that, we must consider how many ways we have fellowship with them.

(1) If we do the same things that others do.

(2) If we be accessory to the sins of others, which we may be many ways.

(a) If we counsel, persuade, allure, or entice others to sins. These are Satans decoys, who being ensnared themselves, draw others into the net.

(b) By commanding that which is evil. This is the sin of those that have power over others; as David commanded Joab to set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire from him, that he may be smitten and die (2Sa_11:15).

(c) By consenting, though we be not the principal actors; as Ahab (1Ki_21:19).

(d) By abetting, aiding, and assisting in the conveyance of the sin; as Jonadab assisted Amnon in getting an occasion to satisfy his lust on his sister Tamar (2Sa_13:5).

(e) By applauding, approving, or praising the sin, which is the guise of flatterers (Rom_1:32).

(f) By carelessness to prevent the sin: I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not (1Sa_3:13). So that a culpable omission may make us accessory to their sin.

2. The other duty is, But rather reprove them. Now reprove we may by deed or word.

(1) By deed, or the example of a holy life; as Noah condemned the world (Heb_11:7).

(2) By word, when it may be done with profit; as the apostle saith of the infidel, when he cometh into Christian assemblies, he is condemned of all, and judged of all (1Co_14:24); namely, as he heareth doctrines there contrary to his practice.

III. The reasons of the point.

1. Because there should be a broad and sensible difference between the children of light and the children of darkness.

2. This difference is discovered by those actions that are proper to either state; for actions are agreeable to their principle, and in actions must this difference be expressed, or how is it visible? Both show forth the influence of an unseen power, both the children of God and the children of the devil, the children of light and children of darkness.

3. This distinction is to be kept up on the part of the godly, and so conspicuously held forth, that they may either convince or convert the wicked.

4. The children of God are fitted and prepared for this, to abstain from sin (1Jn_3:9).

5. The inconveniencies are great that will follow if Gods children should have any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; our pretended communion with God will be interrupted (1Jn_1:6-7).

To press the two duties in the text.

1. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; that is, do not join or partake in the sins of the carnal world, though they seem to be authorized by vulgar and common practice. To this end remember--

(1) You must not do as others do, but do as God requireth.

(2) Love God, and love His law, and love His people, and the infection is prevented. Love God (Psa_97:10).

(3) We must eschew all unnecessary and voluntary friendship and familiarity with wicked men (Psa_26:4; Pro_12:11).

(4) Your happiness lieth in communion with God, and this we cannot have if we have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness (1Jn_1:6-7).

2. But rather reprove them, by deed and word.

(1) By deed, spoken of before; as David convinced Saul (1Sa_24:17).

(2) By word. It is a duty the world cannot bear, but we must perform it (Pro_15:12) (T. Manton, D. D.)

Evil company is deadly

My father once had two Irishmen digging a well, and they dug about five days and then they were paid some money and went off and drank for about a week. When they came back ready for work they uncovered the well and asked for a candle. They got the candle and tied a rope round it and let it down in the well, and when it got near the bottom it flickered and went out, and Pat said, We cant go down there, there is death down there. And they went away and got some dry brushwood and built a fire in the well, and thou let down the candle again, and it burnt all right. Before you go into some places, my dear friends, put your light, that is, your God, your preacher, and your Bible down and see how they look. (S. Jones.)

Evil is to be avoided

The pilot of a United States revenue cutter was asked if he knew all the rocks along the coast where he sailed. He replied: No; it is only necessary to know where there are no rocks. These words suggest a deep moral and spiritual truth. Sermons, lectures, and books abound on the temptations which lie along the life course of the young to eternity. Over the most dangerous ones are lifted the solemn notes of repeated warning.

Fellowship defined

What is fellowship? It is more than sympathy, although that is the core of it. It is sympathy expressed or manifested in such a way as to draw others toward you in the bonds of brotherhood. Fellowship is making men feel that they are fellows with you; that they are your brethren; that they are related to you; that they are a part of your person, as it were. (H. W. Beecher.)

No association with rebels

In the rebellion of 1798, the rebels took prisoner a little drummer of the kings troops, and they desired him to beat the drum for them. The little boy laid his drum on the ground and leaped into it, smashing the parchment into atoms. God forbid, said he, that the kings drum should ever be beat for rebels. The ruffians piked the little hero, but they could not obliterate the remembrance of a deed worthy of a place in the noblest records of courage, loyalty, and fidelity--an example which, if it were imitated in a spiritual sense by the Christian, would best illustrate the fulfilment of the apostles exhortation here. (R. J. McGhee, M. A.)

Christians must maintain their rank

Matthew Wilks once rode by coach with a young nobleman and a female passenger. The nobleman entered upon an improper conversation with the coachman and the woman. At a favourable opportunity Mr. Wilks attracted his attention, and said, My lord, maintain your rank! The reproof was felt and acted upon. Let the Christian ever maintain his rank. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Christians must be consistent

A distinguished Christian lady was recently spending a few weeks in a hotel at Long Branch, and an attempt was made to induce her to attend a dance, in order that the affair might have the prestige bestowed by her presence, as she stood high in society. She declined all the importunities of her friends, and finally an honourable senator tried to persuade her to attend, saying, Miss B., this is quite a harmless affair, and we want to have the exceptional honour of your presence. Senator, said the lady, I cannot do it, I am a Christian. I never do anything in my summer vacation, or wherever I go, that will injure the influence I have over the girls of my Sunday school class. The senator bowed, and, I honour you; if there were more Christians like you, more men like myself would become Christians.

The unfruitful works of darkness to be looked for in our own hearts

To dwell on the works of darkness which were done in ancient Greece and Rome would be very unprofitable. What pen would dare to write, what eye endure to read, the things which are done all the year round in Paris and London? No villager need wander from his own village, in order to find works which will not bear the light. Indeed we need not go any whither exploring, we need not leave our own door; we may find within our own breasts more than enough to humble us. Let each of us sit still, and keep watch for a while in the silent house of his spirit: he will find things transpiring there which will suggest self-abhorrence, and clothe him with shame before God. Not only the kingdom of heaven, but the kingdom of darkness also is very nigh unto us, and comes without observation. Let us watch and pray, that we may have grace and strength enough to disown the inward imagery, with which it seeks to fascinate and pollute the heart. Let us hold no fellowship with the thoughts which it stirs in us. Let us drag thorn before the light of God, that they may be made manifest, and reproved there. (J. Pulsford.)

The Christian as a reformer

I. Negative. Have no fellowship.

1. All and every kind of intercourse with evil-doers is not included; for we are commanded to rebuke, and this implies some intercourse. Besides, we are exhorted to do good unto all men, as we have opportunity.

2. All friendly intercourse with even gross sinners is not prohibited. Our Saviour sat at meat with publicans, and sinners, and Pharisees; and Paul instructs Christians how to conduct themselves when invited to a feast by an unbeliever.

3. All business intercourse is not interdicted. In 1Co_10:25, permission, and even advice is given.

4. The discharge of the relative duties which arise out of the family relation is not included in the prohibition.

5. Civil connection with wicked governments is not forbidden. Subjection to rulers is permitted and directed by the precept of Paul, in Rom_13:1. Joseph held office under the despot of Egypt. Daniel did likewise under the kings of Babylon and Persia, and while so doing was greeted by the angel with the title, well-beloved.

6. Not all ecclesiastical connection with wrong-doers is forbidden.

II. Having seen that there are some things which are not to be understood as the fellowship forbidden, let us inquire in what it does consist.

1. It plainly includes the direct commission of sin.

2. It occurs in the support of others in the commission of wrong, when we employ them or supply them with the means of some iniquitous purpose.

3. Iniquity is fellowshipped when wrong is justified as right; when sweet as called bitter, and bitter sweet; when darkness is called light, and light darkness.

4. The same thing takes place when men support wrong on the whole. This is done by endeavouring to produce an underestimate of the wrong itself; or by urging its necessity or expediency, as if Providence compelled us to sin.

III. Let us now consider our positive duty as enjoined in the text. A proper understanding of the word reprove will furnish us with a clue to guide us to this end. The term implies an appeal to the understanding of the evil-doer--to convince him by proving that his course is one of wickedness and folly--to arouse his sense of right, and not to irritate his sensibility to obloquy and scorn. (E. C. Pritchett.)

Influence of bad company

What you learn from bad habits and in bad society you will never forget, and it will be a lasting pang to you. I tell you in all sincerity, not as in the excitement of speech, but as I would confess and have confessed before God, I would give my right hand tonight if I could forget that which I have learned in evil society--if I could tear from my remembrance the scenes which I have witnessed, the transactions which have taken place before me. You cannot, I believe, take away the effect of a single impure thought that has lodged and harboured in the heart. You may pray against it, and by Gods grace you may conquer it, but it will, through life, cause you bitterness and anguish. (J. B. Gough.)

Power of bad company

Bad company is like a nail driven into a post, which, after the first and second blow, may be drawn out with little difficulty; but being once driven up to the head, the pincers cannot take hold to draw it out, but which can only be done by the destruction of the wood. (St. Augustine.)

Christian conduct in worldly company

A pious officer of the army, travelling through the Mahratta country, was asked by Judge D--, a religious gentleman, to accompany him to a public dinner, at which the commanding officer of the district, with all his staff, and various other public characters, were expected to meet. I expressed a wish to be excused, says the officer, as I had no relish for such entertainments, and did not think that much either of pleasure or profit was to be derived from them. His reply was: While I feel it my duty to attend on such an occasion, I certainly have as little pleasure in it as you have. But there is one way in which I find I can be present at such meetings, and yet receive no injury from them. I endeavour to conceive to myself the Lord Jesus seated on the opposite side of the table, and to think what He would wish me to do and to say, when placed in such a situation, and as long as I can keep this thought alive on my mind, I find I am free from danger.

A law against bad company

An ancient historian, mentioning the laws which Charondas gave the Thurians, says: He enacted a law with reference to an evil, on which former lawgivers had not animadverted--that of keeping bad company. As he conceived that the morals of the good were sometimes quite ruined by their dissolute acquaintance; that vice was apt, like an infectious disease, to spread itself and extend its contagion, he expressly enjoined, that none should engage in any intimacy or familiarity with immoral persons; appointed that an accusation might be exhibited for keeping bad company; and laid a heavy fine on such as were convicted of it.

The child of light and the works of darkness

I. What is forbidden. Fellowship. This may be produced in several ways.

1. By personally committing the sins described, or by joining with others in bringing them about.

2. By teaching wrong-doing, either by plain word or by just inference.

3. By constraining, commanding, or tempting; by threat, request, persuasion, inducement, compulsion, bribery, or influence.

4. By provoking, through exciting anger, emulation, or discouragement.

5. By neglecting to rebuke, especially by parents and masters misusing their office, and allowing known evils in the family.

6. By counselling, and advising, or by guiding by example.

7. By consenting, agreeing, and cooperating.

8. By conniving at sin: tolerating, concealing, and making light of it.

9. By commending, countenancing, defending, and excusing the wrong already done; and contending against those who would expose, denounce, and punish it.

II. What is commanded. Reprove.

1. Rebuke.

2. Convict.

3. Convert.

III. Why it is commanded to me? It is especially my duty to be clear of other mens sins.

1. As an imitator of God and a dear child (verse 1).

2. As one who is an inheritor of the kingdom of God (verses 5, 6).

3. As one who has come out of darkness into marvellous light in the Lord (verse 8).

4. As one who bears fruit, even the fruit of the Spirit, which is in all goodness, righteousness and truth (verse 9).

5. As one who would not be associated with that which is either shameful or foolish (verses 12, 15).

If our fellowship is with God, we must quit the ways of darkness.

IV. What may come of obedience to the command. Even if we could see no good result, yet our duty would be plain enough; but much benefit may result.

1. We shall be clear of complicity with deeds of darkness.

2. We shall be honoured in the consciences of the ungodly.

3. We may thus win them to repentance and eternal life.

4. We shall glorify God by our separated walk and by the godly perseverance with which we adhere to it.

5. We may thus establish others in holy nonconformity to the world.

Let us use the text as a warning to worldly professors. Let us take it as a directory in our conversation with the ungodly. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Evil fellowship

A member of his congregation was in the habit of going to the theatre. Mr. Hill went to him and said, This will never do--a member of my Church in the habit of attending the theatre! Mr. So-and-so replied that it surely must be a mistake, as he was not in the habit of going there, although it was true he did go now and then for a treat. Oh! said Rowland Hill, then you are a worse hypocrite than ever, sir. Suppose anyone spread the report that I ate carrion, and I answered, Well, there is no wrong in that; I dont eat carrion every day in the week, but I have a dish now and then for a treat! Why, you would say, What a nasty, foul, and filthy appetite Rowland Hill has, to have to go to carrion for a treat! Religion is the Christians truest treat, Christ is his enjoyment. (Charlesworths Life of Rowland Hill.)

Rebuking evil doers

On one occasion, travelling in the Portsmouth mail, Andrew Fuller was much annoyed by the profane conversation of two young men who sat opposite. After a time, one of them, observing his gravity, accosted him with an air of impertinence, inquiring, in rude and indelicate language, whether on his arrival at Portsmouth he should not indulge himself in a manner evidently corresponding with their own intentions. Mr. Fuller, lowering his ample brows, and looking the inquirer full in the face, replied in measured tones: Sir, I am a man that fears God. Scarcely a word was uttered during the remainder of the journey. (Memoir of Andrew Fuller.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph 5:11-12. And have no fellowship — No society, no participation with wicked men in the unfruitful works of darkness — Works which bring no advantage, but mischief, (Rom 6:23,) and called works of darkness, because they usually proceed from ignorance, Act 3:17; are contrary to the light of the word, Joh 3:20; are usually committed in the dark, 1Th 5:7; and bring those who live and die in the commission of them to utter and eternal darkness, Mat 25:30; but rather reprove them — Show your disapprobation of them by seasonable and suitable reproof, (Lev 19:17; Mat 18:15,) and especially by the holiness of your conversation. Observe, reader, to avoid such things is not sufficient. For it is a shame even to speak of those things — Except in the way of reproof; which are done of them in secret — That is, says Dr. Whitby, “in their mysteries, which therefore were styled απορρητα μυστηρια, (mysteries not to be spoken of,) none being permitted to divulge them upon pain of death. Hence even the word μυστηριον (mystery) hath its name, say grammarians, from μυειν το στομα, to stop the mouth. The Eleusinian mysteries were performed in the night, agreeably to the deeds of darkness committed in them; so were the Bacchanalia; and they were both full of detestable iniquity; and upon that account, says Livy, “were banished out of the Roman senate and Italy.” These quotations, with many others which might be added to them, plainly prove, as Dr. Doddridge observes, that if the lower sort of mysteries among the heathens were first intended, as some have supposed, to impress the minds of the people with the belief of future rewards and punishments, and the higher sort of them to instruct persons of more reflection and penetration than the rest, in the knowledge of the true God, and the other great principles of natural religion, they were, long before the apostle’s time, greatly corrupted, and degraded to the most detestable purposes. Monsieur Saurin thinks there is a sarcasm in this verse, as if the apostle said, “The heathens call these things απορρητα, things not to be spoken of; true, they are properly so; things not too sacred, but too infamous to be mentioned.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. The point of this exhortation is in the adjective "unfruitful." The works of darkness are unfruitful; they produce no goodness, give rise to no satisfaction, to no moral results that are "a joy forever;" or, if fruit they have, it is shame, remorse, despair. Contrast this with the renovating, satisfying, joy-producing, fruits of righteousness. But rather even reprove them. Do not be content with a passive attitude towards them, but take the aggressive and expose their wickedness, whether in public or in the domestic circle. A testimony has to be lifted up against ways that are so shameful and that bring down the wrath of God.

Vers. 11-13.

Separation and rebuke the true attitude toward works of darkness.

The apostle thus describes the duty of Christians in reference to evil works.

I THE CHARACTER OF THESE WORKS. Unfruitful works of darkness." They spring out of darkness, they delight in darkness, they lead to darkness eternal. They are not naturally unfruitful, for they are fearfully prolific of result, but, in the light of God they are fruitless, because most unlike to the fruits of light, which are goodness, righteousness, and truth. They have "no fruit unto holiness," with an end of eternal life. (Rom_6:22)

II THE DUTY OF SEPARATION FROM THEM. This is a negative security. Christians are to stand apart from every evil work. There must be no fellowship with darkness. The friendship of the world can only be purchased at the cost of the Father"s friendship. (Jam_4:4)

III THE DUTY OF REBUKING WORKS OR DARKNESS. This is to be done with the view of producing a consciousness of guilt and evil. The Christian attitude must be aggressive toward all the forms of sin. The rebuke is to be administered

(1) with the lips, using all plainness, yet with prudence and meekness, so as to win Gentiles to the truth;

(2) with our lives, which, by their holy separateness, ought to demonstrate the folly and sin of the world. A holy man is a visible reproof of sin.

IV THE REASON FOR THIS ATTITUDE OF SEPARATION AND REBUKE. The heinousness of the sins and the necessity of making them manifest to the sinner"s conscience.

1. The sins are

(1) done in secret,

(2) and they are too shameful for mention.

Such sins would naturally shun the light of day, for "every one that doeth evil hateth the light", (Joh_3:20) and could not be committed to language without risk of defilement to others.

2. Yet they are not beyond cure. The light of Divine truth must be let fall upon them, that they may be corrected. "All things that are reproved are made manifest by the light." There is a necessary connection in Scripture between truth and holiness, and the truth must first be applied to the ignorant and the wicked, that it may make way for the sanctifying agency of the Spirit. The sun-glass of truth held in the hand of the rebuker will concentrate the light from heaven upon the conscience of the sinner so that he will see it full of all nameless lusts, and that very light will kindle a fire to consume them, unless the sinner, loving darkness, should turn away from the unwelcome light. Therefore let Christians remember the duty of pious and prudent reproof, which may not only put sin to shame, if not to silence, but lead the sinner from darkness to light, from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God"s dear SON. T.C.

Vers. 11-14.

(1) Two worlds of one race.

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. Wherefore 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. They are worthless. Their works are the unfruitful works of darkness." Ungodly men live in moral darkness. The sun, which alone reveals things as they are in the spiritual world, shines not in their heavens. All the light they have 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 its 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 in crime.

2. They are clandestine. Which are done of them in secret." Though 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 and clandestine. The good alone can afford to be bland and open.

3. They are shameful. For it is a shame even to speak of those things." Heathenism has ever abounded and still abounds with nameless iniquities. (Rom_1:24-32) But sin in all its forms 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 bring burning blushes to his cheek. Sin is a shame.

1. 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.

2. 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 could not be, and ought not to be if it could. It means that they are to have no spiritual identification with them no thoughts, purposes, or feelings alike. That, like Christ, they are to be "separate from sinners." Morally detached as the lamp from the darkness. "I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one no not to eat". (1Co_5:11) "Wherefore come out from among them," etc.. (2Co_6:14-18)

2. Reprehension. "But rather reprove them." Reprove them by lip. In the name of purity and truth expose and denounce their wickedness. Reprove them by life. Let the life stand in such a grand contrast to all that is sinful that it may be a standing rebuke.

3. Illumination. "All things that are reproved are made manifest by the light." Hold forth the light of the gospel in the midst of a "crooked and perverse generation.

4. Resuscitation. Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead." Thunder in the ear of the sleeper; speak life into the heart of the dead. There is living light for all in Christ. Christ shall give thee light." "He is the Light of the world." The idea of this verse seems to be that, if Christians will use all their efforts to convert men, they may expect Christ to shine upon them and bless them. The "light" that comes from him is a soul-quickening light. "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live". (Joh_5:25) Elijah raised the dead; so did the apostles. We, also, in God"s great Name, can raise the dead dead souls. The resurrection of a soul is a far grander work than the resurrection of a body. Let us sound the blast of the gospel trumpet over moral cemeteries, and the graves will open and dead souls come forth to life. D.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

EPHESIANS

UNFRUITFUL WORKS OF DARKNESS

Eph 5:11

We have seen in a former sermon that ‘the fruit,’ or outcome, ‘of the Light’ is a comprehensive perfection, consisting in all sorts and degrees of goodness and righteousness and truth. Therefore, the commandment, ‘Walk as children of the light,’ sums up all Christian morality. Is there need, then, for any additional precept? Yes; for Christian people do not live in an empty world. If there were no evil round them, and no proclivity to evil within them, it would be amply sufficient to say to them, ‘Be true to the light which you behold.’ But since both these things are, the commandment of my text is further necessary. We do not work in vacuo, and therefore friction and atmosphere have to be taken account of; and an essential part of ‘walking as children of the light’ is to know how to behave ourselves when confronted with ‘the works of darkness.’

These Ephesian Christians lived in a state of society honeycombed with hideous immorality, the centre of which was the temple, which was their city’s glory and shame. It was all but impossible for them to have nothing to do with the works of evil, unless, indeed, they went out of the world. But the difficulty of obedience does not affect the duty of obedience, nor slacken in the smallest degree the stringency of a command. This obligation lies upon us as fully as it did upon them, and the discharge of it by professing Christians would bring new life to moribund churches.

I. Let me ask you to note with me, first, the fruitlessness inherent in all the works of darkness.

You may remember that I pointed out, in a former discourse on the context, that the Apostle, here and elsewhere, draws a very significant distinction between ‘works’ and ‘fruit,’ and that distinction is put very strikingly in the words of my text. There are works which are barren. It is a grim thought that there may be abundant activity which, in the eyes of God, comes to just nothing; and that pages and pages of laborious calculations, when all summed up, have for result a great round 0. Men are busy, and hosts of them are doing what the old fairy stories tell us that evil spirits were condemned to do-spinning ropes out of sea-sand; and their life-work is nought when they come to reckon it up.

I have no time to dwell upon this thought, but I wish, just for a moment or two, to illustrate it.

All godless life is fruitless, inasmuch as it has no permanent results. Permanent results of a sort, indeed, follow everything that men do, for all our actions tend to make character, and they all have a share in fixing that which depends upon character-viz. destiny, both here and yonder. And thus the most fleeting of our deeds, which in one aspect is as transitory as the snow upon the great plains when the sun rises, leaves everlasting traces upon ourselves and upon our condition. But yet acts concerned with transitory things may have permanent fruit, or may be as transient as the things with which they are concerned. And the difference depends on the spirit in which they are done. If the roots are only in the surface-skin of soil, when that is pared off the plant goes. A life that is to be eternal must strike its roots through all the superficial humus down to the very heart of things. When its roots twine themselves round God then the deeds which blossom from them will blossom unfading for ever.

Think of men going empty-handed into another world, and saying, ‘O Lord! I made a big fortune in Manchester when I lived there, and I left it all behind me’; or, ‘I mastered a science, and one gleam of the light of eternity has antiquated it’; or, ‘I gained prizes, won my aims, and they have all dropped from my hands, and here I stand, having to say in the most tragic sense: Nothing in my hands I bring.’ And another man dies in the Lord, and his ‘works do follow’ him. It is not every vintage that bears exportation. Some wines are mellowed by crossing the ocean; some are turned into vinegar. The works of darkness are unfruitful because they are transient.

And they are unfruitful because, whilst they last, they yield no real satisfaction. The Apostle could say to another Church with a certainty as to what the answer would be, ‘What fruit had ye then’-when ye were doing them-’in the things whereof ye are now ashamed?’ And the answer is ‘None!’ Of course, it is true that men do bad things because they like them better than good. Of course, it is true that the misery of mankind is that they have no appetite in the general for the only real satisfaction. But it is also true that no man who feeds his heart and mind on anything short of God is really at rest in anything that he does or possesses. Occasional twinges of conscience, dim perceptions that after all they are walking in a vain show; glimpses of nobler possibilities, a vague unrest, an unwillingness to reflect and look the facts of their condition in the face, like men that will not take stock because they half suspect that they are insolvent-these are the conditions that attach to all godless men’s lives. There is no real fruit for their thirsty lips to feed upon. The smallest man is too large to be satisfied with anything short of Infinity, The human heart is like some narrow opening on a hill-side, so narrow that it looks as if a glassful of water would fill it. But it goes away down, down, down into the depths of the mountain, and you may pour in hogsheads and no effect is visible. God, and God alone, brings to the thirsty heart the fruit that it needs.

Another solemn thought illustrates the unfruitfulness of a godless life. There is no correspondence between what such a man does and what he is intended to do. Think of what the most degraded and sensuous wretch that shambles about the slums of a city, sodden with beer and rotten with profligacy, could be. Think of the raptures of devout contemplation and the energies of holy work which are possible for that soul, and then say-though it is an extreme case, the principle holds in less extreme cases-Are these things that men do apart from God, however shining, noble, illustrious they may be in the eyes of the world, and trumpeted forth by the mouthpieces of popular opinion, are these things worth calling fruits fit to be borne by such a tree? No more than the cankers on a rose-bush or the galls on an oak-tree are worthy of being called fruit are these works that some of you have as the only products of a life’s activity. ‘Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?’

II. And now, secondly, notice the plain Christian duty of abstinence.

‘Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.’ Now, the text, as it stands in our version, seems to suggest that these dark works are personified as companions whom a good man ought to avoid; and that, therefore, the bearing of the exhortation is, ‘Have nothing to do, in your own individual lives, with evil things that one man can commit.’ But I take it that, important as that injunction and prohibition is, the Apostle’s meaning is somewhat different, and that my text would perhaps be more accurately translated if another word were substituted for ‘have no fellowship with.’ The original expression seems rather to mean, ‘Do not go partners with other people in works of darkness, which it takes more than one to commit.’ Or, to put it into another language, the Apostle is regarding Christian people here as members of society, and exhorting them to a certain course of conduct in reference to plain and palpable existing evils around them. And such an exhortation to the duty of plain abstinence from things that the opinion of the world around us has no objection to, but which are contrary to the light, is addressed to all Christian people.

The need of it I do not require to illustrate at any length. But let me remind you that the devil has no more cunning way of securing a long lease of life for any evil than getting Christian people and Christian Churches to give it their sanction. What was it that kept slavery alive for centuries? Largely, that Christian men solemnly declared that it was a divine institution. What is it that has kept war alive for all these centuries? Largely, that bishops and preachers have always been ready to bless colours, and to read a Christening service over a man-of-war-and, I suppose, to ask God that an eighty-ton gun might be blessed to smash our enemies to pieces, and not to blow our sailors to bits. And what is it that preserves the crying evils of our community, the immoralities, the drunkenness, the trade dishonesty, and all the other things that I do not need to remind you of in the pulpit? Largely this, that professing Christians are mixed up with them. If only the whole body of those who profess and call themselves Christians would shake their hands clear of all complicity with such things, they could not last. Individual responsibility for collective action needs to be far more solemnly laid to heart by professing Christians than ever it has been.

Nor need I remind you, I suppose, with what fatal effects on the Gospel and the Church itself all such complicity is attended. Even the companions of wrongdoers despise, whilst they fraternise with, the professing Christian who has no higher standard than their own. What was it that made the Church victorious over the combined forces of imperial persecution, pagan superstition, and philosophic speculation? I believe that among all the causes that a well-known historian has laid down for the triumph of Christianity, what was as powerful as-I was going to say even more than-the Gospel of peace and love which the Church proclaimed was the standard of austere morality which it held up to a world rotting in its own filth. And sure I am that wherever the Church says, ‘So do not I, because of the fear of the Lord,’ it will gain a power, and will be regarded with a possibly reluctant, but a very real, respect which no easy-going coming down to the level of popular moralities will ever secure for a silver-slippered Christianity. And so, brethren, I would say to you, Do not be afraid of the old name Puritan. Ignorant people use it as a scoff. It should be a crown of glory. ‘Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.’

But how is this to be done? Well, of course, there is only one way of abstaining, and that is, to abstain. But there are a great many different ways of abstaining. Light is not fire. And the more that Christian people feel themselves bound to stand aloof from common evils, the more are they bound to see that they do it in the spirit of the Master, which is meekness. It is always an invidious position to take up. And if we take it up with any heat and temper, with any lack of moderation, with any look of ostentation of superior righteousness, or with any trace of the Boanerges spirit which says, ‘Let us call down fire from heaven and consume them,’ our testimony will be weakened, and the world will have a right to say to us, ‘Jesus we know, and Paul we know; but who are ye?’ ‘Who made this man a judge and a divider over us?’ ‘In meekness instructing them that oppose themselves.’

III. Lastly, note the still harder Christian duty of vigorous protest.

The further duty beyond abstinence which the text enjoins is inadequately represented by our version, ‘but rather reprove them.’ For the word rendered in our version ‘reprove’ is the same which our Lord employed when He spoke of the mission of the Comforter as being to ‘convince {or convict} the world of sin.’ And it does not merely mean ‘reprove,’ but so to reprove as to produce the conviction which is the object of the reproof.

This task is laid on the shoulders of all professing Christians. A silent abstinence is not enough. No doubt, the best way, in some circumstances, to convict the darkness is to shine. Our holiness will convict sin of its ugliness. Our light will reveal the gloom. The presentation of a Christian life is the Christian man’s mightiest weapon in his conflict with the world’s evil. But that is not all. And if Christian people think that they have done all their duty, in regard to clamant and common iniquities, by simply abstaining from them and presenting a nobler example, they have yet to learn one very important chapter of their duty. A dumb Church is a dying Church, and it ought to be; for Christ has sent us here in order, amongst other things, that we may bring Christian principles to bear upon the actions of the community; and not be afraid to speak when we are called upon by conscience to do so.

Now I am not going to dwell upon this matter, but I want just to point out to you how, in the context here, there are two or three very important principles glanced at which bear upon it. And one of them is this, that one reason for speaking out is the very fact that the evils are so evil that a man is ashamed to speak about them. Did you ever notice this context, in which the Apostle, in the next verse to my text, gives the reason for his commandment to ‘reprove’ thus-’For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret’? Did you ever hear of a fantastic tenderness for morality so very sensitive that it is not at all shocked when the immoral things are done, but glows with virtuous indignation when a Christian man speaks out about them? There are plenty of people nowadays who tell us that it is ‘indelicate’ and ‘indecent’ and ‘improper,’ and I do not know how much else, for a Christian teacher or minister to say a word about certain moral scandals. But they do not say anything about the immorality and the indelicacy and the indecency of doing them. Let us have done with that hypocrisy, brethren. I am arguing for no disregard for proprieties; I want all fitting reticence observed, and I do not wish indiscriminate rebukes to be flung at foul things; but it is too much to require that, by reason of the very inky cloud of filth that they fling up like cuttlefish, they should escape censure. Let us remember Paul’s exhortation, and reprove because the things are too bad to be spoken about.

Further, note in the context the thought that the conviction of the darkness comes from the flashing upon it of the light. ‘All things when they are reproved are made manifest by the light.’ Which, being translated into other words, is this:-Be strong in your brave protest, because it only needs that the thing should be seen as it is, and called by its right name, in order to be condemned.

The Assyrians had a belief that if ever, by any chance, a demon saw himself in a mirror, he was frightened at his own ugliness and incontinently fled. And if Christian people would only hold up the mirror of Christian principle to the hosts of evil things that afflict our city and our country, they would vanish like ghosts at sunrise. They cannot stand the light, therefore let us cast the light upon them.

And do not forget the other final principle here, which is imperfectly represented by our translation. We ought to read, ‘Whatever is made manifest is light.’ Yes. In the physical world when light falls upon a thing, you see it because there is on it a surface of light. And in the moral world the intention of all this conviction is that the thing disclosed to be darkness should, in the very disclosure, cease to be dark, should forsake its nature and be transformed into light. Such transformation is not always the case. Alas! There are evil deeds on which the light falls, and it does nothing. But the purpose in all cases should be, and the issue in many will be, that the merciful conviction by the light will be followed by the conversion of darkness into light.

And so, dear brethren, I bring this text to your hearts, and lay it upon your consciences. We may not all be called upon to speak; we are all called upon to be. You can shine, and by shining show how dark the darkness is. The obligation is laid upon us all; the commandment still comes to every Christian which was given to the old prophet, ‘Declare unto My people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sin.’ A quaint old writer says that the presence of a saint ‘hinders the devil of elbow room to do his tricks.’ We can all rebuke sin by our righteousness, and by our shining reveal the darkness to itself. We do not walk as children of the light unless we keep ourselves from all connivance with works of darkness, and by all means at our disposal reprove and convict them. ‘Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch no unclean thing, saith the Lord.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5:11 expose them: By the light shining from their lives (cp. John 3:20-21; Rom 13:12; 1 Pet 2:9), not by verbally accusing or condemning people (see 1 Cor 5:9-13).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Eph 5:11. Δὲ, καὶ) καὶ, even: it is not enough to abstain [yourself, you must also reprove others].—ἐλέγχετε, reprove) by words and deeds worthy of the light.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph_5:11. Συγκοινωνεῖτε] have not fellowship with (the disobedient) in the works of darkness (comp. Eph_5:7; and as regards the dative, see on Php_4:14), i.e. in those works, which are wrought in consequence of spiritual darknessof the ethical frame of mind opposed to divine truth. Comp. Rom_13:12. They are the ἔργα πονηρά (Col_1:21), the ἔργα τῆς σαρκός (Gal_5:21), the νεκρὰ ἔργα (Heb_6:1), the ἔργα ἀσεβείας (Jud_1:15).

τοῖς ἀκάρποις] the non-fruitful ones, inasmuch, namely, as they draw no blessing after them. The perdition which they have as result (Rom_6:21; Rom_8:13; Gal_6:8; Eph_4:22, al.) is conceived as negation of blessedness (comp. Eph_5:5). Comp. ἔργα νεκρά, Heb_6:1; Heb_9:14.

μᾶλλον δὲ καί] but rather even, imo adeo. See on Gal_4:9; Rom_8:34. Bengel well remarks: non satis abstinere est.

ἐλέγχετε] reprove them (these works), which is done when they are not passed over in silence and indulgently excused, but are held up with censure to the doer, and have their immorality discovered and brought home, in order to produce amendment. This chastening reproof is an oral one, since the context does not intimate anything else; not one de facto (sancta nimirum et honesta vita, Beza; comp. Erasmus, Cameron, Zanchius), not dictis et factis (Bengel; comp. Theophylact, Photius, Calovius, Holzhausen, Olshausen, and others). Comp. on Joh_3:20; Joh_16:8; 1Co_14:24.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph 5:11 . καὶ μὴ συγκοινωνεῖτε τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς ἀκάρποις τοῦ σκότους : and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness . TWH again prefer the form συνκοινωνεῖτε . The verb has its usual force here, and takes us back to the συμμέτοχοι αὐτῶν of Eph 5:7 . The only question is whether it governs the ἔργοις itself, or an αὐτοῖς or αὐτῶν understood. Looking to the συμμέτοχοι αὐτῶν above, the συγκοινωνήσαντές μου τῇ θλίψει of Phi 4:14 , etc., some prefer the latter, = “have no fellowship with them in the works”. But the gen. probably would then be the proper case for the things in which the participation took place; cf. the use of συγκοινωνεῖν with τινί τινος ( Dio Cass. , xxxvii., 41, etc.), and συγκοινωνὸς τῆς ῥίζης , etc. (Rom 11:17 ). Here, therefore, as in the case of the ἁμαρτίαις in Rev 18:4 and even the θλίψει in Phi 4:14 , the verb is best understood as governing the ἔργοις directly. Elsewhere we read of ἔργα πονηρά (Col 1:21 ), and νεκρὰ ἔργα (Heb 6:1 ); here of ἔργα ἄκαρπα , works which result in no gain, yield nothing pleasant or profitable, bring no blessing or reward with them; cf. the contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit in Gal 5:19 ; Gal 5:22 . μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἐλέγχετε : but rather even reprove them . This rendering of the RV is on the whole the best. AV omits the even . The other old English Versions render similarly, except Wicl., who has “but more”; Genesis , 2, which gives “but even reprove them rather”; and Bish., “but even rebuke”. The formula μᾶλλον δὲ καί , combines the ideas of the corrective ( μᾶλλον ), the adversative ( δέ ) and the ascensive ( καί ), and means, therefore, “but rather even,” not merely “yea, much more”. Without the καί the phrase μᾶλλον δέ has the force of a corrective climax; cf. Mey. on Rom 8:34 , Gal 4:9 , and Fritz. on Rom 8:34 . It was not enough, therefore, for them simply to abstain from such works; they must even reprove them. The question, however, is what is the proper sense of ἐλέγχετε here, and what is the force of the whole sentence? Some give the verb the sense of reproving , but understand the reproof in view to be both in word and in deed (Olsh.), or only in deed, i.e. , the reproof conveyed by the spectacle of a pure life and consistently moral walk. Others, looking to the following τὰ γὰρ κρυφῆ γινόμενα , etc., and thinking it incongruous to speak of an oral rebuke in connection with a statement of the shame it is even to speak of the sins in question, would give the verb the sense of exposing (Abb.). But both the context and the general idea connected with ἐλέγχειν in the Pauline writings ( cf., e.g. , 1Co 14:24 ; 2Ti 4:2 ; Tit 1:9 ; Tit 1:13 ; Tit 2:15 ) point to the notion of oral reproof. The idea, therefore, is that these Christians were not at liberty to deal lightly with such sins, or connive at them, or be silent about them, but had to speak out against them and hold them up to rebuke, with the view of bringing their heathen neighbours to apprehend their turpitude and forsake them.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph_5:11

The apostle having in the previous verse insisted on the duty of Christians of so walking as to show by their works that they were the subjects of divine illumination, adds here a statement of their duty in reference to the sins of those still in darkness. Those sins he calls the unfruitful works of darkness. By unfruitful is meant not merely barren or worthless, but positively evil. For in a moral subject the negation of good is evil. Works of darkness are those works which spring from darkness, i.e. from ignorance of God; as works of light are those works which light or divine knowledge produces.

The duty of Christians in reference to the works of darkness is twofold; first, to have no communion with them; and secondly, to reprove them. The former is expressed by the words μὴ συγκοινωνεῖτε, have not fellowship with them. Those who have things in common; who are congenial; who have the same views, feelings, and interests; and who therefore delight in each others society, are said to be in fellowship. In this sense believers have fellowship with God and with each other. So we are said to have fellowship in anything which we delight in and partake of. To have fellowship with the works of darkness, therefore, is to delight in them and to participate in them. All such association is forbidden as inconsistent with the character of the children of light. Our second duty is to reprove them. Ἐλέγχειν is not simply to reprove in the sense of admonishing or rebuking. It means to convince by evidence. It expresses the effect of illumination by which the true nature of anything is revealed. When the Spirit is said to reprove men of sin, it means that he sheds such light upon their sins as to reveal their true character, and to produce the consequent consciousness of guilt and pollution. In 1Co_14:24, Paul says the effect of intelligible preaching of the Gospel is conviction which is explained by saying the secrets of the heart are revealed. The duty, therefore, here enjoined is to shed light on these works of darkness; to exhibit them in their true nature as vile and destructive. By this method they are corrected; as is more fully taught in the following verses. The ethics as well as the theology of the Bible are founded on the principle, that knowledge and holiness, ignorance and sin, are inseparable. If you impart knowledge you secure holiness; and if you render ignorant you deprave. This of course is not true of secular knowledge i.e. of the knowledge of other than religious subjects; nor is it true of mere speculative knowledge of religious truth. It is true only of that knowledge which the Scriptures call spiritual discernment. Of that knowledge, however, intellectual cognition is an essential element. And so far as human agency in the production of the conviction of sin is concerned, it is limited to holding forth the word of life; or letting the light of divine truth shine into the darkened minds of men, and upon their evil deeds.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Make them open to all the world, by your good life.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

unfruitful works of darkness--Sins are terminated in themselves, and therefore are called "works," not "fruits" (Gal 5:19, Gal 5:22). Their only fruit is that which is not in a true sense fruit (Deu 32:32), namely, "death" (Rom 6:21; Gal 6:8). Plants cannot bear "fruit" in the absence of light. Sin is "darkness," and its parent is the prince of darkness (Eph 6:12). Graces, on the other hand, as flourishing in "the light," are reproductive, and abound in fruits; which, as harmoniously combining in one whole, are termed (in the singular) "the FRUIT of the Spirit" (Eph 5:9).

rather, &c.--Translate as Greek, "rather even reprove them" (compare Mat 5:14-16). Not only "have no fellowship, but even reprove them," namely, in words, and in your deeds, which, shining with "the light," virtually reprove all that is contrary to light (Eph 5:13; Joh 3:19-21). "Have no fellowship," does not imply that we can avoid all intercourse (Co1 5:10), but "avoid such fellowship as will defile yourselves"; just as light, though it touch filth, is not soiled by it; nay, as light detects it, so, "even reprove sin."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 11. Have no fellowship] Have no religious connection whatever with heathens or their worship.

Unfruitful works of darkness] Probably alluding to the mysteries among the heathens, and the different lustrations and rites through which the initiated went in the caves and dark recesses where these mysteries were celebrated; all which he denominates works of darkness, because they were destitute of true wisdom; and unfruitful works, because they were of no use to mankind; the initiated being obliged, on pain of death, to keep secret what they had seen, heard, and done: hence they were called απορρητα μυστηρια, unspeakable mysteries-things that were not to be divulged. That the apostle may refer to magic and incantations is also probable, for to these the Ephesians were greatly addicted. See the proofs in Clarke's notes on "Ac 19:19".

Rather reprove them.] Bear a testimony against them; convince them that they are wrong; confute them in their vain reasons; reprove them for their vices, which are flagrant, while pretending to superior illumination. All these meanings has the Greek word ελεγχω, which we generally render to convince or reprove.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. And have no fellowship. As “the children of light” dwell amidst the darkness, or, in other words, in the midst of “a perverse and crooked generation,” (Deuteronomy 32:5,) — there is good reason for warning them to keep themselves apart from wicked actions. It is not enough that we do not, of our own accord, undertake anything wicked. We must beware of joining or assisting those who do wrong. In short, we must abstain from giving any consent, or advice, or approbation, or assistance; for in all these ways we have fellowship. And lest any one should imagine that he has done his duty, merely by not conniving, he adds, but rather reprove them. Such a course is opposed to all dissimulation. Where a manifest offense is committed against God, every man will be eager to vindicate himself from any share in the guilt, but very few will guard against connivance; nearly all will practice some kind of dissimulation. But rather than the truth of God shall not remain unshaken, let a hundred worlds perish.

The word ἐλέγχειν, which is translated reprove, answers to the metaphor of darkness; for it literally signifies to drag forth to the light what was formerly unknown. As ungodly men flatter themselves in their vices, (Psalm 36:2,) and wish their crimes to be concealed, or to be reckoned virtues, Paul enjoins that they shall be reproved. He calls them unfruitful; because they not only do no good, but are absolutely hurtful.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(11) Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.—To “have no fellowship” with such works is not to refuse to take part in them (for this surely might be taken for granted), but to keep no terms with them, to have no sympathy or indulgence or excuse for them. So the word is used, in Php_4:14, of “communicating with my affliction;” and in Rev_18:4, of “being partakers with the sins” of Babylon. It is through such weak or cowardly indulgence, more than the actual love of evil, that sin is suffered to prevail. Hence St. Paul adds, “rather reprove them.” Our Lord Himself has declared in all such cases, “He that is not with Me is against Me.”

The unfruitful works of darkness.—St. Paul has a similar antithesis in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom_6:19-22). They who are in sin “yield their members servants to iniquity unto iniquity.” Iniquity has no result but iniquity; and hence he goes on to ask, “What fruit had ye then in those things of which ye are now ashamed?” This weary fruitlessness is at once the sign and the penalty of sin, so that men have fancied it to be one chief element of the suffering of the lost. But they who are in Christ “yield their members servants to righteousness unto holiness.” “They have,” he says, “their fruit unto holiness” now, and “in the end the everlasting life,” which is everlasting holiness. Similarly, in Gal_5:20-22, we have “the works of the flesh,” but “the fruit of the Spirit.” Rarely, indeed, does Scripture speak of “evil fruit” (Mat_7:17; Mat_12:33). Generally, “to be unfruitful” is an all-sufficient condemnation. “Every branch that beareth not fruit he taketh away” (Joh_15:2).

Rather reprove them.—In the word “reprove,” whether in its application to the witness of the Holy Ghost (Joh_16:8), or to the witness of men (as in 1Co_14:24; 1Ti_5:20; Tit_1:9-13, et al.), there is described a double function—to “convince,” if it may be, the sinner in himself; to “convict” him, if the other function fails, before men and angels. Both these functions St. Paul urges here. It is not enough to “have no fellowship with them.” To this tacit reproof open reproof in word and deed is to be added; only in such reproof it should be remembered that it would be disgraceful “even to speak” in detail of the actual “things done in secret.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. unfruitful] “For the end of these things is death” (Rom_6:21). The metaphor of fruit, which we have just had (Eph_5:9), is almost always used in connexions of good. See a close parallel, Gal_5:19; Gal_5:22, “the works of the flesh”; “the fruit of the Spirit.”

darkness] Lit., the darkness, which you have left; from whose “authority” you have been “rescued” (Col_1:13). The metaphor here (on which see on Eph_4:18) suggests rather the secrecy and shame of sin than its blindness.

rather] Rather even, R. V., and so better; “rather, go the length of positive reproof.”

reprove] The verb, in classical prose, has always an argumentative reference; it is, to question, confute, disprove. And though in some N. T. passages this reference is not necessary to the sense, it is always admissible, and lies, as it were, behind the meaning of mere blame or censure. So here, the Christian is not merely to denounce evil, but by holy word and life to evince its misery and fallacy, to convict it (R. V. margin) of its true nature.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But all things that are reproved,.... As all sins should be, by the ministers of the Gospel, and by other saints, and will be by God; either by his Spirit convincing of them, or by his judgments, and the letting out of his wrath and fury, either here or hereafter, for the punishment of them:

are made manifest by the light: either by the saints, who are made light in the Lord, and detect and reprove the sins of others; or by the word of the Lord, which discovers the heinousness of sins; or by Christ the light of the world, who as Judge will bring to light the hidden things of darkness; or by the omniscience of God, to whom darkness and light are both alike

for whatsoever doth make manifest, is light; this is true in things natural and spiritual, whether of the sun in the firmament, or of Christ the sun of righteousness; or of the divine word, or of good men.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Ver. 11. Have no fellowship] No needless society for fear of infection; get the wind of those stinking carcases; "hate the garment spotted by the flesh," that is, avoid ill company (saith Perkins), as Lev 15:4. The Lacedaemonians would not allow a stranger to be with them more than three days; and shall we associate ourselves with such as are strangers to God?

Works of darkness] Work done in the dark must be undone again, or else we are sure to be thrust into outer darkness, where we shall never see light again till we see all the world on a light fire.

But rather reprove them] At least by your contrary courses, as Noah condemned the old world, by being righteous in his generation. Rev 14:1-5, those who stood with the Lamb, had his Father’s name on their foreheads, led convincing lives: so did Luther, Bucer, Bradford, &c.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And have no fellowship - See the sentiment here expressed fully explained in the notes on 2Co 6:14-18.

The unfruitful works - The deeds of darkness that produce no “benefit” to the body or the soul. The word “unfruitful” is used here in contrast with the “fruit of the Spirit,” Eph 5:9.

But rather reprove them - By your life, your conversation, and all your influence. This is the business of Christians. Their lives should be a standing rebuke of a sinful world, and they should be ever ready to express their disapprobation of its wickedness in every form.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

You are light, they are darkness; do you, therefore, shew by the light of your good works how base and detestable their works of darkness are. (Estius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Have no fellowship with; not only do not practise them yourselves, but do not join with others in them, by consent, advice, assistance, or any other way whereby ye may be defiled by them.

The unfruitful; by a meiosis, for bringing forth evil fruit, destructive, pernicious, Rom 6:21; Gal 6:8.

Works of darkness; wicked works, so called because they proceed from darkness in the mind, the ignorance of God, and men are put upon them by the devil, the prince of darkness, and because they are afraid of the light.

But rather reprove them; or convince them, viz. not only by your words, Lev 19:17; Mat 18:15, but especially by your actions, which being contrary to them, will both evidence them to be, and reprove them as being, works of darkness.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. Fellowship—St. Paul’s ordinary word for Christian communion; as 1Co_1:9, “fellowship of his Son;” and 1Co_10:16, “communion of his blood.” It implies a collection of participants into a common element.

Hence here, enter not into associations that share in the unfruitful works. There is, as commentators well remark, no specific allusion to the heathen “mysteries,” but the words include both them and all associations and clans of revellers in dark and hidden licentiousnesses.

Unfruitful—As affording, to say the least, no advantage.

Works of darkness—With the double allusion above mentioned; works that are morally dark, and that court the covert of literal night.

Reprove—A very significant term. First, it indicates a refutation, as in an argument; second, a detection, as of some complication or concealment; and, third, an exposure, resulting from both the refutation and the detection. Let your life, conduct, and intellectual powers be all effective in refuting the sophisms with which license justifies or ennobles itself, as well as in detecting and exposing the turpitude of the license itself.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Reprove them - To avoid them is not enough.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Observe here, 1. The odious character wherewith sin in general is branded: it is styled darkness, a work of darkness, works of darkness, and an unfruitful work. Sin is styled darkness, because it originally springs from darkness, it naturally delights in darkness, it ultimately leads to eternal darkness. Sin is called a work of darkness, to imply the drudgery and toil, the labour and pains, that the sinner is at in the service of sin: the work of sin is a mere drudgery and toil, the labour and pains, that the sinner is at in the service of sin: the work of sin is a mere drudgery ; it is not a pleasurable service, but a laborious servitude.

And the apostle calling sin by the name of works, doth intimate to us, that one sin never goes single and alone, but has a dangerous train and retinue. Finally, Sin is an unfruitful work; not materially and subjectively unfruitful, for the corrupt nature of man is a rank soil in which sin thrives apace; but terminatively and ultimately, it is unfruitful in the conclusion, in the event and issue, What fruit,& c. Rom 6:21

Observe, 2. A dehortation, or negative precept: Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness: it is both the duty and interest of every christian to have nothing to do with any sinful work; the preceptive will of God requires this, sin being contrary to the holiness of his nature and will; and the dignity and purity of the gospel calls for this, which is a law of holiness, and a rule of holy living.

Observe, 3. A positive injunction: but rather reprove them.

How are we to reprove the unfruitful workers and works of darkness?

Two ways:

1. By our lips; with plainness, but yet with prudence; with faithfulness, but yet with meekness; in reproof never use sharp words, if soft words will serve the turn.

2. With our lives; thus Nehemiah, by his princely demeanor, did reprove the covetousness of former governors, So did not I, because of the fear of the Lord Neh 5:15; a holy life is a visible and daily reproof given both to sin and sinners.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11–13. And have no fellowship. See verse 7. Works of darkness are those which please the powers of darkness. The Christian must have nothing whatever to do with these. We must not countenance any sinful device, but rather reprove it. This would prevent the patronage of many things which the world countenances.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

11. καὶ μὴ συνκοινωνεῖτε κ.τ.λ. Cf. Eph 5:7; Rev 18:4; 1Ti 5:22; 2Jn 1:11; Psa 50:18. ‘Have a share with them in—become jointly responsible for’ by approving (Rom 1:32) or acquiescing in without protest.

ἔργοις, as in Gal 5:19; Rom 13:12. The word is constantly used in a disparaging sense in St Paul.

μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἐλέγχετε. ‘Awaken their consciences,’ ‘convict’ them, ‘show them to themselves in their true colours.’ This may be by public exposure or open reproof, but the word refers rather to the result than to the means, cf. Joh 16:8; Wis 1:3; Wis 1:5; Wis 12:2, esp. Eph 2:11 τὸ γὰρ ἀσθενὲς ἄχρηστον ἐλέγχεται, 1Co 14:24. For object supply αὐτοὺς, the sinners, not the sin.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11.] and have no fellowship with (better than ‘be not partakers in,’ as De W., which would require a genitive, see Demosth. p. 1299. 20, συγκεκοινωνήκαμεν τῆς δόξης ταύτης οἱ κατεστασιασμένοι: whereas the person with whom, is regularly put in the dative, e.g. Dio Cass. xxxvii. 41, συγκοινωνήσαντός σφισι τῆς συνωμοσίας,—ib. lxxvii. 16, συνεκοινώνησαν αὐτῇ κ. ἕτεραι τρεῖς τῆς καταδίκης. And Php 4:14 furnishes no objection to this rendering) the unfruitful works of darkness (see Gal 5:19, Gal 5:22; on which Jer., vol. vii. p. 505, says ‘vitia in semetipsa finiuntur et pereunt, virtutes frugibus pullulant et redundant.’ See also the distinction in Joh 3:20, Joh 3:21; Joh 5:29, between τὰ φαῦλα πράσσειν and τὰ ἀγαθὰ or τὴν ἀλήθειαν ποιεῖν), but rather even reprove them (see reff.,—in words: not only abstain from fellowship with them, but attack them and put them to shame).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. καὶ μὴ συγκοινωνεῖτε τοις ἔργοις ἀκάρποις τοῦ σκότους. “Have no fellowship with.” The thought joins on to ver. 7. The verb with the dative means (like the simple κοινωνεῖν) to have fellowship or partnership with. In the sense, “to have part in a thing,” it takes the genitive. ἀκάρποις, for vice has no καρπός. Thus Jerome: “Vitia in semet ipsa finiuntur et pereunt, virtutes frugibus pullulant et redundant.”

11, 12. μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἐλέγχετε, τὰ γὰρ κρυφῆ γινόμενα ὑπʼ αὐτῶν αἰσχρόν ἐστι καὶ λέγειν. κρυφῆ γινόμενα cannot be merely synonymous with ἔργα σκότους, as Harless and Olshausen hold; σκότος and κρυφῆ are distinct notions, and ἔργα σκότους might be open offences. Besides, this would make κρυφῆ quite superfluous. καὶ λέγειν, “even to mention.”

ἐλέγχετε is usually taken to mean “reprove.” This seems to imply reproof by words; but then the reason assigned seems strange; they are to be reproved, because even to speak of them is shameful. If the conjunction had been “although” and not “for,” it would be intelligible. Hence some expositors have actually supposed that γάρ here means “although,” which is, of course, impossible. Another view that has been taken is “rebuke them openly, for to speak of them otherwise is shameful”; but this puts too much into λέγειν. Bengel’s view is that the words assign, not the reason for ἐλ., but the reason of the apostle’s speaking indefinitely of the vices, whilst he enumerates the virtues. This is forced, and against the emphatic position of κρυφῆ. Stier’s view is that the reproof is to be by the life, not by words: “Ye would yourselves be sinning if ye were to name the secret vices”; hence the necessity for walking in the light, that so these deeds may be reproved. But St. Paul is not deterred by such scruples from speaking plainly of heathen vices when occasion required. Harless’ view, that the words are connected with μὴ συγκ., “Do not commit these sins, for they are too bad even to mention,” assumes that τὰ κρυφῆ γινόμενα Simply = τὰ ἔργα τοῦ σκότους, which we have seen is untenable.

Meyer and Eadie assign as the connexion, “By all means reprove them; and there is the more need of this, for it is a shame even to speak of their secret sins.” This seems to leave the difficulty unsolved. Barry says: “In such reproof it should be remembered that it would be disgraceful ‘even to speak’ in detail of the actual ‘things done in secret.’ ” This again supposes that γάρ assigns a reason for what is not expressed, namely, for some qualification of ἐλέγχετε, not at all for ἐλέγχετε itself.

There is, however, another meaning of ἐλέγχω very common, especially when the object is a thing, not a person, and more particularly in connexion with derivatives of κρύπτω, viz. to expose or bring to light. Artemidorus, in his interpretations of dreams, when speaking of those dreams which forebode the revealing of secrets, always speaks of τὰ κρυπτὰ ἐλέγχεσθαι, e.g. ii. 36, ἥλιος ἀπὸ δύσεως ἐξανατέλλων τὰ κρυπτὰ ἐλέγχει τῶν λεληθέναι δοκούντων. Polybius says: ἐλέγχεσθαί φασιν τὰς φύσεις ὑπὸ τῶν περιστάσεων (p. 1382). He opposes to it διασκοτεῖσθαι (p. 1383). And Phavorinus defines ἐλέγχω. τὸ κεκρυμμένον ἀτόπημά τινος εἰς φῶς ἄγω. Cf. Aristoph. Eccles. 483.

So the substantive ὁ ἔλεγχος = proof. The connexion of this signification with that of “convict” is obvious. The Etym. M. has ἔλεγχός ἐστιν ὁ τὰ πράγματα σαφηνίζων … ὁ γὰρ ἔλ. εἰς φῶς ἄγει τὰ πράγματα.

This appears to be the meaning of the verb in Joh 3:20, οὐκ ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸ φῶς, ἵνα μὴ ἐλεγχθῇ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ. Compare in the following verse, ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸ φῶς, ἵνα φανερωθῇ αὐτοῦ τὰ ἔργα. Compare also 1Co 14:22, ἐλέγχεται ὑπὸ πάντων … τὰ κρυπτὰ τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ φανερὰ γίνεται. The occurrence of κρυφῆ here in the immediate context suggests that this meaning was present to the apostle’s mind. Adopting it, we obtain as the interpretation : Have no participation with the works of darkness, nay, rather expose them, for the things they do secretly it is a shame even to mention; but all these things when exposed by the light are made manifest in their true character. Then follows the reason, not for 13a, but for the whole exhortation. This ἐλέγχειν is not useless, for it leads to φανεροῦσθαι, and so turns σκότος into φῶς. This is Soden’s interpretation. A remarkable parallel is Joh 3:20, just quoted. There also ἔργα are the object, ἔργα whose nature is σκότος (ver. 19); and it is the φῶς which effects ἐλέγχειν, ver. 20, and φανεροῦν, ver. 21.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Have - fellowship [συγκοινωνειτε] . See on Rev 18:4; Rev 1:9. Unfruitful works [εργοις τοις ακαρποις] . Compare fruit, ver. 9, and Gal 5:19, 22, works of the flesh, fruit of the Spirit. Works which bring no blessing with them. Compare Rom 6:21; Rom 8:13; Gal 5:21; Gal 6:8.

Reprove [ελεγχετε] . See on Joh 3:20.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.