"3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”"
Ephesians 5:3-14
We should note in 8 how Paul defines and describes our new status: 'children of light'. We are born of the Spirit into the family of God, and we are to show forth the 'family likeness'. God is love, and therefore we must walk in love; but God is also light, and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5), and therefore we are to walk in the light. James Denney, in a striking sermon on 'walking in the light' says,
'To walk in the light means to live a life in which there is nothing hidden, nothing in which we are insincere with ourselves, nothing in which we seek to impose upon others. We may have, and no doubt we will have, both sin and the sense of sin upon us – "if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" - but we may walk in the light nevertheless, if we deal truly with our sin, and it is only as we do so that we enjoy Christian fellowship and are cleansed by the blood of Jesus.'
That is challenging enough in all conscience, is it not? There is a burning fire in these words, and we do well to pay heed to it.
It will be noted also that Paul deals with both negatives and positives in these verses (as he did in 4:17ff). In 3-7 he speaks very bluntly of the works of darkness that characterise the old life while in 8-14 he turns to the positive aspects of being in the light. We shall look at both these sections in turn in the Notes that follow.