เอเฟซัส 5:18 วิจารณ์

We had several important exhortations in the close of the foregoing chapter, and they are continued in this: particularly, I. We have here an exhortation to mutual love and charity (Eph 5:1, Eph 5:2). II. Against all manner of uncleanness, with proper arguments and remedies proposed against such sins: and some further cautions are added, and other duties recommended (v. 3-20). III. The apostle directs to the conscientious discharge of relative duties, from Eph 5:21, throughout this, and in the beginning of the next chapter.

INTRODUCTION TO EPHESIANS 5 The apostle, in this chapter, goes on with his exhortations to the duties of religion; and such in general as relate to purity of life, and against uncleanness; and particularly treats of the duties of married persons. And whereas in the latter part of the preceding chapter, he had exhorted to kindness and tenderness, and which he enforced by the example of God himself, he here repeats and urges it; and to it adds the example of Christ in loving his people, and giving himself for them a propitiatory sacrifice, acceptable to God, Eph 5:1, then follows a dehortation from several vices of the impure kind, some as being filthy actions, and unbecoming saints, and not to be named by them, and much less done, Eph 5:3, others, and such as are vices of the tongue, as being inconvenient, and to which thanksgiving is preferred, Eph 5:4, and the former especially, as excluding from having any part or portion in the kingdom of God and Christ Eph 5:5, and all of them, as bringing the wrath of God upon men, Eph 5:6, wherefore professors of religion should avoid such sins, and not join with the children of disobedience in the commission of them, Eph 5:7, to which exhortation they should the rather give heed, from the consideration of their present state, illustrated by their former one; who were once darkness, but now light, and therefore should walk as enlightened persons, Eph 5:8, and as having the Spirit of God, which is known by its fruits, Eph 5:9, studying to know, approve of, and do that which is acceptable to God, Eph 5:10, and on the contrary, should have no society and communion with men in the commission of sins, the works of darkness, but should reprove them for them, Eph 5:11, since the things done by them were such, that it was a shame to relate them, and much more to commit them, Eph 5:12, and the rather this was incumbent upon them, since it was agreeably to their character, as being made light in the Lord; seeing it is the property of light to make manifest and detect what is done in the dark, Eph 5:13, which is confirmed by a passage of Scripture pertinently produced, to stir up drowsy and lifeless professors to the discharge of their duty, Eph 5:14, and from hence the apostle enforces a wise and circumspect walk and conversation, one part of which lies in redeeming time; and which should be done for this reason, because the present days were evil ones, Eph 5:15, and that they might avoid a foolish walk, and order their conversation wisely and aright, he suggests it would be proper to learn what was the will of the Lord, which is the rule of a Christian's walk and conversation, Eph 5:17, and whereas drunkenness is oftentimes the cause of all the above mentioned vices, the apostle cautions against that, and on the contrary advises them to be concerned for a larger measure of the Spirit of God; that under his influence they might sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, in a melodious manner, and heartily to the Lord; and so express their thankfulness to him, for all mercies from him; and not abuse their mercies and themselves, spend their time in singing lewd and profane songs, as drunkards often do, Eph 5:18, and hence he passes to the special duties of wives and husbands, to which he premises a general exhortation to submission to one another, Eph 5:21, and begins with the subjection of wives to their husbands, this being the will of the Lord, Eph 5:22, and besides, the relation which the wife stands in to her husband, being her head, requires it; and which is illustrated by Christ being the head and Saviour of his body, the church, Eph 5:23, and which is further urged and enforced by the instance and example of the church's subjection to Christ, Eph 5:24, and next the apostle exhorts husbands to love their wives, in imitation of Christ, who has loved his church; and as an instance of it, has given himself to death for her; than which, there cannot be a greater instance of love, Eph 5:25, the ends of which were, the sanctification and cleansing of the church with his blood, by means of water and the word; and the presentation of her to himself, all glorious and beautiful, Eph 5:26, and then another argument is used, to engage the affections of husbands to their wives, they being their own bodies; so that loving them, is loving themselves, Eph 5:28, nor was it ever known, and it would be unnatural, for a man to hate his own flesh, but on the contrary, he nourishes and cherishes it; and therefore seeing the wife is a man's own flesh, he ought not to hate her, but to nourish and cherish her; and this is also enforced by the example of Christ, who does not hate his church, but nourishes and cherishes her, Eph 5:29, the reason of which is, because the saints which make up the church are members of him, one flesh and blood with him, Eph 5:30, which is the case of a man and his wife; and hence it is, that according to the original law of marriage, a man was to leave father and mother, and cleave to his wife, Eph 5:31, the whole of which is a mystery, and typical of the marriage relation and union between Christ and his church, Eph 5:32, and the chapter is closed with a recapitulation of the mutual duties of husband and wife, love in the one, and reverence in the other, Eph 5:33.

Giving thanks always for all things,.... For things temporal, for our beings, and the preservation of them, and for all the mercies of life; for things spiritual, for Christ, and for all spiritual blessings in him; for electing, redeeming, sanctifying, adopting, pardoning, and justifying grace; for a meetness for heaven, and for eternal life itself; for the Gospel, promises, truths, ordinances, and ministry; and this is to be done always, at all times, in times of adversity, desertion, temptation, affliction, and persecution, as well as in prosperity: unto God, and the Father; to God who is, and as he is the Father of mercies, and of all creatures; and as he is the Father of Christ, and of all the elect in him: in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; for all the mercies of God's people, both temporal and spiritual, come through him, and for his sake; and thanksgivings for them are only acceptable to God as they are offered up by him; nor is there any other way of bringing them to God, but through him: this duty, as it stands connected with the former, shows that praise and thanksgiving are the principal subject matter of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, to be sung; and that the manner of singing is with thanksgiving; and that the end of it is to give thanks to God.

(The apostle says further: ) "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess," -a precept which is suggested by the passage (of the prophet), where the seducers of the consecrated (Nazarites) to drunkenness are rebuked: "Ye gave wine to my holy ones to drink.

Hence the Apostle says: Do not get drunk with wine... but be filled with the Holy Spirit; for those who are drunk with wine stagger and stumble, but those who are intoxicated in the Spirit are rooted in Christ. And therefore, the excellent drunkenness, which operates the sobriety of the mind.

Dost thou wish, he says, to be cheerful, dost thou wish to employ the day? I give thee spiritual drink; for drunkenness even cuts off the articulate sound of our tongue; it makes us lisp and stammer, and distorts the eyes, and the whole frame together. Learn to sing psalms, and thou shall see the delightfulness of the employment. For they who sing psalms are filled with the Holy Spirit, as they who sing satanic songs are filled with an unclean spirit.

And is then this Spirit within us? Yes, indeed, within us. For when we have driven away lying, and bitterness, and fornication, and uncleanness, and covetousness, from our souls, when we are become kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, when there is no jesting, when we have rendered ourselves worthy of it, what is there to hinder the Holy Spirit from coming and lighting upon us? And not only will He come unto us, but He will fill our hearts; and when we have so great a light kindled within us, then will the way of virtue be no longer difficult to attain, but will be easy and simple.

For indeed intemperance in this renders men passionate and violent, and hot-headed, and irritable and savage. Wine has been given us for cheerfulness, not for drunkenness. Whereas now it appears to be an unmanly and contemptible thing for a man not to get drunk. And what sort of hope then is there of salvation? What? contemptible, tell me, not to get drunk, where to get drunk ought of all things in the world to be most contemptible? For it is of all things right for even a private individual to keep himself far from drunkenness; but how much more so for a soldier, a man who lives amongst swords, and bloodshed, and slaughter: much more, I say, for the soldier, when his temper is sharpened by other causes also, by power, by authority, by being constantly in the midst of stratagems and battles. Wouldest thou know where wine is good? Hear what the Scripture saith, "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto the bitter in soul." (Prov. xxxi. 6.) And justly, because it can mitigate asperity and gloominess, and drive away clouds from the brow. "Wine maketh glad the heart of man" (Ps. civ. 15), says the Psalmist. How then does wine produce drunkenness? For it cannot be that one and the same thing should work opposite effects. Drunkenness then surely does not arise from wine, but from intemperance. Wine is bestowed upon us for no other purpose than for bodily health; but this purpose also is thwarted by immoderate use. But hear moreover what our blessed Apostle writes and says to Timothy, "Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thine often infirmities." This is the reason why God has formed our bodies in moderate proportions, and so as to be satisfied with a little, from thence at once instructing us that He has made us adapted to another life. And that life He would fain have bestowed upon us even from the very beginning; but since we rendered ourselves unworthy of it, He deferred it; and in the time during which He deferred it, not even in that does He allow us immoderate indulgence; for a little cup of wine and a single loaf is enough to satisfy a man's hunger. And man the lord of all the brute creation has He formed so as to require less food in proportion than they, and his body small; thereby declaring to us nothing else than this, that we are hastening onward to another life. "Be not drunk," says he, "with wine, wherein is riot"; for it does not save but it destroys; and that, not the body only, but the soul also.

It is good conduct that strikes fear in the wrongdoer. Only one who is sober is prepared to counsel another realistically and with confidence. The person being counseled feels less resentment when he knows how good is the actual conduct of the one who admonishes him. But where there is intoxication there is also debauchery, and debauchery causes base deeds. Therefore it is our duty to be sober, so that the requirements of good conduct may be observed.

For since you are the presbyters and deacons of Christ, you ought always to be sober, both among yourselves and among others, that so you may be able to warn the unruly. Now the Scripture says, "The men in power are passionate. But let them not drink wine, lest by drinking they forget wisdom, and are not able to judge aright." Wherefore both the presbyters and the deacons are those of authority in the Church next to God Almighty and His beloved Son. We say this, not they are not to drink at all, otherwise it would be to the reproach of what God has made for cheerfulness, but that they be not disordered with wine. For the Scripture does not say, Do not drink wine; but what says it? "Drink not wine to drunkenness; " and again, "Thorns spring up in the hand of the drunkard." Nor do we say this only to those of the clergy, but also to every lay Christian, upon whom the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is called. For to them also it is said, "Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath uneasiness? who hath babbling? who hath red eyes? who hath wounds without cause? Do not these things belong to those that tarry long at the wine, and that go to seek where drinking meetings are?"

Antony said, ‘I think that the body has a natural movement within itself, which obeys the orders of the mind, a kind of inclination of which the body’s actions are only symptoms. There is a second movement in the body, caused by eating and drinking, by which the blood is heated and excited. That is why St Paul said, ‘Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess’ (Eph. 5:18), and again the Lord commanded his disciples in the Gospel, ‘See that your hearts be not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness’ (Luke 21:34). There is a third movement which comes from the deceit and envy of demons against those who are trying to live a good life. It is a help to know that there are three bodily inclinations – from nature, from too much food, and from the demons.’

And further he restrains anger, because excess in wine also makes people wrathful and insolent. And that he censures excess is clear, for he did not say "do not drink," but "do not get drunk." But drunkenness comes from excess, since the moderate use of wine provides both health (as the apostle himself says in the epistle to Timothy – 1 Tim. 5:23) and gladness, as David testifies (Ps. 104:15). And Scripture moreover says (Prov. 31:6): "Give wine to those who are bitter of soul," that is, merriment to those who are in sorrow. For it softens grief and distress. Therefore God also made our bodies moderate, so that they would be content with little and would aspire to the other life. That is, immoderate consumption. For drunkenness does not bring health, but destroys not only the body, but also the soul. This is what ἀσωτία means – the squandering of health. Or the word ἀσωτία, in its common usage, denotes here fleshly intemperance. For from drunkenness comes debauchery.

He urged them before to that newness which is in opposition to the old illusion (5:15), now he does the same in reference to the old ways of carnal sins. Or, we might say that he previously reprimanded carnal sins in regard to voluptuousness, and here does it concerning gluttony. Thus he says: I have stated that fornication and all uncleanness should not be even named among you. Yet you ought also be careful to abstain from superfluous wine since excessive food and drink is a cause of sensuality; and especially wine which warms and excites a man. "Wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness riotous" (Prov. 20:1). "When the king was merry, and after very much drinking was well warmed with wine, he commanded... to bring in queen Vasthi before the king" (Est. 1:10-11). "Fornication and wine and drunkenness take away the understanding" (Os. 4:11). Whence Jerome remarks: "A man over whom Sodom could not prevail was conquered by wine—Lot." Therefore be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury. But be ye filled with the Holy Spirit. Among all those things which breed a variety of moods is wine; thus it begets animosity and makes men "talk in thousands" as 3 Esdras 3 (21) affirms. Appropriately therefore does he teach them the opposite, to be filled with the Holy Spirit who engenders an intensity of devotion: "In spirit fervent" (Rom. 12:11). Who also spreads joy and spiritual happiness: "Justice, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17). Who, moreover, makes men speak out boldly: "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost; and they began to speak with diverse tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak" (Ac. 2:4), so that those who heard them thought they were drunk (Ac. 2:13). But do we possess the Holy Spirit by our own power? I reply and say that the Holy Spirit is possessed in two ways. Either he is had receptively, and it is not in our power to receive him, rather we accept him as a gift from God: "the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us" (Rom. 5:5). Or he is possessed dispositively, and even here we are not capable of receiving him since we cannot dispose ourselves without the grace of God: "Not that we are sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God" (2 Cor. 3:5). Or, someone may be said to receive the Holy Spirit, and nonetheless not be full of the Holy Spirit. He has the grace of the Holy Spirit in reference to certain aspects of his life, but not in reference to every one of his actions. Then is he said to be full of the Holy Spirit when he avails himself of the Spirit in all he does.

Christians should imitate their heavenly Father, and walk in love, after the example of Christ, Eph 5:1, Eph 5:2. They should avoid all uncleanness, impurity, covetousness, and foolish jesting, and idolatry, because these things exclude from the kingdom of God, Eph 5:3-7. The Ephesians were once in darkness, but being now light in the Lord, they are exhorted to walk in that light, and bring forth the fruits of the Spirit; and to have no fellowship with the workers of iniquity, whose evil deeds are manifested by the light, Eph 5:8-13. All are exhorted to awake; to walk circumspectly; to redeem the time; and to learn what the will of the Lord is, Eph 5:14-17. The apostle gives particular directions relative to avoiding excess of wine, Eph 5:18. To singing and giving thanks, Eph 5:19, Eph 5:20. Submission to each other, Eph 5:21. To husbands that they should love their wives, as Christ loved the Church; for by the marriage union, the union between Christ and the Church is pointed out; and wives are exhorted to reverence their husbands, Eph 5:22-33.

Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess - This is a farther allusion to the Bacchanalian mysteries; in them his votaries got drunk, and ran into all manner of excesses. Plato, though he forbade drunkenness in general, yet allowed that the people should get drunk in the solemnities of that god who invented wine. And indeed this was their common custom; when they had offered their sacrifices they indulged themselves in drunkenness, and ran into all kinds of extravagance. Hence it is probable that μεθυω, to get drunk, is derived from μετα, after, and θυω, to sacrifice; for, having completed their sacrifices, they indulged themselves in wine. The word ασωτια, which we translate excess, means profligacy and debauchery of every kind; such as are the general concomitants of drunkenness, and especially among the votaries of Bacchus in Greece and Italy. But be filled with the Spirit - The heathen priests pretended to be filled with the influence of the god they worshipped; and it was in these circumstances that they gave out their oracles. See a remarkable instance of this quoted in the note on Luk 9:39 (note), where the case of a Bacchanalian is described. The apostle exhorts the Ephesians not to resemble these, but, instead of being filled with wine, to be filled with the Spirit of God; in consequence of which, instead of those discoveries of the Divine will to which in their drunken worship the votaries of Bacchus pretended, they should be wise indeed, and should understand what the will of the Lord is.

EXHORTATIONS TO LOVE: AND AGAINST CARNAL LUSTS AND COMMUNICATIONS. CIRCUMSPECTION IN WALK: REDEEMING THE TIME: BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT: SINGING TO THE LORD WITH THANKFULNESS: THE WIFE'S DUTY TO THE HUSBAND RESTS ON THAT OF THE CHURCH TO CHRIST. (Eph. 5:1-33) therefore--seeing that "God in Christ forgave you" (Eph 4:32). followers--Greek, "imitators" of God, in respect to "love" (Eph 5:2): God's essential character (Jo1 4:16). as dear children--Greek, "as children beloved"; to which Eph 5:2 refers, "As Christ also loved us" (Jo1 4:19). "We are sons of men, when we do ill; sons of God, when we do well" [AUGUSTINE, on Psalm 52]; (compare Mat 5:44-45, Mat 5:48). Sonship infers an absolute necessity of imitation, it being vain to assume the title of son without any similitude of the Father [PEARSON].

excess--worthless, ruinous, reckless prodigality. wherein--not in the wine itself when used aright (Ti1 5:23), but in the "excess" as to it. but be filled with the Spirit--The effect in inspiration was that the person was "filled" with an ecstatic exhilaration, like that caused by wine; hence the two are here connected (compare Act 2:13-18). Hence arose the abstinence from wine of many of the prophets, for example, John the Baptist, namely, in order to keep distinct before the world the ecstasy caused by the Spirit, from that caused by wine. So also in ordinary Christians the Spirit dwells not in the mind that seeks the disturbing influences of excitement, but in the well-balanced prayerful mind. Such a one expresses his joy, not in drunken or worldly songs, but in Christian hymns of thankfulness.