Lens

1) Who are the disobedient mentioned in verse 6 and how are the saints to proactively stay connected?
At the beginning of Chapter 5, Paul continues his thought from Chapter 4. He wants his reader to understand the importance of their relationships with each other and with those outside the Church. Scripture makes it clear that those who consistently walk in disobedience (those living outside of God’s grace), have intentionally rejected God’s forgiveness. (Romans 1:18-28) Forgiveness is God’s answer to the impossible state of reality for all humanity, we are insufficient to save ourselves. We see from the creation story that God created humans with a freedom that allowed them to choose obedience or disobedience. That freedom sadly exposed mankind’s unwillingness to choose rightly. Adam and Eve found themselves deceived by an empty argument from the source of all disobedience, pride. (Genesis 1-3) In the Old Testament, the Psalmist reviewed the disobedience in Israel’s history. (Psalm 78) In the New Testament, the apostles reminded the people of their rebellion against God (Acts 3, Acts 7). Had the very first man and woman refrained from approaching the one tree God had forbidden, they could have continued their sweet fellowship with their Creator. In this section of his letter, Paul encourages the saints to remain distanced from the message and lifestyle of the rebellious. This intentional choice demonstrates, and promotes, obedience to Christ over self.

2) How did the Ephesians, to whom Paul is writing, move from darkness to light? (verse 7)
Note the wording in verse 8. Paul not only says the saints were once in darkness, he says they were darkness. This “darkness” is not simply a place without light. It is the condition of all men apart from Christ. (studylight.org) Every heart not regenerated by the light of Christ is utterly dark. The prophet Isaiah said that everyone stumbles in their darkness. (Isaiah 59:9-10) Light necessarily shines on the rebellious and disobedient heart, revealing the need for forgiveness. As “dearly loved children of God” (Ephesians 5:1), the believers were to walk in the love and light of Christ. The only good thing about darkness is that light is seen so clearly! The letter to the Ephesians emphasizes Paul’s desire for them to recognize God’s “goodness, righteousness and truth.” (verse 9) When light and darkness are in the same space, light wins. The recipients of Paul’s letter had come into the light only though God’s gracious revelation to them. God’s light shone in and on their dark hearts. The exposure to sinfulness produces repentance that leads to “speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:19-20)

3) Once a person is walking in the light, what is the public evidence? (verse 9)
In the original Greek, the words that speak of the previous darkness reveal a forceful impact. As darkness itself, they were “utterly sunk in ignorance of Divine things, [and] wholly lost in the evils accompanying such ignorance.” (Expositor’s Greek Testament) But God! If two words were used to be the subtitle of Ephesians, it could be these! Though the English word “but” is supplied in Ephesians 2:4 for clarity, it perfectly translates the message of Paul in the letter. Multiple times, he compares who the saints at Ephesus previously were with who they now are. The God of light has shone His mercy in the darkness since the days of Noah. (Genesis 7:23-8:1)The urgency of Paul to proclaim this message of transformation from dark to light is found in his letters to the Romans and the Corinthians. (Romans 5:6-11, 1 Corinthians 1:26-27) How glorious and radical is the light that shines in, on, and through the darkness. “The completeness of the change [from dark to light] is evidenced in that they were so possessed and penetrated by that truth, that they could be described not simply as enlightened but as themselves now light.” (Expositor’s Greek Testament) Being light is evidenced through our obedience. Paul speaks in the remaining chapter (Ephesians 6:1-23) of how we are to shine our light in marriage, family life and in the church.