Darkness and Light (5:3–14)
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality (5:3). Sexual immorality (Paul here uses the word porneia) was an enormous problem in the early church among the Gentiles. Adulterous relationships, men sleeping with their slave girls, incest, prostitution, “sacred” sexual encounters in the local temples, and homosexuality were all a part of everyday life in that culture. There was no pervasive social standard with regard to sexual relations. Jews had long been appalled at the behavior of the Gentiles in this regard and considered them “impure.” The Mishnah even prohibits a Jewish woman from ever being left alone with a Gentile because he cannot be trusted sexually.40 The word porneia is a broad term covering all kinds of illicit sexual behavior, not just fornication or premarital sex. The term is used abundantly in Jewish literature written in Greek with reference to sexual sin of all kinds.41
Obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking (5:4). Not only are Christians called to a high standard of sexual purity, they are urged not to cheapen and demean sexuality by making it the topic of crude jokes, as so often happened in Gentile society. Paul uses three colorful words here—not found in the Old Testament, but from the context of Gentile moral exhortation. The only proper way to respond to God for sexuality is to practice it in the right context and give thanks to him for this wonderful gift.
Such a man is an idolater (5:5). Ephesus and its environs abounded with idolatry—the worship of the images of gods and goddesses in place of the one true God. Here Paul takes idolatry a step further by associating it with sexual immorality and the greedy pursuit of wealth. This is not an innovation with Paul, for other Jewish writers had made this connection: “My children, love of money leads to idolatry, because once they are led astray by money, they designate as gods those who are not gods”;42 “The sin of promiscuity is the pitfall of life, separating man from God and leading on toward idolatry, because it is the deceiver of the mind and the perceptions.”43 Philo sharply criticized the “money lovers” who would “procure gold and silver coins from every side and treasure their hoard like a divine image in a sanctuary, believing it to be a source of blessing and happiness of every kind.”44
EPHESUS
A public latrine near the theater.
Let no one deceive you with empty words (5:6). Paul is not thinking here of a group of heretics, but simply of unbelievers who attempt to justify their immoral behavior and pull these new Christians back into an improper lifestyle.
You were once darkness but now you are light (5:8). Darkness and light were images commonly used in all ancient religions. The image is especially prominent in an entire document of the Dead Sea Scrolls that speaks of an impending end-time battle between “the sons of light” (the faithful covenant people of God) and “the sons of darkness” (the devil, his angels, and all of God’s human enemies).
Paul shows frequent indebtedness to the book of Isaiah, however, and light-darkness imagery is also prominent there. The Lord says through the prophet: “Arise, shine, for your light has come. . . . See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. . . . The LORD will be your everlasting light” (Isa. 60:1–2, 19). Paul describes one’s coming to Christ as a radical change of identity—from darkness to light, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. There are echoes here of the teaching of Jesus as represented in John’s Gospel: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
“Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (5:14). Paul introduces this quotation in the same way he introduces a citation from the Old Testament (see 4:8), yet this is not a verse from the Old Testament. What is he then quoting? Most likely he is citing oral tradition that was passed on in the early church—here from the context of Christian worship and exhortation.45 Unfortunately, we have no means of verifying this conclusion since no written texts of first-century Christian liturgy have survived (if they were ever even written down). The essence of this passage is to admonish believers to be morally vigilant and deal with the problem of sin, receiving the grace of Christ to help them in their struggle.
Wise and Spirit-Filled Living (5:15–20)
As wise (5:15). Paul commends to these believers the vast Old Testament teaching about wisdom, especially as represented by the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. There they can find ethical insight into God’s will.
Do not get drunk on wine (5:18). Wine and drunkenness were central features of the worship of Dionysus (also known as Bacchus).46 In the frenzied and ecstatic Dionysiac rituals, intoxication with wine was tantamount to being filled with the spirit of Dionysus. It is therefore conceivable that some of the new believers in Asia Minor were carrying this form of worship with them into the church by associating wine with the filling of the Holy Spirit. Paul repudiates such a notion by denouncing drunkenness and associating the filling of the Spirit with other activities. The problem of drunkenness, however, went far beyond the practices of one cult. It was a societal problem. Paul’s comments on drunkenness denounce intoxication for any reason.
DIONYSUS
The god is leaning on a satyr while holding a column adorned with grapes and the god Pan. Cupids are at his feet.
Be filled with the Spirit (5:18). The coming and presence of the Holy Spirit fulfill the Old Testament promise concerning the new covenant and the future messianic age of blessing.47 The followers of Jesus were “filled with the Holy Spirit” on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:4), and Peter proclaimed this as the fulfillment of expectation. The Spirit is constantly present with believers, but Paul here urges a regular appropriation of the Spirit’s power. The following context suggests some of the means by which believers receive a fuller manifestation of the Spirit’s presence in their lives.
Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (5:19). The three terms that Paul chooses here—psalmos, hymnos, and ōdē—stress the variety of forms of music in the early church. All three words occur in the LXX of Psalms, but psalmos is particularly at home in a Jewish context. Hymnos was a term used extensively by Gentiles in their pagan worship; they were accustomed to singing hymnoi in praise of their gods and goddesses. There are many papyrus examples of hymns sung in honor of Isis, Asclepius, “The Great Mother,” Apollo, and many other deities. Verses of hymns were sung every morning at the entrance of the temple of Asclepius. Choruses of hymn singers customarily sang words of praise to Apollo at his temple at Claros, just north of Ephesus.48 For Christians, it is not the musical form that is important, it is the object of worship. Christians worship the one true God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
LYRE
This Jewish coin dates to A.D. 134–135, the year of the Bar Kochba revolt in Judea. The lyre may be reminiscent of those used in the Jerusalem temple ceremonies.
Husbands and Wives (5:21–33)
This passage marks the beginning of a set of instructions to various members of the Christian household (see “Household Duties” at 1 Peter 2:11). Paul addresses husbands and wives, parents and children, and slaves and masters. His most extensive remarks have to do with marriage. Male and female relationships fell far short of the mark of God’s ideal in antiquity.
Submit to one another. . . . Wives, submit to your husbands (5:21–22). In a first-century context, to “submit” (hypatassō) is a word for order that was used to designate role relationships in various kinds of social structures. In contrast to the word “obey” (hypakouō), “submit” implies a voluntary yielding to one who has authority in a leadership structure. Submission is thus used in contexts where soldiers follow their commanders, members of the church yield to their leaders (see 1 Peter 3:5), and all people to the governing authorities of the state (see Rom. 13:1).
In the first occurrence, Paul takes the dramatic step of enjoining a mutual submission. This flows out of the teaching of Jesus, who calls his disciples to serve one another and resist the temptation to “lord it over” each other (Mark 10:42–45). Elsewhere, Paul encourages believers to defer to the needs and interests of others by considering fellow believers even more highly than they consider themselves (Phil. 2:2–3). This involves subduing pride and self-oriented pursuits.
Nevertheless, Paul does not eliminate the social structuring of submission. He clearly maintains a role distinction between men and women in the marriage relationship and expects the man to assume a role of leadership. Yet Paul carefully qualifies the kind of leadership the husband is to provide.
The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church (5:23). Paul has already used head-body imagery twice in this letter to describe the role of Christ in relationship to the church (see comments on 1:22–23 and 4:16). Here he applies the imagery to the role of the husband in the marriage relationship. Just as Christ provides leadership to the church and is its principal source of provision, the husband is called to the same function on behalf of his wife.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (5:25). The kind of leadership the husband should exert is not defined by the prevailing cultural trends, but by the example of Christ himself. Above all the husband’s leadership is governed by a self-sacrificial love. This admonition to the men flew in the face of many heavy-handed and demeaning attitudes of men toward their wives in antiquity—both in Judaism and in Greco-Roman culture (see “Josephus and Philo On Marriage” and “Aemelius Paulus and Papiria”).
The washing with water (5:26). Paul is alluding here to the image of a marital covenant that Yahweh entered with Jerusalem. The Lord told his people, “‘I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you’, declares the Sovereign LORD, ‘and you became mine. I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you . . . you became very beautiful and rose to be a queen’” (Ezek. 16:8–13). The church is not cleansed by literal water (although there may be an allusion to baptism here); rather, the effective factor for salvation is the Word of God, the gospel, rooted in the blood of Christ that cleanses believers from all sin.
He feeds and cares for it (5:29). Both of these words appear in a papyrus marriage contract that delineates the husband’s responsibilities for his wife: “to cherish and nourish and clothe her.”49
This is a profound mystery (5:32). Paul is not referring to marriage as a deep mystery (and thus to marriage as a sacrament) or even mystery as it was used in the mystery religions of the area. The mystery he speaks of here is the intimate relationship of Christ to the church. This is consistent with his usage of this term throughout the letter (1:9; 3:3, 4, 9; 6:19), where it always speaks of something concealed that God has now revealed in Christ.