Глава 5

Eph.5:1. So, imitate God, as beloved children. “Be an imitator of God, like your beloved child.” You have been honored with sonship; you call God Father. Therefore, be jealous of this relationship. Eph.5:2. And live in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet aroma. “And walk in love, as Christ also loved to eat us and gave Himself an offering and sacrifice for us to God for the smell of fragrance.” And here the Apostle showed the equality of the Father and the Son. For, having commanded to imitate God, he commands the same in the reasoning of the Son. And just as he said about the Father that he gave to us, so he says about the Son that “he loved to eat us and gave us to himself for us.” For he did not obey out of necessity, like some slave, but voluntarily “gave Himself for us.” This: “sacrifice and offering in the stench of fragrance,” clearly speaks of the body, because the body is nailed to the cross. Eph.5:3. But fornication and all uncleanness and covetousness should not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints. “Let fornication and all uncleanness and covetousness be called among you, as befits saints.” He sufficiently demonstrated the disgusting nature of the enumerated vices, ordering their very names to be exterminated from memory. Eph.5:4. Also, foul language and idle talk and ridicule are not becoming for you, but, on the contrary, thanksgiving is. “And foul language, and bad language, or blasphemy, even inappropriate, but more than thanksgiving.” He also expels immoderate laughter from the assembly of the pious, because it is generated by blasphemy and blasphemy. Eph.5:5. For know this, that no fornicator, or unclean person, or covetous person, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. “For you know this, that every fornicator, or unclean person, or covetous person, who is an idolater, will have no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.” He said the same thing in the Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 6:9-10). He called covetousness idolatry, according to the word of the Lord. For it is said: “No one can work for two masters,” and: “You cannot work for God and Mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Eph.5:6. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for for this reason the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience. “Let no one flatter you with vain words: for for these sakes the wrath of God is coming on the disobedient sons.” since those who followed the Hellenic teachings did everything listed above, he commands not to listen to these teachings, because the workers of wickedness are threatened with punishment from God. Eph.5:7. So, do not be their accomplices. “Thou shalt not be partakers of this,” that is, of those who are enslaved to wickedness. Eph.5:8. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord: walk as children of light. “For sometimes there is darkness, but now there is light in the Lord”; because they were illuminated by the Divine light. “Walk as children of light.” Since he called them light, and the Lord is called the true light, he also called them children of light. Eph.5:9. Because the fruit of the Spirit consists of all goodness, righteousness and truth. “There is spiritual fruit in all goodness and righteousness and truth.” He who partakes of the All-Holy Spirit bears the fruits of the Spirit. Eph.5:10. Test what pleases God. “Tempting is what is pleasing” to the Lord. You are gifted with reason and have received the grace of the All-Holy Spirit. Therefore you can conveniently discern what is pleasing to God. Eph.5:11. And do not participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but also reprove. Eph.5:12. For what they do in secret is shameful to even talk about. Eph.5:13. Everything that is revealed is made manifest by the light, for everything that becomes manifest is light. “And do not associate yourself with unfruitful deeds; rather, reprove them.” “Forever, take away your shame from them, but eat and speak.” “Everything that is exposed appears from the light, for everything that is revealed is light.” He called the Ephesians light and children of light. And the light reveals what is hidden in darkness. Therefore, he commands them not only to avoid communication with those in darkness, but also to expose their wickedness. Eph.5:14. Therefore it is said: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” “For this reason he says: Arise, sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ will illuminate you.” So in some lists it reads: “Christ will illuminate you,” and this reading is most appropriate for the connection of speech. For whoever puts off laziness like sleep receives the ray of the Lord’s light. However, one should know that this evidence is not from Scripture, for we do not find it anywhere in the Divine Scripture. Some of the interpreters argued that those who were worthy of spiritual grace wrote several psalms, and this makes it clear that they were divine. The Apostle in the Epistle to the Corinthians: “Let each of you have a psalm” (1 Cor. 14:26). Eph.5:15. Therefore, take heed and walk carefully, not as fools, but as wise. Eph.5:16. Cherish time, because the days are evil. “Beware how dangerously you walk, not as if you were not wise, but as if you were wise”: “redeeming time, for the days are evil. “Evil days” does not call time itself (for what kind of wickedness would time have?), but the malice that people dare to do in these days. That’s why he said: “time is redeeming,” that is, it is not yours, because you are aliens and strangers. Therefore, endure the sorrows you encounter with courage and use the present tense as you should. Eph.5:17. So, do not be unreasonable, but know what the will of God is. “For this reason, do not be foolish, but understand that there is the will of God.” For it is extreme madness not to serve the Lord who saved everyone. Eph.5:18. And do not get drunk with wine, which causes debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit. Eph.5:19. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord. “And do not get drunk with wine, for there is fornication in it: but be filled with the Spirit,” “speaking to yourself in psalms and songs and spiritual songs, making melody and singing in your hearts to the Lord.” The Apostle, rejecting harmful intoxication, introduced spiritual in its place. He understood this when he said, “Be filled with the Spirit,” that is, constantly singing songs to God, going deep into yourself and always stirring up your thoughts. For he sings with his heart, who not only sets the tongue in motion, but also arouses the mind to understand what is being uttered. Eph.5:20. Always giving thanks for everything to God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Always giving thanks to everyone in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God and the Father.” One should not only sing songs about the benefactor of God for oneself, but also for all those participating in the good deed. This must be done, always remembering Christ who saved us. Eph.5:21. Submitting to one another in the fear of God. "Obeying one another in the passion of God". For we must obey not those who command to live lawlessly, but those who live piously. And since the Apostle set forth the general law on submission, he now offers advice appropriate to special kinds of people. Eph.5:22. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. Eph.5:23. Because the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the Church, and He is the Savior of the body. “Wives, obey your husbands, as the Lord,” “the husband is the head of the wives, just as Christ is the head of the Church, and He is the Savior of the body.” Very wisely the divine Apostle presented this example. For this is enough to instill in wives respect for their husbands, and instill in husbands tender love for their wives. Eph.5:24. But just as the Church submits to Christ, so do wives to their husbands in everything. “But just as the Church submits to Christ, so do wives to their husbands in everything.” As a prescriptive law for the pious, the Apostle added: “in everything.” And what the law gives to the pious is shown by the example presented. None of the pupils of piety prefers his own God. Eph.5:25. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her. Eph.5:26. To sanctify it, cleansing it with the washing of water through the word. Eph.5:27. To present it to Himself as a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it might be holy and without blemish. Eph.5:28. Thus should husbands love their wives as their own bodies: he who loves his wife loves himself. Eph.5:29. For no one has ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and warms it, just as the Lord does the Church. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave it to Himself for her sake”: “let him sanctify her, cleansing her with the washing of water in the verb”, “let him present to himself a glorious Church, not having filth or vice or anything from such, but may she be holy and blameless.” “So husbands should love their wives as they love their own bodies.” Imitate the Sovereign care, and what the Lord showed in the judgment of the Church, have the same in the judgment of those living with you in marriage. For the Lord Christ did not deny even to die for His bride in order to cleanse her, make her glorious, erase from her the traces of her former old age and show her free from all vice. Therefore, we should have the same love for our spouses and take care of them as we would of our own body. And this: “having cleansed with the washing of water” in the verb means: in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. “He who loves his wife loves himself”: “no one hates his own flesh, but nourishes and warms it.” If there is any suffering in any member, we do not cut it off, but try to heal it. So you too, says the Apostle, should take care of your wives. “Like the Lord is the Church.” He nourishes and warms her, offers her His own Body and His Blood as food. Eph.5:30. Because we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “Before you judged His body from His flesh and from His bones.” For just as Eve was created from Adam, so we are from the Lord Christ. We are buried with Him and raised in baptism, we eat His Body and drink His Blood. The Apostle also reminds us of what was said about the wife. Eph.5:31. Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). Respect this first law, which was given upon the creation of woman and inculcated in human nature. For he who enters into marriage, leaving his parents, is united with his wife, and the union becomes so close that the two are considered to be one flesh. The fruit of marriage is a witness to this, because one child is born from both. However, the divine Apostle, repeating the law of marriage, shows that it also shines in spiritual marriage, and cries out: Eph.5:32. This mystery is great; I speak in relation to Christ and the Church. “This mystery is great: I speak into Christ and into the Church.” For Christ Himself, leaving the High Father, united with the Church. But he left it only apparently, according to the concept of incarnation, because, like God, he is inseparable from God, since He Himself has an indescribable nature. Eph.5:33. So let each of you love his wife as himself; and let the wife be afraid of her husband. “Both of you, one after the other, let each one love his wife as much as he loves himself: and let the wife fear her husband.” Not in all respects, says the Apostle, do I apply the marriage law to Christ and the Church. For you too are subject to the law, and the husband must love his wife as his own body, and the wife must both love and fear her husband. The divine law also commanded this: “Your turn will be to your husband, and she will have possession of you” (Gen. 3:16). You might be interested in: