A lyrical reading of Ephesians 5:1-20

 

In the following reading of Ephesians 5:1-20, I will use verse 19 as my guideline.  It urges readers to speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.  I will consider some clues that suggest that this text may be an example of such lyrical communication.  The clues I am considering are the literary structure of the passage.  I am looking at the repetition of common themes, and at the arrangement of this repetition. 

 

There is a refrain which introduces and links two distinct parts in Ephesians 5. 

 

Verse 2 says,

As Christ loved us and handed himself over for us.

 

Verse 25, says

As Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her.

 

This refrain reinforces the imperatives of verses 1 and 2.  Around this refrain, in both halves of Ephesians Chapter 5, I recognise 5 common elements:

 

• an introductory imperative
• a following metaphor
• A contrasting, 2-part examination of the imperative
• a quote
• a summary

 

The structure of Eph 5:1-20

 

Introductory imperative  - Be imitators of God and live in love (Eph 5:1,2)

Metaphor -  A sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma (Eph 5:2)

Expansion 1 – A song of holiness, certainty and separation  (Eph 5:3-7)

Expansion 2 – A song of light, discovery and connectedness (Eph 5:8-13)

Quote – …Christ will give you light (Eph 5:14)

Summary -  A song of integration of behaviour, spirituality and communication (Eph 5:15-20)

 

The structure of Eph 5:21-33

 

Introductory imperative  – Be subordinate to one another (Eph 5:21)

Metaphor -  Cleansing her body by the bath of water (Eph 5:26)

Expansion 1 – Wives  (Eph 5:22-24)

Expansion 2 – Husbands (Eph 5:25-30)

Quote – “…The two shall become one flesh.” (Eph 5:31)

Summary -  Each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband. (Eph 5:32-33)

 

 

After the introductory mandate and metaphor of Eph 5:1,2, I observe that there may be 4 songs before the refrain about Christ’s love is repeated in verse 25.  I perceive these songs as follows:

 

• a song about ‘saints’ defined by calls to separation and certainty (vs3-7),
• a song about light asserting association and new discovery (vs 8-13),
• a song about Christ (or perhaps a part of a song) (vs14)
• a song of integration of behaviour, spirituality and communication (vs 15-20)

 

A song of ‘saints’ (Eph 5:3-7)

 

The song of Eph 5:3-7 may be a song of definition, or identity, for the believers.  This idea is drawn from the opening line, “as is fitting for saints” (vs3).  In this song, the definition of believers includes elements of belief, behaviour and communication. 

 

The song of saints begins with some practices which “must not it be mentioned among you’, and ends with the command, ‘do not be partakers with them’.  Its structure may revolve around verses 5 and 6, which speak of confidence in belief linked with the judgment of God, as follows: 

 

Certain practices must not be mentioned among you  (separation)

Be sure of this – inheritance  (certainty)

Let no one deceive you – the wrath of God  (certainty)

Do not be associated with them  (separation)

 

Communication is a specific element of the separation outlined in this song, and the song has a strong emphasis on communication.  It discourages negative talk (vs4).  It warns against empty arguments (vs 6).  It calls the believers to thanksgiving (vs 4).  Perhaps, in the structure of the song, this call to thanksgiving sits at the centre, perhaps a climax, of the song. 

 

Certain practices must not be mentioned among you (separation)

Negative talk is out of place (negative communication)

Thanksgiving is fitting (positive communication)

Beware of empty arguments (negative communication)

Do not be associated with them (separation)

 

Immorality, impurity and greed are the practices from which the believers are to be separate.  This list of 3 ‘vices’ at the beginning of the song (vs3) and re-stated at its climax (vs5) may itself appear as a lyrical structure expressing a singular notion of holiness.  Impurity is flanked by immorality and greed, indicating that the holiness of believers is made up simultaneously of both sexual and economic disciplines.

 

 

A song of light (Eph 5:8-13)

 

Ephesians 5:8-13 establishes links to the song of saints (Eph 5:3-7) in verse 11 and 12, which build on the notions of behavioural definition (‘take no part’) and communication (‘it is shameful even to mention’).  It builds on the song of saints by making a transition from the separation of believers from the world, to their engagement with the world.  This song uses the image of light’s contact with darkness to highlight the past and the ongoing interaction in the world from which the believers have, in some ways, separated themselves.

 

The song of light (Eph 5:8-13) begins with the application of the metaphor of light to the life of believers before their lives of faith (vs 8).  It ends with the application of the metaphor of light to ‘everything’ (vs13,14).  In contrast to the song of saints, which asserts certainty at its centre, the song of light presents uncertainty at its centre.  The believers are urged to ‘try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord’ (vs10).  The remainder of the song, either side of this mandate for new learning and insight, provides exhortations about how to live. 

 

The lyrical structure of this song may be as follows:

 

Application of the metaphor of light in the lives of believers – association by identification

Live as children of light

Find out what pleases the Lord

Live as light in contact with darkness

Application of the metaphor of light to ‘everything’ – association by influence

 

The word commonly translated into English as ‘expose’ is used to make the link between light’s contact with darkness.  The song offers some clues as to the parameters of ‘expose’.  Earlier in Ephesians, Paul clearly and famously asserted that ‘no one can boast.  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do’ (Eph 2:9,10)  The song of light may be a lyrical rendition of the teaching of Eph 2:9,10 if ‘goodness and righteousness and truth’ (Eph 5:9) are understood as the good works prepared by God for us to discern and to practise.    Similar to Eph 2:8-10, Eph 5:8 pre-empts the temptation facing believers to claim superiority over other people.  The introduction that the believers were once darkness re-states Paul’s assertion of the common created humanity of all people.  With this understanding, verses 11 and 12 outline that being exposed is a process of unification and reconciliation. 

 

It is important to note that contact between light and darkness through exposure results in affirmation, and not shame.  While the song begins ‘you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord’, it ends with the vision that whatever darkness is exposed is also light.  In a simple logic and convention of English verse, perhaps the simple thrust of this song may be rendered.

 

What is exposed becomes visible.

What becomes visible is light.

You were once darkness

Now you are light

Find out what pleases the Lord.

 

 

The song of Christ (Ephesians 5:14)

 

It appears Paul is quoting directly from what appears to be a song in Ephesians 5:14.  The song of Christ uses the image of ‘gift’ in its lyric, ‘Christ will give you light’.  The image of ‘gift’ occurs on a number of occasions throughout Ephesians.  The two refrains of Ephesians 5 (verses 2 and 25) present Christ himself is a gift.  The gift of God in Eph 2:8-10 was grace.  The gift of Christ in this song is the gift of light. 

 

I have highlighted, above, that links with Ephesians 2:8-10 pre-empt the temptation to use the song of light as a song of superiority.  Similarly, it is difficult to interpret the gift of light in Ephesians 5:14 as a gift of superiority if it is linked to Jesus’ own use of light’s relationship with darkness to assert God’s love of all human beings in Matthew 5:43-48.

 

Jesus applied the image of light to grace in Matthew 5:43-48, when he reminded people that God makes the sun shine on the righteous and the unrighteous alike.  A reading of light and dark with reference to day and night offers us a considerably different perspective from our 21st century tendencies to consider the difference between light and dark accessible through the flick of a switch, and the sudden, bright and selective beam of a spotlight.

 

A song of integration (Eph5:15-20)

 

In the overall structure of this chapter, I identified that verses 15-20 may be a summary of the first half of the chapter.  If so, the summary of the above exhortations is as follows:

 

Watch carefully how you live/Make the most of the opportunity

Do not continue in ignorance/Try to understand what is the will of the Lord

Do not get drunk on wine/Be filled with the spirit

Address one another in song/Give thanks

 

Overall, this song re-iterates the themes of the song of saints of how to live, and how to speak, and emphasizes the relatedness of believers to God.  The structure of its themes is as follows:

 

The behaviour of believers

Life with God

Life with God

The communication of believers

 

Some implications of this concluding song in relation to HIV

 

Line by line, the concluding song provides responses to problems of silence, denial and deception, judgment, judgmentalism and false representation of God, stigma, and condemnation.  I have identified elsewhere that these are all problems we face as Christians living in today’s various HIV epidemics, which may be fuelled reading Ephesians 5 as a menu of instructions.

 

An alternative to silence, denial and deception

 

The first line re-enforces the importance of the behaviour of believers in response to our faith in God.  As a concluding reference to the song of saints, the words ‘watch carefully how you live’ add an element of evaluation to the initial song.  This element of evaluation provides space for the acknowledgement of our transgressions, and encouragement to not give up on our aspirations of imitating God.  Temptations to deny immorality, impurity and greed, which may be identified in the song of saints, have been resolved with an encouraging invitation to an honest pursuit of life in its fullness.

 

An alternative to stigmatisation and the judgment of God

 

The second line of this concluding song does not reflect the certainties outlined in verses 5 and 6.  Instead, the statement of verse 17, ‘Do not continue in ignorance’, asserts a need for new and ongoing discernment, which was introduced in verse 10, and which located the believers in a changing world, where the will of God was not a common reference point.  The common reference point of the song of light is the common humanity of all people.  Practical and verbal assertions of the common humanity of all people are vital alternatives to the language and practice of judgement, which results in stigma and condemnation.  The will of God for the human race is love and reconciliation, not condemnation.

 

An alternative to condemnation

 

The third line provides an illustration where the option of judgement and further law-making is not taken. It outlines a cause and effect scenario.  Drinking wine leads to debauchery (a theme of the song of saints).  The response to the scenario is to be filled with the spirit.  This is a contrast to the options of judgment, stricter prohibitions, restating moral obligations and law-making.  The call to be filled with the spirit is similar to the guideline of the previous lyric ‘try to understand what is the will of the Lord’ because it calls the believers to deepen their connectedness with their creator.

 

An alternative to judgmentalism

 

The fourth line offers a way of speaking and communicating as the people of God, with ambitions of purity, whilst struggling to live in loving relationship with the world around us, where we grew up and where we now live.  It urges a lyrical, rather than a legalistic and judgmental language.  Thanksgiving and lyrical language can accommodate simultaneously the ambitions of purity, and the sensitivities of human relationships in diverse cultures and societies.  The language we are urged to use is a language that communicates with both people and with God. 

 

 

Live in love as Christ loved us

 

The interpretation of this passage needs to be done with reference to the love of Christ.  How did Christ hand himself over for us?  I would like to make the following observations about Christ’s own words, behaviour and belief.

 

Christ’s words

 

Consistency with the teaching of Christ can be assessed by reading Ephesians 5 with reference to  Matthew Chapters 5 to 7.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus picked up themes common to the themes of Ephesians 5:1-20.  He spoke of sexual immorality, impurity and greed.  His introductory remarks about salt and light address the issues of separation and presence in the world.  He addressed the fear that people who heard his teaching understood him to be abolishing the law.

 

Christ’s behaviour

 

A favourite passage for reference to Jesus and sexual immorality is John 8:1-11.  In it, Christ exposed everybody, but only said ‘sin no more’ to one of them.  Jesus’ exposure of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees resulted in the saving of the woman’s life, in stark contrast to the way they had chosen to expose the woman.  Their exposure threatened to end her life violently and prematurely.  Jesus did not say ‘sin no more’ to the woman in public.  Instead, having saved her life, he did it in the security of a private conversation, away from her life-threatening accusers.  He said it only after exposing all who would put her life at risk.  Their exposure was brief and they quickly broke their association with Christ.  The woman, however, stayed long enough for the story of her relationship with Christ to become light to us.

 

Christ’s belief

 

Light produces righteousness (Eph 5:9).  Jesus’ belief about righteousness permeates much of what we know of how he physically ‘handed himself over’.  Jesus’ own righteousness was not dependent upon his being law abiding.  He was accused of many forms of law-breaking.  He was suspected of advocating the abolition of the law.  He was publically executed among criminals.  In Romans 3:21-26, the apostle Paul draws attention to the link between Jesus and righteousness.    Romans 3:21 announces a ‘righteousness of God apart from the law’.  The explanation of this statement (vs22-26) may be another example of lyrical writing, as it opens with reference to Jesus, comes to its climax in reference to Jesus and closes with reference to Jesus.  The phrase, ‘righteousness apart from the law’ heralds a climax of the Apostle Paul’s commentary on the inadequacy of human righteousness according to the law as a measure of religious identity, relative human goodness, and salvation (Rom 2:1 – 3:20). 

 

Conclusion

 

Ephesians 5:1-20 is concerned that the believers live in a manner that is ‘fitting for holy ones’.  The holy names of God and Jesus are put forward as our role models.  It raises the issues of purity and distinctiveness, as well as presence in the world as it is.  This is consistent with the opening call to imitate God and live as Christ – both holy and present.  Reading Ephesians 5:1-20 as a piece of lyrical writing enables readers and listeners to respond to both the elements of holiness and presence.  

 

If reading Ephesians 5:1-20 as a series of poems, or as stanzas in a single poem, is a faithful reading of the text, then there is much more work to be done that I have done here.  I have noted that the refrain of Christ’s love occurs in both Eph 5:2 and in Eph 5:25.  I have also observed that Eph 5:1-20 and Eph 5:21-33 have similar structures.  This suggests that the interpretation of the passage about husbands and wives could be linked to the interpretation of Eph 5:1-20.  In addition to this, the interpretation of Eph 5:1-20 may be further enhanced by insights gained by reading Eph 5:21-33 as part of the same poem.

 

I am particularly curious about two implications of reading the entirety of Ephesians 5 as an integrated poem.  Firstly, the movements from certainty and separation to new discovery and association of Ephesians 1-20 are made possible through the lyrical structure.  I wonder what movements might emerge when considering the literary structure of the stanzas about men and women.  Secondly, I am curious to see if the unity of husband and wife sheds any insights on the unification of humanity, which was portrayed as currently divided, yet changing, in the song of light.

 

I hope that the above reading of Ephesians 5 supports loving and Christ-like practices of separation and engagement, judgment and grace, law and lyric, male and female, Creator and creation.