Ephesians 5:12Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Listen, I exhort all who do not wish to be angry in vain. He steals, and you do not rebuke him? Are you afraid of anger?

Even if the indignation is not vain, even if you rebuke justly, are you still afraid of anger?

Rebuke your brother. Show enmity, out of love for Christ and out of love for him himself. Stop him if he is going toward the abyss.

Sharing a table, pleasant words, friendliness, and tenderness are a small matter of love. Let us give friends such gifts as would deliver their soul from the wrath of God.

Let us raise them up when we see them cast into the furnace of impiety.

But, you say, he does not correct himself. Do your part, and you will be right before God.

Do not hide the talent. For this you have reason, for this a tongue and lips, that you may correct your neighbor.

Only irrational creatures do not care for their neighbor and have no thought of others.

But you call God Father and your neighbor brother. Then, seeing him commit many evils, do you prefer his liking for you to his benefit?

May this not be so, I beseech you. There is no greater proof of love than not despising erring brethren.

Have you seen people at enmity? Reconcile them. Have you seen people acquiring property by deceit? Prevent them. Have you seen people being wronged? Defend them.

By this you will show love first to yourself, not to them. We are friends precisely in order to benefit one another.

A friend listens to a friend differently than to some stranger. Perhaps he will not even trust a stranger, nor a teacher, but he will not act so toward a friend.

"For it is shameful even to speak of what they do in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light."

What does he wish to say by this? He says this because some sins are committed here secretly, and others openly.

There it will not be so, because there is no one who will not be conscious of sin in himself.

Therefore he says: "But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light."

What then? Is he not speaking here also of idolatry, you will say? No. Here the discussion is about life and sins.

Everything that is made manifest, he says, is light. Therefore, I beseech you, neither refuse to rebuke others nor be annoyed when you are rebuked.

As long as something is done in darkness, it is done with greater boldness. But as soon as it has many witnesses to what is happening, then it is illuminated.

Therefore let us do everything above all to remove deadness from our brethren, to scatter the darkness, and to bring near the Sun of righteousness.

If there are many lamps, the path of virtue will be easier for us. Those who are in darkness will also be better reproved, since light, as it spreads, drives away darkness.

But if we do not act thus, there is reason to fear that the lamps will be extinguished by the dark and sinful gloom that prevails over the light and drives away its radiance.

Therefore let us care for others as for ourselves, so that by all our deeds we may send up glory to the God who loves mankind.

Through the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, belong glory, dominion, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The one is done in the impurity of the flesh. The other is hardly perceived by a pure mind.

Therefore “be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Eph 4:23), and understand “what is the will of God, good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom 12:2).

Thus, being rooted in love, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph 3:18-19).

For in this way the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth, pouring love more and more into your hearts.

But it is not enough for the salvation of the soul merely not to share in the sins of others. For when I am not a companion of sin, I only turn away from evil. It is also necessary that I do good.

Therefore he said: “But rather reprove them.” The reproof of sin is the performance of a good work. But how, you will say, can a common man reprove the sin of a dignitary or ruler?

There are many and various forms of reproof. Often we reprove by praise. Even a single expression of aversion to sin is a reproof to the sinner.

Why must we not only withdraw from participation in sins, but also reprove them? Because sins are so harmful and destructive, even those done secretly by sinners, that their very names are shameful and fill the mouth with shame.

For this reason the Apostle of God commanded that they not even be named (Eph 5:3). Here is another very strong proof that we must reprove sin.

Saint John Chrysostom says: “Light reveals everything that happens in darkness. As when a lamp is standing there, all are illuminated, so when the light shines from you, the impious who are reproved will be struck.

As a wound, when covered, receives no treatment, so sin, while it is hidden as if in darkness, continues to act very boldly and freely. But as soon as it is revealed, it becomes light, not the sin itself, but the one who committed it.

For if he is brought into the midst of the assembly, if he is admonished, if he repents, if he receives forgiveness, have you not dispersed his darkness? Have you not then healed his wound?”

“When the ray of grace, through the anointed word of Christians, reaches the spirit, then the sinner hears within himself: arise, you who sleep. He believes, is reconciled to God, and is enlightened by Christ” (Right Reverend Theophan).

The Apostle says: strive to expose the indecency and destructiveness of this life. But there is no need to defile the tongue by speaking of those shameful things that are done secretly.

Their reproof already exists, and it will become still stronger when the reproof of the first works produces its effect.

Or it may be understood this way. The unfruitful works of those who live in vanity and fearlessness are not always, in appearance, too blameworthy. This can bind the reprover’s tongue out of condescension, as people say, to human weaknesses.

The Apostle says: do not look at this seemingly tolerable exterior. Behind it are hidden such deeds that it is shameful even to speak of them. Therefore reprove them unsparingly.

But if one understands reproof by deeds and by life, then it becomes more directly clear why Saint Paul said this. Reprove them by the light of your life.

For if you begin to reprove them by word, you will defile your tongue, since their deeds are extremely shameful.

Saint John of Damascus writes: “It is not the same thing, he says, to reprove by word and by deeds. It is shameful even to speak by word of what they do. They themselves hide it out of shame.

But if we are light and are able to reveal the darkness of their deeds by the contrast of a luminous life, then such reproof will be the best.” Photius expressed the same thought, as we have seen.