Ephesians 5:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He exhorts in this way, not because he wants us to be crafty and clever, but his words mean the following. The time is not yours. Now you are sojourners, pilgrims, foreigners, and strangers.

Do not seek honors. Do not seek glory. Do not seek power. Do not be vengeful. Endure everything, and by this redeem the time. Pay much, even everything, whatever anyone may want from you.

This was said obscurely. I will try to clarify it by an example. Let us suppose that someone has a splendid house. Then some people come to destroy it, and he gives them much and thereby saves himself.

Then we say that he has redeemed himself. In the same way, you too have a great house and the true faith. Men come to take everything.

Redeeming the time. He is not teaching us craftiness. Rather, he says: since the time is not yours, and you are sojourners, pilgrims, and strangers, do not seek honor, glory, or vengeance.

Endure everything, and by this redeem the time. Give up everything that may be demanded of you. A rich man, seeing men attack him in order to take his life, gives up everything and saves himself.

So also you must give up everything in order to save the chief thing, that is, the faith. "Because the days are evil."

He does not blame the essence of the days. The essence of a day is, of course, light and hours, and what evil is in them? Rather, he seems to blame the days because of what happens in them.

He who is wise, and therefore walks circumspectly, values time. He values, or buys, it because the days are evil.

When we spend time in doing a good work, we buy it and make our own what had been sold through human wickedness. But no one who seeks the necessities of this life, and thinks about riches and cares, which in the Gospel are called thorns (Mk 4:7; Lk 8:7), can buy time back for himself.

Yet by redeeming the time that appears in evil days, we in a certain way change it. We turn evil days into good days, and make them days not of the present age, but of the age to come.

This passage may also be explained otherwise. O Ephesians, the Sun of righteousness, Christ, has risen upon you, who have awakened from the sleep of this age.

By "evil days" he does not mean time itself, for what evil could time have? Rather, he means the malice which people dare to commit in these days. Therefore he also said, "redeeming the time." That is, it is not yours, because you are sojourners and strangers. Therefore endure the afflictions that meet you bravely, and use the present time as you ought.

The soul that desires to meditate on the law of God day and night receives no benefit in this regard so great as from searching the Divine Scriptures. Within these Scriptures the thoughts of the grace of the Holy Spirit are hidden.

When these thoughts are understood, they produce in the soul a certain great sweetness. This sweetness raises it above everything earthly and worldly and lifts it to the heavens. It disposes the soul to think only of divine things, to desire only them, and to live an angelic life in this world.

Let us see, then, what the Apostle Paul proclaims to us in his epistles. Let us examine precisely some of his God-inspired words, so that we may be enriched by the treasures hidden within them. By the grace of the Holy Spirit, let us spiritually gladden our souls.

What apostolic words do we intend to examine in the present discourse? Those in which Saint Paul instructs us, saying: "See then that you walk circumspectly, redeeming the time, because the days are evil."

If we wish to understand these words as we ought, we must consider them in view of the things we see in this world. This will help us understand them precisely.

We see that a merchant, a farmer, and an artisan have great zeal and diligence for their work. If any of them neglects his work even for a short time, he suffers great harm.

The same is true in spiritual works and struggles. To understand this better, let us examine the proposed example in greater detail.

Suppose that all the merchants are hurrying to some market, in order to sell one thing and buy another, and thereby gain profit. One of them sees some running ahead of him with great haste, while others catch up from behind and pass him.

Yet he barely moves his feet, or he sits before his house and yawns at the merchants hastening to market. He does not think at all about trade. Or, worse still, he gives himself to amusements and drinking, putting off trade from day to day.

Now I ask you, tell me: did not those who arrived at the market in good time, traded there, and returned with no small profit redeem their time? And did not this man, who spent his time on trifles, or rather sold it for useless deeds, destroy his time in vain?

Suppose, if you wish, that he too went with the others to the market. Yet when they, having money with them, immediately began their transactions and gathered the goods each needed, in full hope of gaining great profit from selling them, he had no money with him.

Only there did he begin to turn now to one man, now to another, in order to borrow money and buy goods for himself. But while he was busy trying to borrow money, the market ended, and he was left with nothing. Did he not destroy his time in vain, even in this case?

Let him also have taken money with him. Yet having come to the market, instead of attending to business, he began wandering through coffeehouses, taverns, and booths, drinking here, eating there, and amusing himself elsewhere.

He wickedly wasted his money on drinking bouts and shameful deeds. Did he not also destroy his time in vain here, foolishly squandering his money as well?

Suppose he did none of the contrary things we have described. Yet if, having come to the market with the other merchants, he pushed his way all through the market from end to end, but began no business at all, merely staring and joking with acquaintances and strangers, what then?

Meanwhile the others diligently completed their business and paid no attention to anything extraneous. When the market ended, all went home. Those who had labored so diligently in their affairs had gained no small profit by selling, and hoped to gain even more from their purchases.

Did they not redeem their time? And did he, who occupied himself with extraneous things and did not care about trade, not destroy his time, even though he was there with those merchants?

Again, suppose other merchants look to the profit they expect from trade. They do not regard the distance of the market, the difficulties of the journey, the dangers from robbers, or anything similar. In hope of profit, they hasten to the market with all speed.

But this man fears all these things and does not set out. Even when the others try to persuade him to travel with them and promise to protect him from all the dangers that frighten him, he does not agree.

Did those who went to the market, traded there, and gained good profit not redeem the time? And did he, who feared fear where there was no fear, not destroy it?

Something like what we have said in this example also happens in the spiritual life. When our other Christian brethren fulfill God's commandments with all diligence and advance in the virtues with all zeal and fervor, we sometimes spend our life in negligence and idleness.

We do not care about such fulfillment of the commandments or such progress in the virtues. It is clear to all that in such a case they redeem their time and gain great benefit and profit for their souls. We destroy our time, and together with it our souls.

If it seems good to you, let us examine the meaning of the apostolic saying still more carefully. Let us learn how time is redeemed, what this time is, and what the evil days are because of which we must redeem the time.

For every man, the time of buying is the time of the present life. The days of the present life are plainly evil days for those who do not use them as they ought.

Every man who lives in the present life with chastity, righteousness, piety, and courage, and who bears with generous patience all the hardships and sorrows of temptations and afflictions caused by visible and invisible enemies, wisely redeems the time.

Such a man successfully conducts his trade despite the evil days of the present life. To make this clearer for you, I will take proof from what happens daily in the present life.

He who knows how to trade well with the present life, when he encounters sorrows, reproaches, dishonors, and mockeries, knows what benefit they can bring. Foreseeing great profit from them, he immediately seizes them.

He lays them on his shoulders and runs with them rejoicing. Thus, instead of silver, by patience alone he instantly redeems the time. Many do not succeed in this, though they fast, spend nights without sleep, sleep on the bare ground, and undertake other struggles and labors for many years.

I tell you that whoever does not know how to conduct this trade destroys the time of his salvation. If you wish, let us explain the matter by another example.

Two men are forcibly compelled by some tyrant to transgress God's commandment. One fears the torments and tortures with which the tyrant threatens him, and he flees and hides. The other courageously withstands the temptation.

He endures every punishment and torment, or even death itself, for God's commandment. Which of these two redeems the time? The one who hides after fleeing sufferings, or the one who obediently gives himself over to sufferings and courageously endures them, or even dies for God's commandment?

Clearly, the one who endures sufferings and does not flee even from death redeems the time. The other loses, together with the time, what would have been useful for the salvation of his soul.

Therefore those who endure sorrows and temptations in the present life for a God-pleasing purpose buy for themselves eternal good things and endless rejoicing. Through bodily death they buy for themselves eternal and immortal life with the immortal and eternal God.

When a merchant finds many precious objects being sold for a trivial price, he quickly and joyfully gives that price, so that he may gain such treasures as soon as possible.

So too the struggler for God's commandment willingly and joyfully resolves on death. He believes without doubt that by this death, which is nothing in comparison with them, he buys eternal good things for himself.

But lovers of life, lovers of glory, lovers of the flesh, lovers of pleasure, and lovers of riches do not act so. When they are oppressed by some ruler who forces them to transgress God's commandment, they cannot bear his anger and hostility.

They cannot bear the dishonor and loss with which he threatens them. Senselessly selling what is eternal and precious, they buy what is temporal, corruptible, and worth nothing. They lose their salvation, that is, eternal life.

Such people do not conduct trade as they ought during the present life. They prefer to buy themselves consolation for the short time they must live here, so that in return they may be tormented through boundless and endless ages.

So that we may not suffer the same, let us, I beg you, redeem the time while the market of the present life still stands. The days of this life are exceedingly evil. Every day they raise countless waves of the salt sea of sin.

These waves fall upon us. Through the sensuality of the body, they fill our souls with shameful movements. Through visible and invisible enemies, they cast us into sorrow or anger. By both means they attempt to remove us entirely from the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, redeeming the time of our life, let us give ourselves wholly, with all readiness and zeal, to the one work of God's commandments and to the one acquisition of every virtue.

Then we may be counted worthy to be filled with the treasures of the grace of the Holy Spirit. We may enter safely into the calm harbor of God and into His kingdom.

In this way we shall escape the wickedness of these days. After they pass, we shall not hear that fearful voice sending sinners into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Let us redeem the reason of our soul, teaching it to despise visible and temporary goods and to plunge deeply into meditation on spiritual and eternal goods.

Let us flee carnal-mindedness in every way, because it is displeasing to God. While it is present, it is impossible to break away from the enjoyment of temporary things and to lift the mind to heavenly and eternal things.

Carnal-mindedness does not allow the one enslaved to it to live according to God. It drags his soul toward the irrational impulses of the flesh and makes the whole man like an irrational animal.

Let us redeem the righteousness that makes us God's own, with all reverence and discernment. Let us distinguish the righteous from the unrighteous, prefer virtue to vice, and give no place to the evil devil, who prepares destruction for our soul.

Let us give everything its due. Let us give the body enough food to remain alive, and sufficient clothing. Let us give the soul all our strength and all our zeal.

Let us nourish and cleanse it by meditation on divine things, by prayer and tears, and by reading the Divine Scriptures. In this way let us make it worthy to receive the divine light of the Sun of righteousness, God.

He will justify us by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Through union with Himself He will make us righteous, worthy to enjoy the ineffable good things of His kingdom.

Let us redeem the courage of our souls through generous endurance of every temptation, according to the word of the Lord, who says: "By your patience possess your souls" (Lk 21:19).

With a courageous thought let us withstand sin and strike our enemy with the weapons of the Holy Spirit.

Let us suffer hardship as good soldiers of Christ, in fasts, vigils, sleeping on the ground, lamentation, sackcloth and ashes, repentance, and unceasing cries to God. Then we shall receive the crown of victory and reign with Christ unto the ages of ages.

Let us redeem the chastity of our body by every form of self-control and humility. For the contestant who struggles lawfully in the arena of piety exercises self-control in all things, as the divine Apostle says (2 Tim 2:5; 1 Cor 9:25).

If we succeed in acquiring chastity, we shall escape the evil day of irrational desire. This is truly the most evil enemy of the activity of the Holy Spirit.

We shall escape the defilement of the soul caused by such passionate movements. We shall escape condemnation of conscience, impurity of heart, human contempt and condemnation, and the very rejection and wrath of God.

Time is the measure by which we measure the duration of things. It is neither sold, nor bought, nor redeemed. Likewise, days, being part of time, are neither evil nor not evil.

It is clear, then, that the Apostle of God used these words figuratively. What does it mean: "redeeming the time, because the days are evil"?

He wrote the same thing to the Colossians, saying, "Walk in wisdom toward those outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one."

"Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." The patriarch Jacob complained that the days of his life were few and evil (Gen 47:9). The Apostle likewise advises us to keep in mind the brevity of life and the danger from impending persecutions, or better, from the temptations of the devil. He tells us to redeem the time, to value it, and to use the opportune moment for the correction of our life.

There is a need to use the present precious time prudently (Eph 5:15-20), for it flows away imperceptibly, since the days are evil. For this reason one must enter deeply into the knowledge of "what the will of God is."

One must not become drunk with wine, from which comes dissipation, but rather be filled with the Spirit, edifying oneself with psalms and doxologies, giving thanks for all things to God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another in the fear of God.

Here one hears the apostolic indication of the revelry of pagan orgies. The Orthodox Church appoints the reading of this passage from Ephesians at thanksgiving services for the granting of a petition.

The Apostle ascribes circumspection and prudence with a view also to the relation of Christians to pagans, and of paganism to Christians. Here also lies, in the nearest sense, the evil of the days.

Here too lies the need to ponder what, amid all changeability, constitutes the work of God's providence and His decrees.

According to blessed Jerome, the Apostle Paul speaks here as though saying: "O Ephesians, upon whom, after awakening from the sleep of this age, the Sun of righteousness, Christ the Lord, has shone! Walk carefully and wisely, not yielding to the changeability of time.

Let persecution follow upon persecution. Keep one course and care for one thing: not to change like the moon, as the unwise do, but to stand unwaveringly in what has once been begun.

Having thus compared the life of the children of light and the children of darkness, the Apostle persuades the former to caution in dealing with the latter. Christian wisdom must teach them this caution. This wisdom must also teach Christians that they should make use of the time of the present life. They must buy up time for Christian purposes, because without the lessons of this wisdom it is difficult to purchase time held in the hands of the evil spirit.

He shows the way to fulfill the preceding commandment, and how to walk wisely and carefully. You will succeed in this, he says, by redeeming the time.

But what does it mean to redeem the time? It means not to waste it, but to strive in every way to make of it something that can further the goals of our life.

Blessed Theodoret says, "Redeem the time by using it as you ought." Blessed Jerome writes, "When we spend time on a good deed, then we redeem it."

The goal of time is in eternity. The present life is given for preparation for blessed life in the future. Whoever directs everything to this goal, not allowing even small intervals of his time to pass in empty occupations, redeems all his time.