Moody Bible Institute

Final Interpretive Project

Ephesians 5:15-21

Jessica Comstock

CPO 1115

Hermeneutics BI 2280 - 05

Dr. Bobby Moss

11 December 2018
 Sentence Flow of Ephesians 5:15-21

Therefore be careful
how you walk,
not as unwise men
but as wise,
making the most
of your time,
because the days are evil.
So then do not be foolish,
but understand
what the will of the Lord is.
And do not get drunk
with wine, 
for that is dissipation,
but be filled
with the Spirit,
speaking
to one another
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, 
singing and making melody
with your heart
to the Lord;
always giving thanks
for all things
in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ
to God,
even the Father;
and be subject
to one another
in the fear
of Christ. 1

1
New American Standard Bible, (BibleGateway: The Lockman Foundation, 1995). All Scripture references are taken
from the NASB.
 Context of Ephesians

Historical and Cultural Context of Ephesus

Located on the east coast of the Mediterranean and at the intersection of two
important trade routes, first century Ephesus enjoyed much influence as a wealthy
Roman port city.2 In addition to its ideal location for trade, the famed temple of Artemis,
one of the seven wonders of the world, 3 poured money into Ephesians’ pockets by
attracting multitudes of pilgrims and their business. The International Standard Bible
Encyclopedia estimated the population of Ephesus to have been over 250,000 during
the early Christian period.4
Not only was Ephesus a center for trade, but also for worship of the goddess
Artemis (or for the Romans, Diana). The temple of Artemis was understood as the most
sacred temple in the eastern Mediterranean region. 5 Bearing many breasts, Artemis
symbolized fertility and wealth,6 which could have contributed to the atmosphere of
licentious drunkenness so conventional in Ephesian society. 7 Religious syncretism,
especially in the form of mystery religions, also marked the religious scene of Ephesus.
Their magical rites espoused a universal, far-removed god, which attracted people who
wanted to “ascend to the upper realms of the cosmos” in order to escape the demon-
filled physical world.8 Clearly, the trappings of wealth, selfish indulgence, and religious
syncretism surrounded Ephesian Christians and vied for their love; it is into this
confusing, sin-filled battle that Paul must speak.

Purpose of the Letter

Although Paul threaded numerous themes and exhortations throughout his letter
to the Ephesians, I think that the main thrust of Paul’s letter was to build up the body of
Christ and teach them to work toward the same goal, unifying each member to Christ
and to one another and encouraging and exhorting them into becoming like Christ.
Ephesians was written to believers who already adhered to Christian orthodoxy (4:20),
but needed growth, especially needing reminders of who they were in Christ and how to
physically live that out.9
Many commentators highlight Paul’s major theme of Christ’s transformational
work in the lives of believers, arguing that the main purpose of Ephesians was to
establish their identity as the redeemed of Christ and to exhort them to live
accordingly.10 Others cite the all-pervasive references to the unity of the body, Jew-
Gentile unity, household relations, and believers’ relationships to God to argue that the

2
Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1982) 1115.
3
Ibid., 1117.
4
Ibid., 1115.
5
Ibid., 1116.
6
Ibid., 1117.
7
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press,
2014) 550.
8
Andrew T. Lincoln, Ephesians, Word Biblical Commentary: V. 42 (Dallas: Word Books, 1990) lxxxiv.
9
Ibid., lxxvi-lxxvii.
10
Ibid., lxxxxvi; and Klyne Snodgrass, Ephesians, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996)
23; and Frank Thielman, Ephesians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker
Academic, 2010) 28.
purpose of Ephesians was to unify the body of Christ. 11 I would argue that both of these
two major themes – of encouraging believers in their redeemed identity to live according
to their new life in Christ and of uniting the body of Christ – both serve a higher goal.
Paul wants the body to “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,…so
that it builds itself up in love.” (4:12-16). In other words, by encouraging, identifying,
exhorting, and unifying the body, Paul builds up the body to conform to the likeness, or
“fullness,” of Christ, and he teaches them to build themselves up (4:23-24). Teaching
them of the love and work of Christ in chapters 1-3 fills them “with all the fullness of
God.” (3:19; cf. 4:13). Exhorting them to be unified (through their shared faith explained
in 1-3 and through relating rightly to one another as explained in 4-6 (4:13, 15)) will build
them up “to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
(4:13). Each major theme in Ephesians – encouragement, identity, and right living –
serves to build up the body of Christ into his image (cf. 5:1-2) and teaches the body to
build themselves up.

Literary Context of 5:15-21

Most scholars note the division of Ephesians into two halves: “Chapters 1-3
expound the redeeming and reconciling accomplishments of Christ as well as believers’
resulting “privileges and status,” while chapters 4-6 “appeal [to believers] to live in the
Church and in the world in the light of these realities and not simply to become merged
into the ethos of the surrounding culture….” 12 In other words, “If chapters 1-3 are a
reminder of the readers’ calling…, then chapters 4-6 are an exhortation to live in a
manner appropriate to that distinctive calling….” 13
Broadly speaking, Ephesians 5:15-21 falls into the paraenesis of chapters 4-6.
More specifically, the “Therefore” in verse 15 refers back to 4:17-24; 5:1-2; and 5:8-14.
These verses explain that believers have been given a new life in Christ and should be
walking in that light, imitating God; furthermore, what is done in the dark will be exposed
in the light. Therefore, because believers have a new life in the light, because they
should be imitating God, and because everything will be brought to light, believers
should be careful to live wisely. Ultimately, this means being filled with the Spirit, but
also includes making the most of time, understanding God’s will, being sober, singing to
one another and to God, thanking God always and for everything, and submitting to
each other out of respect and honor for Christ. The idea of walking in the new life of
Christ by submitting to each other flows into Paul’s proceeding section of the household
codes, which further admonish believers on how to live in the likeness of Christ.

11
F. F. Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, The New International Commentary
on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1984) 239; Snodgrass, Ephesians, 19; and Lincoln,
Ephesians, lxxv.
12
Lincoln, Ephesians, xxxvi.
13
Ibid.
 Comments

15 “Therefore be careful how you walk,”. As previously noted, this “Therefore”

argues that because believers have a new life in the light, and because every hidden
deed will be brought to light, believers should be careful to live wisely. It is also
important to note that the imperative in verse 15 is not “walk”, but rather “be careful.”
From this distinction, one sees that Paul’s command is not simply to walk wisely, but to
be careful to walk wisely. According to Thayer’s definition, being “careful” means to be
accurate, precise, and diligent;14 By placing “be careful” as the imperative rather than
“walk,” Paul emphasizes that our wise walking must be intentional and detailed. Paul’s
use of the word “walk” does not mean literally walking, but rather is a figure of speech
that means “live”.15 This passage will be examining how a Christian, who has a new life
and is imitating God, should live.
“not as unwise men but as wise,”. This phrase is the first of Paul’s four
admonitions in vv. 15-21 that describe how to walk in the likeness of Christ. Of the three
mentions of “wisdom” in Ephesians thus far, Paul twice spoke of “the wisdom of God”
and once prayed for God to give the Ephesians “the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation.”16
Therefore, when Paul begins to exhort believers to be accurate and intentional in living wisely,
the reader should already understand that such wisdom belongs to and comes from God. Paul’s
contrast between wisdom and foolishness has its roots in the Old Testament, especially in
Proverbs.17 Although the Gentile perception of wisdom was less closely tied to morals than the
Jewish perception,18 Christian Gentiles would have also been reading the Old Testament and
learned how intimately the Law and wisdom were related. As opposed to merely knowing facts,
to be wise in the Old Testament meant to live “skillfully,”19 according to God’s will as revealed
in the Law. Wisdom in the Old Testament stressed avoiding evil, being industrious, and having
self-control (from improper speech, anger, pride, drinking, or sexual activity).20 In Paul’s writing,
to be wise means to live according to the will of God as revealed in Old Testament, in Jesus’
teachings, and in the Spirit’s teachings through the apostles.21 If a Christian was seeking God’s
wisdom in how to handle a specific situation, Paul taught them to rely on love (1 Cor. 3:18; Phil.
1:9-10), intellect (Rom. 15:14), conscience (Rom. 2:15), admonition (Col. 1:28; 3:16), and the
Spirit (Col. 1:9-10) as guides.22

16 “making the most of your time,”. This verse is the second of Paul’s four
admonitions in vv. 15-21 that describe how to walk in the likeness of Christ. Scholars
have disagreed on the exact meaning of this phrase, which literally translates to “buy
time” or to “redeem time.”23 One view cites the same phrase in Daniel 2:8, where
Nebuchadnezzar accused his dream interpreters of buying time when they could not
14
“Strong's Interlinear Bible Search: Ephesians 5:15”  (StudyLight.org, 2001); and Snodgrass, Ephesians, 288.
15
“Strong's Interlinear Bible Search: Ephesians 5:15”.
16
Eph. 1:8, 17; 3:10.
17
Lincoln, Ephesians, 341.
18
Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 550.
19
Lincoln, Ephesians, 341.
20
Leland Ryken, et al., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1998) 967.
21
Ibid., 972.
22
Ibid., 972-973.
23
Lincoln, Ephesians, 341-342.
immediately tell him his dream, to argue that the phrase also means buying time in
Ephesians 5:16. This translation would then conclude that because the Ephesians lived
“in the last days, which are both evil and short, believers should attempt to gain time in
order to be able to continue to do what is good and right and true (cf. v 9).” 24 The more
common view of this phrase incorporates the word’s association with redemption, as
used in Gal. 3:13; 4:5, and in commerce. 25 Redemption has the sense of buying
something “away” from something else, such as buying a person out of slavery or Christ
buying us out of punishment for our sin. 26 In Eph. 5:16, Christians would be buying time
back from evil, which currently describes the days. By capitalizing on every possible
opportunity that their time gave, the Ephesians could redeem time from evil by doing
God’s will with it instead of evil. Because one cannot simply buy more time from God
(like the magicians could buy time from Nebuchadnezzar), and because one can take
time away from evil activities and use it for doing God’s will, I would agree with the
redemption view of this phrase, which taught the Ephesians to use every opportunity
that their time gave to do God’s will.
“because the days are evil.” In Judaism and early Christianity, evil was correlated
with the last days; by describing their day as evil, Paul added an eschatological urgency
to his preceding command to make the most of time. 27 With the plural “days” instead of
“day,” Paul underlines the need for Christians to continually make the most of every
opportunity every day.28 Surrounded by a dark, pagan culture, the Ephesians needed to
actively seek out and obey God’s will if they were to walk in the light, in Christ’s
likeness.

17 “So then do not be foolish,”. This verse is the third of Paul’s four admonitions in
vv. 15-21 that describe how to walk in the likeness of Christ. “So then” refers to “the
days are evil,” 29 which means that both of Paul’s surrounding exhortations – to make
the most of time and to not be foolish but understand God’s will – are because the days
are evil. In a time when it would be incredibly easy, even normal and accepted in
Ephesus, to worship multiple gods, foolishly give in to sin, and spend one’s time in all
sorts of selfish pursuits, Paul challenges the Ephesians to do the opposite: to spend
one’s time doing God’s will, to be wise. In fact, making the most of time by doing God’s
will with it is God’s will, which is not foolish. As this passage develops, Paul equates
understanding God’s will to wisdom more and more, just as Proverbs and the rest of the
Old Testament does.
“but understand what the will of the Lord is.” In the Greek world, “will” (θέλημα)
meant someone’s desire or wish.30 In the Septuagint, “will” (θέλημα) could also mean
someone’s desire or wish when referring to a human’s will, but the word carried a moral
connotation, which was especially strong when used of God’s will, which usually

24
Ibid.
25
Ibid.
26
Thielman, Ephesians, 356.
27
Lincoln, Ephesians, 342.
28
Thielman, Ephesians, 357.
29
Ibid.
30
Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964) 52.
referred to his “rule in creation,” his “delight,” or his “direction.” 31 In the New Testament,
His will is almost always in reference to either “His will to save” or to “the new life of
believers,” and was only used once to refer to God’s will as a Creator. 32 Paul defines the
will of God as “what is good and acceptable and perfect” in Rom. 12:2. The same
definition can be seen in Eph. 5:8-11, where Paul connects walking in the likeness of
God to knowing what delights God: “walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light
consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to
the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness….” Between these
definitions and the previous discussion of how Paul and the Old Testament equate
wisdom to being righteous and doing God’s will, one can see that God’s “will” (θέλημα)
in 5:17 is whatever pleases God, which is to be righteous, and not wicked.
To “understand” what is righteous and not wicked, the Ephesians could have
simply looked to Old Testament wisdom literature, Jesus’ teachings, and the Holy
Spirit’s teachings through the apostles. Even by reading their own letter, the Ephesians
would know that making the most of time, being self-controlled, becoming unified, loving
Christ and others, and every other exhortation in Paul’s letter described what would
please God. Ultimately, imitating God, being built up into his likeness, is the message of
Paul’s letter, which communicated God’s will for the Ephesians to follow. Not only can
the Ephesians understand God’s will, but Paul’s use of this cognitive word -
“understand”- highlights that doing “his will is not a matter of irrational impulse but of
intelligent reflection and action.”33

18 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation,” This verse is the fourth of
Paul’s four admonitions in vv. 15-21 that describe how to walk in the likeness of Christ,
with the main thrust being “be filled with the Spirit.” “And” is part of a series where both
v.17 and v. 18 are subordinate to “the days are evil” and to “be careful how you walk.”
This means that staying sober and being filled with the Spirit was part of being careful
and vigilant in walking in the will and likeness of God; if they were to become drunk,
unalert, and easily taken advantage of, the evilness of the days would take advantage
of the time instead of the Christians for God’s will. This would be highly wasteful (which
is one of BDAG’s definitions of “dissipation”34) because the Ephesians would be wasting
time’s opportunities by not being alert enough to do God’s will.
Many commentators hold that v. 18 is an indirect citation of Proverbs 23:29-35
through its mention in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, where drunkenness and
debauchery are closely tied.35 In any case, the Old Testament paints a repulsive and
pathetic image of the drunkard: he is wicked with poor judgement (Joel 3:3; Is. 5:22-23);
he staggers around tables covered in vomit, confused (Is. 28:7-8); he is forced to drink
the cup of God’s wrath; and he is abused, murdered, and raped by others (Gen. 19:33;
2 Sam. 13:28; 1 Kings 16:9; 2 Sam. 11:13; Hab. 2:15). 36 Drunkenness is “an awesome
picture of human confusion and helplessness brought upon themselves by their God-
31
Ibid., 53.
32
Ibid., 56.
33
Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, 379.
34
William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other
Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 148.
35
Lincoln, Ephesians, 343.
36
Ryken, Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, 220-221.
defying arrogance,”37 a symbol of “the height of folly, the loss of direction, and the waste
of a life without God.”38
Likewise, in the New Testament, darkness is associated with drunkenness and
sobriety with lightness (cf. 1 Thess. 5:6-8 and Rom. 13), an association that continues
developing the contrasts in Ephesians between light and dark, wise and unwise, and
drunk and filled with the Spirit.39 In Ephesus, drunkenness was correlated with vulgarity,
sexual misconduct, and intelligibility,40 but it was mostly understood as a loss of self-
control.41 Nevertheless, it was “standard practice in both the late-night banquets of the
rich and the taverns of the poor.”42 Drunkenness was also associated with the Dionysian
cult, which was notorious for its drunken orgies, but there is no clear evidence that
Ephesian church members were previously involved in or struggling with these
activities.43 From drunkards’ wickedness and condemnation in the Old Testament to
their wastefulness of time and licentiousness in Ephesus, it is no small wonder that Paul
declares drunkenness to be ἀσωτία. BDAG defines “dissipation” (ἀσωτία) as
“wastefulness,” “debauchery,” and “profligacy,” especially in “convivial gatherings,” 44 a
description well-suited to the drunkenness with which Ephesian Christians would have
been familiar.
“but be filled with the Spirit,”. As the last of the four admonitions in vv. 15-18 of
how to walk and the beginning of the five participles that depend on “be filled” in vv. 19-
21, the phrase “be filled with the Spirit” forms the center of this passage. The
relationship between the believer and the Spirit, then, is the crux 45 of how one can live
according to their new life in Christ, in his likeness. The conjunction “but” forms a
contrasting parallel between “get drunk” and “be filled” and between “with wine” and
“with the Spirit.” Although Paul is contrasting the darkness of drunkenness with the
lightness of the Spirit, he may have chosen the particular sin of intoxication as his
illustration in order to parallel sin’s control with the Spirit’s control over a believer. In
both 1 Sam. 1:13 and Acts 2:13, people filled with the Spirit were mistaken for people
filled with wine because they did not seem in control of themselves; they had given up
their control to the Spirit, as drunkards yield to alcohol’s demands. Unlike alcohol’s
destructive, dark control, however, the Spirit is pictured as a helpful, 46 light control over
the actions of believers.47 Instead of yielding to alcohol, Paul wants the Ephesians to
yield to the Spirit, which makes the relationship between believers and the Spirit the first
submissive relationship described in chapter five.
In order to be controlled by either wine or the Spirit, however, one must first “be
filled” by it. In this instance, “filled” (πληρουσθε) describes a person who has the
maximum capacity of, or at least much more of, an immaterial thing, which in v. 18 is

37
Ibid.
38
Snodgrass, Ephesians, 289.
39
Lincoln, Ephesians, 343.
40
Thielman, Ephesians, 358.
41
Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 550.
42
Ibid.
43
Lincoln, Ephesians, 343; and Snodgrass, Ephesians, 289.
44
Arndt, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 148.
45
Lincoln, Ephesians, 340.
46
Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, 379.
47
Snodgrass, Ephesians, 289.
the Holy Spirit.48 This raises the question of how a believer can be commanded to have
more of the Spirit when they were already sealed with him at their conversion. 49 The
answer lies in the idea of “fullness,” which in Ephesians has referred to the church being
or becoming the “fullness,” or mature likeness, of God or Christ, as used in 1:23, 3:19,
and 4:13. Therefore, one who is filled with the Spirit is like Christ, and one who is
commanded to be filled with the Spirit is commanded to be like Christ. This has been
the overarching goal of Paul throughout Ephesians: to build up the body into becoming
more like Christ. In order to “be filled with all the fullness of God,” or to become like
God, Paul teaches believers to know Christ’s love,50 to be unified, and to follow the rest
of Paul’s exhortations.51
There has been much debate over whether the preposition should be translated
“in,” “with,” or “by” the Spirit. The Greek preposition, ev, can refer to either the sphere of
where something occurs or the instrument with which or by which something occurs. 52
The translation of “in” would mean that believers should be in the sphere where the
Spirit has been given.53 Supporters argue that 1) the rest of Ephesians describes Christ,
not the Spirit, as the source of filling, 2) Paul often refers to believers being “in Christ,”
and 3) as drunkenness happens in the realm of debauchery, so fullness happens in the
realm of the Spirit.54 However, the first and second arguments contradict: one rests on
the premise that Christ and the Spirit are uninterchangeable, while the other rests on
the premise that Christ and the Spirit are interchangeable. Just because Christ is
described as the source of filling does not exclude the Spirit’s role in doing so; likewise,
just because Paul uses the phrase “in Christ” to describe a sphere in one part of
Ephesians does not mean the preposition translates the same in another part of
Ephesians. The third argument that fullness occurs in the sphere of the Spirit because
drunkenness happens in the realm of debauchery confuses Paul’s analogy. “Spirit” is
parallel with “wine” in v. 18, not “debauchery” in v. 17. In fact, the parallel between the
Spirit and wine argues much more strongly for the translation of “with,” not “in,” because
people are filled with wine, not in wine. Finally, if the phrase were “be filled in the Spirit,”
it would fail to specify with what and by whom a believer should be filled. 55 One could
point out that Paul had already explained that believers should be filled with the fullness
of God in 3:19,56 but in so doing, one immediately admits that Paul taught believers to
be filled with the Spirit!
As indicated by 3:19, Paul’s central exhortation for believers to mature into the
fullness of God necessitates that they be filled with God. It would only follow that Paul
continues his theme and consistent meaning in this central verse. The translation of
“with” would mean that the Spirit is the content, not the place, of filling. Understanding
the Spirit to be the content of the filling is in keeping not only with Paul’s idea of
believers being the fullness of God, but also with the analogy in v. 18. Just as a person
48
See Appendix A. Cf. Col. 1:9.
49
Snodgrass, Ephesians, 289. Cf. Eph. 1:13 and 4:30.
50
Eph. 3:19.
51
Eph. 4:11-13; 1:23; 3:19; and 4:13.
52
Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, 379.
53
Thielman, Ephesians, 360.
54
Ibid.
55
Ibid.
56
Ibid.
is filled with and controlled by wine, so too is a person filled with and controlled by the
Spirit. The only hesitation in translating the ev as “with” is that the preposition is most
often used in the sense of sphere, not instrumentality. 57 Nevertheless, even a word’s
uncommon definition is still used.
Most commentators that support the “with” translation also support the “by”
translation, which states that the
Spirit is the agent, as opposed to the content, that fills a person. Paul uses the Spirit as
an agent of walking in Gal. 5:16, 5:25 and Rom. 8:4. 58 In these verses, there is a
cooperation between the Spirit, who dwells in and leads the believer, and the believer,
who follows; likewise in v. 18, believers “should cooperate with the growth that God
supplies toward the maturity he created them to attain (cf. 2:10, 15). 59 Being filled with
the Spirit would mean that we would become more like God and that the Spirit would fill
us with his “presence and power,”60 but these can only be given by God, even though
the believer must also strive for them. Clearly, the Spirit as the content and the Spirit as
the agent of filling
are intimately tied. Most commentators, 61 like myself, conclude that the Spirit is both the
content and agent of filling, and that while the Spirit is the ultimate control of our
likeness of God, believers can and must also yield to the Spirit’s leading and seek to
become filled with the fullness of God.

19 “speaking to one another”. In v. 19, the contrasts stop and the five participles
begin, which all depend on “be filled with the Spirit” in Greek. 62 For the rest of this
passage, the five participles describe what a person looks like when they have been
filled with the Spirit, but they also serve as an exhortation for readers to follow. Just as
the filling of the Spirit (receiving the power and growth to become like Christ) was
controlled and worked out by God but participated in and sought after by believers, so
too do these participles describe a cooperation between divine power and human effort
toward becoming like Christ.
The first participle, “speaking to one another,” probably referred to believers
“teaching and admonishing”63 each other through hymns. Ancient hymns could be
poetry and prose, instruction and praise, speaking and singing. 64 In this way, they would
detail what the will of the Lord is to each other, 65 and “speaking the truth in love, [they
were] to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ….” 66
“in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,”. While some scholars have
suggested distinctions between these three types of songs, most agree that they are

57
Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, 379.
58
Thielman, Ephesians, 359.
59
Ibid., 360.
60
Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, 380.
61
Lincoln, Ephesians, 344; Snodgrass, Ephesians, 290; and Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to
the Ephesians, 379.
62
Lincoln, Ephesians, 345.
63
Lincoln, Ephesians, 345. Cf. Col 3:16.
64
Thielman, Ephesians, 361.
65
Lincoln, Ephesians, 349.
66
Eph. 4:15.
synonymous, a typical example of Pauline repetition. 67 What’s more, the LXX uses
these three words interchangeably in psalm titles. 68 Even the scholars that do draw and
use distinctions between them in their own works state that their differentiations are
their own. For example, BDAG defines psalms as songs of praise, hymns as religious
songs, and spiritual songs as sacred songs, but specifies “in our lit. only”. 69 BDAG also
describes all three as religious songs and praise songs. 70
While there may have been little to no variation between “psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs,” individual songs do have different purposes in Scripture. In the Old
Testament, most hymns are “confessional statements (e.g., Deut 26:5-8; Ps 105) which
celebrate the mighty acts of God in salvation history….” 71 The New Testament also
contains mostly confessional hymns that focus on God’s redemption, but these
confessions incorporate more elements of the life of the believer, including themes of
the coming kingdom, spreading the gospel, and building the church. 72 In addition to
confessional hymns, the New Testament contains sacramental, meditative,
Christological, and ethical hymns.73 By speaking any and all of these hymns to one
another, the Ephesians could teach and “know the love of Christ that surpasses
knowledge, that [they] may be filled with all the fullness of God.” 74 In other words,
teaching and admonishing each other was one way for believers to be filled with the
Spirit, to build up the body of Christ to the measure of his fullness, and to walk in their
new life.
“singing and making melody”. These are the second and third participles
dependent on “be filled with the Spirit.” As opposed to the previous “speaking,” this
“singing and making melody” was directed toward God instead of toward fellow
believers, and it would have been praise instead of instruction.
“with your heart to the Lord;”. The heart was not thought of only as the seat of
emotions, but was considered to be one’s innermost being, 75 the governing force over
one’s entire self.76 A person filled with the Spirit worships God with their entire selves,
from their deepest selves, and our of their own volition as well as out of the Spirit’s
leading. Genuine, intimate, and wholesale worship is a crucial part of being filled with
the Spirit.

20 “always giving thanks for all things”. This is the fourth participle dependent on
“be filled with the Spirit.” By giving God thanks, this participle continues the theme of
worshipping God from the second and third participles, which further impress upon the
reader how central worship is to being filled with the Spirit and maturing into Christ-
likeness. In fact, because the first and last participles describe believers’ relationships
with each other and the middle three participles describe praising God, Paul creates a
67
Lincoln, Ephesians, 346; and Thielman, Ephesians, 361.
68
Lincoln, Ephesians, 346.
69
Arndt, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 837, 1027, and 1096.
70
Ibid.
71
Ryken, Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, 420.
72
Ibid.
73
Ibid., 421-422.
74
Eph. 3:19.
75
Lincoln, Ephesians, 346.
76
Snodgrass, Ephesians, 291.
chiasm that highlights the essentialness of worshipping God in being filled with the
Spirit. The double absolutes in v. 20 (“always” and “all things”) further emphasize that
thanksgiving, itself a form of worship, should be continuous and all-pervasive, a
hallmark of having the fullness of God and walking in his new life. It is also important to
recall that Paul gave this admonition – to thank God always for all things - while in
chains.77 According to The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, the
only groups of people at this time who thanked God for everything were those who
believed in God’s sovereignty over everything, namely the Jews and Stoics. 78 Paul
certainly would have understood that believers needed to be mature in Christ, to know
and believe in God’s sovereignty, if they were to give thanks always and for everything.
“in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;”. This line
includes the entire trinity: believers who are filled with the Spirit thank God in the name
of Jesus. God is the Father and provider, Jesus is the Lord and mediator, and the Spirit
is the power and mediator.79 It is for these roles and workings that believers can always
be thankful for. True to trinitarian doctrine, Paul also equates the persons of the Trinity
with the very same words that separate them. The phrasing “in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ” gives Lord Jesus Messiah the place of L ORD (YHWH) in Old Testament
blessings, a device which Paul makes frequent use of in his Christology. 80

21 “and be subject to one another”. This is the fifth and final participle dependent on
“be filled with the Spirit. Interestingly, this participle not only closes out the list of
dependent participles in vv. 19-21, but it also serves as the verb on which v. 22 is
dependent. Without v. 21, v. 22 would not have a verb. 81 The idea of submission
accomplishes thematically what the verb “be subject” accomplishes grammatically: it
transitions from a discussion of the whole community to groups within it, 82 and from a
discussion of worship to the household, because worship happened in households. 83
Unsurprisingly, there are a multitude of opinions on what exactly submitting to
one another means, especially in response to Paul’s seeming contradiction when he
exhorts all believers to submit to each other and then immediately defines who should
submit to who.84 Some argue that v. 21 simply does not refer to all believers, and only
introduces the submission of wives, children, and slaves. 85 However, given that the rest
of the five participles did not only address wives, children, and slaves, and given that
Paul consistently commands believers to serve and submit to one another throughout
his epistles,86 this explanation is unreasonable. Instead, most commentators argue that
even authorities can serve and submit to subordinates and still maintain their role, just
as Paul became a slave to all without losing the authority of his apostleship. 87 Practically
77
Eph. 6:20.
78
Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 551.
79
Lincoln, Ephesians, 349.
80
Thielman, Ephesians, 363.
81
Lincoln, Ephesians, 338.
82
Ibid., 365.
83
Thielman, Ephesians, 355.
84
Lincoln, Ephesians, 366.
85
Thielman, Ephesians, 373.
86
Cf. Gal. 5:13; 2 Cor. 4:5; 1 Cor. 9:19; Phil 2:3-8, 4; 1 Cor. 16:16; 1 Thess. 5:12-13; and 1 Pet. 5:5.
87
1 Cor. 9:19; Lincoln, Ephesians, 366; and N 373.
speaking, this would mean that all believers, authorities and subordinates alike, should
“regard one another as more important than [them]selves; [and] …look out for…the
interests of others.”88 As seen in this verse, submission in the New Testament is always
voluntary (expect in one instance) and done out of love, love for order in the community
and love for others, valuing their good more highly than one’s own will. 89
“in the fear of Christ.” Not only should believers submit to one another out of
love, but also out of a serious reverence, or fear, of Christ. There were two
understandings of fear in Greco-Roman culture: they valued the reverent, humble fear
of a son to his righteous father, but also knew the hostile, hateful fear of a slave to a
cruel master.90 The fear of Christ is seen alongside the provision of the Father 91 as well
as the “incomprehensible vastness of his love;” 92 therefore, readers would have
understood the fear of Christ to be more than respect but not antagonistic terror. After
all, the awesome, holy, all-powerful Lordship of Christ and YHWH should inspire a
healthy fear in believers, which helps them be wise, obedient, and worshipful. 93 It is no
accident that Paul attached such an obedience-inducing truths to one of the hardest
exhortations for selfish humans to follow.

88
Phil. 2:3-4.
89
Arndt, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 1042; and Kittel,
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, 45.
90
Thielman, Ephesians, 374.
91
Eph. 5:20.
92
Eph. 3:18-19.
93
Prov. 1 and Snodgrass, Ephesians, 293.
 Summary

In sum, Paul builds the Ephesians up to become like Christ, walking in their new
lives, through several exhortations. These exhortations include to live with intentional
wisdom, to seize the opportunities time gives to do God’s will, to be wise by learning
what pleases God (which is his will), and to be filled by the Spirit. When Paul asks the
Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit, he admonishes them to attain to the fullness of
Christ together, which is achieved ultimately through the working of the Spirit but is also
contributed to by the efforts of the Ephesians. These efforts of the Ephesians (made
possible by the power of the Spirit) include teaching each other, praising God, thanking
God, and submitting to each other. In this way, the Ephesians would have been built up,
and would have learned how to build themselves up, into the fullness of Christ.
Today, we see a desperate need for the body to understand what the will of the
Lord is. In the postmodern thought of the day, many people accept that anyone can
have their own truth and therefore live according to whatever they believe is right.
People influenced by this postmodern movement do not feel the responsibility to correct
falsehood or to search after some objective truth and standard of holiness. Even among
Christians, who do adhere to the absolute truth of the Bible and the perfect standard of
God’s holiness, there is often a sense of aimless wandering for God’s seemingly elusive
will. When young Christians claim to be ‘seeking God’s will,’ they often understand this
to mean that they should listen for slight emotional tugs in their hearts and random signs
in their day to day lives. They may unwittingly misinterpret “be filled with the Spirit” as
some ill-defined spiritual high with no concrete objective or purpose, that mysteriously
‘leads’ them to God’s will. Alas, this confusion, of which I have been guilty of as well,
can be illuminated when the reader understands that “be filled with the Spirit,” at its
most basic level, means to become like Christ. God’s will for believers is simply to live
according to the love and righteousness laid out in his Word. To ‘find’ and follow God’s
will in a certain life decisions, the Christian need only to live according to the principles,
laws, and characteristics of God as taught in his Word. This is not to exclude how the
Spirit miraculously gives us understanding of God’s teachings in answer to prayer, nor
does this diminish the power of the Spirit in our hearts. In fact, the opposite is true:
Christians must be filled with the power of the Spirit to not only understand the character
of God, but also to live like him. From Ephesians 5:15-21, new Christians affected by
postmodern thought can learn that God’s will is simply to love and act like him.

Word Study of “Filled” (Strong #4137)
Occurs 87 times in the NT, and 4 times in Ephesians:
DEFINITION:
“Filled” can mean to fulfill
prophecy; to make
something happen that was
1 prophesied.
“Filled” can mean to
complete, make whole, or
finish an immaterial concept,
a task, or an event.
2
“Filled” can mean to make a
physical container full of
3 some kind of object(s).
“Filled” can mean to make a
person have much more or
the maximum capacity of an
4 immaterial thing.
“Filled” can mean to make
physical and immaterial
5
containers full of an
immaterial substance.
Appendix A
PASSAGES:
Matthew 1:22, 2:15, 2:17, 2:23,
4:14, 5:17, 8:17, 12:17, 13:35,
21:4, 26:54, 26:56, 27:9; Mark
14:49, 15:28; Luke 1:20, 4:21,
24:44; John 12:38, 13:18, 15:25,
17:12, 18:9, 18:32, 19:24, 19:36;
Acts 1:16, 3:18, 13:27; James 2:23
Matthew 3:15, 23:32; Mark 1:15;
Luke 7:1, 9:31, 21:24, 22:16; John
3:29, 7:8, 15:11, 16:24, 17:13; Acts
7:23, 7:30, 9:23, 12:25, 13:25,
14:26, 19:21, 24:27; Romans 8:4,
13:8, 15:19; 2 Corinthians 10:6;
Galatians 5:14; Philippians 2:2;
Colossians 1:25, 2:10, 4:17; 2
Thessalonians 1:11; 1 John 1:4; 2
John 1:12; Revelation 3:2, 6:11
Matthew 13:48, Luke 3:5: John
12:3; Acts 2:2, 5:28; Philippians
4:18, 4:19
Luke 2:40; John 16:6; Acts 2:28,
5:3, 13:52; Romans 1:29, 15:13,
15:14; 2 Corinthians 7:4; Ephesians
3:19, 5:18; Philippians 1:11;
Colossians 1:9; 2 Timothy 1:4
Ephesians 1:23, 4:10
OBSERVATIONS ON
CONTEXT:
Almost always in reference
to the OT
prophecies/Scriptures; also
in reference to Gabriel’s
words and Jesus’ words
Used in reference to
immaterial concepts like
righteousness, guilt, time,
and joy
Used in reference to tasks
like a speech, Jesus’
departure,
preaching/ministry, the
Law, and obedience
Fishnet full of fish, ravine
full of earth, house full of a
smell or wind, Jerusalem
full of teaching, and stores
full of supplies
Used in reference to
wisdom/knowledge,
sorrow, gladness, the
inclination to lie, joy, the
Holy Spirit,
unrighteousness, peace in
believing, and comfort
Christ fills all things.
Other Observations: There seems to be two main usages of the word “filled”: either something
is being fulfilled (definitions 1-2) or filled up (definitions 3-5).
Information from secondary Resources:
TDNT:94
 In extrabiblical sources, “fill” is used in all of the same ways it is used above, with the
added definitions of “to appease” a demand and “to pay in full.”
 In the LXX, it is used 70 times, usually to mean “to fill up the measure…of time,” “to fill
up to the top,” “to fulfil a word of Yahweh,” “to fill completely,” and “”to complete” (a
span of time)….”
 “Filled” can refer to God’s omnipresence
 When used in the passive form, God is often the one fulfilling or filling to fulness.
 In Eph 5:18, “to be drunk with” contrasts “with the disciplined life of the man who,
wholly filled by the Holy Spirit and His gifts, worships and praises God.”
 All of God’s saving reaches its full measure in Jesus; Jesus is the fulfillment.

BDAG definitions:95
 “to make full”; to fill things or persons
 “to complete a period of time”
 “to bring to completion that which was already begun, complete, finish”
 “to bring to a designed end, fulfill” either prophecies (in which usage “filled” is almost
always passive) or prayers
 “to bring to completion an activity in which one has been involved from its beginning,
complete, finish”
 to “complete a number”

Summary:
NT Author: Which definitions are used by the author
Gospels & Acts: 1=29 2=20 3=5 4=5 5=0

Paul: 1=0 2=10 3=2 4=9 5=2

John: 1=8 2=9 3=1 4=1 5=0

Peter: 1=0 2=0 3=0 4=0 5=0

Other: James 1=1 2=0 3=0 4=0 5=0

Definition: In Ephesians 5:18, I would define the word “filled” as follows: “Filled” describes a
person who has the maximum capacity of, or at least much more of, an immaterial thing (in
this case, the Holy Spirit). Another verse that uses “filled” in the same way is Colossians 1:9: “…
we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His
will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
94
Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.
95
Arndt, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature.
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