The Pulpit Commentary on Ephesians 5:10

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

The experimental test of the Lord's will.

As the ninth verse is a parenthesis, the apostle states that it is by walking as children of light we are in a position to prove "what is well-pleasing unto the Lord."

I. CONSIDER THE TRUE STANDARD OF JUDGMENT AS TO RIGHT AND WRONG. The believer is not to discover it in whatever may be well-pleasing to himself, but in what is well-pleasing to the Lord. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who is Lord of the conscience to regulate all our thoughts and all our actions. He has a supreme lordship over our life as well as over our death: "For whether we live we live unto the Lord." He is thus not merely Savior and Example, but Director of his people in all the concerns of religious life. In difficult situations, therefore, the true casuistry of life is to ask—Will this action be well-pleasing to Christ?

II. CONSIDER THE SUBJECTIVE TEST OF THIS DIVINE WILL. Believers are enabled, in the clear light in which they walk, to discover the right path. It is through their being transformed by the renewing of their mind that they "prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God"( Romans 12:2). Similarly we learn that "if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God" (John 7:17). Light admitted into the understanding contributes to win the affections, and, the affections won, open wide the doors for the admission of more light. To know the law you love and to love the law you know is the best condition in which human beings can be. It is the union of clear light in the understanding with perfect purity of heart which distinguishes the kingdom of redemption in its final practical triumph.—T.C.

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