Ephesians 5:7

King James Version (KJV)

Be not ye therefore partakers with them.

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

Be not ye therefore partakers with them - Do not act as your fellow citizens do; nor suffer their philosophy, to it in vain words, κενοις λογοις, with empty and illusive doctrines, to lead you astray from the path of truth.

That there was much need for such directions and cautions to the people of Ephesus has been often remarked. It appears, from Athenaeus, that these people were addicted to luxury, effeminacy etc. He tells us that the famous Aspasia, who was herself of the Socratic sect, brought a vast number of beautiful women into Greece, and by their means filled the country with prostitutes, και επληθυνεν απο των ταυτης ἑταιριδων ἡ Ελλας, lib. xiii. cap. 25. Ibid. cap. 31, he observes that the Ephesians had dedicated temples ἑταιρᾳ Αφροδιτῃ, to the prostitute Venus; and again, cap. 32, he quotes from Demosthenes, in Orat. contra Neaeram: τας μεν ἑταιρας ἡδονης ἑνεκα εχομεν, τας δε παλλακας της καθ ' ἡμεραν παλλακειας, τας δε γυναικας του παιδοποιεισθαι γνησιως, και των ενδον φυλακα πιστην εχειν· "We have whores for our pleasure, harlots for daily use, and wives for the procreation of legitimate children, and for the faithful preservation of our property." Through the whole of this 13th book of Athenaeus the reader will see the most melancholy proofs of the most abominable practices among the Greeks, and the high estimation in which public prostitutes were held; the greatest lawgivers and the wisest philosophers among the Greeks supported this system both by their authority and example. Is it not in reference to their teaching and laws that the apostle says: Let no man deceive you with vain words?

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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

Be not ye therefore partakers with them - Since these things displease God and expose to his wrath, avoid them.

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

Filthy lusts must be rooted out. These sins must be dreaded and detested. Here are not only cautions against gross acts of sin, but against what some may make light of. But these things are so far from being profitable. that they pollute and poison the hearers. Our cheerfulness should show itself as becomes Christians, in what may tend to God's glory. A covetous man makes a god of his money; places that hope, confidence, and delight, in worldly good, which should be in God only. Those who allow themselves, either in the lusts of the flesh or the love of the world, belong not to the kingdom of grace, nor shall they come to the kingdom of glory. When the vilest transgressors repent and believe the gospel, they become children of obedience, from whom God's wrath is turned away. Dare we make light of that which brings down the wrath of God? Sinners, like men in the dark, are going they know not whither, and doing they know not what. But the grace of God wrought a mighty change in the souls of many. Walk as children of light, as having knowledge and holiness. These works of darkness are unfruitful, whatever profit they may boast; for they end in the destruction of the impenitent sinner. There are many ways of abetting, or taking part in the sins of others; by commendation, counsel, consent, or concealment. And if we share with others in their sins, we must expect to share in their plagues. If we do not reprove the sins of others, we have fellowship with them. A good man will be ashamed to speak of what many wicked men are not ashamed to do. We must have not only a sight and a knowledge that sin is sin, and in some measure shameful, but see it as a breach of God's holy law. After the example of prophets and apostles, we should call on those asleep and dead in sin, to awake and arise, that Christ may give them light.

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