Redeeming evil days; wine and Spirit; psalms; thanks; mutual submission (Eph 5:16–21)
—needful, spending time on gaining the blessed life. By redeeming time in evil days we remake those days into good, and make them for ourselves not evil days of the present age but good days of the age to come.
Ephesians 5:17 "Therefore do not become foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is." Why "therefore"? Because you look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise—so do not become foolish. Fools will not walk carefully or wisely. Examine the Lord's will and grasp it: where you see what to do, do it as his will; where you suffer, bear it as coming by his will.
Ephesians 5:18 "And do not get drunk with wine, in which is debauchery, but be filled in spirit." Simply, debauchery sits in drunken use of wine. There is also the wine of the great song—"their wine is the wrath of dragons, and the incurable wrath of asps"—which all who are beside themselves and drunk in reasoning drink, full of debauchery. Against that wine stands the one filled with spirit, taking all of the more divine he can hold. We have often noted "spirit" without addition said of the better; so here too.
Ephesians 5:19 "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." Hymns announce God's power and divinity; the skilled theologian lives in spiritual hymns. The one treating deeds and what must be done through our bodily instrument as a psaltery is in spiritual psalms. The one philosophizing nature—the world's order and other created things—is in spiritual songs. Sing according to that natural study and make melody according to moral exposition, truly disposed toward what is said: that is singing and making melody with the heart to the Lord.
Ephesians 5:20 "Giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God and Father." Compare 1 Thessalonians: always rejoice, pray without ceasing, give thanks in everything. Keep this if you grasp providence that reaches even two sparrows sold for a penny, of which none falls apart from the Father. To give thanks in everything is to give thanks for all things—including hard circumstances. As one thanks God while sharing the world's beauty and seeing what was made for the rational creature, so also for particular things. Thank God and Father in the mediator of God and humans—in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:21 "Submitting to one another in the fear of Christ." This pulls down love of rule and of being first. The command is for all: "Free from all, I enslaved myself to all that I might gain all," and "Serve one another." Through love the apostles served the churches for human salvation. The Savior took a slave's form chiefly to serve the disciples—even putting water in the basin and washing their feet. Whoever understands "the one wanting to be great among you will be slave of all" submits by serving those who must be served.
A servant doing what suits those served may seem not to submit when the served, not knowing what helps them, order unfit things. Even then the one who acts for what truly helps both serves and submits to that need, because of passionless, beatifying fear according to God's word. That fear, I think, is what "in the fear of Christ" shows—continued next.
Greek
δέον καὶ τὴν κτῆσιν τοῦ μακαρίου βίου ἀναλίσκων αὐτόν. ἐξαγοραζόμενοι δὲ τὸν καιρὸν ὄντα ἐν ἡμέραις πονηραῖς οἱονεὶ μεταποιοῦμεν τὰς πονηρὰς ἡμέρας εἰς ἀγαθάς, καὶ ὡσπερεὶ ἑαυτοῖς ποιοῦμεν αὐτὰς εἶναι οὐ τοῦ ἐνε τῶτο αἰῶνο ἡμέρας πονηρὰ ἀλλὰ τοῦ μέλλοντο αἰῶνο ἡμέρας ἀγαθάς. 〚[v. 17] διὰ τοῦτο μὴ γίνεσθε ἄφρονες ἀλλὰ συνιέντες τί τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Κυρίου. διὰ ποῖον τοῦτο, ἢ τὸ βλέπειν ἀκριβῶς πῶς περιπατεῖτε μὴ ὡς ἄσοφοι ἀλλ' ὡς σοφοί, μὴ γίνεσθε ἄφρονες; εἰ γὰρ ἔσεσθε ἄφρονες, ἀκριβῶς οὐ περιπατή σετε οὐδὲ ὡς σοφοί. προστάσσει δὲ αὐτοῖς τὸ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐξετάζειν θέλημα καὶ συνιέναι αὐτό, ἵν' ὅπου τι περὶ τοῦ πράττειν καταλάβοιεν, αὐτὸ πράττωσιν ὡς θέλημα Κυρίου, ὅπου δὲ πάσχ<ω>σι φέρ<ω>σιν αὐτὸ ὡς θελήματι γινόμενον Κυρίου.〛 28 Eph. v18 καὶ μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ ἐν ᾧ ἐστὶν ἀσωτία, ἀλλὰ πληροῦσθε ἐν πνεύματι. [Ὠριγένης φησί] δύναται μὲν καὶ ἁπλούστερον ταῦτα νοεῖσθαι, ἀσωτίας οὔσης ἐν τῇ χρήσει τοῦ μεθύειν ποιοῦντος οἴνου. δύναται δὲ καὶ οἶνος ἐν ᾧ ἐστὶν ἀσωτία νοεῖσθαι περὶ οὗ ἐν ᾠδῇ μεγάλῃ λέγεται θυμὸ δρακόντων ὁ οἶνο αὐτῶν καὶ θυμὸ ἀ πίδων ἀνίατο , ὅντινα πάντες οἱ ἐξιστάμενοι καὶ μεθύοντες τὸν λογισμὸν πίνουσι πολλὴν ἔχοντα τὴν ἀσωτίαν. πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν δὲ ἐκείνου τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ μεθύσκοντος ἐν ᾧ ἐστὶν ἀσωτία ἐναντίος νοεῖται ὁ πεπληρωμένος πνεύματι καὶ πᾶν ὃ χωρεῖ τοῦ θειοτέρου λαμβάνων. πολλάκις δὲ τετηρήκαμεν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ «πνεύματος» χωρὶς προσθήκης γεγραμμένον ὅτι ἐπὶ κρείττονος εἴρηται, ὅπερ καὶ ἐνθάδε σημαίνεται. 29 Eph. v19 [λαλοῦντες ἑαυτοῖς ψαλμοῖς καὶ ὕμνοις καὶ ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς, ᾄδοντες καὶ ψάλλοντες ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ὑμῶν τῷ Κυρίῳ.] [Ὠριγένης δέ φησιν] οἱ μὲν ὕμνοι δύναμιν καὶ θειότητα καταγγέλλουσι τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ εἴη ἂν ὁ ἐπιστήμων τοῦ θεολογεῖν ἐν ὕμνοις πνευματικοῖς· τάχα δὲ ὁ περὶ τῶν πρακτέων διαλαμβάνων καὶ τῶν οἷς δεῖ ἐνεργεῖν διὰ τοῦ ὡς ψαλτηρίου ὀργάνου σωματικοῦ ἡμῶν, οὗτος ἐν ψαλμοῖς ἐστι πνευματικοῖς· ὁ δὲ ἄλλως φυσιολογῶν περὶ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου τάξεως καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν δημιουργημάτων, οὗτος ἐν ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς. καὶ χρή γε ᾄδειν κατὰ τὴν φυσιολογίαν καὶ ψάλλειν κατὰ τὴν περὶ τῶν ἠθῶν διέξοδον τῷ Κυρίῳ διακείμενον γνησίως πρὸς τὰ λεγόμενα· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ ψάλλειν καὶ ᾄδειν τῇ καρδίᾳ τῷ Κυρίῳ. [v 20] εὐχαριστοῦντες πάντοτε ὑπὲρ πάντων ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ πατρί. καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Θεσσαλονικεῖς προτέρᾳ φησί πάντοτε χαίρετε ἀδιαλείπτω προ εύχε θε ἐν παντὶ εὐχαρι τεῖτε. ταύτην δὴ τηρήσει τὴν ἐντολὴν ὁ διειληφὼς περὶ τῆς προνοίας φθανούσης καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ βʹ ἀ αρίων πωλούμενα πέντε τρουθία ὧν ἓν οὐ πίπτει εἰ παγίδα χωρὶ τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖ πατρό . τὸ δὲ ἐν παντὶ εὐχαριστεῖν καὶ ὑπὲρ πάντων εὐχαριστεῖν ἐστιν· οὐκοῦν καὶ ἐπὶ ταῖς περιστάσεσιν εὐχαριστητέον, ἐπείπερ καὶ αὗται τῶν ἐφ' οἷς δεῖ εὐχαριστεῖν εἰσιν· καὶ ὥσπερ δεῖ εὐχαριστεῖν τὸν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐν τῷ μεταλαμ βάνειν τοῦ κόσμου καὶ καταθεᾶσθαι τὸ κάλλος αὐτοῦ καὶ θεωρεῖν ὅσα καὶ οἷα γέγονε διὰ τὸ λογικόν, οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐν μέρει εὐχαριστητέον. τὸν δὲ εὐχαριστοῦντα τῷ Θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ ἐν τῷ με ίτῃ Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων εὐχαριστεῖν χρή, ὥστε ἡμᾶς ποιῆσαι τὸ ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εὐχαριστεῖν τῷ Θεῷ καὶ πατρί. [v 21] ὑποτασσόμενοι, φησίν, ἀλλήλοις ἐν φόβῳ Χριστοῦ. πάνυ τοῦτο καθαιρετικόν ἐστι τοῦ φίλαρχον εἶναι καὶ φιλόπρωτον. πᾶσι γὰρ αὕτη δέδοται ἐντολή, ἐλεύθερο γὰρ ὢν ἐκ πάντων πᾶ ιν ἐμαυτὸν ἐδούλω α ἵνα πάντα κερδή ω. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ λέγουσα ἐντολὴ δουλεύετε ἀλλήλο<ι> προσ τάσσει τοῦτο. διόπερ διὰ τῆ ἀγάπη ἐδούλευ αν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις οἱ ἀπόστολοι, λειτουργοῦντες καὶ ὑπηρετοῦντες τῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίᾳ. καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ σωτὴρ τὴν δούλου μορφὴν ἀνείληφεν οὐ τοσοῦτον δι' ἄλλο τι ὅσον διὰ τὸ δεδουλευκέναι τοῖς μαθηταῖς, ὥστε καὶ βαλόντα ποτὲ αὐτὸν ὕδωρ εἰ τὸν νιπτῆρα πλύνειν τοὺ πόδα τῶν μαθητῶν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ὁ θέλων ἐν ὑμῖν εἶναι μέγα ἔ ται πάντων δοῦλο ὁ νοήσας ὑποτάσσεται κατὰ τὸ δουλεύειν οἷς δεῖ. ἔξεστι μέντοιγε τὸν δουλεύοντα, ποιοῦντα ἐν τῷ δουλεύειν τὰ πρόσφορα τοῖς δουλευομένοις, δοκεῖν μὴ ὑποτάσσεσθαι, ὅτε παρὰ τὸ μὴ ἐπίστασθαι τὰ συμφέροντα οἱ δουλευόμενοι ἐπιτάσσουσι τοῖς δουλεύειν ἐθέλουσι ποιεῖν τὰ μὴ κατάλληλα αὐτοῖς. πλὴν καὶ τότε ὁ πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον ποιῶν καὶ δουλεύει καὶ ὑποτάσσεται τῇ χρείᾳ τοῦ ᾧ δουλεύει, διὰ τὸν κατὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀπαθῆ καὶ μακαριοποιὸν φόβον. τοῦτο γὰρ νομίζω
About this text
Origen of Alexandria, Fragmenta ex commentariis in epistulam ad Ephesios (Greek).
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 14 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.