Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Ephesians 5:14 - 5:14

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Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Ephesians 5:14 - 5:14


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

14. διὸ λέγει. ‘Wherefore one saith.’ The quotation is not taken from the O.T. though Isa 60:1 f. has some points of contact with the thought of it. Nor is it apparently taken from any Apocryphal source. In all probability it is part of an early (most probably baptismal) hymn like the Odes of Solomon. Baptism is early spoken of as φωτισμός, cf. Heb 6:4.

ὁ καθεύδων. Cf. Rom 13:11; 1Th 5:6 f. καὶ ἀνάστα (= ἀνάστηθι) ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν. Cf. Eph 2:5, a baptismal thought, cf. Rom 6:13.

καὶ ἐπιφαύσει σοι ὁ Χριστός. ‘And Christ shall give light for thee.’ ἐπιφαύσκω is found only in the LXX. of Job 25:5; Job 31:26; Job 41:9. For the dative, cf. Mal. 3:20 (Eph 4:2) ἀνατελεῖ ὑμῖν τοῖς φοβουμένοις τὸ ὄνομα ἥλιος δικαιοσύνης. The point of the quotation is the promise of light for the new life of the believer radiating from the Christ. The only other passage in St Paul in which light comes from the Person of Christ is 2Co 4:6. Yet the thought of Christ as ‘the Glory of God’ is closely akin to it. See Additional Note on ὁ πατὴρ τῆς δόξης.

Eph 5:15-21. THE CALL TO DISCIPLINED ENTHUSIASM