ARGUMENT
He exhorts them to flee fornication, drunkenness, and the works of darkness, and instead to walk as children of light. Let wives be obedient to their husbands; let husbands love them as Christ loves the Church. For their marriage signifies the spiritual nuptials of Christ with the Church, and therefore it is a great Sacrament.
Eph 5:1 – “Be therefore imitators of God.”
In forgiving offenses and in other things—such as “raining upon the just and the unjust,” that is, pouring out our goodness upon all—we cannot perfectly imitate God, as Jerome says. He does not say, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 4:16), as he did when speaking to the Corinthians, who were still imperfect and little ones in Christ, to whom he had given milk to drink and not solid food (1 Corinthians 3:2). For them it was enough to be imitators of an imitator. But the Ephesians, being more perfect, he calls higher and more directly to the imitation of God and of Christ.
“As most beloved children.” Not merely children, but most beloved—who strive with every effort to express their father in themselves. No children are dearer to fathers than those who are most like them.
Eph 5:2 – “And walk in love.”
Conduct yourselves toward one another in love, loving each other; for this is Christ’s own command (John 15:12). “As Christ also loved us,” even to the point of handing yourselves over to death, if charity should require it. Yet the word “as” does not signify equality in intensity or in the other special perfections of Christ’s love, which we cannot attain.
“Loved us.” And lest anyone think He died not willingly but compelled by the Father—who is said to have delivered Him up (Acts 2:23)—he adds: “And gave Himself up,” by a spontaneous will, “as an offering.” Not merely a simple offering, like those of fruits, bread, or cakes without blood, but also “a sacrifice,” a bloody one for sin, prefigured by the bloody sacrifices of the Old Law, “to God,” to whom all sacrifices are offered. For sacrifice is an act of latria (worship due to God alone) and is rendered to God alone.
“For an odor of sweetness,” that is, most sweet and most pleasing. If the ancient sacrifices—so often called a sweet-smelling savor to the Lord (Genesis 8:21; Exodus 29:18; Leviticus 1:13)—were so described because they were acceptable to Him, how much more the sacrifice of Christ, of infinite value, in which the victim was the very Son of God.
Eph 5:3 – “But fornication.”
Every carnal union with one not one’s own. Hence those today err impiously who, with Gentiles and carnal Jews, say that simple fornication is not a sin. To remove this error from the Gentiles, the Apostle so often condemns all fornication. This was also why the Apostles in Acts 15:29 especially commanded the Gentiles to abstain from fornication, in addition to abstaining from things sacrificed to idols, blood, and what is strangled. The Gentiles did not ignore that adultery, incest, and sacrilege with virgins were unlawful, since these were severely punished by Roman laws.
“And all uncleanness.” Any other venereal pollution contrary to nature—that is, not ordered to generation, as Thomas says. Jerome observes that Paul would never have joined “all uncleanness” to fornication unless certain teachers of that age had claimed that every titillation of the flesh and emission of seed arising from any contact or touch was not to be avoided.
“Or covetousness.” This vice commonly reigns in great and wealthy cities, such as Ephesus was. Because he joins covetousness to sins of the flesh, Catharinus thinks it may mean shameful gain from prostitution; for pimps and harlots are greedy, and among the Gentiles they were once ordered to dress in yellow or golden garments. Jerome, however, interprets it as an insatiable greed for pleasures (cf. Ephesians 4:19), though this fits less well with what follows.
“Let it not even be named among you.” Let it be altogether unknown among you—so that neither its name nor knowledge be present. Or rather, “let it not be named,” because words make a path to deeds, as Theophylact says.
“As befits saints.” Christians, whose works, words, and thoughts ought to be holy.
Eph 5:4 – “Or filthiness.”
Obscenity in speech. “Or foolish talking”: silly and pointless chatter that contains nothing wise or worthy of a man’s heart, as Jerome says, distinguishing it from jesting that proceeds from a prudent mind.
“Or jesting.” In Greek, eutrapelia, that is, wittiness or refined jesting, as Jerome renders it—clever turns of speech aimed at laughter, many of which consist in some ingenious but shameful twist. Hence our interpreter translates it as scurrility. Erasmus translates it as urbanity, following Aristotle, who counts eutrapelia among the moral virtues as a kind of cultured wit. But John Chrysostom protests here that it is a vice, describing the eutrapelos as one who turns himself into all forms of words and bodily gestures to make others laugh, devoting himself with foolish zeal to such things—like the ancient Tabareni of Asia Minor near Ephesus, who placed their highest good in jokes and witticisms, and among whom men became so absurd that when a wife bore a child, the husband lay in bed as if he were the one delivered, while the mother served him.
“Which are not fitting,” that is, which do not befit Christians nor correspond to the holiness, modesty, and gravity they profess. Jerome says he once read in the Gospel according to the Hebrews that Christ told the Apostles: “Never rejoice except when you see your brother in charity.” For religious and ecclesiastics above all, scurrility or frequent joking is unbecoming. “The lips of the priest shall preserve knowledge” (Malachi 2:7), and they ought to meditate on the Law of the Lord day and night (Psalm 1). Chrysostom laments that this vice had crept into the Church, though even among the Gentiles biting wit was disgraceful in sacred or serious men. Suetonius reproaches Emperor Vespasian for excessive jesting and scurrility. No jokes are more pernicious than those formed from words of Sacred Scripture; hence the Council of Trent (Session IV) severely forbade this abuse. Erasmus himself here reproves monks for this vice, though he was often too sharp and playful against monks in turn. Frequent joking has this evil: it breeds habit, which can scarcely be laid aside except with life itself.
“But rather thanksgiving.” Let thanksgiving be named among you instead, and let it replace frivolous talk on the lips of holy Christians. If they often reflect, as they should, what they once were, what they now are, and to what hope of future glory they are called, they will be struck with admiration and continually give thanks to God in heart and voice. Jerome, followed by Sedulius and Cajetan, interprets “thanksgiving” (eucharistia) as graciousness of speech, by a Hebrew idiom—so that instead of scurrilous or foolish talk, their speech may be gracious to hearers and seasoned with honest salt. Cheerful speech and rare, moderate jokes are not unfitting to saints. Thus Gregory Nazianzen says of Basil: “Who was more delightful in narration or more witty in jesting?” Yet with such gravity that some accused him of pride. “Let them accuse the lion,” says Nazianzen, “for not wearing the face of a monkey.” So too in the lives of Paul, Antony, and Hilarion the hermits, many humorous sayings are recorded—not to provoke foolish laughter, but to excite praise of God.
Eph 5:5 – “For this you know.”
Against those who say God forbids fornication merely to terrify, not intending to damn anyone for it. “Knowing,” that is, understanding fully—for this is necessary knowledge—“that every fornicator,” even of simple fornication, “or unclean person,” by pollutions and sins against nature, “or covetous man,” especially one who places his ultimate end in money or unjustly seizes another’s goods—
“Which is idolatry.” The sin of covetousness is a kind of idolatry. The Greek states more simply: the covetous man is an idolater. He has money as his idol; though he does not offer it divine worship strictly speaking, he is so attached to it as if it were his god. All his labors and thoughts aim at accumulating riches, as ours should be directed to God. Seeing that “money answers all things” (Ecclesiastes 10:19), he places supreme hope in it, expecting from it all help. Unlike gluttony or lust, this love of money does not diminish with age but grows. If “their god is their belly” (Philippians 3:19), much more is the coin the god of the covetous.
“Has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” He has no right to the eternal inheritance of God’s adopted sons. It is one and the same kingdom, since Christ is God; yet it is called God’s as natural King, and Christ’s as man constituted King, to whom the kingdom is communicated by God. Jerome notes that only the first three sins—fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness—are here said to exclude from the inheritance, not filthiness of speech, foolish talking, or jesting, because these latter are not mortal by their nature unless uttered with lustful intent or grave scandal—especially in ecclesiastics—or when they gravely harm another’s reputation. Those addicted to jokes often prefer to lose a friend rather than a witty remark.
Eph 5:6 – “Let no one deceive you.”
Neither heretic nor philosopher, teaching that these sins do not exclude from the kingdom of God, “with empty words,” which seem to have a certain elegance and flatter sinners, as Jerome says, but are empty of truth. Philosophers, wishing to indulge their passions, claimed that even if sins were acknowledged, they merited no punishment beyond the sting of conscience—like a fever that torments inwardly without external punishment.
“For because of these things comes the wrath of God.” Do not think these sins deserve only light punishment. God’s vengeance has often come in history: in the flood (Genesis 6–7), in the burning of Sodom (Genesis 19:24), in the slaughter of Benjamin (Judges 20:46). Others interpret “comes” as meaning that it stands ready to come at the last judgment. The verb is in the present tense in Greek.
“Upon the children of disobedience,” that is, obstinately unbelieving men, who cannot be persuaded of this truth—hence Jerome translates “children of unbelief.” In Hebrew fashion they are so called because they cling stubbornly to their disbelief, as others are called sons of perdition or fornication.
Eph 5:7–9
“Therefore do not become partakers with them,” in their sins and in their punishment.
“For you were once darkness,” when you were unbelievers—darkened in intellect like darkness itself, ignorant of the law of nature and of God. “But now you are light,” illuminated by the light of faith, so that you may even shine for others, for he implies that many among them were mature in doctrine and advanced in knowledge, as Jerome says.
“In the Lord,” that is, in faith in Christ, or by Christ’s grace—so that they may not glory in themselves, as Primasius notes.
“Walk as children of light,” conforming your affections and works to the light of faith you have received.
“For the fruit of the light,” descending from the light of faith into the affection of the will and into outward work, “is in all goodness and justice and truth”: goodness of heart, justice in action, and truth in speech.
CONTINUE
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