Translated by Qwen.
Eph 5:7-8 “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.
Eph 5:9: "For the fruit of the light" — that which, proceeding from the light of Faith, falls into the affection of the will and into external action.
"Consists in all goodness" — that is, in every affection of the heart;
"and in justice" — in the rectitude of the work;
"and in truth" — in sincerity and conformity to divine reality.
Eph 5:10: "Proving" — that is, testing according to the light of Faith, not according to human philosophy; and indeed diligently, as Jerome says, like money-changers who test coins not only by sight but by weight and by their ring. Often men are deceived by ignorance of the truth. Hence we gather that not just any reasoning immediately renders something probable in moral matters; rather, the weight [of arguments] must be examined by the spiritually mature and those possessing knowledge, as Theophylactus says.
"What is the good pleasure [of God]?" I answer: That thus in all your works you may be able to intend the will of God—that will which is well-pleasing, good, and perfect (cf. Romans 12:2). For to this center of the divine good pleasure, all our actions ought to flow.
Eph 5:11: "And do not have fellowship" — with the sons of darkness, whether by doing, approving, or praising their works.
"Unfruitful works" — which bring forth no good fruit of eternal life, but rather contain the poison of eternal death. This is a figure of speech (mneosis) by which more is silently indicated than is explicitly said.
"Of darkness" — that is, works which proceed from the darkness of the human intellect, ignorant of God or of the natural law.
"But rather reprove them" — by teaching and performing works of light, which expose the baseness of others' deeds. And therefore I said you should not have fellowship with their works.
Eph 5:12: "For the things which are done in secret" — in the darkness of night or the privacy of bedrooms, lustfully and shamefully by those very sons of disbelief and darkness—such as many who inhabited Ephesus from the sect of Simon Magus and the Gnostics, as Epiphanius relates.
"It is shameful even to speak of them" — for words are as if stained by the things they signify, so great is their foulness. Hence the chaste, with blushing, are accustomed to speak of lusts—especially those against nature—or they seek honorable circumlocutions. Moreover, in all carnal vices there is great baseness, says St. Thomas, because they possess little of the goods of reason, since such acts are common to us with brute animals. What then if they are against nature—acts which not even brute animals are accustomed to practice?
Eph 5:13: "But all things that are reproved" — that is, which deserve rebuke as base—"are manifested by the light." For just as bodily light manifests the deformity of bodies, so the spiritual light of your doctrine and works ought to reprove (as he said in verse 11) and expose the baseness of the works of darkness.
"For everything that is manifested is light" — that is, luminous (an abstract term used for a concrete reality, as often elsewhere). Others more suitably translate: "That which manifests." For the Greek verb is middle voice, which can also carry an active sense. Since the function of light, he says, is to manifest other things, you who are light in the Lord (above, verse 8) ought, by the light of doctrine and example, to expose the shameful works of unbelievers, so that the ignorant may perhaps be converted and become like you.
Eph 5:14: "Wherefore" — that is, because that which is manifested is light or luminous—"Scripture says" (Isaiah 60:1), to which the Apostle seems to allude, adding certain elements for clarification and his own purpose.
However, St. Jerome thinks that the Apostle perhaps drew this from some erroneous and apocryphal prophet, such as the book of Semeiah the prophet or Addo the seer (2 Chronicles 12:15); for no canonical scripture expressly states what follows:
"Arise" — from sin, through repentance;
"you who sleep" — idle in the darkness of sins, inactive toward works of light;
"and arise from the dead" — He explains what that sleep is: namely, the spiritual death of the sinner. For just as when the soul—which is the energeia (actuating principle) of the body—departs, the body dies; so when the Holy Spirit—who is the energeia of the soul—withdraws on account of sins, the soul dies, says Chrysostom.
"And Christ will give you light" — with the light of subsequent grace, enabling you to perform meritorious works of light.
However, for arising from the dead, there is also need of the light of prevenient (awakening) grace. For sin would not displease you unless God shone upon you and His truth revealed it to you, says St. Augustine. For just as the light of the sun arouses us from bodily sleep, so the light of Christ arouses humanity from the sleep of sin.
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