Unedited Sermon Notes - Ephesians
Lesson #191 and 192]
Live as children of light (Ephesians 5:8-14)
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul has conveyed to us the important message that requires we should live as children of light or, as we explained, to live as children of God. We explained the command live as children of light to mean basically to live a life that is in keeping with God’s character or we can state it in another way to mean to live a life that is controlled by the Holy Spirit. In other words, the command live as children of light is essentially the same as the command to live a life controlled by the Holy Spirit, that is, as the apostle puts it in his epistle to the Galatians live by the Spirit. Thus, our study today will enable us to be certain that living as children of light is the same as being controlled by the Holy Spirit.
Why can we be certain that the command to live as children of light is essentially the same as living a life that is controlled by the Holy Spirit? It is because the apostle provides an explanation of what it means to live as children of light in a way that makes it certain that he meant that the believer should be controlled by the Holy Spirit in what he wrote in verse 9 for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth.
A surface reading of the verse may not lead to the understanding that it is concerned with an explanation of the command issued in the last part of verse 8, that is, Live as children of light. This may be because some English versions such as the CEV or the CEB omitted the word for in their translation. Such an omission could be understood to mean that verse 9 introduced an important point or that it is a transitional sentence. This notwithstanding, it is true that verse 9 introduced an important point in the section that is concerned with living as children of light but the apostle meant more than this because he began the verse with the word for. We contend that he did so because he wanted to indicate that verse 9 is an explanation of what it means to live as children of light. It is probably because of this understanding that some English versions considered the verse as parenthetical as in the NIV where the verse is enclosed within a parenthesis. The use of parenthesis in the NIV will at least lead an English reader to speculate that the verse is an explanation or an amplification needed to develop further the command issued about living as children of light. Or, that verse 9 is a remark that is a digression from the major issue of living as children of light. Anyway, we contend that the apostle used the word for to indicate that verse 9 is an explanation to the command live as children of light in the last part of verse 8. There are two reasons for this interpretation. The Greek conjunction (gar) translated for in our passage could be understood as a marker of reason, implying that verse 9 gives the reason to live as children of light. It can also be understood as a marker of explanation in which case it can be translated “for” or “you see.” The implication of this second usage is that verse 9 explains further what it means to live as children of light. While both interpretations make sense in the context but because the apostle had already given reason believers should obey the command before he issued it, that is, that they are children of God and not children of Satan, it makes more sense to take verse 9 as providing an explanation of what the command live as children of light means.
Another reason we interpret verse 9 as an explanation of what it means to live as children of light is because the content of the verse supports this interpretation, especially, because of the phrase the fruit of the light. This phrase bears resemblance to the phrase the fruit of the Spirit the apostle used in describing the fruit of the Spirit in the fifth chapter of Galatians. This resemblance may have been the reason some Greek manuscripts read the fruit of the Spirit instead of the phrase the fruit of the light. This reading the fruit of the Spirit is reflected in the Authorized Version. The use of this second phrase the fruit of the Spirit may have been due to the influence of the phrase in the fifth chapter of Galatians. Of course, there is one ancient second or third century Greek manuscript that supports this reading. Nonetheless, it is more likely that the original contained the phrase the fruit of the light since there are more ancient Greek manuscripts that support the later reading. Besides, the reading fruit of the light is a more difficult one so that copyists might have felt that something was not right and so try to correct it. This is an easier thing to do than perhaps to change the word “Spirit” to “light” although it is easier to see how that could happen. While we believe that based on internal and external evidences that the reading the fruit of the light is the one found in the original but in the final analysis, it does not make much difference depending on how we understand the word “light” in the phrase we are considering.
Variations in Greek manuscripts readings notwithstanding, there is resemblance between the phrase the fruit of the light we are considering and the phrase the fruit of the Spirit used by the apostle in the fifth chapter of Galatians, to justify our interpretation that verse 9 we are considering is an explanation of what it means to live as children of light since there is similarity between what the apostle states in Galatians 5 with respect to the fruit of the Spirit and what we have in our passage. Consider what the apostle wrote in Galatians 5:22–23:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law
The first thing we note is that both in Galatians 5:22-23 and Ephesians 5:9 there are several virtues or qualities mentioned. The second thing we note is that the word fruit is in the singular and not in the plural. This is significant in that the apostle is concerned with that which as a whole is associated with the light in Ephesians 5:9 or the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Fruit is often used in a physical sense with respect to plants, as it is used of the fig tree Jesus cursed, as reported in Mark 11:14:
Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.
The word “fruit” can also be used as a Hebraism for a person’s offspring or descendants of a man, as it is used in Acts 2:30:
But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.
The phrase one of his descendants is literally from the fruit of his loins so it should be clear that “fruit” can refer to a person’s offspring. Both in Ephesian 5:9 and Galatians 5:22 the word “fruit” is used not in a physical sense but in figurative sense that is concerned with the spiritual realm so that the word means “result,” “outcome,” or “product.” Hence, the apostle intends to convey the result or the product of the light. He is concerned with something that is uniquely associated with the Holy Spirit or the light since he used a definite article with the Greek word translated “fruit.” We are saying that the apostle is concerned to convey that there is a unique result or product of the light that helps the believer understand that verse 9 explains what it means to live in the light.
So, what is the light in Ephesians 5:9? We have already answered this question when in verse 8 we interpreted the phrase children of light to mean “children of God.” In other words, we have interpreted “light” as a reference to God. This is because light is used in the Scripture as a metaphor for God. Prophet Isaiah used it as a metaphor for the Messiah, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ in the prophecy concerning the servant of the Lord in Isaiah 49:6:
he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
There can be no doubt that light is a metaphor for Jesus Christ in that the gospel of John clearly states this after denying that John was the light in John 1:6–9:
6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
The Apostle John also used the metaphor to describe God in 1 John 1:5:
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
Thus, it should be clear that when the apostle used the phrase the fruit of the light he is particularly concerned with the result or production of God but, specifically, that of the Holy Spirit first because the phrase the fruit of the light can be understood to mean that which the light produces and because there is similarity between Ephesians 5:9 and Galatians 5:22-23. Of course, it is possible that the apostle could have also thought of Jesus Christ as the light since He is God and because elsewhere, as we will note later, he associates Jesus with production of righteousness.
Furthermore, we have already demonstrated that there is a similarity between our verse Ephesians 5:9 and Galatians 5:22-23 because of the phrase the fruit of the light but there is another similarity that has to do with the virtues or qualities associated with the production or the result of the light in Ephesians 5:9. The result or production of the light or of the Holy Spirit is given next in the NIV of our verse in the verbal phase consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth. The Greek contains no verb since literally the Greek reads in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Our English versions inserted the verb “is” or “consists” in their translations so that it makes sense to the English reader which indeed reflects what the apostle intended to communicate. This is because the literal phase in all goodness and righteousness and truth may be fully translated consisting of all goodness, righteousness, and truth. This is because the Greek preposition (en) translated “in” in the NIV also can be used as a marker of the substance of something and so means “consisting of.” It is this later meaning that was probably in the mind of the apostle since he was concerned with explaining what constitute the production or the result of the light. That aside, we are interested in the result or the production of the light or the Holy Spirit, that is, that which enables believers to know that they are living as children of light.
The result or production of the light or of the Holy Spirit the apostle is concerned involves virtues that even unbelievers are aware. Therefore, to ensure that the virtues he was concerned are those that uniquely characterize the children of the light, the apostle puts a qualification that is important to distinguish the virtue as reflected by believers from that of a religious unbeliever. The qualification the apostle puts is that the virtues that he mentioned are to be exhibited by believers in the highest degree of completeness possible on this planet. It is this idea of highest degree of completeness that is given in the word all of Ephesians 5:9. The word “all” is translated from a Greek adjective (pas) that no doubt means “all” but with different nuances. It can mean “all” in the sense of the totality of something but when there is focus on individual components that make up an object it has the meaning of “every,” “each” or “any.” The Greek word translated “all” could mean the highest degree of something so that the meaning “greatest” could be used in its translation, as it is used in 2 Corinthians 12:12:
The things that mark an apostle—signs, wonders and miracles—were done among you with great perseverance.
The phrase with great perseverance is more literally with all patient endurance. The word “all” can also pertain to the high degree of completeness or wholeness and so means “whole” as the apostle used it in the metaphor of building in Ephesians 2:21:
In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
It is in this sense of high degree of completeness that the word “all” is used in Ephesians 5:9. By the way, its use is for the three virtues the apostle mentioned in the verse. In other words, the apostle wants believers to recognize that a high degree of completeness is expected of them with respect to the virtues mentioned in the passage. This is because in the preceding section the apostle had urged believers not to imitate unbelievers therefore it makes sense that when he mentions virtues that could be espoused by unbelievers that he would be concerned that believers should outshine unbelievers or that they should exhibit these virtues to a high degree of completeness that unbelievers are incapable. We are saying that a believer’s reflection of any good qualities that an unbeliever could reflect should be in a higher degree of completeness of that good quality. It should not surprise us that the Holy Spirit through the apostle reveals that high degree of completeness of virtues mentioned in this passage is expected of believers since this kind of expectation was actually given by our Lord in His Sermon on the Mount when with respect to “righteousness” He indicated that disciples’ righteousness should exceed that of the religious Jews in Matthew 5:20:
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
When our Lord said that the righteousness of the disciples should surpass that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, He is saying that their righteousness should be superior to that of these Jewish leaders in the sense that it is God-centered and God produced. In effect, our Lord is saying to them that they must have an inner righteousness which is free from hypocrisy. This inner righteous is a faith-righteousness instead of a law righteousness. It is a righteousness that is of high degree of completeness. Anyway, we are not concerned at this time with the full interpretation of this passage in Matthew but only to indicate that what our Lord declared in it shows that a high degree of righteousness is expected of the disciples so we use it to support the point we have made, which is, that the apostle is concerned with the high degree of completeness of the virtues he mentioned in the passage we are considering that should characterize those who are the children of the light.
A first virtue the apostle mentioned in connection with children of the light that is the result of the light or the Holy Spirit is goodness as in the phrase in all goodness of the NIV of Ephesians 5:9. The word “goodness” (Greek agathōsynē) is that positive moral quality characterized, especially, by interest or concern in the welfare of others which is not stagnant but actively works itself out. It is a virtue that the Holy Spirit expects from believers so that the apostle could write in Romans 15:14:
I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.
Goodness in this passage in Romans could refer to “love” as a rule of Christian conduct or to the honesty and frankness with which believers deal with one another. The Greek word translated “goodness” in Ephesians 5:9 could also mean “generosity.” This meaning is possible in Galatians 5:22:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Most of our English versions rendered the Greek word “goodness” in Galatians 5:22 but the Revised NAB used the word “generosity” in its rendering of the Greek word. Anyhow, the fact that the Greek word that is translated “goodness” in Ephesians 5:9 is used in Galatians 5:22 that is concerned with the fruit of the Spirit should convince you that the phrase the fruit of the light is essentially the same as the phrase the fruit of the Spirit.
Goodness, as we have explained it, is positive moral quality characterized, especially, by interest or concern in the welfare of others which is not stagnant but actively works itself out. Thus, goodness should be evident in kindness or graciousness towards others where, of course, kindness manifests itself in words and deeds. We are saying that kindness that involves compassion and generosity is part of the goodness that should characterize the children of the light. Before we focus on this aspect of goodness, we need to remember firstly that “kindness” is a characteristic of God as the apostle indicates in his preaching of the gospel to the pagans in Lystra, as recorded, in Acts 14:17:
Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”
The sentence He has shown kindness may alternatively be translated by doing good since the Greek used a verb that means “to do good” which is related to the Greek noun that means “goodness” the apostle used in Ephesians 5:9. Secondly, kindness is evident in action. God’s kindness to all is reflected in the provision of rain and food for all as the apostle stated but his kindness is also evident in the salvation of the elect as the apostle indicates in Titus 3:4–5:
4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
Thirdly, kindness as an aspect of goodness is required of believers as the apostle had already commanded in this epistle to the Ephesians we are considering, specifically, in Ephesians 4:32:
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Fourthly, kindness as part of goodness is certainly rewarded. When you are kind to others the Lord will reward your kindness. This truth is conveyed in Proverbs 19:17:
He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done.
God, no doubt, rewards kindness and so when a person is kind to others it can be said that his kindness is beneficial to the individual, as indicated in Proverbs 11:17:
A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.
Fifthly, kindness as part of goodness is a virtue that unbelievers are capable of demonstrating. Thus, we have in the Scripture examples of unbelievers showing kindness to others. Evil-Merodach, the king of Babylon, who was no doubt an unbeliever showed kindness to Jehoiachin, king of Judah, as recorded in 2 Kings 25:28:
He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.
The Roman centurion, Julius, an unbeliever who was responsible for getting Paul to Rome showed kindness to him, as stated in Acts 27:3:
The next day we landed at Sidon; and Julius, in kindness to Paul, allowed him to go to his friends so they might provide for his needs.
The islanders of Malta also showed kindness to Paul and his fellow passengers following their ship wreck, as reported in Acts 28:2:
The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold.
Thus, it is clear that unbelievers are capable of goodness in form of kindness. Anyway, our concern is to recognize that kindness is part of goodness that should characterize the children of the light or that it is part of the production of the children of light which is produced in them by the Holy Spirit.
We need to emphasize that kindness is a part of goodness that is evident in words and actions. You can through kind words help or encourage someone who is suffering or in trouble since the Scripture declares that kind words can help someone in trouble in Proverbs 12:25:
An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.
Kindness is certainly most evident in the action one takes to help those in need. Anytime you do something to help someone in need you have shown kindness to that person. It is for this reason that the healing of the cripple man by the Apostle Peter is interpreted by the apostle as an act of kindness in Acts 4:9:
If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed,
The point is that kindness should be reflected in action that helps another person who is in need.
Be that as it may, we have asserted that the Apostle Paul wants us to know that believers who have the production of the Spirit are to reflect in high degree of completeness the virtues he listed in Ephesians 5:9. So far, our consideration has been on goodness, with specific focus on kindness. We have also noted that unbelievers are capable of goodness in terms of kindness so the question is how we should demonstrate goodness in form of kindness to a high degree of completeness. The way we do so is to show kindness to one that is underserving of it. Or put it in another way, we show a high degree of completeness of goodness when we show kindness to those who have hurt us in the past. Joseph is a good example of a believer who showed a high degree of completeness of kindness. His brothers wronged him by selling him into slavery but instead of retaliating when he had the power to do so, we are informed that he was kind to them as indicated in the kind of assurance he gave to them after the death of their father, as recorded in Genesis 50:21:
So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
Joseph displayed kindness to his brothers so that, as we have said, he is a good example of one upon whom the Spirit operated to reflect goodness. Those who do not have the production of goodness or kindness that is from the Spirit are generally forgetful of the kindness others have shown them. Thus, it is not surprising that when King Joash stopped receiving instruction from the word of God that he was said to forget the kindness of the priest Jehoiada so that he killed his son, as stated in 2 Chronicles 24:22:
King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son, who said as he lay dying, “May the Lord see this and call you to account.”
Joash’s attitude towards kindness of Jehoiada stands in stark contrast to that of David who because of his spiritual life did not forget the kindness shown to him by the father of Hanun that he moved to return that to his son although he did not receive proper response from the son of the man, as we read in 2 Samuel 10:2:
David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father. When David’s men came to the land of the Ammonites,
At any rate, when you show kindness to those who are antagonist against you or who have harmed you in the past then you are reflecting a high degree of completeness of goodness since unbelievers generally do not reflect that kind of goodness to those who are antagonistic towards them. In fact, such kindness shown to an antagonist will mean that you have obeyed the instruction of not returning evil to those who wrong you, as commanded in 1 Thessalonians 5:15:
Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
Anyhow, the first virtue that is the production of the Spirit that is associated with the children of God or the light is goodness. You are expected to reflect it in a high degree because that goodness is produced in you by the Holy Spirit unless, of course, you are not controlled by Him.
A second virtue the apostle mentioned in Ephesians 5:9 in connection with children of the light that is the result of the light or the Holy Spirt is righteousness. Because of the point we made previously we should read the word “righteousness” in our passage as all righteousness to reflect the connection of the word all to the three virtues mentioned in our passage.
Righteousness in a general sense is fulfillment of the expectations in any relationship, whether with God or other people. However, righteousness (Greek dikaiosynē) as used in the NT is sometimes used in the sense of “the requirements of God,” at other times in the sense of “what is right.” Our concern is to understand righteousness in our context. To begin with, we should state what it is not. It cannot be self-righteousness which is a moral self-confidence and superiority arising from satisfaction in one’s own achievements. There are several reasons we contend that the righteousness in our passage cannot be self-righteousness. First, self-righteousness causes a person to feel that the individual is deserving of something from God. It is for this reason that God cautioned Israel of self–righteousness when He drives their enemies away in Deuteronomy 9:4:
After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you.
The phrase my righteousness is actually a reference to self-righteousness or one’s good conduct. Second, self-righteousness creates in a person the pride of a sense of superiority as illustrated in the parable of our Lord about the Tax collector and the Pharisee, as recorded in Luke 18:9–12:
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
Third, self-righteousness creates in a person the sense of sinlessness so that the person starts having the illusion that the individual does not sin by which, of course, the individual means that the person is not involved in some obvious sins such as sexual immorality but in truth the person sins by such an attitude of claiming to be without sin. It is this kind of person that the Holy Spirit put in the mind of the Apostle John when he penned 1 John 1:8:
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
It is not difficult to become self-righteous if things are going well with a person. This was the case with the church of Laodicea that the Lord denounced in Revelation 3:17–18:
17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
The point is that righteousness that is considered the result or production of the light or the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 5:9 cannot be self-righteousness.
There is more. The righteousness that is the result or production of the light or the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 5:9 cannot refer to God’s saving righteousness or His way of putting people in right relationship with Him that comes through faith in Christ, as mentioned in Romans 3:21–22:
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
The righteousness that is involved in God putting people right with Him is clearly a gift that is directed towards the elect or those saved as the Apostle Paul implied in Romans 5:17:
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
In any event, the righteousness in Ephesians 5:9 cannot refer to saving righteousness of God that is gift to those saved through faith in Christ.
Having indicated what righteousness could not mean in our context, so what is it you may ask? In our particular context where the concern is the production of the Holy Spirit or the light, it refers to a life or lifestyle in conformity to justice, law, or morality as given by God. Bearing in mind that the word all of Ephesians 5:9 that we indicated has the sense of high degree of completeness applies to the word righteousness then the righteousness in view must be something of high degree of completeness than anything an unbeliever can produce. It is certainly the case because the righteousness we are concerned with is only available to those who have received the saving righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. This being the case, the righteousness in our passage is concerned with character that the Holy Spirit produces in a person. It is that which is concerned with truly inner good qualities that the Holy Spirit produces in a person which find outward expression towards others. In effect, in contrast to the saving righteousness of God that its primary target is the elect, the righteousness we have in our passage has its primary target humans – believers and unbelievers. These inner good qualities that are the concern of righteousness in our passage are similar to what the apostle stated in Philippians 1:11:
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
The righteousness in Philippians refers to the good qualities inside the believer that are only produced by Jesus Christ. These inner good qualities that the Holy Spirit produces in a believer is not a permanent possession of the believer unlike the saving righteousness. We say this first because whatever that is considered the fruit or production of the Holy Spirit will only be present in the believer when the Holy Spirit is in control of the believer but becomes absent when the Holy Spirit is no longer in control of the believer. Furthermore, if the righteousness that is the production of the Holy Spirit or the light is permanent there would have been no need to encourage believer to pursue righteousness, as we find, for example, in 1 Timothy 6:11:
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
The righteousness to be pursued refers to the kind of lifestyle or conduct God expects and requires of those who are believers in Christ. This kind of lifestyle is only possible if it is produced by the Holy Spirit. This again is the righteousness that we have in Ephesians 5:9 so we know that it is not something that is permanent but something that we should keep striving for, implying we should continue to seek being under the control of the Holy Spirit. In any event, when the righteousness that is produced by the Holy Spirit is present in the believer then that righteousness will manifest itself in various ways. For example, when such righteousness is present the believer will treat others with fairness or be just to all. The individual will carry out activities that God expects of believers but such a person will do it in the right spirit and not for vain glory. This means that the kinds of activities that reflect righteous acts will be conducted in keeping with the instruction of the Lord as given in Matthew 6:1–4:
1“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
The point is that a second virtue the apostle mentioned in Ephesians 5:9 in connection with children of the light that is the result of the light or the Holy Spirt is righteousness that refers to inner good qualities that the Holy Spirit produces in a believer such as treating everyone fairly or doing what is right to everyone. If you exhibit the Spirit produced righteousness you should experience peace, as implied Isaiah 32:17:
The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.
A third virtue the apostle mentioned in Ephesians 5:9 in connection with children of the light that is the result of the light or the Holy Spirt is truth according to the NIV. The Greek word (alētheia) translated “truth” in the NIV has several meanings. The word can mean the content of what is true as opposed to that which is false. The apostle already used the word in this sense in his instruction of believer’s speech with respect to others in Ephesians 4:25:
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
The meaning of the word in the sense of the content of what is true can refer to content of the Christian faith as ultimate truth as that is the sense that the word is used by the apostle in his instruction to Timothy and so to all pastors in 2 Timothy 2:15:
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
Another meaning of the Greek word in question is reality or true as opposed to mere appearance as it is used in Philippians 1:18:
But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,
Still another meaning of the word is truthfulness or dependability. It is in this sense that the Greek word is used in Romans 3:7:
Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?”
Of the various meanings of the Greek word, it is that of “truthfulness” or “dependability” that is appropriate in Ephesians 5:9. This means that the production or the result of the light or being controlled by the Holy Spirit is truthfulness or dependability. The high degree of truthfulness expected of believers implies that a believer should be characterized by truthfulness in all he or she does. You see, unbelievers can be selectively truthful in that in some areas of life they do not see the need to tell the truth but such should never be the case with believers. In effect, we are saying that when people speak of “white lie”, to the believer there should not be such a thing. Displaying to a high degree life of truthfulness demands we become truthful in all our dealings.
The virtues we have considered are those that are the result or production of the light in Ephesians 5:9. Again, these virtues confirm our interpretation that the phrase the light is a reference to God but specifically the Holy Spirit since the virtues we have considered are essentially the same as the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in the passage we cited previously, that is, in Galatians 5:22–23:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law
Therefore, as a child of God you should desire to be controlled by the Holy Spirit so that you can reflect goodness, especially, in terms of kindness towards others. You should strive to reflect righteousness in the sense of treating all fairly and doing by them what is right all the time. You should strive to be truthful in all your dealings with other people. If you do these things then you reflect that you are living as children of light or God.