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ff. contrasted with Eph. 5:22; and compare Rom. 2:7 zwh;n aijwvnion , 9 ojrgh; kai; qumov" .
ma'llon dev ...] The Christian is not only to have light; but as he is light, he must spread it, and that in virtue of its very nature. He must not only avoid evil: he must expose it.
ejlevgcete ] Shew it to be what it truly is: Matt. 18:15; John 3:20; 16:8; 1 Cor. 14:24.

12. ta; gavr ...] Their offences require only to be recognised as what they are in order that they may be condemned at once; while we naturally shrink from discussing them.
uJpj aujtw'n ] i.e. the source of disobedience Eph. 5:6. The verses 8-10 are substantially parenthetical, and vs. 11 takes up vs. 7.

13. And yet more follows: the evil is not only condemned, it is destroyed. All things, when they are convicted , tried, tested, shewn to be what they really are, by the light, are made manifest ; and that only can bear the light and be made manifest, which is akin to it. Darkness perishes in its presence. For everything that is made manifest is light (Latt. omne enim quod manifestatur lumen est ), it is manifest only so far as it partakes of the light. A man who receives the light of Christ reflects it. He cannot receive it except so far as he has affinity with it, and he cannot receive it without reflecting it. The light is itself a purifying force. When it acts it brings out all that is able to sustain its presence. All else ‘is null, is nought.’

Compare John 3:20 f. which serves as a commentary on this passage. The course of the argument is certainly obscure, but it is inconceivable that after fanerou'tai , which is unquestionably passive, the fanerouvmenon in the next clause which obviously refers to it should be ‘middle.’ Nor indeed is there any force in the statement ‘for everything that makes manifest is light.’ On the other hand if we suppose that St Paul is filled with the thought that darkness flies before the light, the pa'n ga;r fanerouvmenon becomes intelligible: ‘All things being tested by the light are made manifest. And this is what we desire; the darkness goes from them; for everything that is made manifest is light.’ This thought is illustrated by the quotation which follows. So Primasius: Incipit lumen esse cum credit et nobis jungitur. There is a similar assumption of an unexpressed consequence in Eph. 5:29.

14. dio; levgei ...] Wherefore , because the light has this transforming power, the poet saith .... Just as the subject of levgei in 4:8 is the author of the familiar Psalm, so
here the subject is the author of the Hymn, of which however no other trace has been preserved. Comp. Is. 60:1.
e[geire...ajnavsta ] awake from sleep ...arise to action.
ajnavsta ejk t. n. ] John 5:25 ajmh;n ajmh;n levgw uJmi'n o{ti e[rcetai w{ra kai; nu'n ejsti;n o{te oiJ nekroi; ajkouvsousin th'" fwnh'" tou' uiJou' tou' qeou' kai; oiJ ajkouvsante" zhvsousin . For tw'n n. comp. Col. 1:18 || Apoc. 1:18 (not Col. 2:12): elsewhere (40 times) ejk nekrw'n .
ejpifauvsei soi ] V. illuminabit ( illucescet ) te ( tibi ), Christ shall shine upon thee , and in His light thou too shalt become light. For ejpif . see Gen. 44:3. The V. L. implies the reading ejpiyauvsei soi oJ cristov" or ejpiyauvsei" tou' cristou' and gives continget te Christus or continges Christum.

In looking back over the sanctions on which the different precepts (Eph. 4:25- 5:14) are based, it will be seen that they spring from the relation of the believer to Christ. The loftiest Christian doctrine becomes the motive of the simplest duty. Truthfulness rests on the position in which we stand towards one another as members of one body (4:25). Undisciplined resentment opens a way to Christ's


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