For the Fruit of the Spirit is in all Goodness and Righteousness and Truth

4-26-24

Ephesians 5:1-33

As I prayed this morning, I asked God to continue to teach me how to walk in the Spirit and crucify my flesh.  The Holy Spirit led me to Ephesians 5.  I chose to read it in the KJV so as not to let my preconceived understanding and ideas of this passage sway me.  As I read, I struggled with the text because the wording was so unfamiliar and strange because of the KJV old English wording.  Half way through the passage the Holy Spirit showed me to read it as Commands followed by subordinate clauses and to pick out the commands.  This is what I found. 

If I diagram the passage into commands with their subordinate clauses it reads like this:

• Command 1
  • Be followers of God,
    • As dear children

• Command 2
  •   Walk in love,
    • As Christ hath loved us
    • And hath given himself for us
    • As an offering and sacrifice to God
    • For a sweetsmelling savour

• Command 3
  • Let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints:
    • Fornication,
    • All uncleanness,
    • Covetousness,
    • Filthiness,
    • Foolish talking,
    • Jesting,
      • Which are not convenient                 

• Command 4
  • But rather giving of thanks
    • For this ye know,
    • That no whoremonger,
    • Nor unclean person,
    • Nor covetous man,
      • Who is an idolater, 
    • Hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of
      • Christ and of God

• Command 5
  • Let no man deceive you with vain words:
    • For because of these things [listed above]
    • cometh the wrath of God
    • Upon the children of disobedience.

• Command 6
  • Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
    • For ye were sometimes darkness,
    • But now are ye light in the Lord:

• Command 7
  • Walk as children of light:
    • (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all
      • goodness and righteousness and truth;)
    • Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

• Command 8
  • And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,

• Command 9
  • But rather reprove them [expose them].
    • For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
    • For whatsoever doth make manifest [make visible] is light. Wherefore he saith,
      • Awake thou that sleepest,
      • and arise from the dead,
      • and Christ shall give thee light.
    • But all things that are reproved [exposed] are made manifest [made visible] by the light:

• Command 10
  • See then that ye walk circumspectly [be careful how you live],
    • Not as fools,
    • But as wise,
    • Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

• Command 11
  • Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understand what the will of
    • the Lord is:
• (Two sub-commands of what the Will of the Lord is)
  • 1) And be not drunk with wine, [Do Not Seek To Please The Flesh]
    • Wherein is excess;
  • 2) But be filled with the Spirit;
  • [“Evidence Of” and “How to Continually Be Filled” With The Spirit. The “…ing” statements]
    • a) Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
      • [Horizontal relationship with others through the Spirit]
    • b) Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
      • [Internal relationship with yourself to the Lord through the Spirit of the Lord]
    • c) Giving thanks always for all things
      • [Vertical relationship with the Father through the Spirit]
        • Unto God and the Father
        • In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
    • d). Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God
• [Relational Examples of Submitting to One Another in “The Fear of God” and “Understanding His Will”]
  • Wives unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord [submit not in the original Greek]
    • For the husband is the head of the wife,
      • even as Christ is the head of the church:
      • And he is the saviour of the body.
    • Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ,
      • So let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
  • Husbands, love your wives,
    • even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
    • That he might sanctify and cleanse it
      • with the washing of water by the word,
    • That he might present it to himself a glorious church,
      • not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;
      • but that it should be holy and without blemish.
    • So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.
      • He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
      • For no man ever yet hated his own flesh;
        • but nourisheth and cherisheth it,
        • even as the Lord the church:
        • For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
      • For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife,
        • and they two shall be one flesh.
        • This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
    • Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his  wife even as himself;
    • And the wife see that she reverence her husband.

If I want to walk in the Spirit, here are some commands to follow that will help me do so:

• Be a follower of God,
• Walk in love,
• Let there be in me no sexual immorality, uncleanness, covetousness, or foolish talk,
• Give thanks in everything,
• Let no man deceive me with vain words,
• Be not therefore a partaker with them,
• Walk as a child of light,
• Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
• Reprove them [expose the unfruitful works of darkness],
• See then that I walk circumspectly [be careful how I live – live wisely],
• Wherefore be not unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is:
  • 1) Be not drunk with wine,
  • 2) Be filled with the Spirit [by];
    • a) Speaking to others in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
    • b) Singing and making melody in my heart to the Lord,
    • c) Giving thanks always for all things,
    • d). Submitting myself to others in the fear of God.

Walking in the Spirit is living a life of continual submission and surrender to the authority of God and His Word.  It’s doing it willingly, willfully, and joyfully.

Father, thank you for loving me, hearing my prayers and answering them. Help me to walk in the Spirit and to choose you above everything else.  I willingly, willfully, and joyfully surrender and submit my will to yours knowing that you want the best for me.  I love you and praise you and pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.