Ephesians 5:15-20
Filled with the Spirit
5:15 Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise,
5:16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil.
5:17 So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
5:18 Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
5:19 as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts.
5:20 giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[15] Βλέπετε οὖν πῶς ἀκριβῶς περιπατεῖτε, μὴ ὡς ἄσοφοι, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς σοφοί,
[16] ἐξαγοραζόμενοι τὸν καιρόν, ὅτι αἱ ἡμέραι πονηραί εἰσι.
[17] διὰ τοῦτο μὴ γίνεσθε ἄφρονες, ἀλλὰ συνιέντες τί τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Κυρίου.
[18]καὶ μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ, ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν ἀσωτία, ἀλλὰ πληροῦσθε ἐν Πνεύματι,
[19] λαλοῦντες ἑαυτοῖς ψαλμοῖς καὶ ὕμνοις καὶ ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς, ᾄδοντες καὶ ψάλλοντες ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ὑμῶν τῷ Κυρίῳ,
[20] εὐχαριστοῦντες πάντοτε ὑπὲρ πάντων ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ πατρί.
Comments
[15] Βλέπετε: an interesting vb, βλέπω in cl. Gk means ‘I have the power of sight, I can see’ (as opp. to ὁρῶ, άω, ‘I perceive by sight’); ‘look at’, trans. (cf. LSJ s.v .βλέπω, Α.Ι; Camb. Lex. AG, 4). Ιn LXX the vb occurs in a hortatory context with the figurative meaning, ‘see to it that it happens’, with imperative, 2 K 15:27 (Muraoka s. v. 7). In St Paul likewise the vb is ‘paraenetic’: ‘pay attention, be concerned about’ (EDNT s. v., p. 222). Thus here: ‘See to how you conduct yourselves…’
περιπατεῖτε: ‘walk (imper.) in love’. περιπατῶ (άω), ‘I walk’ (in a colonnade) is used in the figurative sense (implying conduct or a way of life) which is common only in St John’s writings and in St Paul (EDNTG, s.v., p. 75). The metaphor can be matched in the OT, and has some analogues in Greek philosophy.
[16] ἐξαγοραζόμενοι τὸν καιρόν: εξαγοράζω (late Gk); in LXX Da. 2.8 εξαγοράζω καιρόν, ‘gain time’ (Muraoka s.v.). The basic meaning of the active form is ‘take advantage of’. St Paul uses the middle voice, ‘take advantage of for myself, avail myself of’.
καιρός in cl. Gk usually has a temporal sense (with an underlying notion of proportionality): ‘exact or critical time, season, opportunity’ (LSJ s.v., III). The time or moment can be dangerous or more often, favourable. Either way it is decisive. (One may think of Lysippos’ late 4th c. BC bronze statue of the ephebic god Kairos striding on tiptoe and carrying a razor in his right hand. A pair of scales is balanced on the razor’s edge. The swiftness or precariousness of opportunity is sharper than a razor’s edge, according to an ancient interpretation of the sculpture.)[1] For theologians the term is eschatological (see EDNT, s.v. καιρός, p. 233).
[17] συνιέντες: pres. part., 3rd pers. pl., nomin. < συνίημι (cl. Gk), ‘understand, comprehend‘, c. acc. rei (LSJ II.3); here followed by an indirect question (‘what is the will of the Lord’).
[18] μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ: causal form of μεθύω (‘I am drunk’), hence μεθύσκω = ‘I make drunk, intoxicate’ (LSJ s.v. I.1). μεθύσκομαι, pass. vc, as here = ‘I get drunk’ (LSJ s.v. μεθύσκω, ΙΙ.1). οἴνῳ, dat. of instrument or means (‘with wine’) seems pleonastic, but cf. μεθύσκω ἑαυτὴν οἴνῳ, Lucian, Syrian Goddess 22. There is a point to the redundant word: it is in counterpoint, and parallel to, the Holy Spirit, ἐν Πνεύματι ,with which the Ephesians are urged to ‘be filled’, πληροῦσθε.
Μεθύσκω & μεθύω are etym. related to the Engl. word mead.
[19] λαλοῦντες ἑαυτοῖς ψαλμοῖς: ‘speaking to yourselves in psalms’ (as against the slurring speech of drunkenness!). λαλῶ (έω), ‘speak, talk’. EDNT s.v., p. 335 nicely sums up the semantic shift that seems to have occurred already in the classical period: ‘The original meaning of λαλέω was babble, stammer; it was onomatopoeic for the unassisted expression of small children. Then transferred to adult usage, it came to mean chatter, prattle, in deliberate contrast to reasonable speech (➣ λέγω). However, already in classical Greek λαλέω, like λέγω, meant speak, talk.’ λαλῶ in the sense ‘speak’ continues in use in certain modern Greek dialects, e.g. Cypriot.
[20] εὐχαριστοῦντες πάντοτε ὑπὲρ πάντων: ’thanking for all time for all’, a play on πάντ-, ‘all, every’—a pun or figura etymologica. πάντοτε, early koine ‘always’ (used by Aristotle & LXX); late antique Atticists (purists) preferred ἀεί.
[1] D. Boschung, Kairos as a figuration of time, A case study, Cologne, 2013, esp. 30 ff.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 