Ephesians 5:11 "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." “Have no fellowship … darkness”: Paul’s instruction is plain and direct: Christians are to faithfully live in righteousness and purity and have nothing at all to do with the evil ways and works of Satan and the world. The two ways of living are unalterably opposed to each other and mutually exclusive (1 Cor. 5:9-11; 2 Cor. 6:14-18; 2 Thess. 3:6, 14). “Rather reprove them”: The Christians responsibility does not stop with his own rejection of evil. He is also responsible for exposing and opposing darkness wherever it is found, especially when it is found in the church. The child of light should not become involved in evil even by association. To compromise God’s standards is to weaken our witness as well as our character. No act of unrighteousness is permissible. We are not even to have contact at all with a fellow believer who is openly sinning. “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people,” Paul said to the Corinthians. I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters; for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so called brother if he should be an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler, not even to eat with such a one” (1 Cor. 5:9-11; 2 Thess. 3:6, 14). “Reprove” is better translated “expose.” The believer’s duty is expressed here in two ways. Negatively, he is not to “have” and “fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,” that is, not to indulge in the sins of the unsaved. Positively, he is to “expose” (reprove) those sins, that is, bring them to light and show them for what they really are, so that the unbeliever may see their hideous nature and their terrible consequences. To ignore evil is to encourage it; to keep quiet about it is to help promote it. We are to confront sin with intolerance. When those around us see us helping rather than exploiting, hears us talking with purity instead of profanity and observe us speaking truthfully rather that deceitfully, our example will itself be a rebuke of selfishness, unwholesome talk and falsehood. Simply refusing to participate in a dishonest business or social practice will sometimes be such a strong rebuke that it costs us our job or a friendship. The works of those dwelling in darkness produce no profitable fruit. To fellowship with someone means that you are partakers with them. We should not only not join in with them in their evil deeds, but we should tell them of their evil deeds, so that they might be encouraged to change.
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 09:35:17 +0000
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