Ephesians 5:11

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Ephesians 5:11

Having instructed the reader to prove what is acceptable to God, now the apostle directs the reader on what to do when those things tested do not hold up. What happens when the coin is not made of the metal it purports to be? What happens when the value of the coin is not what it claims to be? What happens when the fruit doesn’t taste like it ought to taste?

There are two directions given. First, do not be associated with it. Second, show its faults.

1. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness

The word for ‘fellowship’ here means literally ‘share together’. It means to actively participate with someone in an activity. What level of involvement should a Christian have with works of darkness? None. It’s all encompassing. As the people of God are to love Him with ALL, so to is their involvement with works of darkness to be NONE. These two actions are polar opposites.

In this, we see Jesus having meals with sinners, but not participating in the sin. Beware the calls of those who cry such a slogan that ‘Jesus was a friend of sinners’ in order to justify their own participation in sinful behavior. It is clear from the life of Christ, our High Priest and example, that it is indeed possible to interact with sinners, yet not be drawn into their sin, to do so however, requires one to heed the words of Paul in verse 10 – to test what is acceptable to the Lord.

One more note to make about this part of the verse. The works of darkness are described in the KJV as being unfruitful. This words means literally, ‘barren’. In every person’s life, we are limited by a finite amount of time. This time is what we use to do any kind of work in our life (work being any type of activity). Thus we can surmise that there is a limited amount of works that we can fit into our time because our time is limited. It is interesting that the works of darkness are described as barren. That could perhaps be voiced like this: the works of darkness bring with them a barrenness to the tree. They poison the tree. It’s not that the the works themselves are barren. They have an outcome, but its not the desired for a fruit tree. It brings death. So it is that James will tell us that ‘sin when it is finished, brings forth death’.

2. But rather reprove them

There is here a progression. First, have no fellowship with said work of darkness. Then, expose it for what it really is. It’s an echo of Jesus’ command to first ‘cast out the beam in thine own eye.’ Before reproving, you must abandon such behavior yourself.

Now that you have ensured you have no association with what you have identified as a work of darkness, you have the responsibility to expose it – to tell its fault. This falls straight in line with the oft mis-quoted words of Christ: ‘Judge not that ye be not judged.’ Christ was not telling us to not judge, but rather, before we judge, be aware that we will be judged by every word we speak. (Luke 6:37, Mat 12:37)

If anything, what Paul here is telling the reader is that there is an expectation that when a work of darkness is discovered, there will be exposure of it. There is something deeper in this: the exposure doesn’t necessarily mean you’re advertising it to everyone, or even speaking it publicly. It does mean you are exposing it. To expose requires action. It’s not simply thought. It harks to the idea of confessing sin. It’s manifesting the recognition that one has inside, for it is written, ‘If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive . . .” (1Jo1:9) It does not say we think, but rather, confess. It is important for us to take what happens in our cognition and manifest it, in word and action, therefore speaks the apostle, 1. Have no fellowship (the anti-action) 2. Reprove (the words) Note the order that it comes in. First the actions, or abstinence from in this scenario, then the words.

May we so act then speak.

Note:

That there are works of darkness by inference means there are works of light. The idea that the Christian is not responsible for works is nonsense, but rather, the kind of works. These works are clearly things that the individual must choose to participate in as opposed to some ‘grace’ of God that compels them to do or not do. We can see this here, for why else would the apostle instruct the reader to not partake in works of darkness if it was not to do with their will? And thus by inference, why tell someone to walk as a child of God (to act) if the will to act is not our own? As such, we see that the teachings of Calvinism do not line up with the Word of God.