Ephesians 5:14 – Christ the Light

“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. “

Having made the point that it is light that reveals, the writer now goes into detail as to the nature of the revealing light. From where Paul is quoting is not readily apparent as there is no exact match, but it appears closest to Isaiah 60:1 where it says Isa 60:1  “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. “

It can be readily ascertained from the gospel of Isaiah that there is a call to the people of God to ‘Awake!’ Another similar text is found in Isaiah 52:1. It speaks to the responsibility of the individual to wake themself. In here find we one of the heated arguments of Christianity – freewill vs predestination. It should be apparent that both are at play. There is a responsibility for the individual to wake themselves, but the waking is in vain if there is no help from God.

It’s not from the individual themself that light comes, but from the Messiah who gives light. In this sequence of events find we a strange order in that the individual is told to ‘arise from the dead’ so that Christ can give light. In this we see a peculiar order that many learned men have stumbled over.

That it is through Christ alone that we have life is of no question. There can be no resurrection without Him, however, so to do we see that there is a responsibility for the individual to ‘arise from the dead’ before all that. How does one do that? Jesus has a discourse on very similar material. In John 3:20-21, He speaks of how they that do evil do not come to the light lest their works be reproved (same language Paul uses) But all who do truth come to the light! That is the ‘rising from the dead’.

The rising from the dead is akin to repentance. It’s a turning towards the light – Christ. The light has come, now the choice belongs to each individual as to whether they will turn to the light or hide in the darkness. The Scripture makes it clear as to what we ought to do: Awake! Arise, and Christ will give light and life!

To ‘rise from the dead’ before life has come is an act of faith. It’s the individual stepping forward believing that if they allow the light to make manifest all areas of their life, the end result will be for their own good and will bring life.

Whilst not directly quoting Scripture as we know it, it’s apparent that Paul’s arguments are not founded on his own reasoning alone, but have the Old Testament Scriptures backing what he is writing. His message to the church at Ephesus rings true even today: Awake! Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light! Light with which to walk securely in a world filled with chaos, lies, and uncertainty.

Notes:

Christ gives light, for He is the Word which was in the beginning, when God spoke. The light that burst forth on day one of Creation. He is the Word made flesh, the Word that is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path.