to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — present middle or passive deponent imperative, 2nd person plural
not
μὴmē
G3361
(adverb) not · particle — negative
ye
γίνομαιgínomai
G1096
to cause to be ("gen"-erate)
therefore
οὖνoun
G3767
(adverbially) certainly · conjunction
partakers
συμμέτοχοιsummetochoi
G4830
a co-participant · adjective — nominative plural masculine
them
αὐτῶν.autōn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of…
1 Timothy 5:22 Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.
Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Numbers 16:26 And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be…
Psalms 50:18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.
Proverbs 1:10-17 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
Proverbs 13:20 He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
Proverbs 9:6 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ephesians 5:3-20
These verses contain a caution against all manner of uncleanness, with proper remedies and arguments proposed: some further cautions are added, and other duties recommended. Filthy lusts must be suppressed, in order to the supporting of holy love. Walk in love, and shun fornication and all uncleanness. Fornication is folly committed between unmarried persons. All uncleanness includes all other sorts of filthy lusts, which were too common among the Gentiles. Or covetousness, which being thus connected, and mentioned as a thing which should not be once named, some understand it, in the chaste style of the scripture, of unnatural lust; while others take it in the more common sense, for an immod…
Here fellowship with wicked workers is forbidden; in Eph 5:11, with their wicked works.
Adam Clarke on Ephesians 5:7
Be not ye therefore partakers with them - Do not act as your fellow citizens do; nor suffer their philosophy, to it in vain words, κενοις λογοις, with empty and illusive doctrines, to lead you astray from the path of truth.
That there was much need for such directions and cautions to the people of Ephesus has been often remarked. It appears, from Athenaeus, that these people were addicted to luxury, effeminacy etc. He tells us that the famous Aspasia, who was herself of the Socratic sect, brought a vast number of beautiful women into Greece, and by their means filled the country with prostitutes, και επληθυνεν απο των ταυτης ἑταιριδων ἡ Ελλας, lib. xiii. cap. 25. Ibid. cap. 31, he observes…
Be not ye therefore partakers with them. In their sins, and acts of disobedience; by keeping needless company with them; by abetting and encouraging sinful practices; by conniving at them, and not reproving for them; or by committing the same things.
The Church Fathers
Again to the Ephesians: "Be not, then, partners with them: for ye were at one time darkness." And yet more earnestly: "Communicate not with the unfruitful works of darkness; nay rather withal convict them.
"Once you were darkness" suggests ignorance. No one sees clearly in shadows. The ignorance referred to is disbelief, harking back to pagan days. Those who lived in darkness have been drawn to faith by the grace of God, which has been brought to light, that is, truth. Things that exist are made apparent in the light. Paganism remains deluded as with covered eyes they celebrate their own mysteries as if in the shadows of a cave.
Observe how wisely he urges them forward; first, from the thought of Christ, that ye love one another, and do injury to no man; then, on the other hand, from the thought of punishment and hell-fire. "For ye were once darkness," says he, "but are now light in the Lord." Which is what he says also in the Epistle to the Romans; "What fruit then had ye at that time in the things whereof ye are now ashamed?" (Rom. vi. 21), and reminds them of their former wickedness. That is to say, thinking what ye once were, and what ye are now become, do not run back into your former wickedness, nor do "despite to the grace" (Heb. x. 29) of God. "Ye were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord!" Not, he says, by your own virtue, but through the grace of God has this accrued to you. That is to say, ye also were sometime worthy of the same punishments, but now are so no more. "Walk" therefore "as children of light." What is meant however by "children of light," he adds afterwards.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Ephesians, Epistle to — Was written by Paul at Rome about the same time as that to the Colossians, which in many points it resembles. Contents of. The Epistle to the Colossians is mainly polemical, designed to refute…
Alliance And Society With The Enemies Of God · Exhortations to hate and avoid — Exhortations to hate and avoid
Company · EVIL — EVIL
Sanctification · Should lead to: Holiness — Should lead to: Holiness
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Ephesians 5:3-7
Ephesians 5: 3-7
3. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
3. Scortatio vero et omnis immundities, aut avaritia, ne nominentur quidem inter vos; sicut decet sanctos.
4. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient; but rather giving of thanks.
4. Turpitudo, stultiloquium, facetia; quae non conveniunt, sed magis gratia.
5. 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.
5. Hoc enim scitis, quod omnis scortator, vel immundus, vel avarus, qui est idololatra, non obtinebit haeredi…
