Ephesians Series: Ephesians 5:14a-Church Age Believers Who Are Characterized by Spiritual Light Reveal Sin to Unregenerate Sinners
Lesson # 345
Ephesians 5:12 For these unfruitful activities being practiced by them secretly are a shameful disgrace to even mention. 13 However, because each and every one of these things are being habitually exposed by those who are characterized by spiritual light, they are being habitually revealed (as sin to those characterized by spiritual darkness and disobedience) by those who are characterized by spiritual light. 14 For anyone who for their own benefit makes it their habit of revealing (to those characterized by spiritual darkness that their unfruitful activities practiced secretly are sin against a holy God) is characterized by spiritual light. Therefore, it says, “Those who sleep, awake forever! Correspondingly, rise from the dead ones! Consequently, the one and only Christ will as a certainty shine upon you.” (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 5:14 is composed of the following:
(1) Causal clause: pan gar to phaneroumenon phōs estin (πᾶν γὰρ τὸ φανερούμενον φῶς ἐστιν), “For anyone who for their own benefit makes it their habit of revealing (to those characterized by spiritual darkness that their unfruitful activities practiced secretly are sin against a holy God) is characterized by spiritual light.” (Lecturer’s translation)
(2) Marker of an Inferential Quotation: dio legei (διὸ λέγει), “Therefore, it says” (Lecturer’s translation)
(3) Command: egeire, ho katheudōn (ἔγειρε, ὁ καθεύδων), “Those who sleep, awake forever!” (Lecturer’s translation)
(4) Command: kai anasta ek tōn nekrōn (καὶ ἀνάστα ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν), “Correspondingly, rise from the dead ones!” (Lecturer’s translation)
(5) Result clause: kai ⸂epiphausei soi ho Christos (καὶ ἐπιφαύσει σοι ὁ Χριστός), “Consequently, the one and only Christ will as a certainty shine upon you.” (Lecturer’s translation)
The causal clause in Ephesians 5:14 contains the adjective pas (πᾶς), which pertains to anyone of a totality.
The referent of this word is identified in Ephesians 5:13 as those who are characterized by spiritual light, which we noted is a reference to church age believers.
This is indicated by the fact that this adjective is employed with the noun phōs (φῶς), “those characterized by spiritual light,” here in Ephesians 5:14.
In fact, the latter is making an assertion about the former that they are characterized by spiritual light.
This interpretation of the adjective pas (πᾶς) in Ephesians 5:14 is indicated by the fact that it is in the neuter singular form whereas in Ephesians 5:13 it is in the neuter plural form whose referent is the unfruitful activities practiced secretly by unregenerate humanity.
Therefore, the referent of this adjective in Ephesians 5:14 is not the referent of the adjective pas (πᾶς) in Ephesians 5:13.
These activities are identified in Ephesians 5:3 as sexual immorality in the form of temple prostitution, sexual impurity of any kind, and greed.
Therefore, in Ephesians 5:14, the referent of the neuter singular neuter singular form of the verb phaneroō (φανερόω) is also the church age believer.
Consequently, the verb phaneroō (φανερόω) in Ephesians 5:14 should be interpreted as being in the middle voice or as a medial passive rather than a passive, which was the case when the word appears in Ephesians 5:13.
Here in the former, the verb means “to reveal” since it pertains to causing something to be fully known by revealing clearly and in some detail.
Thus, it refers to the church age believer revealing to unregenerate members of the human race that the activities practiced by them in secret are sin against a holy God.
Many expositors like Thielman argue that “in the forty-eight other uses of φανερόω (phaneroō) in the NT (and one in the LXX), the term never appears in the middle voice, and Paul has just used the term in the preceding phrase in the passive voice. A middle sense here, then, is unlikely in the extreme.”
This assertion is incorrect because in several passages φανερόω (phaneroō) functions as a medial passive.
For example, in John 7:4, it is employed with the reflexive pronoun seautou (σεαυτοῦ), “yourself,” which indicates that although verb is in the passive form, it is middle voice meaning.
Here it would be interpreted as a redundant middle, which is used in a reflexive manner with a reflexive pronoun.
Thus, this would indicate that the Lord’s family was demanding that He “show Himself” to the world that He is the Messiah of Israel.
This construction also appears in John 21:1 expressing the idea of Jesus “revealing Himself” to His disciples after His resurrection and in 1 Peter 5:4, Peter asserts that when Christ, the believer will receive the crown of glory that never fades away.
Clearly, the verb is middle in meaning and functions as a causative middle, which means that the subject has done something for or to himself or herself and implies both source and results expressing that the Lord Jesus Christ “causes Himself to appear” at the rapture.
The verb appears in the same fashion in relation to the rapture in 1 John 2:28 and in this verse the middle voice is also a causative middle expressing the idea of the Lord “causing Himself to appear.”
In both 1 Peter 5:4 and 1 John 2:28 there is no expressed agency in these passages and in the context of each of these verses, there is no unexpressed or implied agency to be found, which would be required if the verb was in the passive voice.
In Ephesians 5:14, the middle voice of the verb phaneroō (φανερόω) is an indirect middle which expresses the idea that the church age believer is “benefiting themselves” by revealing the activities practiced in secret by unregenerate humanity as sin against a holy God.
It would benefit them because by leading unregenerate sinners to exercise faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior would result in rewards for them at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church (1 Cor. 3:11-15; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rom. 14:10-12), which immediately follows the rapture or resurrection of the church, which is imminent.
In Galatians 6:9-10, Paul teaches the Galatian Christian community that they will be rewarded not only for doing good on behalf of the Christian community but also the non-Christian.
In this passage, reaping speaks of receiving rewards at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church which takes place immediately after the rapture or resurrection of the church, which is imminent.
Galatians 6:9 So we must not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith. (NET)
Now, in Ephesians 5:14, the present tense of the verb phaneroō (φανερόω) is a customary present which expresses the idea of the church age believer being characterized by spiritual light “making it their habit” of revealing to the non-believer that the unfruitful activities practiced by them in secret are sin.
As was the case in Ephesians 5:8, 9 and 13, the noun phōs (φῶς) in Ephesians 5:14 is used in a metaphorical or figurative sense to describe a regenerate human being who has been spiritually enlightened as a result of the Father declaring them justified through faith in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
Specifically, it refers to the recipients of this epistle who are members of the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia. Therefore, this word is a figurative reference to church age believers.
Church age believers are characterized by spiritual light because they are enlightened children of God as a result of the imputing His Son’s righteousness to them the moment they exercised faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
At that moment, the Father imputed or credited His Son’s righteousness to them and also placed them in union with His Son and identified them with His Son in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at His right hand through the baptism of the Spirit.
Furthermore, at justification, they received eternal life through regeneration by the Holy Spirit, which resulted possessing the nature of Jesus Christ within forever.
Now, in this causal clause in Ephesians 5;14, the verb eimi (εἰμί) means “to possess a particular characteristic,” which is identified by the nominative neuter singular form of the noun phōs (φῶς), which functions as the predicate nominative of this verb.
This indicates that it is making an assertion about the subject, who we noted were those revealing to the non-believer that the unfruitful activities practiced by them in secret are sin against a holy God.
The assertion is that they “are characterized by” spiritual light.
Therefore, this construction indicates that those members of the human race who are revealing to the non-believer that the unfruitful activities practiced by them in secret are sin against a holy God are characterized as being spiritual light, i.e., regenerate human beings.
The present tense of the verb eimi (εἰμί) is a customary or stative present which would express the idea that those members of the human race who are revealing to the non-believer that the unfruitful activities practiced by them in secret are sin against a holy God “exist in the state of” being characterized by spiritual light, i.e., regenerate human beings.
The present tense of the verb (ἔχω) is also a gnomic present, which expresses the idea that those members of the human race who are revealing to the non-believer that the unfruitful activities practiced by them in secret are sin against a holy God “as an eternal spiritual truth” exist in the state of being characterized by spiritual light, i.e., regenerate human beings.
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 5:14a-Church Age Believers Who Are Characterized by Spiritual Light Reveal Sin to Unregenerate Sinners
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday April 11, 2026
www.wenstrom.org
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 5:14a-Church Age Believers Who Are Characterized by Spiritual Light Reveal Sin to Unregenerate Sinners
Lesson # 345
Ephesians 5:12 For these unfruitful activities being practiced by them secretly are a shameful disgrace to even mention. 13 However, because each and every one of these things are being habitually exposed by those who are characterized by spiritual light, they are being habitually revealed (as sin to those characterized by spiritual darkness and disobedience) by those who are characterized by spiritual light. 14 For anyone who for their own benefit makes it their habit of revealing (to those characterized by spiritual darkness that their unfruitful activities practiced secretly are sin against a holy God) is characterized by spiritual light. Therefore, it says, “Those who sleep, awake forever! Correspondingly, rise from the dead ones! Consequently, the one and only Christ will as a certainty shine upon you.” (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 5:14 is composed of the following:
(1) Causal clause: pan gar to phaneroumenon phōs estin (πᾶν γὰρ τὸ φανερούμενον φῶς ἐστιν), “For anyone who for their own benefit makes it their habit of revealing (to those characterized by spiritual darkness that their unfruitful activities practiced secretly are sin against a holy God) is characterized by spiritual light.” (Lecturer’s translation)
(2) Marker of an Inferential Quotation: dio legei (διὸ λέγει), “Therefore, it says” (Lecturer’s translation)
(3) Command: egeire, ho katheudōn (ἔγειρε, ὁ καθεύδων), “Those who sleep, awake forever!” (Lecturer’s translation)
(4) Command: kai anasta ek tōn nekrōn (καὶ ἀνάστα ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν), “Correspondingly, rise from the dead ones!” (Lecturer’s translation)
(5) Result clause: kai ⸂epiphausei soi ho Christos (καὶ ἐπιφαύσει σοι ὁ Χριστός), “Consequently, the one and only Christ will as a certainty shine upon you.” (Lecturer’s translation)
The causal clause in Ephesians 5:14 contains the adjective pas (πᾶς), which pertains to anyone of a totality.
The referent of this word is identified in Ephesians 5:13 as those who are characterized by spiritual light, which we noted is a reference to church age believers.
This is indicated by the fact that this adjective is employed with the noun phōs (φῶς), “those characterized by spiritual light,” here in Ephesians 5:14.
In fact, the latter is making an assertion about the former that they are characterized by spiritual light.
This interpretation of the adjective pas (πᾶς) in Ephesians 5:14 is indicated by the fact that it is in the neuter singular form whereas in Ephesians 5:13 it is in the neuter plural form whose referent is the unfruitful activities practiced secretly by unregenerate humanity.
Therefore, the referent of this adjective in Ephesians 5:14 is not the referent of the adjective pas (πᾶς) in Ephesians 5:13.
These activities are identified in Ephesians 5:3 as sexual immorality in the form of temple prostitution, sexual impurity of any kind, and greed.
Therefore, in Ephesians 5:14, the referent of the neuter singular neuter singular form of the verb phaneroō (φανερόω) is also the church age believer.
Consequently, the verb phaneroō (φανερόω) in Ephesians 5:14 should be interpreted as being in the middle voice or as a medial passive rather than a passive, which was the case when the word appears in Ephesians 5:13.
Here in the former, the verb means “to reveal” since it pertains to causing something to be fully known by revealing clearly and in some detail.
Thus, it refers to the church age believer revealing to unregenerate members of the human race that the activities practiced by them in secret are sin against a holy God.
Many expositors like Thielman argue that “in the forty-eight other uses of φανερόω (phaneroō) in the NT (and one in the LXX), the term never appears in the middle voice, and Paul has just used the term in the preceding phrase in the passive voice. A middle sense here, then, is unlikely in the extreme.”
This assertion is incorrect because in several passages φανερόω (phaneroō) functions as a medial passive.
For example, in John 7:4, it is employed with the reflexive pronoun seautou (σεαυτοῦ), “yourself,” which indicates that although verb is in the passive form, it is middle voice meaning.
Here it would be interpreted as a redundant middle, which is used in a reflexive manner with a reflexive pronoun.
Thus, this would indicate that the Lord’s family was demanding that He “show Himself” to the world that He is the Messiah of Israel.
This construction also appears in John 21:1 expressing the idea of Jesus “revealing Himself” to His disciples after His resurrection and in 1 Peter 5:4, Peter asserts that when Christ, the believer will receive the crown of glory that never fades away.
Clearly, the verb is middle in meaning and functions as a causative middle, which means that the subject has done something for or to himself or herself and implies both source and results expressing that the Lord Jesus Christ “causes Himself to appear” at the rapture.
The verb appears in the same fashion in relation to the rapture in 1 John 2:28 and in this verse the middle voice is also a causative middle expressing the idea of the Lord “causing Himself to appear.”
In both 1 Peter 5:4 and 1 John 2:28 there is no expressed agency in these passages and in the context of each of these verses, there is no unexpressed or implied agency to be found, which would be required if the verb was in the passive voice.
In Ephesians 5:14, the middle voice of the verb phaneroō (φανερόω) is an indirect middle which expresses the idea that the church age believer is “benefiting themselves” by revealing the activities practiced in secret by unregenerate humanity as sin against a holy God.
It would benefit them because by leading unregenerate sinners to exercise faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior would result in rewards for them at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church (1 Cor. 3:11-15; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rom. 14:10-12), which immediately follows the rapture or resurrection of the church, which is imminent.
In Galatians 6:9-10, Paul teaches the Galatian Christian community that they will be rewarded not only for doing good on behalf of the Christian community but also the non-Christian.
In this passage, reaping speaks of receiving rewards at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church which takes place immediately after the rapture or resurrection of the church, which is imminent.
Galatians 6:9 So we must not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith. (NET)
Now, in Ephesians 5:14, the present tense of the verb phaneroō (φανερόω) is a customary present which expresses the idea of the church age believer being characterized by spiritual light “making it their habit” of revealing to the non-believer that the unfruitful activities practiced by them in secret are sin.
As was the case in Ephesians 5:8, 9 and 13, the noun phōs (φῶς) in Ephesians 5:14 is used in a metaphorical or figurative sense to describe a regenerate human being who has been spiritually enlightened as a result of the Father declaring them justified through faith in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
Specifically, it refers to the recipients of this epistle who are members of the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia. Therefore, this word is a figurative reference to church age believers.
Church age believers are characterized by spiritual light because they are enlightened children of God as a result of the imputing His Son’s righteousness to them the moment they exercised faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
At that moment, the Father imputed or credited His Son’s righteousness to them and also placed them in union with His Son and identified them with His Son in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at His right hand through the baptism of the Spirit.
Furthermore, at justification, they received eternal life through regeneration by the Holy Spirit, which resulted possessing the nature of Jesus Christ within forever.
Now, in this causal clause in Ephesians 5;14, the verb eimi (εἰμί) means “to possess a particular characteristic,” which is identified by the nominative neuter singular form of the noun phōs (φῶς), which functions as the predicate nominative of this verb.
This indicates that it is making an assertion about the subject, who we noted were those revealing to the non-believer that the unfruitful activities practiced by them in secret are sin against a holy God.
The assertion is that they “are characterized by” spiritual light.
Therefore, this construction indicates that those members of the human race who are revealing to the non-believer that the unfruitful activities practiced by them in secret are sin against a holy God are characterized as being spiritual light, i.e., regenerate human beings.
The present tense of the verb eimi (εἰμί) is a customary or stative present which would express the idea that those members of the human race who are revealing to the non-believer that the unfruitful activities practiced by them in secret are sin against a holy God “exist in the state of” being characterized by spiritual light, i.e., regenerate human beings.
The present tense of the verb (ἔχω) is also a gnomic present, which expresses the idea that those members of the human race who are revealing to the non-believer that the unfruitful activities practiced by them in secret are sin against a holy God “as an eternal spiritual truth” exist in the state of being characterized by spiritual light, i.e., regenerate human beings.